How To Navigate A Menu When The Nutrition Facts Fail You

A recent study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association concluded that many restaurants and frozen foods inaccurately report their calorie counts.

To an avid calorie counter like myself, this news is scary!

According to the study, restaurant foods (sit-down and on-the-go) averaged 18% more calories than stated.

Meanwhile the calorie counts of frozen meals purchased from supermarkets averaged 8% more than originally stated.

While these statistics may mean a mere 20-100 calorie difference, they are just an average. The study says that some of the meals tested had up to 200% the amount of calories stated and some with uncalculated side dishes had up to 245%.

So while you think your salmon dish only contains 350 calories, that may just be for the salmon. Once you factor in a spinach souffle and canola oil drenched mushrooms, we're talking about 860 calories!

So what's a dieting damsel to do??

I spoke to Dr. Susan B. Roberts, Professor of Nutrition Science at Tufts University who conducted the study, to find out why these discrepancies occurred and what you can do to prevent restaurants' inaccuracies from wrecking havoc to your diet.

Roberts tells me the first step is accounting for their ginormous serving sizes.

"Chefs think that portions 2-3 times what people need are 'normal,' so it is easy for them to add more ingredients," says Roberts. "Ask them to bag up half before you get your plate, so you take home a free dinner for tomorrow night."

She says the other main problem with restaurants is all the "extras" they add to a meal that are not included in the total calorie count.

"Get the unnecessary pats of butter off the plate that they put on after cooking," says Roberts. "Hold the fries, etc."

Switching out the offered side dish with a healthier alternative is a good solution. Many places will happily sub a side of mashed potatoes or fries for veggies, brown rice, or beans.

Roberts says one plate to be weary of is pasta. "Pasta dishes are easy for calorie counts to be enormous in," says Roberts.

A good way to cut that down is to ask for the dish to be presented on a bed of lettuce or mixed vegetables instead of noodles. Some places offer whole-wheat pasta as well. Order that instead and ask for half the normal serving to curb the colossal carb count.

Finally, Roberts stresses the most important thing when eating out is to "be picky!"

"Don't just pick the best choice on the menu, get what you want by talking to the server," says Roberts. "You can ask for anything you want since you are paying."

Here are the special requests I make when eating out:

-No Oil...on anything! Make sure to always ask for your vegetables steamed not stir-fried. Also order your chicken, fish, or seafood steamed or "stock-velveted," meaning it's stir fried in vegetable stock instead of oil. And for breakfast, request your egg-white omelet pan be sprayed with Pam, not soaked in canola. This will save you about 120 calories per tablespoon of oil.

-Sauce/Dressing on the side. To avoid an over-saturated salad or a piece of salmon swimming on your plate make sure to order all special sauces on the side. That way you can determine how much you need, if any. You will find a lot of dishes don't need to be drenched. If you do need the dressing for a salad, try just dipping your fork in, then taking a bite.

-Don't Butter Me Up. I always ask for my sandwiches, toast, or turkey burger buns to be dry. No mayo, no butter, no pesto/aioli/tapenade...nada. Simply toasting the bread can add flavor or adding low calorie yellow mustard. This can save you anywhere from 50 to 150 calories.

Note: If anyone gives you a hard time about your order, claim a food allergy. There's no arguing with that!

For more info on Dr. Roberts, pick up her book The "I" Diet, or check out her website
http://www.instinctdiet.com/, where you can find free menu plans.