Dirty foods

There was a headline article on Yahoo! last week that listed the five dirtiest foods. More fuel for the germ hysteria in this country. Eggs, peaches, pre-bagged salad, cantaloupe and scallions. Not really surprising when you think about it, but thinking about it was where I was just a little lax.

Triple-washed, pre-bagged salad needs to be WASHED? I honestly did not know. The only reason I spend the extra money on the pre-bagged stuff is so that I DON’T HAVE TO WASH IT. I’m lazy like that. And who knew the outside of cantaloupe should be washed so you don’t drag the disgusting germs from the outside onto your freshly cut fruit?

I’m just not going to worry all that much about my cantaloupe. I’ve been eating it for a good many years now and have had nary a problem. But I had to give pause when one of the commenters mentioned LEMONS as being a filthy addition to your restaurant/bar drinks. They roll on the floor, sit next to raw meat on counters, get touched by dirty hands and on and on - and THEN they are cut up and thrown into your drink.

I’m an iced tea drinker, so this information kind of gave me pause. And a little nausea. And I resolved to never have a lemon in any drink again. Until the very next day a waitress asked if I would like lemon in my tea. “Yes, please,” I said. So much for resolve. And I drank the tea and didn’t get sick. Or die, even.

Huh. Guess my love of the lemon overrides my fear of dirt.

Finally! Fast food = health food

The Health Food Hut, a new chain of fast food restaurants is getting started in Florida. Big deal, you say? Well, yes, it actually is.

Get this: The menu? All organic and natural, featuring among other things, all wild Alaskan seafood, organic beef and chicken, and organic salads and wraps. The menu will also provide complete nutritional information and the origin of every item.

Even better – not only is the food organic, the entire restaurant is totally green. All takeout containers, trays, and tableware will be made of the latest degradable technology.

Other exciting features include “Save the Planet Organics,” fresh-cut produce, salads, and wraps in degradable green containers, enabling schools, restaurants, businesses, convenience stores, and hospitals to add organic food to their offerings. For those on the go? “Quickgreens,” a healthy green drink with no mess.

The first two restaurants opened in Florida this year and I read somewhere that the third will be opening in Las Vegas in January. I hope this is true, because I will absolutely eat there (dragging Mr. Jelly Belly, kicking and screaming) when we go to Vegas in March.

Dine in, drive-through and even (oh, hold me, this is too exciting!) delivery.

I can’t tell you how much I hope this catches on. I would love to have this option in my neighborhood. What about you?

Bad decision on a plate: The Bloomin' Onion

We all know how challenging restaurant meals can be when you are trying to lose weight - or just trying not to gain any more. It’s especially challenging when you’re working with a flawed thought process, as I am.

For example: Go out to eat at Outback. Peruse menu. Decide on Toowoomba Pasta. Feel belly rolling uncomfortably over the top of jeans. Peruse menu again. See Bloomin’ Onion. Think, “Onions. That can’t be too many calories. I’ll have that. Plus, it’s only an appetizer. Onions + Appetizer = small meal, smart choice.” Pat self on back.

Had I taken my dining out experience seriously and done my homework before going, I would have discovered that the Bloomin’ Onion has at least 2300 delicious calories* – and 134 grams of fat. If you’re on Weight Watchers, that’s 57.5 points.

I’m not going to lie to you. I love the Bloomin’ Onion. That’s just good stuff. But knowing the nutritional information of many foods sucks the perceived joy right out of it. I haven’t had one in over two years. And I sometimes miss those days of blissful ignorance.

Still, I console myself with knowing that, for less than half the calories of a single Bloomin’ Onion, I could enjoy all this:

8 oz prime rib: 450 calories
House Salad: 200 calories
Jacket Potato (with butter and cheese!) 300 calories
Steamed Veggies: 69 calories

Still a lot of calories for one meal, but so much more satisfying than a Bloomin’ Onion would ever be. And at least half of that prime rib would end up on Mr. Jelly Belly’s plate.

Most chain restaurants have websites where you can look at a menu and view nutritional information. Looking at this information and making your dinner choice before you go (and sticking with that decision) can save you from making the types of bad decisions I am prone to.

You can also find nutritional information for restaurants at sites like The Daily Plate and CalorieKing. And if you’re looking for Weight Watcher points, try Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone.

Thank God I never order dessert. Chocolate Thunder From Down Under: 1220 calories.

*I say “at least 2300 calories” because several sites show the nutritional information for ¼ of the onion and that comes in at 787 calories and 70 grams of fat. Multiply that by 4 and it comes out to more than 3000. Can the dipping sauce be that many calories? Yikes!

Oink, Oink

I am involved in such a crazy love-hate relationship with food these days.

Here’s the thing: I’ve rarely met a food I didn’t like. I love looking at recipes and, when I’m not feeling overly lazy, I even love cooking. And oh how I love, love, LOVE the eating itself! I don’t only love foods that are “bad” for me, I can also get myself pretty worked up over vegetables and grilled fish and whole grains. I can eat just about anything and enjoy it.

That’s the love part of this relationship; the hate part requires no explanation, right?

So with my totally open attitude about food, why do I always convince myself that the “right” food isn’t going to satisfy me?

I have been doing so well for the last two weeks and am on my eleventh day sugar-free and my sixth without white flour. I was hoping to have enough of a weight drop this week so that I could go back to Weight Watchers on Saturday without too much embarrassment.

Then my son called me today and asked me if I wanted to have lunch with him (and pay for it, of course). So since I don’t really get to see him too much these days, I agreed to go and planned how I would have a Greek salad with grilled chicken and skip the pita bread on the side.

We had lunch a little later than I normally eat and I was feeling pretty hungry. I opened the menu (mistake number 1) and suddenly the Greek salad didn't sound very substantial and all my good intentions went flying out the window. Everything looked fantastic and the drooling started immediately.

I ordered a salad, and it was anything but low-cal. It was a lovely fried chicken salad with cheese and bacon and the ranch dressing NOT on the side. And I ate every last delicious bite of it. And half of the pita bread. Back to Day 1 on the white flour ban. Sigh.

I do this kind of thing all the time. I don’t have any problems with control at home, but restaurants are a totally different story.

All in all, I guess it wasn’t the worst thing I could have done (the bacon cheeseburger and fries looked mighty appealing as well), but it certainly wasn’t the best. So I guess I’ll just do double time on the treadmill tonight, then put this behind me and move on.

And stay out of restaurants.