Pub food recommendations and tips:

• Salads – Naturally a salad may sound like the healthiest choice, but that can quickly change with what is included in that salad along with the dressing. If the chicken is fried or there is fried ground beef in a taco salad along with a ranch or creamy dressing you are looking at a whopping 800+ calories for one meal. Request to have items grilled and dressings be put on the side.

• Burgers – The selection of burger offerings and toppings can provide a wide variety of choice. A turkey burger is a great alternative with leaner meat contributing to fewer grams of fat and calories. If a beef burger is a must, cut down on the toppings you choose including mayonnaise, cheese, bacon and other condiments and fill it with extra veggies. You may even try it without the bun!

• The Sides – Most entrees come with a choice of fries or onion rings, but as mentioned above, don’t be afraid to mix and match your meals. Substitute the regular side with an order of rice, vegetables or even a baked potato.

• Liquid Calories – Whatever your alcoholic drink of choice, calories can add up quickly. Try to keep the number of drinks to a minimum and stick with lighter beers that will help keep the calorie count for an average drink lower. When drinking wine or mixed drinks, beware of the size of the glass; a larger glass per drink could have you doubling your calorie count per drink without realizing it. (Learn more about the calories in alcohol.)

Try making healthier versions of your favorite pub food at home:

• Swap nachos for the Southwestern Chicken PileUp
• Swap fried for these Stuffed Mushrooms
• Swap bean dip and queso for this 7 Layer Dip
• Swap beef burgers for this Mediterranean Turkey Burger
• Swap fried wings for these Buffalo Chicken Wings
• Swap chicken strips and fries for Winning Fried Chicken and Parmesan Pepper Sweet Potato Fries

This concludes our “How to Dine Out” series. I hope you enjoyed learning about how to eat better in Mexican, Thai, Italian, Chinese and Pub Food restaurants. If you have a genre you would like to hear more about post a comment with your genre and I will be happy to write another blog post to continue the series.

Up next is my weekly series on vitamins. I’ll be touching on the most commonly known and needed vitamins our bodies need and how to get them in your system whether through foods or supplementation. Stay tuned for this new series to kick off next week!

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How to Dine Out: Pub Food

While not all Thai food utilizes coconut milk, it certainly can play a large roll, especially in the famous curry dishes. Coconut milk is loaded with saturated fat (not the good fat) with 45 grams per one cup, but has been shown in studies to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. My first tip here is to go light on any dishes made with coconut milk or inquire to see if they have a lighter version of coconut milk that your meal can be made with instead. If selecting a curry dish, stick with leaner protein options like chicken.

When looking at how dishes are being prepared on the menu look for grilled, steamed or even stir-fried and keep an eye out for the sauces being used. I advise sticking with dishes that use lemongrass and/or basil along with Thai herbs and seasonings such as ginger, garlic and chilis. This will help ensure the sauce is not loaded with unwanted calories while still providing a great kick in flavor.

How to Order Thai Food

• Spring vs. Summer Rolls – I had mentioned in a previous post I am a fan of having a healthy appetizer to start, whether at home or eating out. While a vegetable spring roll may sound like a healthy start, it actually is fried, while the summer roll is not and typically comes wrapped in a lettuce leaf or rice paper. I think you know which appetizer I’m recommending you order!

• Tofu – While tofu can be a healthy menu selection and a great go-to option for vegetarians, it is important to note that tofu, just like it looks and feels, is very spongy. This means that it soaks up all the flavor but also all the oil if fried, turning this healthy staple into a calorie bomb.

• Pad Thai – One of the more commonly known and popular Thai dishes can be a pretty good choice, as its typically low in saturated fat. I recommend including a lean protein choice such as chicken or shrimp, and not eating the full portion in one sitting.

• Brown rice stir-fry – Beware of rice dishes listed as “fried rice,” as these entrees can be soaked with oil, similar to tofu, depending on preparation. Instead, order a brown rice stir-fry that can be loaded up with veggies and protein, plus all the great Thai seasoning.

