'Would a 1,600 calorie salad put you off?' blog discussion

Squirrel64_2

I think it is a great idea, it would certainly make a difference to what I ordered if the calorific content was including on the menu.

Errata

I don't need to be told how many calories a dish or course in a restaurant meal contains. I have a brain and use it.

beecher2

Errata wrote: »

I don't need to be told how many calories a dish or course in a restaurant meal contains. I have a brain and use it.

I have a brain too but I have no way of knowing accurately how many calories a meal contains. Could you share your expertise with the rest of us?

I think it'd be a great idea and really helpful to know what was the healthiest option.

Dinah93

I avoid eating at chain restaurants who don't put nutritional information on their websites, I prefer local places but only go sparingly as I don't know whats in the food. Controlling maybe, but I care about my body and at the moment . While some things are easy enough to guess, pizza express's nutritional info really is an eye opener - vegetarian pizzas, which you might think are lower in calories, often contain more oil or pesto for flavour, making them higher in calories. Or best of all, look at McDonalds or Burger King milkshakes - its staggering! I can't imagine eating a 1600 calorie salad - thats more than I eat in a day. For me personally I'd be a lot more likely to eat out if I could make an informed choice, as thats what stops me most of the time - not knowing which foods are okay to eat.

nomoneytoday

Usually one goes to a restaurant to avoid reading labels

ThinkingOfLinking

I don't bother about calories. Besides which, if I am treating myself/being treated to a meal out, I will have whatever I want because it's a TREAT. If I want a bowl of gruel and a glass of water, I'll stay home!!

kingbob666

Sounds delightful, salad with a big mac and KFC chicken on the side.

JimmyTheWig

I like the idea, but it gets tricky when you mix-and-match. E.g. I pick something as the figures make it look the healthy option then change the boiled potatoes for chips.
Chances are the potatoes are what kept the calories down in the first place...

Shain

... because there are probably variations in each plate - size of steak, exact weight of fish, amount of sauce, etc. BUT, I don't see why we shouldn't get info on the calorie, fat, etc RANGE, eg "depending on exact ratio of ingredients, this dish has 250-300 calories, 2-2.8g of fat", etc. Really shouldn't be that difficult, I don't think - surely restaurants must know what they're cooking?

It wouldn't put me off eating out, and if I had something tasty that was also reasonably low in calories/fat, I'd probably be inspired to try to recreate it at home. It'd probably mean I'd have a more sensible starter and main course and then just not read the info on the dessert menu! After all, part of eating out is realising that it doesn't happen every day and enjoying the treat, but that can just as easily be the atmosphere, the company, etc...

Any

Errata wrote: »

I don't need to be told how many calories a dish or course in a restaurant meal contains. I have a brain and use it.

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Usually one goes to a restaurant to avoid reading labels

Flickering_Ember wrote: »

I don't bother about calories. Besides which, if I am treating myself/being treated to a meal out, I will have whatever I want because it's a TREAT. If I want a bowl of gruel and a glass of water, I'll stay home!!

I completely agree with everything said above.

If the salad is served with bread stick and slothered in mayo/dressing then it's not that surprising that it will have quite a few calories.

It's all about general knowledge on food - unless you do eat grass there will always be calories and just because you have a bit of green with that mayo on bread it doesn't mean that the calories will go down.

When I go out I am on a TREAT expedition and seriously don't want to know more then my general knowledge reaches. If I was affraid of any calories intake then I would stop eating all together and that is more unhealthy then anything.

I love salads but live under no illusion that I will loose weight from eating Pizza Express salad served with goat's cheese, slothered in house dressing and being decorated with pizza sticks... :rotfl:

Martin at least you can rest a bit easier when you actually think about the amount of vitamins and other goodness that you consumed with the salad.

It's all about balance! People who regularly excercise and eat HEALTHY and nutricious (not calorie free-but healthy and nutriciuous so they don't feel hungry again within minutes) food usually find that they don't need to watch every calorie they consume.