Menu Options Approved by Dietitians

Finally someone seems to be listening!!!! Darden Restaurants, who own Red Lobster, Olive Garden and others, has realized a list of menu items that are ‘Dietitian-Approved.’ Chain restaurants a very popular and I think this is a great step forward.

“Our menus provide a wide variety of choices that appeal to a broad range of taste preferences and dietary needs,” said John Caron, Chief Marketing Officer for Darden. “Those include dietitian-approved Healthy Dining menu choices, giving our guests even more ways to meet their individual nutritional goals.”

With 1,800 locations across North America serving 400 million meals each year, Darden’s partnership with Healthy Dining is providing easily accessible information to millions of guests.

Many people feel that they cannot eat out if they are on a diet or trying to eat healthy. Now, restaurants are allowing for people to eat out, enjoy food and still follow their nutrition goals and ambitions. Darden joined an organization called Healthy Dining Program and was the first retailer to join the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. These organizations want people to achieve a healthy weight without sacrificing where they can eat.

Launched in collaboration with the National Restaurant Association and developed with partial funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HealthyDiningFinder.com is the go-to-guide for health-conscious consumers who love to eat out. This free resource takes the guesswork out of identifying healthful choices on restaurant menus, enabling consumers to search by restaurant name, location, price range, take-out availability, and more. Nutrition information (including calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars, protein and fruit/vegetable cups) for each featured menu item is provided on the website.

This is a great program and I feel that more chain restaurants need to step up and do the same thing that Darden Corporation is doing.

FDA drilling down on Menu Nutritional Information

Here we go for the wording for menu labeling.

FDA releases guidance on federal menu labeling requirements

For Immediate Release: August 24, 2010

Agency requests public comment on implementation of new provisions

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released two documents that outline steps to help chain restaurants comply with new federal nutrition labeling requirements.

On the Road

How many of you have been on a long car ride and don’t know what to eat to be healthy? Or you need a quick bite before your next adventure begins? There are many reasons why people don’t eat healthy when you have to dine and dash or when you are traveling. Time is a major restaint. If you are on a tight schedule, you might not have the time to look for a healthy restaurant or item on the menu. Also, trying new foods is always exciting when you are traveling. But you still need to watch what you are eating so you doing gain that extra weight. Here are five tips to follow when you are traveling.

1.    Monitor Portion Sizes
Portion distortion can lead to unwanted weight gain. Most restaurants today serve huge portion sizes of food, in fact, many restaurants serve you enough for another whole meal! To defend your health and waistline you need to recognize true portion sizes. Some quick and easy tricks for watching how much you eat at restaurants are to order half-sized entrée or light appetizers, share your entrée with your dinner date, or box up half of the meal and take it home, which is also very economical. Also, remember that you do not have to eat everything you’re served. Another suggestion to to consider sharing a meal with a companion since you may lack the refrigeration necessary to store a left-over scrumptious meal.

2.    Pay Attention to Details
Ask questions to learn how your food will be prepared. Is your fish or chicken going to be fried or grilled? Will your vegetables  be sautéed in butter or steamed? Paying close attention to these seemingly small details can save you from overeating fat, sugar, and calories. We suggest that you look for menu items labeled as healthy, light, heart-healthy, or low-fat, that are often in many restaurants. Also, look for words like steamed, grilled, broiled, roasted, or stir fried for a lower-fat, lower-calorie meal that will still taste great. You’re the customer, so ask for the food prepared the way you like it. You can also ask for smaller portions.

3.    Health-Size Your Meal
Take any meal from a high-calorie rating to a low-calorie success by making some modifications. For example at breakfast, you request an vegetable omelet make with just egg whites and replace the hashbrowns  that often come with the meal with fresh tomato slices. If you want steak, consider having a petite filet mignon and instead of ordering French fries with your steak, get a double side of steamed veggies. Wash down your meals with water, tea or unsweetened iced tea, and limit your alcohol. You will be more satisfied if you to chew your calories instead of drinking them in juices, colas and sweetened tea.

4.    Be Sauce Savvy
Sauces are to be savored. If you pick a salad for your meal filled with healthy, fresh, and delicious ingredients, ask for the dressing on the side. Then, once you have the salad dressing, resist the urge to pour the dressing over the entire salad! The salad dressing can turn a low calorie meal into a high fat calorie laden nightmare. Sauces on main entrees and side dishes, like the creamy stuff such as Alfredo sauce, mayonnaise, sour cream, butter, cream-based soups, ranch or French dressings, etc., need to be limited or avoided.  We suggest that you choose marinara over creamy pasta sauces, mustard instead of mayonnaise, salsa in place of sour cream, olive oil instead of butter, broth-based soups rather than cream-based, and oil and vinegar or light dressings in place of creamy salad dressings. If you simply cannot fight the urge for one of these sauces, ask for the sauce on the side so that you can control how much goes on the food.

5.    Be Picky at Salad Bars
Waist watchers have learned that eating a salad before a meal can fill them up. However, salad bars can really be a healthy eaters nightmare. Although many choices on the salad bar are healthy, there are also many high-calorie foods, such as mayonnaise-laden potato salad, macaroni salad and coleslaw, high-fat pasta salads, and shredded full-fat cheeses that can add unwanted calories to healthy salad greens and vegetables.

Now these are just tips but you can still indulge yourself every once and a while. Have an ice cream sundae or scalloped potatoes but remember you cannot eat like everyday without the pounds accompaning these dishes. You can also share a with a family member or eat half and take the rest home for later. Traveling should not be the down fall when you are trying to watch your weight.