Healthy Thai Recipes

Dine-in and gain greater control of your meals, while enjoying the Thai foods you might be craving.

Red Curry Quinoa

Thai Chicken Salad

Thai Lobster Salad

Thai Chicken Stir-Fry

Ed’s Thai Turkey Wraps

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How to Dine Out: Thai Food

Dishes at Mexican restaurants are usually on the larger side with the addition of rice and beans accompanying the meal. To help prevent overeating, I would first suggest ordering a house salad, which should entail tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and some avocado for your healthy fat. This starter salad will also help in the avoidance of eating the full entree when it arrives or you can ask for half the portion to be put in a to-go container.

Some terms that you should look to avoid on the menu are: fried, crispy, refried, breaded and cheese. Instead look for items that are baked or grilled and request sauces on the side so you can control the amount on your food.

Avoid sour cream or any additional toppings that will add to a higher and unhealthy caloric intake, but feel free to include fresh salsa, as this provides a great boost of vegetables with vitamins and minerals.

Mexican entree recommendations and tips:

1. Fajitas – These are a great option, as the dish comes freshly grilled with toppings and tortillas on the side. This is the perfect opportunity to be in full control as you build your meal. My recommendation is to ditch the tortillas and eat the fajitas as is with some salsa and light guacamole topping.

2. Burrito – This loaded meal can be healthy with a few revisions. Try ordering, as many restaurants term, a “burrito bowl” or “naked burrito,” which means no tortilla. Also, specify no cheese, no sour cream, and request the guacamole on the side. As a finishing touch you can replace the rice with lettuce or include brown rice as opposed to white or Mexican rice.

3. Grilled Proteins – For any entree choice choose grilled chicken, fish, or lean meat as these are excellent sources of protein, which help to keep you feeling full longer.

4. Tortillas – When including tortillas in your meal, choose corn or whole-wheat over flour tortillas, as they have less calories and fat and are higher in fiber.

Stay tuned next week as the How to Dine Out Series continues with “How to Dine out: Thai.”

Check-out these healthy Mexican recipes:

• Black Bean Mushroom Quesadillas
• Chicken and Red Chili Tamales
• Pork Fajita Pitas
• Turkey Corn Tacos with Fresh Salsa and Beans
• Strawberry Salsa
• Raspberry Margarita

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How to Dine Out: Mexican

Cooking at home you know exactly what is going into your food, but eating out we have less of that control and therefore, this month at DietsInReview.com, we are kicking off a series entitled “How to Dine Out.” Each week we will focus on a cuisine to help guide you through common choices you will find on menus at these types of restaurants.

A couple of tips to get you started:

1) Have your food items grilled or steamed.
2) Sauce and salad dressing should be on the side.
3) Liquid calories add up quickly, so beware of alcoholic beverages.
4) Just because it sounds healthy doesn’t mean it is. Don’t be afraid to ask your server questions and get more details about how the dish is prepared.

Tune in every Saturday through November 6, with the first part of the series kicking off October 16.

Check-out these healthy Mexican recipes, healthy pasta recipes, and healthy Asian recipes that you can make at home.

Sign-up for Amy’s monthly Natural Health Newsletter.

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How to Dine Out Series Kick-off

Only 8 has a tart flavor like Pinkberry, thanks to its active yogurt cultures. Its wide selection of flavors like peanut butter, caramel and about 30 others allow ice cream shop owners to keep their customers returning for new tastes.

One half-cup serving supposedly contains 32 calories, zero fat, zero cholesterol and four live active yogurt cultures. The “supposed” remark refers only to calories and serves as a gentle caution that the eight calorie per ounce labeling might be skewed depending upon how much syrup was added to the mix and the actual weight of the serving cup.

To assuage your fears, simply ask your ice cream server to weigh your Only 8 dish so that you can accurately determine whether your six-ounce cup is really six ounces or more like nine. Even though the ice cream is placed in a container that can hold a set amount of weight, most soft-serve and hand-packed ice cream shops are a bit more generous in their servings, and that equates to more calories for you.

