So I'm meeting another family for a play date at McDonalds. I know it's not healthy but it's not like the kids eat there often. I already feel guilty about it, I hope no one bashes me here for taking the kids there to eat.
In any case, I'll have to eat too. I planned ahead and looked at the nutritional info and think I'll go for the Asian salad w grilled chicken and dressing with either a yogurt parfait or apple slices.
Suggestions welcomed.
Playdate at McDonald's --- What should I eat?
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gettheweightoff
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Blithe Morning
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Is the salad and yogurt what you want to eat? Or are you picking it out just because you are still dieting?
As long as you are eating a meal there and not a snack eat what you want as long as it not more than plateful. You'll have to skip the soda pop, though.
If you are worried about the plate size, cut a piece of string the same length as the circumference of your regular dinner plate. Circle up the string and put your McDonald's food on it. Whatever fits, you eat. Whatever doesn't fit, you don't eat.
I fear that your lingering case of Diet Head has taken some of what we've been saying about food quality and layering it onto the rules. A Big Mac and regular fries, believe it or not, is allowed on No S and not as an S day treat either.
As long as you are eating a meal there and not a snack eat what you want as long as it not more than plateful. You'll have to skip the soda pop, though.
If you are worried about the plate size, cut a piece of string the same length as the circumference of your regular dinner plate. Circle up the string and put your McDonald's food on it. Whatever fits, you eat. Whatever doesn't fit, you don't eat.
I fear that your lingering case of Diet Head has taken some of what we've been saying about food quality and layering it onto the rules. A Big Mac and regular fries, believe it or not, is allowed on No S and not as an S day treat either.
I agree with Blithe Morning. I don't often go to McDonald's (as in I don't remember the last time I was there), but, nine times out of ten when I do, I want a double cheeseburger with fries and a Coke. And that's what I have. As long as it fits on the plate, it's okay.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
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NoelFigart
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Make that three.
No, Mickey D's is not the world's healthiest. And ya know? I don't eat it often enough to make a significant difference. Don't sweat it for once in awhile.
No, Mickey D's is not the world's healthiest. And ya know? I don't eat it often enough to make a significant difference. Don't sweat it for once in awhile.
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My blog https://noelfigart.com/wordpress/ I talk about being a freelance writer, working out and cooking mostly. The language is not always drawing room fashion. Just sayin'.
My blog https://noelfigart.com/wordpress/ I talk about being a freelance writer, working out and cooking mostly. The language is not always drawing room fashion. Just sayin'.
I personally don't eat restaurant salads anymore. Why not? Because I don't particularly like salad, at least not without a fair amount of dressing to mask the taste, and at that point a restaurant salad just isn't that great for you. So what is the point (for me of course, YMMV 
) of consuming just as many calories for something that I don't really enjoy? Plus, when I used to eat salad, I used to *feel* like I was eating healthier, so I'd let myself eat other less healthy things as a reward or something. Net result: I ate even more and gained more weight. As part of this diet, I've stopped choosing supposedly healthy foods over what I really want to eat - and I've lost weight. That doesn't mean I always eat crap, just that I don't force myself to eat food I don't want in the name of health.
So my point?
Get what YOU *want* to eat, not what you think is healthiest. And if that's the salad, then order the salad and *enjoy* it. Don't feel guilty about. If it's a burger, order a burger. If you are concerned about calories/portion size, just make sure you get the smallest size available for what you are ordering or only eat half.
My biggest trick for eating out has been to eat more slowly, so that I notice when I get full. It's trickier with fast food, but I try to focus on slowing down, enjoying being out, and making the meal last.
) of consuming just as many calories for something that I don't really enjoy? Plus, when I used to eat salad, I used to *feel* like I was eating healthier, so I'd let myself eat other less healthy things as a reward or something. Net result: I ate even more and gained more weight. As part of this diet, I've stopped choosing supposedly healthy foods over what I really want to eat - and I've lost weight. That doesn't mean I always eat crap, just that I don't force myself to eat food I don't want in the name of health. So my point?
