We all love to go out and eat once a week or so. If not go out, bring home take-out from our favorite restaurants.
Sometimes we do it more often; we are just too tired to take the time to cook. Our hectic schedules force us sometimes to do this but also it is the convenience of it all.
You don’t have to go through too much trouble, just pick up the phone and call it in or just drop by and pick it up.
When choosing what meals to get, we don’t really put much effort in it. We only think of what seems appetizing. On some occasions, we actually believe that we are choosing healthy foods. That is not the case. Many of the foods we eat out today are loaded with saturated fats and the calorie intake is high.
There are times that from eating out so much, in a single day you can eat over 4,000 calories, easily. Sometimes in just one meal alone your meal can be over 2,000 calories. It’s amazing when you see those numbers. See, we all knew it could be high in calories but not that high. All you thought of is you were hungry and tired, eating out solved everything.
Now you don't have to stop eating out, just start eating smart. However, if you do stop eating out as much, you can save money. You can also save yourself a trip to the operating table. Here are some foods that you should stay away from as much as possible.
Romano’s Macaroni Grill Primo Chicken Parmesan
This sounds delicious but when you see the numbers it’s scary. It has 2,220 calories, 148 grams of fat, 126 grams of carbohydrates and a whopping 4,440 mg of sodium.
Quizno’s Tuna Melt
Tuna is really a healthy food but not this sandwich. When you decide to eat this, remember the 2,090 calories, 175 grams of fat and 2,190 mg of sodium.
Chili’s Smokehouse Bacon Triple-the-Cheese Big Mouth Burger with Jalapeño Ranch Dressing
The name alone is too much but I am sure you mouth is watering. You just can’t wait to take a bite but what about now? It has 2,040 calories, 150 grams of fat, 110 grams of protein and 4,900 mg of sodium. It is actually a triple bypass waiting to happen.
Blimpie’s Veggie Supreme
So you decide to cut out the deli meat, lower your intake of calories and eat healthy. You order a veggie sandwich but it’s not as healthy as you thought. This will surprise you; it has 1,106 calories, 56 grams of fat, 96 grams of carbs and 2,831 mg of sodium. Here you believed you were doing the right thing.
Uno Chicago Grill Classic Deep Dish Pizza
We all love pizza and most of the times we opt for a cheese pizza to cut out some of the fat. Well you cut out the meat and nothing else. When eating the pizza remember this, it has 2,310 calories, 162 grams of fat, 123 grams of carbs and 4,470 mg sodium.
Marie Callender’s Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie
Some of the worst fast foods can be found at the grocery stores too. Processed foods have a lot of preservatives but you don’t think about the calories. This pot pie contains 1,060 calories, 64 grams of fat and 1,440 mg of sodium.
Bob Evans Stacked and Stuffed Caramel Banana Pecan Hotcakes
This sounds delicious. There are mornings you wake up with the desire for some hotcakes and you know you will splurge a little but you never thought it would be this much. You are looking at 1,543 calories, 77 grams of fat, 198 grams of carbs, 109 grams of sugar and 2,259 mg of sodium. Let’s be honest you definitely splurged when you had this but not for one day for the rest of the month. You can still go out, just know what you are eating. Most of these restaurants do disclose all the information regarding their foods.
If they don’t, maybe you shouldn’t eat there, obviously they are hiding something. When it comes to food, nothing should be a secret. Today there are many books out there that give you information regarding the nutritional values of meals in almost all the restaurants. These are such books as the Calorie King, Eat This Not That, etc. They cost a little but they are definitely worth every penny since this means you can eat out and eat a little healthier. Enjoy!