This Looks Healthy, But Is It?
- At December 27, 2010
- By Katherine
- In Articles, News
- 0
A restaurant meal may look like it’s good for you, but we had a lab count the actual calories. Here are the surprising numbers.
By Todd Kliman , Sara Levine , Ann Limpert
We set out to find out. We dispatched staff to pick up three-course meals from five restaurants, each with a different cuisine. Then we packed the food up in containers filled with dry ice and shipped it to a lab in Des Moines, Iowa, for burning—yes, burning—to measure its caloric content. We also had it tested for proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
The results: Who knew that a three-course sushi dinner has more carbs than a three-course French dinner? Going out for Thai sounds like an excursion into light, bright cooking, but a meal at a Thai restaurant can be nearly as caloric as a certain New Orleans – Style restaurant. Note to all the lobbyists who chow down on the latter’s shrimp and grits and beignets several times a week: In one dinner you may be taking in more than a day’s worth of calories.
Lab results in hand, we invited two experts to help us make sense of the numbers. Walter Scheib, who as White House chef under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush was tasked with finding out the nutritional content for every meal he served to the First Family—and who went on diets with First Ladies—commented on each dish. Katherine Tallmadge, a DC nutritionist who has been a guest expert on TV shows from Food Network programs to Good Morning America, offered commentary and alternative recommendations for each meal.
Our hope is not that you’ll come away from this vowing to steer clear of these restaurants. Rather, we hope you’ll come away a wiser, healthier diner.
Menu
Vegetable Spring Rolls With Sweet-and-Sour Sauce
Roasted Duck With Red Curry Sauce, Side of White Rice
Thai Coconut Custard With Sweet Rice
Calories: 2,226
Carbs: 307 grams
Fat: 82 grams
Protein: 65 grams
Walter Scheib says: “[Spring rolls] are little grease sponges. But there are wonderful things called summer rolls, which are basically spring rolls that are fresher and lighter—and without the deep-fried part.”
“Thai desserts are based on rice and coconut. Go for sorbets or fruit ices—just not coconut ice cream, which is basically frozen butter. Ask if they’ve got a fresh mango with a squeeze of lime.”
“Most people think of Oriental cuisines as ‘light.’ When I worked at the White House, this is what Mrs. Clinton used to call gratuitous fat—fat in your food that you don’t necessarily see. You’ve got coconut milk, which is straight fat, and then the duck skin.”
What to get instead: Coconut milk is the biggest source of calories and fat on this diet-busting menu. Often you don’t even know it’s there. Instead look for dishes that get their flavor from citrus juices, spices, vinegars, and herbs.
Katherine Tallmadge, a Thai Restaurant regular, orders lemongrass soup, beef salad, and steamed whole fish: “If your main dish is a lot of food, you probably don’t want the extra rice. A cup is 200 calories.” If you’re going to have noodles, get cellophane noodles, made with mung beans instead of flour. And keep in mind that at many Asian restaurants, portions are served family-style and meant for sharing.
Photo: Washingtonian Magazine
# 1 THE SUNDAE SOLUTION
- At December 19, 2010
- By Katherine
- In Articles, News
- 0
NOW it’s official: You can eat a chocolate sundae every day and still lose weight…
One of my clients, Jennie, almost always snacks in the afternoon. She view these snacks as ‘rewards” for getting through another day of drudgery. Of course, these same snacks contribute to her weight problem.
My advice to her (and I’m pretty proud of it ): Have a chocolate sundae every day.
I know this sounds strange, but here’s why it helps. The chocolate syrup that you pour over ice cream isn’t exactly lean, but that’s okay because underneath the chocolate – the sundae part – is fresh fruit instead of ice cream. Fruit is a lot better for you than ice cream, and the chocolate provides a slightly sinful incentive to make the switch seem worthwhile.
Almost any fruit works with chocolate syrup – strawberries, bananas, peaches, take your pick. Apart from the fact that a fruit sundae is deliciously fresh tasting, filling, satisfying, and low in saturated fat and calories, it makes a great substitute for other snacks that really load on the calories.
THE SUNDAE SOLUTION has been responsible for hundreds of people eating – and LOVING – more fruit. If you try it, you will too!
BOTTOM LINE: Lose 9 to 35 pounds
A tablespoon of regular chocolate syrup has about 50 calories. Pour it over fruit, and your total is about 110 to 160 calories. Compare that to the usual snacks – a candy bar or protein bar, for example, has about 250 calories, and an ice cream cone has about 500 – and you can see why substituting the fruit sundae can lead to impressive amounts of weight loss. Make the switch every day, and you can count on losing 9 to 35 pounds in a year.