Restaurants are lying in a big way

http://www.wxyz.com/content/themenutest/defau lt.aspx

How about an advertised chicken dish that is suposed to have 500 calories and 6 grams of fat, but actually has 1022 calories and 49 grams of fat?

I always find the calorie and fat counts suspect for chain restaurants, but I really do rely on them as a guide.  What a load of crap it appears to be.  I know eating out is not healthy, but sometimes you just have to.  What are we supposed to do when they are so blatantly lying to us?  And in such a big way?

this is sad ... I don't eat at those places but still ... if we HAVE to eat out I suposse it's an option to order like, a ceaser salad without bacon bits, maybe no crutons, and ask for the dressing on the side? seems a bit picky but then you're in total control, that dressing can only be so bad type of deal.

 

Wow, that is something.  I guess eat out as little as possible, and watch what you do eat.  And remember, running over in calories every now and then isn't a big deal.  It's the eating over everyday that really screws up a program. 

So my advice, eat out as little as possible, and when you do, enjoy the meal.  It's not the end of the world!!

ya know what ... that is true ...

The problem with a lot of places is the staff.

I know from working in a restaurant kitchen that most of the serving sizes are guessed. Salad dressings/oils arent measured out, and it's just quicker to pile on the food than to get out the scales.

It is sad. I guess i've always known to take nutritional values of foods I havent made myself with 'a pinch of salt' so to speak!

I get that something I order in a resturant may be up to even 100 calories over what I plan out before hand because of non measuring... but the fact of the matter is that when I know that I am going to be eating out I get the facts and plan out what I am going to order before hand...  Now that i see that some are up to 500 calories over what they say it is, I may not bother.

I agree with the first part of what dove said.  100 calories one way or another can be expected.  Notice that NOTHING was right on.  This is life, not a science lab, and real cooks rarely measure.  (and yes, you do find a lot of real cooks in places like Chili's -- it's not their top choice, but a job's a job, after all). 

While I was upset looking at this at first, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's just sensationalist media.  One of those foods was over the calories stated by six calories, yet it still was red and bolded. 

As far as the items that are more than 100 calories off... those could be a problem.  But they are usually caused by employees not following policy -- grilling the chicken in oil, for example.  Why would an employee do that?  Simply because it's VERY HARD to make a decent product when you are cooking without oil, especially at the speed a line cook has to produce an entree.

Eating in is no more exact than eating out, with the exception that you KNOW what you put on your chicken breast.  But I dump oil in the pot when I saute veggies.  I don't measure, although I do have a decent idea of what a tablespoon looks like.  I was raised by a chef and have formal cooking training.  It's blasphemy to use a measuring utensil.

I think that what it comes down to is this: You will lose weight if you are trying.  Eating a slightly larger portion than the one used for the nutrition on the website isn't going to mess you up in the long run.  Eating a little more oil isn't going to kill you.  The media is desperate to make you THINK it is, though, because stuff that kills people SELLS.  Just keep that in mind!

Have I missed something..because the resturaunts involved aren't what i would call the best.  I mean come on are we really expecting something from teh Macoroni grill to be low calorie.  I mean I can make Low calories spaghetti..but there's no way I am going out to eat one serving of spaghetti with meatless sauce.  So for me I realize that itsa crap shoot to out to eat.  I am not going to kill an entire week of calorie counting by going out to eat.  I think using a bit of common sense really does pay off when going out to eat.

Dressing on the side, Prepared with little or no oil.  NO cream sauces.  All you have to do is ask. 

 

end rant.

 

 

Original Post by weddingmama:

So for me I realize that itsa crap shoot to out to eat. I am not going to kill an entire week of calorie counting by going out to eat. I think using a bit of common sense really does pay off when going out to eat.

I don't think that if you go out to eat that it'll ruin the entire week. Maybe if you really and truly splurged, and ate at least 3500 calories extra that total week instead of balancing it out. For me, I would rather order what I want, eat what I find to be a reasonable amount, and save the rest for later. I just have to make sure I work a little harder throughout the week to make sure I maintain or lose.

However, this is why I am a firm advocate of having these "cheat" meals or days early on in your week. I compare weekly results every Monday, but weigh myself daily because I like to see the fluctuations. If I'm going to have a bad meal or two, I prefer to have them before Friday, so I have the weekend to work the extra calories out of my system, along with potential water weight gained from extra sodium.

At the same time, I don't make it a habit to go out to eat, either. I also tend to stay away from fast food--but the occasional meal at my favorite Thai restaurant is kind of hard to resist.

