Getting Slimmer in 16 with Slimming World

lantanna

SW's Food Optimising Guide to Nando's - find it online now!!!


November 7, 2011 at 6:58pm


Nando’s is most famous for its flame-grilled peri-peri chicken – flavoured to your liking – with a selection of your favourite tasty side-dishes. Can it spice up your slimming campaign?
We’ve taken a look at Nando’s’ mouth-watering menu to give you the heads up on the healthier options for Food Optimisers, along with hints and tips to steer clear of sneaky hidden Syns!

Unfortunately there are limited healthy options on the ‘appeteasers’ menu. Pre-dinner nibbles such as houmous, olives in an oily dressing, peri-peri nuts and red pepper dip are generally very high in Syns and are very easy to keeping digging into while you’re waiting for your main course.

The menu at Nando’s is bursting with flame-grilled chicken and spicy foods that’ll tantalise your tastebuds. Although lean chicken is a fabulously Free Food, the marinade on Nando’s chicken, and because it’s served in its skin, means that by enjoying your peri-peri chicken as it comes, you’ll also be eating an unexpected number of Syns.
By removing all the skin, you’ll make your chicken lower in Syns while still enjoying the fiery flavours. Estimate a few Syns for the marinade and oil that may have been used on the grill pan, and take your pick from:

• Flame-grilled butterfly chicken breast
• A whole flame-grilled chicken!
• Quarter chicken leg and thigh
• Quarter chicken breast and leg

Watch out for:

• Wraps, burgers and pittas are served with yogurt mayonnaise or chilli jam (3-5 Syns per level tbsp), and the bread and sides add even more!
• 3 chicken wings don’t give you much meat for your 7 Syns!
• The veggie and beanie burgers might seem like healthy veggie options but they both contain hidden extras like soya, cheese and seeds – before you’ve even added your bread you’re looking at 10-12 Syns for the patties alone.
• While lean steak with all fat removed is a Free Food, the Prego steak is served in a roll. If you can bear to part with the bread enjoy this juicy steak for a handful of Syns to keep track of the peri-peri marinade and oil.

The side dishes at Nando’s are almost as famous as its chicken and there are some lower-Syns options to choose from:

• Corn on the cob – estimate a couple of Syns for any oil it’s been brushed with
• Mixed leaf salad – by asking for any dressings on the side, you can ensure your salad’s Free
• Spicy rice – 2½ Syns per regular serving

Watch out for:

• Macho peas – what might look like Free Food is mixed with oil, so if you’re choosing this side dish stay on track by counting a reasonable 3 Syns for the regular portion and less palatable 6½ Syns for the large
• Ratatouille – even though it’s filled with Free roasted vegetables the tomato sauce is quite oily!
• Chips – they’re the only thing on the menu that are deep-fried and are 13 Syns per regular serving. Add 1-2 more Syns if you enjoy them sprinkled with per-peri salt.
• Coleslaw – this creamy condiment is on average 12 Syns per regular portion.
• Garlic bread – averaging 7 Syns per slice (and with two slices per serving) it’s an easy way to add Syns.
• Creamy mash and sweet potato mash – both these sides dishes contain Free Foods as their main ingredient but because they’re mixed with cream and butter (which lets it all slide down without you noticing!), the Syn value is sent soaring - as much as 6-8 Syns per spoonful!

The salads at Nando’s are served without chicken, however by bulking out your salad with a skinless chicken breast (counting a few Syns for the marinade) you’ll be creating one of the healthier options on the menu!

• The mixed leaf salad is Free and bursting with Superfree foods like mixed salad leaves, mixed peppers and tomatoes. Ask for any dressing on the side to stay in control of how much you enjoy.

Watch out for:

• The couscous salad contains lots of Free Foods like chickpeas, peppers, mixed leaves and savoury couscous – as well as the olives, there’s a lot of hidden oil in here.
• Caesar salad – the croutons, grated cheese and Caesar dressing all add up!
• Mediterranean salad – while this salad is bursting with Free Foods, it’s topped with feta cheese and splashed with a lemon and oil based dressing. Request your salad without dressing and count the feta as your Healthy Extra to reduce the Syns.

