Rant About Restaurant Menus

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Warning: Rant about Restaurants towards the middle of this post.

Saturday morning started fantastically with French Toast.

What I used:

• 2 pieces of Whole Wheat Bread
• 1/4 cup Vanilla Soy Milk
• 1 Egg
• Tsp Cinnamon
• Tsp Vanilla Extract

On Top:

• Spoonful of Strawberry Chobani
• Tsp of Real Maple Syrup
• 1/2 Banana on side.

Amazing! I love making french toast! I also love real maple syrup. I hate when diners give you the little packets of fake syrup and the first ingredient is HFCS. That stuff hurts my stomach immediately after I use it  even if I only use a tiny bit.

Lunch was leftover Ricotta & Spinach Tortelloni from Friday night.

And then I attempted to do this DVD:

And died a little. I only did abut 15 minutes of it because I was pressed for time. I somehow managed to hurt my back in 15 minutes. I’m fine now- did some yoga to stretch it out. I got this dvd at the library and I think it’s the second part of another workout because Jillian just kind of expected me to know what the heck she was doing. Silly Jillian. When I was done, I proceeded to lay flat on the floor until my abs stopped burning.

Saturday night was so much fun.  Can you believe that Jeff and I have been dating for almost 4 and a 1/2 years and our parents just met on Saturday?!?!?

We went to P.F. Chang’s in White Plains for dinner and had a wonderful time.

Rant Time:

When we got to the restaurant, I noticed that Westchester is following in NYC’s footsteps by adding calories to their menus. I was happy and unhappy at the same time. Happy because I’m glad that now people are able to make somewhat healthier decisions when they dine out. Unhappy because calories are not the only thing people should consider when trying to eat healthfully. There’s also fat and sodium- neither of which were posted on the menu. I rarely count calories anymore. I used to when I first started to lose weight but then I started to listen to my body and focus more on how I felt.  And don’t get me wrong- I know that eating out is about enjoying yourself and not worrying so much about nutrition. If I want to eat something- I’m going to eat it and not feel bad about it because that’s just my mentality now.

I wrote a story for my journalism class about the NYC law to add nutrition facts to  menus last semester. The plain and simple truth is that most restaurants don’t want you  to know what they’re putting in your food. Even if it means that you are consuming more fat than you need in an entire day. Or more sodium than you would need in two.  That being said, I think that it is completely misleading to only include calories on the menu.  It’s like the boxes in a grocery store that brag that they are low in fat but don’t mention that they are high in sugar.  Or the nutrition labels that state that the product has 0% Trans Fat but list partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list.  (Thank goodness for NuVal)

A year ago, if something was advertised as low in calories but high in everything else, I would  have been all over it. But it wasn’t helping me lose weight or feel better about myself. It just really bothers me that companies and restaurants can get a way with being so deceptive and not even care about it.  It bothers me to think that someone who may be just starting out trying to lose weight can sit down at P.F. Chang’s and assume that they are ordering a healthy meal just because of the calories.

Like I said, I’m all for eating out, enjoying the experience, and not worrying about so much about the nutrition information. I am happy with my body and especially since I’ve started practicing yoga, I’ve been more in tune with it. I know that overindulging  once in a while won’t ruin everything that I’ve worked for. I just wish companies and restaurants would care more about the food that they are selling to people.

I’m sure now that by ending this rant, I’ve reached the word requirement for an essay I could turn in to one of my classes (maybe I will!). I just needed to get it off my chest.

Rant Over.

Now that I’ve written a book, let’s get back to Saturday night. (heheee)

I ordered the Stir-Fried Eggplant:

Before

After

Tossed with Scallions in a Savory Chili Pepper Sauce with Brown Rice on the side. (Delicious)

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the nutrition information for my dish on the website. Here is is:

Serving Size, Servings Per Dish, Calories Per Serving, Fat,  Saturated Fat, Sodium, Carbs, Protein, Fiber

Not too bad!

Ate This Times 2

Plus this:

Fried Pork Dumpling + Unpictured Veggie Dumpling

And of course this:

Carrot Cake in a Shot Glass- Wahoo

Drank wayyyy too much Dragon Eye Oolong:

Safflower, Peach, Apricot

…and had to pee 7 times (sorry for the details) (no I’m not)

Don't Even Think About Stealing My Lucky Numbers!

How do you feel about nutrition information on menus?

Have a great Monday!!