French Toast Compare

    My last post highlighted research that supports the idea that restaurant meals, in general and regardless of type (quick service, fast casual, sit down, chain or independent) contain excessive amounts of calories.  Recall that one study showed how eating all  3 main meals at restaurants, would lead someone to consume 1000 extra calories a day.
   
   Well I love to cook and show off my talent for calorie reduction so lets compare my french toast breakfast to two others.  One from IHOP and one for Denny's. 

   IHOP has several versions of French Toast.  One of them is called  Simple and Fit - so we can expect that one to be their least caloric version.  Some versions have over 800 calories!  You can check them all here. 
The Simple and Fit, shown below has 490 cals and 23 g of sugar.
   

  Denny's has a Fit Fare section on its menu, but doesn't include French Toast there.  Just in case your curious, they do have Fit Fare pancakes - how fit?  Not so much...780 calories.  Interestingly, that is the SAME amount of calories in their one French Toast dish.  See below.

    So how does the French Toast meal from Deirdre's Kitchen compare?  Quite exceptionally - I'd say... calorie and sugar wise.  None of these meals could be considered faultless.  For example, mine uses processed sugar free products  (Walden's Farms) and bread that isn't whole grain.  That being duly noted, we are talking about low calorie and low sugar today and so I WIN! 
 (with < 200 calories for my whole meal)

To be fair, this is a picture of a real plate of food that I quickly ate.
I did not use a food picture editor -or stage this with fake food!

   French Toast, Egg Beaters, Strawberries, and a Cereal Bar.  

  Find more ideas on my You Tube Channel.

Order UP!

....because we do not get enough calories or convenience in our every day lives.

   A researcher in NC compared the average amount of calories per meal (from a pizza joint) between people who ordered in person at the restaurant and those who placed their orders on line.
I have not read his study, but it is on the list.
   The result of his study was that the meals ordered on line had more calories on average than the ones ordered in person.
The researcher, Dr. Ryan McDevitt, collected information on over 150,000 pizza orders from one restaurant during 4 years.  He found that ordering on line led to more expensive meals with more calories.  I do not know how many more calories or how real the difference was, but I do have a counter point to his idea of WHY this might be happening.
   In a WSJ article, he was reported as saying that people ordering on line might be less likely to feel social pressure to curtail their calories.  Instead they would be less restrained or inhibited.
My comment to him - and I did email him - 

"What?!? Pressure to eat LESS - in the SOUTH?" 

I think that the pizza coupons, TV ads, in store promotions and your friends telling you  "everything in moderation" (which is code for go ahead and eat it) pressures us all to eat more - right out in the open.
   My thoughts on his results?  Glad you asked.  People ordering on line have more TIME to find things to add to their pizza.  I do need to read the study because I do not know if there is a difference in side items ordered, or if he even looked at that.  Imagine all the calories in those dessert breads and stuffed bread sticks and dips and such.
   Seriously, I do see his point.  Some of us do not want to over indulge in front of our friends or family.  Which makes me think that to go orders would be higher in calories than orders eaten on site... esp. if you can order on line and have it delivered to you... because hey, why waste calories going to get it!