At Nando’s there are lots of saucy additions available to go with your meal. While perinaise is 5 Syns per level tbsp and chilli jam is 3 Syns per level tbsp, the peri-peri sauces are only ½ Syn per level tbsp so they’re a better option for adding flavour to your plate.
With a day of enjoying stacks of Free Food under your belt, and saving your Healthy Extras and Syns for the evening, it is possible to enjoy your meal at Nando’s and stay on track… but your choices are limited (and we haven’t included any drinks or desserts yet!).

If you’re hankering for Portuguese flavours – as well as guaranteeing that you can Food Optimise 100% for a great weight loss next week – you’ll find loads of spicy dishes in ourrecipe database, including peri-peri pork and peri-peri prawns

tweets

dini wrote: »

So last night went to group, felt ok, thoght i'd have a loss of 3 lbs, but in fact lost 7lbs, got my stone award and slimmer of the week. So thats 3 weeks in.:eek:
Week 1: 8lbs;
week 2: 3lbs
and this week 7 .
I know I've a long way to go, 7 more stone, and the more you have to lose the more you lose initially but even so I'm a bit gobsmacked.
I'm hoping for a 1lb loss next week cos I don't expect to keep this sort of momentum up. 2 at a time would be fine. Big losses kind of scare me.

Nice to see everyone else's stories, and glad to hear about Nandos syns. I love Nandos. especially the spiced fries. Ahem.

Good Morning

:eek: Well done on your weight loss so far

Talking of Nandos I have been once DS treated me when he graduated from university :T I wasn't Healthy Eating then so probably scoffed loads of syns and food :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

tweets

Found this while googling various SW links

Hope it helps those who going it alone like me

lushlifesaver

maman wrote: »

lush, I think Melba toasts are excellent for savoury snacks. I particularly liked the wholegrain ones from Sainsbury's. They are just half a syn each and if you have a free topping then that's excellent. I've been enjoying cottage cheese, ham or smoked salmon (YS bits) with sliced cornichons or beetroot on top. Not sure if you like cornichons (Lidl do lovely ones) but I can eat them on their own straight from the jar.

joedenise wrote: »

Lush - agree with Maman Melba toasts are nice to snack on with a free topping, although while I've still got the Apericubes I tend to have those on them. I have the mini melba toasts which come in little packs of 6 for 3.5 syns.

Thank you both, must admit I've never tried melba toast! I will add them to the shopping list to enjoy with cottage cheese/ham/pineapple etc


Thanks for those pics tweets will use then to add some super speeds to the shopping list

beanielou

Great pics thanks lantana.

Gpuk

Hi everyone, had a naughty day yesterday and had lunch at pizza hut.....I blame my son lol. I would usually have 4 or 5 pieces from the buffet but found I could only just manage 3! Anyway back on it today, lunch at subway as we are out but will have the Turkey salad. Hope everyone's week is going well

lantanna

Never heard of a Horned Melon before!!! :eek::eek::rotfl:

tweets

lushlifesaver wrote: »

Thank you both, must admit I've never tried melba toast! I will add them to the shopping list to enjoy with cottage cheese/ham/pineapple etc


Thanks for those pics tweets will use then to add some super speeds to the shopping list

I have tried Melba toast many moons ago and like them.

I have just added them to the shopping list.

Watching Jeremy Kyle then taking Poppy walkies and after going to Tesco.

tweets

lantanna wrote: »

Never heard of a Horned Melon before!!! :eek::eek::rotfl:

That's what I thought so had to Google one

maman

dini wrote: »

So last night went to group, felt ok, thoght i'd have a loss of 3 lbs, but in fact lost 7lbs, got my stone award and slimmer of the week.

That's amazing dini! Well done!:T


Thanks for all the info tweets and lantanna. It really helps to revisit what's Speed food but I don't think I'll be going for a horny melon any time soon!:rotfl:


Does anyone keep a record of their meal plans? I tend to follow mine through the week and then throw it away on shopping day and start again. I thought I might start keeping them partly to have variety but also to give me ideas when I'm stuck for something different. Meal plan might sound a bit grand, all I use is a tiny piece of paper (torn off my shopping list) with 7 (or fewer if I'm out) dinners written down.;)


I've had my SW breakfast (baked beans on HEB toast), out for off plan lunch and then DH is eating out tonight so I can indulge myself for dinner. I'm thinking egg, chips, mushrooms and pickled onions.:D