And even if you suspect that more syrup has been added to your tasty treat, mentally bump up the calories to ten per ounce rather than the claimed eight, recalculate and dig in.

Only 8 contains water, fructose, kosher whey, whey protein concentrate, maltodextrin, natural flavorings and stabilizers, calcium and four live active yogurt cultures. Just in case your missed it, Only 8 does not contain any artificial sugars which can cause serious tummy distress. In addition, it is safe for most diabetics, for those who are lactose intolerant, and it’s gluten-free.

Check with your local independent ice cream shops to see if they carry Only 8 frozen yogurt. If they don’t, encourage them do so as lines for this low-cal tasty treat have been rumored to extend out the door.

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Food Find: Only 8 Frozen Yogurt

Full nutritional disclosure on menus leads to better choices.

But, I happily stand corrected.

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has released findings of a recent analysis on the impact of the city’s new menu label requirements. The results show that people became more selective with foods, choosing items with fewer calories. People chose lower calorie meals at 9 of 13 fast food restaurant and coffee chains that were included in the study.

The analysis conflicts with an earlier independent study that asserted the contrary, that the menu labeling change had no effect on consumer eating habits.

The researchers in the latest findings say their information is more reliable because it involved a much larger sample size. It wasn’t limited to low-income neighborhoods, like in the earlier study. And the newer study surveyed more than 10,000 customers at a total of 275 locations, while the earlier study only surveyed 1,156 consumers at four restaurants chains.

“Dietary change is likely to come gradually; it will start with consumers interested in making informed, healthy eating decisions and we hope industry will respond by offering more healthier choices and appropriate portion sizes,” says Lynn Silver, assistant commissioner for New York’s Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control.

(via: HealthNews.com)

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Restaurant Menu Changes Lead to Healthier Choices

Rather than creating a menu of low-cal fast-food options, Hardee’s instead takes its traditional menu of burgers and sandwiches and gives you the option to reduce carbs, lower the fat, eliminate the gluten, trim the calories or lose the meat for a vegetarian option.

But is this alternative menu all that healthy? At closer inspection, it resembles a sneaky marketing ploy that slaps on catchy healthy lingo to high-fat and high-calorie fast-food eats.

While we give Hardee’s a pat on the back for reaching out to the vegetarian and gluten-intolerant populations, we’ve decoded their alternative menu to give you the straight-up facts minus any deceptive marketing buzz.

Vegetarian: You can order a Hardee’s burger, sans meat but with all the fixings, or have a breakfast cheese and egg biscuit but hold the bacon. Both options even without meat will save on calories and saturated fat but the cheese, eggs, buttery biscuits, mayonnaise and carb-heavy white bread are a far cry from a low-fat, low-cal meal.

Gluten-Free or Low-Carb: You can order any sandwich or burger without a bun and instead use lettuce leaves in place of bread. We’re all in favor of swapping out nutrient-void white foods for green, leafy ones. But once again, you’re still left with high-fat burgers and cheese. Hardee’s also has a Low Carb Breakfast Bowl loaded with sausage, cheese, eggs and bacon. Yikes! This is a 650 calorie and 50 fat gram start to your day!

Low-fat/Low-cal: You can make this work if you order the following, on occasion:

• Order a signature Big Hot Ham N’ Cheese with no cheese (380 calories, 8 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber)
• A Frisco Breakfast Sandwich minus the cheese and butter (280 calories, 8 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber)
• A 1/4 pound Little Thick Burger with no bun, no mayo and no cheese (220 calories, 15 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber).

Our advice: Do your own nutrition research to discover just how healthy your favorite foods are, no matter if you’re eating at a restaurant or at home.

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How Healthy is Hardee’s Alternative Menu?

Wasn’t it just a few short months ago, KFC introduced their new grilled chicken menu and McDonald’s started placing ads in every parent magazine about how nutritious their small hamburger, apple slices and low-fat milk lunches are?

