Not everything was so rosy out there. Below, some of the scarier items we came across in our travels.
Scary chicken: At Chili’s, 1 serving of Crispy Honey Chipotle Crispers (no dressing) just laid 1,890 calories at your door.
Sides to Die For: Literally. O’Charley’s Onion Rings with Cajun Horseradish Sauce packs 1,800 calories on the plate, and 139 grams of fat.
Worst advice: It’s hard to think healthy when the menu encourages you to fatten up, which is exactly what Cracker Barrel does, telling you to “loosen your belt and enjoy” its Country Boy Breakfast, which offers your choice of country ham, pork chops or steak grilled to order, three eggs cooked to order, fried apples, hashbrown casserole, grits, gravy, homemade buttermilk biscuits, real butter, and preserves or what they call Jam n’ Apple butter.
Is there such a thing as too much cheese? Yes, Pizza Hut: Stuffing cheese into pizza crusts is just plain overkill.
No wonder they sell a lot of soda: The chicken and beef grilled stuft burritos at Taco Bell both have more than 2,000 mg. sodium (and your daily max should be 2,300).
Killing us with silence: These places might look like healthy options, but they provide NO nutritional information. And we begged. Benihana, Bertucci’s, Bonefish Grill, and California Pizza Kitchen, why aren’t you talking?
By Tracy Minkin
Comments (29)
In New York, the health department is issuing fines to fast food restaurants who are haven’t complied with the new law requiring them to post calorie counts on their menus.
You can read more here - http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/nyc-food-police-keeping-new-yawkers-safe-from-the-evil-big-mac/.
Cracker Barrel does encourage bad eating with its emphasis on biscuits, potatoes, etc., but a person with knowledge to make appropriate nutritional choices can fare very well at a Cracker Barrel. The food they prepare is top of the line, and their preparations are excellent if you make the right choices. Country fried chicken is not something an obese person should choose to eat, but an obese person should know that before he or she sits down to dine.
Another comment on Cracker Barrel’s Country boy breakfast…one thing the menu doesn’t mention is the apples, hashbrown casserole, grits, gravy and biscuits are all “bottomless” which if the person knows makes that breakfast that much worse. In response to the previous comment, as a former CB employee I can tell you just about anything on the menu is high fat. All the sides are in some sort of butter or bacon fat so you may think you are doing good by ordering veggies but really you aren’t. Their food is high quality and tasty but good for you it is not.
Bonefish Grill can be very healthy - if you are careful. Grill your fish, skip the sauce and have steamed veggies on the side (ask). If you want the sauce, dip your fork in the sauce then add your bite of fish - don’t dip the fish in the sauce.
As at almost any restaurant, you can make it healthier or not by your choices.
i do like the name of scary chicken that they serve at Chili’s, aside of that Chili’s in number 1 in the middle east
I have to say…Cracker Barrel is based on good old southern cooking, which doesn’t take health into account. So, a lot of people go there to eat southern fare without thinking of calories and fat. In fact, when I do go out to dinner, which isn’t often, it is a treat and I order what I like, since I don’t really like chicken or fish I am sure to order somehting I don’t normally eat.
You make no comments regarding the fast food restaurants that are in even the smallest, out of the way cities, like mine. McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and my favorite Jack in the Box. You can get good salads and low calorie meals if you know what to look for. What are your your opinions of such places as these?
Lois
When I do go out to eat I usually order something I wouldnt make at home for myself… Thats the treat for me..
When I do go out to eat I usually order something I wouldnt cook at home for myself. Thats the treat for me…
just stay home and eat cardboard, you can fix grilled stuff at home, you go out to enjoy what they have.
Of course the basic premise here is that you *believe* what the restaurants claim for nutritional information on their dishes. You might not always be able to, however. See this article on some tests done on “healthy fare” offerings done by Scrips news service, including Macaroni Grill, one of the chains getting good grades here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/364097_calories22.html
Cheer up! If you eat out for the new food and still feel like compromising try what I’ve been trying. Pick one of each. I try one great splurge and one healthy. So get the fried chicken but learn a new healthy recipe and get a double order of steamed w/ herb veggies instead of fries. I like the balance and I’m proud of myself when I leave.
