Thursday, February 21, 2008

Food for Thighs


Warning: Do not read the below post if you 1. Do not care about calories 2. Want to completely enjoy yourself when eating out and not worry about what's going in 3. Think nutrition information is dumb.

So the other day Steve, Ben (Steve's bro), and I ordered Chilli's takeout. Well I was strangely in the mood for a burger (no I am not pregnant) and decided on the mushroom & swiss burger without mayo. I thought it was a fairly healthy choice, compared to the other burgers, and I ordered a side salad rather than fries.
I have been trying to keep track of my calories and intake and out of curiosity looked up the nutrition info on the burger. Chilli's website did not list the nutrition info (I now know why) so I googled it. I checked several different sites and they were all the same. Now I already knew that hamburgers had fat and calories and it is not my typical choice of food. However, little did I know that this hamburger had 1100 calories!!!! Yes, one thousand one hundred calories. Granted, I didn't have the mayo and only ate half the bun, but that would still chalk up to about 900 or so. I ventured to look up some other items and could not believe the fat and calories in these foods. It was insane. (Steve's favorite, the chicken crispers had 1880 cal, 130g fat). I can't believe how ignorant I have been.
I now have been really curious about how many calories are in the foods I eat at restaurants. We frequently eat at Cafe Rio and I asked them for the nutrition info on their foods. They said they didn't have any. I looked online and found nothing. Anyone? Is the barbacoa salad healthy (I know the tortilla is not). But what's in that barbacoa beef?
It would be great if they would include the nutrition info on menus. In fact I think they should, it would promote Americans to eat better and restaurants to have a healthy variety. (And by the way, I hate how restaurants have the "guiltless grill" or the "weight watchers menu", can't they just put a tomato by it or something, then you wouldn't stand out as much as compared to when you order the "weight watchers chicken platter").
I just want to know, that's all I ask.

9 comments:

liz said...

Natalie,

There is a book called The Calorie King, it has all the information you are looking for. It has hundreds of restaurants listed. Hope this helps. Miss you guys.

di said...

i have the recipe for the cafe rio pork and chicken that they put in their salads. besides the meat--it has 20 oz. of coke, cumin, salsa, water,(i cannot remember if there is anything else off the top of my head). let me know if you would like the exact recipe--i would be happy to send it to you. i don't think that it is too bad for you.
scary findings!!!!!!

Steve said...

Crazy enough, that is one of the sites that I got the information from...calorieking.com. I should buy the book and keep it in my diaper bag. Thanks Liz.

Steve said...

sorry, that was natalee, not steve

Natalee said...

yes di, I would LOVE the recipe. Wierd that it has 20 oz of coke. Seriously, that makes me so curious as to what these restaraunts put in food!

carrie said...

The real question is - did you regret eating the burger or was it worth it?

Amy said...

Melanie and ordered the awesome blossom onetime at Chili's and the waitress told us not to bother. She said it had 3000+ calories! Shouldn't surprise me though, it's a deep friend onion.

Natalee said...

Amy-I cannot believe the waitress told you not to bother!! That is too funny. Carrie- I have regrets, it was really tasty, but I know of other tasty things that are less than 1100 calories. This doesn't mean my burger days are over, I will just fast all day before eating it.

Jill said...

Nat-I saw a thing on the news when I lived in SLC about the calorie content of Cafe Rio salads. It said if you ate the whole thing (tortilla and all), with a scoop of sour cream, then it was about 2000 calories. The burrito there is actually only 1500. Sad. Should I not have told you? I don't eat it anymore after watching the news. Ignorance was bliss.