Maybe it’s a backlash to their healthier intentions, but Hardees has joined the low ranks of KFC and McDonald’s and just launched their new Oscar Mayer Fried Bologna Biscuit sandwich, which is being touted as a throwback comfort food of sorts. Apparently, Hardees like many other fast-food and chain restaurants is trying to appeal to the economically-downtrodden fast-food nation as we seek solace in cheap, processed, comfort foods like fried bologna and biscuits.

The sandwich features one white-flour biscuit, one slice of American cheese, a fried egg and one large slice of Oscar Mayer’s famous bologna – fried. The breakfast clocks in at 610 calories, 43 grams of fat (13 are saturated) and 1620 mg of sodium.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like that they just gained a pound by reading these abominable statistics?

Hardee’s also just launched another disastrous creation: The French Dip Thick Burger. A fast-food burger is OK on occasion. A French Dip is also an OK choice, on occasion. But together? Under the same bun? And with Swiss cheese and Au Jus dipping sauce to boot?

The French Dip Thick Burger comes in at 650 calories, 33 grams of fat (13 grams of which are saturated) and 2,280 mg of sodium.

And just when I was starting to have a little glimmer of hope in the fast-food industry that maybe, just maybe, they were serious about their intentions to offer some healthier eats to their customers, they go and create these insane inventions.

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Fast-Food Nightmares: Hardee’s Fried Bologna Biscuit Sandwich and French Dip Thick Burger

This jaw-dropping concoction from the fast-food chicken chain points to why in this country we have our current obesity epidemic. This sandwich (if you can call it that) is two Original Recipe fried chicken filets stacked on top of each other with a slice of pepper jack cheese, a slice of Swiss cheese, two slices of bacon and the Colonel’s secret sauce. No bun. The fried chicken is the bun. Just a stack of saturated fat, sodium and calories.

With my gaping jaw still wide-open with dismay, I went to KFC’s website and found nothing on it. No photos, no press releases and perhaps fortunately, no nutrition information on this appalling and shameful creation.

KFC redeemed itself in recent months by adding new grilled chicken options to its regular menu of fried chicken, creamy coleslaw, and greasy biscuits, but it seems like with this new Double Down Chicken Sandwich, they have undone any progress they may have made with trying to healthy-up their menu.

When KFC decides to put the nutritional stats on their website, DietsInReview will be sure to share that data with you. But we are warning you now, it won’t be pretty.

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KFC’s New Double Down Chicken Sandwich is Frightening

There are lots of nights when I stutter around at 5:15, knowing that we’ve got to leave for boxing class in five minutes, then take someone to soccer and then pick up a cross country runner – how, exactly, will dinner happen?

You know, of course, that you SHOULD plan ahead, have groceries ready in the house to make a split-second, eat-on-the-fly healthy dinner – but sometimes LIFE intervenes and you just don’t have the right food in the house. So, you might have to make a stop at a fast-food place while you are out, and that can play serious havoc on the diet.

What are some healthy choices you can make if you find yourself zipping through the drive through before you are late to practice? Keeping in mind that you will want to keep your meal choice around 350-450 calories, with an ample amount of protein and plenty of veggies, here are some great choices:

• Subway offers 7 sandwiches that have under 6 grams of fat. Tops on this list is the Veggie Delight.
• Wendy’s Grilled Chicken Sandwich has 300 calories. Paired with a small salad, hold the dressing!, it is a filling meal.
• Wendy’s also offers chili, which has a mere 277 calories.
• At Taco Bell, you can order many of the food items “Fresco Style“, which replaces the cheese with fiesta salsa.
• Many restaurants now offer fruit choices – apples slices, fruit salad, mandarin oranges, and even bananas. Fruit fills you up with a very small calorie count.
• Instead of grabbing a jumbo soda, choose water. It quenches the thirst and doesn’t add to the calorie count.

Eating on the run doesn’t have to mean a diet of burgers, fried fish and french fries. Take a little time to scope out the offerings and decide ahead of time what you’ll order. And then enjoy!

Drive-thru image via Flickr user biofriendly.

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Healthy Fast-Food Eating for Moms on the Go