I can’t believe any of these so called good fast food restaurants are on there. Has anyone checked out Cosi or Noodles and Co.’s online nutrition menu???? I hate when we order it at work - I opt out. Those two places are horrible for you.
I rarely go out to eat, once or twice a year so I order anything I want. I eat healthy at home.You dont need a lable to tell you Chicken fried anything is bad for you.Im a server…it cracks me up to see people struggle to fit in a booth, order the highest calorie food and a diet drink.
its unhealthy if you eat like that all the time. if you only go out to eat on occasion, it wont harm you.
Here are two more notorious restaurant chains that should be AVOIDED because they serve huge portions of unhealthy food. The Cheesecake Factory has many items on its big menu, but practically none of them could be considered “healthy”.
The Machine Shed restaurants are known for huge portions with their lunches. No low-calorie options, no low-fat options. White bread and butter–nothing healthy at those restaurants, located in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota. Forget about having dinner unless you want one of the restaurant employees to sign your death warrant.
go to CB and enjoy the “Greens and Beans” meal - i’ve enjoyed it for years with the relish and onions. Course the chocolate cobbler afterwards cancels out all that!
I’m confused..where is the list?!
The largest problem I see out of this whole situation is where do the local good for you restaurants come into play? Most of these local restaurants do nothing but strive to serve good nutritional food for those seeking to eat out and not submit to the franchise’s of fast food. Seeking to support your local community instead of supporting big chains should have been the main topic for a nutritional healthy eating out article.
I am so glad that I took the time to read the bad for you list catogory. It confirms what I first thought about the good list catagory. The good for you list also has restaurants that have awful dishes, side and entrees, with lots of caloris, but obviously, this bad for you list are the restaurants who chose not to advertise with you so they are getting dinged by your writers. Now, I am educated about who you are and will avoid and not believe anything that you guys write in the future.
I agree, Deb!! The whole thing about people trying to fit in a booth is kind of funny to me, too. It doesn’t make any sense why obese people will go out to eat and order the most unhealthy meal on the menu! I don’t feel sorry for them at all…I am embarrassed for them! Oh and the diet coke thing…please
I agree with Deb. It is really funny to see an obese person try to fit into a booth and then proceed to order fried food with fries and diet coke. Way too funny. They keep on doing it, though…
FOOLS! YOU CAN EAT WHAT YOU WANT! It’s all about portion size and plenty of exercise. Didn’t your mama tell you that?
Yeah, obesity is funny. Laugh it up. I hate when people make comments about ordering a diet coke with an unhealthy dinner. I was in Ruby Tuesday one day years ago, I was in good shape ran a few times a week and went out for a Friday night treat and ordered cheese fries and a diet coke. The smartass waitress actually said, “What’s the point of the diet coke with those cheese fries.”
The f’ing point is I enjoy diet coke and so why pack on an additional 100 calories per 8 ounces of regular soda when I ENJOY diet. Don’t be so quick to judge people.
I think it’s funny when someone orders a griled chicken breast with steamed veggies, and a regular soda. Hey that’s great, low fat and healthy food, and a glass of high fructose corn syrup!
To the servers on here should just get over themselves and do their job.
This is a form of population control, and we are all falling for it fat and happy. It’s just not about portion control it’s about going back to the greens, lean and green.
We just need to educate ourselves and be smart about what we eat. I have meet many people who are obese and are completely unaware of what their eating, for many it is easier to just order anything on the menu and forget about it.
The same people that are so obsessed with the nutritional values of restaurant fare don’t think twice about injesting hundreds of harmful, insufficiently tested chemicals found in prescription drugs on a DAILY BASIS. Perhaps if this country had more experts evaluating our pharmaceutical companies instead of unfairly give perfectly fine restaurants bad reviews we would truly have healthier citizens. Every restaurant has something healthy to eat…we just have to have the willpower to order it!!
Like restaurants in todays economy don’t have a hard enough time staying in business… garbage like this borders on libel.
After reading all the comments, if there is a restaurant opened that divulged all fats and calories, and only provided a healthy menu..that person (owner) would be rich. Healthy can be delicious and appealing.