What restaurants don't want you to know

by Maggie Vink (Subscribe to Maggie Vink's posts)
Mar 13th 2008 10:00AM

Not too long ago I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with my sister. I substituted veggies for my fries and ordered a meal that I thought would be on the lighter side. There was no nutrition info on the menu so I was flying blind. When I got home, I popped on their web site and took a peek. The meal that I didn't think was too bad calorie-wise? It totaled 918 calories and 60 grams of fat.

Sometimes it's hard to eat light when you're out and about. Even salads and veggies can have a crazy high calorie content depending on how they're prepared. If a restaurant doesn't provide the full nutrition information, how are you supposed to know? Your best bet is to be prepared. Check out the restaurant's web site before you go out to eat. You can also ask the server if they have nutrition information -- even if they don't post it on the menu they sometimes have it available by request.

Men's Health has a list of 16 restaurant shockers. Some of the items that made my jaw drop were Outback's Aussie Cheese Fries which have 2,900 calories and Dunkin Donuts fruit-and-yogurt smoothies with at least 60 grams of sugar. Want to be even more shocked? Check out the 20 Worst Foods in America.

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Comments (5)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Judy 3-13-2008 @ 11:14AM

We rarely eat out. We might go to a sit-down restaurant once a month, and to some sort of fast-food (usually a local place where we get breakfast tacos and the food is all made right there) a couple more times a month.

Part of the reason for that is so on those rare occasions, I can eat *whatever* I want. I figure if I'm only doing it once a month or so, then even if I have a 1,000 calorie meal, it's not going to hurt that much. Also, since I'm not used to eating that much food at once, when we do it, I usually don't end up eating that much in a day.

If people would just eat out less often, then the actual calorie counts of those meals wouldn't matter so much. But I do agree that nutrition information should always be available at the restaurant if it is a chain of any kind.

Maggie Vink 3-13-2008 @ 11:34AM

Great points, Judy. We have so much more control over what goes in our mouths when we eat at home.

Thanks for reading!

Heather 3-13-2008 @ 3:09PM

Eating vegs or salad instead of the fries may still have a high calorie intake but you are getting better calories. The calories that you are taking in have a nutrient content to them instead of eating low density nutritent food such as the fries. But eat what makes you happy!

marisa 3-15-2008 @ 4:08PM

Also, don't be afraid to ask the server, especially if she is a girl. I used to work at Ruby Tuesday's and sometimes when i could tell the person ordering was trying to make a wise choice, I would say something like, "That broccoli is cooked in butter, but I can have that steamed dry for you." It's hard to know when to say this because I didnt' want to offend anyone, but if someone asked we often get into a lengthy conversation about menu items. Obviously working there for years I pretty much had the nutritionals memorized!

Fash 3-17-2008 @ 10:24AM

As an eater, you should know to ask the server that your veggies be prepared sans butter or oil, etc if your goal is calorie counting.

As a waitperson, I think the comment above is smart. Another tactful way to clue in the customer is to simply ask if they want the veggies steamed or sauteed in butter or whatever. It's a legit question and that way there are no surprises when the meal comes.