Restaurants will make you fat

[tikistitch]

After years and years and YEARS of dieting, this one is kind of a no duh, but we're glad somebody thought to take the time....

Restaurant menu promises buried in calories, fat

Dishes targeted to health-conscious consumers at popular chains such as Chili's, Taco Bell and Applebee's contained as much as twice the calories and eight times the grams of fat than the restaurants claimed in their published nutrition information, a Scripps Television Station investigation revealed.

....

The Macaroni Grill sample showed the widest variance from the menu's claims. Its "Pollo Margo Skinny Chicken," which was supposed to have 500 calories, actually had 1,022, according to the testing. The chicken dinner was supposed to have 6 grams of fat. It had 49.

They go on to list several dishes where the fat content is off by about an order of magnitude. Not surprising, as it's not terribly hard to go a little crazy when you're adding oil to the pot, and more fat just makes stuff taste nummier, so we doubt anybody would ever complain.

Just, rule of thumb: if you're reducing calories to lose weight, cut down how often you eat out. Period. And the whole "divide it in two and eat the rest at home" nonsense? That just means you'll be sucking down half the fat and calories whilst standing around in your bathrobe over the sink, instead of sitting in a chair.

Comments

[middle-savagery.livejournal.com]

I guess I should be less surprised. But still! I can't imagine eating at one of those mega-restaurants anyway.

I've stopped drinking and lost 5 pounds. Well, and I've been sick. Beer is my number one tummy-maker. oof.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're sick, sweetie! That's NOT a fun way to lose weight!!

[tacohime.livejournal.com]

Dag.

I've been getting the Fresco Soft Tacos at Taco Bell lately with the idea of "these are more virtuous than a regular soft taco with cheese and sour cream." They still have those pebbly meats, though. Gnerg!!! Guess I'll need to start making, like, four-pound batches of taco meat to freeze/reheat in a pinch when I'm too lazy/tired/unmotivated to cook. >:P

That pisses me off in a consumer-rage way. If you're travelling, your ability to make your own food is pretty much diminished, especially if you're not in an accessible location or lack cooking tools. Now, thanks to unscrupulous advertising, people have been shovelling crap down their throats believing it was less harmful than reality would show. Back to hating chain restaurants instead of settling for them. Fuckers.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember the last time we had to eat at Denny's. It was literally the only thing open, after we'd spent the entire day in the car and were about ready to keel over, and I opened the menu and thought, "There's absolutely NOTHING on here I can eat!" There was actually nothing on the menu *anybody* should've been eating, other than maybe teenage boys who are also marathon runners.

Restaurant food has just gotten to be out of control in this country. I mean, even if they made them publish accurate nutritional info, that's still dumping a lot onto consumers.

[twotone]

I'm genuinely puzzled. How can restaurants do that? Is it that old trick where they publish the nutritional info for one serving, and then serve you well over a serving on your plate? Or are the numbers crunched from the barest minimum of ingredients required to make the dish, without including any fats and oils used in the preparation? I just don't understand how they can get away with being that far off base.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I just don't understand how they can get away with being that far off base.

No oversight, and no penalties (other than looking like douches in the newspaper article - but how many people are gonna read that?). Added to the fact that nobody in history of the world has ever returned a restaurant meal because it had too many calories.