Today I would like to teach you a little bit about reading the nutrition info from a restaurant's website and making that information work for you. Remember, this blog is intended to empower YOU, the reader, to make decisions and choices based on the most current information and tools available - so that you have the best chance for an active, long life.
So we are going to use the chart featured here. I realize it may be hard to see. You can go straight to the source and view this, however, it will not have my highlights there.
So let me explain. This is the nutrition information that Panera Bread offers for its Mediterranean Salmon Salad. (we just talked about the Mediterranean Diet so this was a good example! It is also what I am having for lunch tomorrow)
Most health experts now recommend that we eat small, but frequent meals, as many as six a day - according to the Cleveland Clinic. I will let you see what they have to say as well, click here. Note their words - small, frequent meals mean JUST THAT. The USA Today Weight Loss challenge notes that most of the dieters are consuming 1500 to 1800 cals a day, so divide that number by six and if all the meals were even, all would be UNDER that 480 calorie Salmon Salad. There is no hard and fast rule about that however. Breakfast might be 200-400 calories with plenty of fiber and some meals may instead be 100 calorie snacks, but the best thing about the chart printed here is that you can use it to see which of the calories are BENEFICIAl and which bring along things you could do without - like extra sodium. Hence, my highlights.
Let me explain - as by the time I was done picking my choices, I had a 180 calorie salad!
Things to look for in a food label, good and bad, are fats (saturated, trans and unsaturated), protein, sodium, fiber, sugar and maybe cholesterol, but that is usually not as important as saturated and trans fats.
In this entree we can see that protein is good overall. Sodium is too high and for that reason I would leave out those poor olives, only 35 calories but almost 600 mg of sodium. Salmon does have some sodium naturally, but not this much - they must glaze the fillet. Saturated fat is only concerning for the cheese, but if you are watching saturated fat, that might be something to leave off. Notice that the almonds and salmon are high in poly or monounsaturated fats - (subtract the saturated fat from the total fat and that is how you know) . The remaining are the fats that give us the health promoting Omega 3s! There is too much sugar in this salad. A total of 19 grams. A food is considered a healthy choice if it has less than 8 g of added sugar. Now some of the sugar comes from oranges but a lot comes from the dressing. The dressing by the way is high in calories as well. I am going to use my own dressing.
I like that this chart has caffeine content included. There is none in this meal. I like that the meal does not have any TFAs! I am looking forward to my lunch tomorrow.
If you have the opportunity to look at a food this thoroughly you can certainly order your meal without items that don't meet your best health needs. Of course, a recent review of online and restaurant menus showed some significant under reporting in calorie content, so this is all to be taken as a "more or less" figure.
Bon Appetit!
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