I saw this on good morning america this morning. How depressing, Here I thought I was doing the right thing ordering off of these menus.

I will bring my own dressing and skip the bread (I normally do) from now on.

Just to balance out the hype I want to point out something from the taco bell guys

 

To accurately determine representative nutritional information of one of our Fresco products, a careful and unbiased scientist would have tested multiple samples of that product from multiple locations, not simply one product from one location. Your viewers should take this into account and recognize that the calorie and fat gram counts you associate with us are in no way representative of our excellent and delicious Fresco products."

What they said was true you can't go to one store and blast the whole chain based on what you find. I used to manage a pizza hut and know the frustrations in trrying to train employees how to use cups and measureing devices every single time, but when it get's busy cups and standards can very quickly go out the window. My point being that the reporters should have taken more samples. If you want to use the same store fine, pick different times of the day and you will get different cooks and almost certainly different amounts. It's bad reporting to not investigate throughly.

 

Aaron

Original Post by armandleg:

Original Post by weddingmama:

So for me I realize that itsa crap shoot to out to eat. I am not going to kill an entire week of calorie counting by going out to eat. I think using a bit of common sense really does pay off when going out to eat.

 

 

I don't think that if you go out to eat that it'll ruin the entire week. Maybe if you really and truly splurged, and ate at least 3500 calories extra that total week instead of balancing it out. For me, I would rather order what I want, eat what I find to be a reasonable amount, and save the rest for later. I just have to make sure I work a little harder throughout the week to make sure I maintain or lose.

Eeek. I wasn't clear in my statement. What you said is what i was meaning to say.  One meal at a restaurant isn't going to kill your efforts. 

Denise

Maybe its b/c I do eat out on the weekends & watch what I eat during the week, I try not to worry about calories at restaurants.  I make every effort to stay out of the bread basket, but basically order what I want & eat half.  I don't even take the other half home, b/c WHY tempt yourself with another restaurant meal when you have healthy stuff at home?  Consider the restaurant meal an indulgence & jump back on track the next time you eat.

Of course I'm assuming that you don't eat restaurant food every night....

A lot of the dishes analysed sounded rather unhealthy to start. Don't sound like the most diet friendly of options. Relying on a restaurant to control what portion of cheese or mayo you're consuming seems dangerous business. I mean, one cook may measure his ingredients precisely but I'd venture a guess the majority are eyeballing.

There was a Dispatches special on prepared meals that showed there were actually more calories and sugar in the so-called "healthy" options than the cheaper, full fat options. They also revealed that these manufacturers only had to be within 40% of what is marked on their packaging. And even then, it's a recommended margin or error and (at least in Britain) isn't enforceable by any agency. Whilst I believe these manufacturers should be held accountable and be a little more ethical in their practices, I am not of the mind that it's actually their job to keep tabs on what I'm putting into my body.

there has to be some variable that was not included in the report. i simply cannot believe that a restaurant chain would (or could) mislabel a dish's calorie and fat content by HALF and there not be something more to it. and this was some tv station. i might buy into it a bit more if there was some real scientific evidence.

There are a lot of places I'm somewhat fearful of eating b/c I know they do not cook clean (i.e. oils, butter etc. added to the cooking process or just after) and it is apparent that even the servers don't know what's added and you need to be specific on how you want something prepared.  I'm probably seen as "picky" or a pain in the but; however, I don't want my chicken breast grill in added oil, my broccoli or other steamed veggies ruined with butter after they're removed from the steamer or my baked potato loaded with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon bits and not have the ability to pick and choose what I want or add the amount I want.

I'm even very specific at SubWay, which is where you may be referring to with the 500 calories / 6 grams of fat and make sure they do not add mayo, oil/vinegar combo, fat or calorie-laden sauces. Again, you have to watch how thet are made and read the fine print in the ads. SW tells you the CC does not count mayo, oil, cheese or other sauces.

Thanks for reading the rant! 

Well, I'm am of the mind that if the restaurants cannot advertise the calories and fat content as "consistent and absolute", they either A) should not advertise the calories/fat at all or, B) tell the public that it is an educated guess as to what the calories and fat should be.  Otherwise it is false advertisement.   

At least that gives the uninformed consumer the foresight to question what their eating rather than expecting it to be exact.

Everyone here is talking a lot about cooks and eyeballing and measuring.  Not everyone has worked in a restaurant.  Not everyone knows their way around a kitchen.  Yes, people should take the time to learn about their foods and diets when trying to reformat their lives.  But, not everyone does.  I believe that restaurants are truly trying to exploit these people.