Get what YOU *want* to eat, not what you think is healthiest. And if that's the salad, then order the salad and *enjoy* it. Don't feel guilty about. If it's a burger, order a burger. If you are concerned about calories/portion size, just make sure you get the smallest size available for what you are ordering or only eat half.
My biggest trick for eating out has been to eat more slowly, so that I notice when I get full. It's trickier with fast food, but I try to focus on slowing down, enjoying being out, and making the meal last.
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)
Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)
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gettheweightoff
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Thanks so much guys.
I actually really craved the asian salad with a yogurt parfait. In my diet head I have stayed away from a salad w dressing because it would have been too fattening and the yogurt had too many calories and sugar in it for me then. Today that's what I craved.
BUT... Here's what happened --- best laid plans and all...
We ended up eating late after chasing after the kids and when I went to order they didn't have any salad and they were out of the yogurt... what to do... what to do...
Being frazzled from the kids taking off, being so hungry cuz I ate an hour later than I normally do now I ordered the mini asian grilled chicken sandwich, ran over to the yogurt section of walmart to get a small yogurt and i felt like getting this jello cheesecake thing that i have always avoided and ate it, 2 apple slices, 2 spoonfuls of caramel sauce - all terrinbly sweet but very filling for some reason and that was dinner.
It was a virtual plate o crap!
Nutritious - Not.
Yummy - Definitely Not.
Filling - Yes
S-Worthy - No way
I did the best I could at the time.
I will mark this with a yellow on my habitcal.
Tomorrow is another day.
I actually really craved the asian salad with a yogurt parfait. In my diet head I have stayed away from a salad w dressing because it would have been too fattening and the yogurt had too many calories and sugar in it for me then. Today that's what I craved.
BUT... Here's what happened --- best laid plans and all...
We ended up eating late after chasing after the kids and when I went to order they didn't have any salad and they were out of the yogurt... what to do... what to do...
Being frazzled from the kids taking off, being so hungry cuz I ate an hour later than I normally do now I ordered the mini asian grilled chicken sandwich, ran over to the yogurt section of walmart to get a small yogurt and i felt like getting this jello cheesecake thing that i have always avoided and ate it, 2 apple slices, 2 spoonfuls of caramel sauce - all terrinbly sweet but very filling for some reason and that was dinner.
It was a virtual plate o crap!
Nutritious - Not.
Yummy - Definitely Not.
Filling - Yes
S-Worthy - No way
I did the best I could at the time.
I will mark this with a yellow on my habitcal.
Tomorrow is another day.
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Nicest of the Damned
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Salads aren't always the best thing to order from a chain restaurant, from a calorie standpoint. This is especially true if the salad has something like fried chicken in it. At McDonald's, the Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken has 430 calories, which is about the same as the 440 calories in a double cheeseburger. (Source: nutrition facts from mcdonalds.com)
It gets worse if you go to a sit-down chain restaurant. California Pizza Kitchen's Field Greens Salad might sound like a healthy choice, but a full order of it, with no meat or cheese, has 998 calories . Calorically, you'd be better off with half of any one of their pizzas (yes, even the Meat Craver's, steak tostada, or mushroom pepperoni sausage ones), or the four cheese ravioli with pomodoro cream sauce. (Source: nutrition information on cpk.com) I'm just comparing straight calories here, not sodium or any other nutrients.
The first takeaway here is that just because it's salad, doesn't mean it's necessarily low in calories, or that you don't have to worry about portion sizes. The second is that you shouldn't feel guilty about ordering something other than a salad at a restaurant, since the salad might in fact have more calories even than something else that sounds much higher in calories.
If you frequently eat at a particular chain restaurant, it might be worth your while to check any nutrition information they provide and see what's really high and low in calories, rather than going by what seems like it would be high and low. I don't think you need to consult the nutrition information every time you order, or memorize it, the way someone who counts calories might, but you should at least have an accurate general idea of what is high and low in calories.
If you really want a salad, eat a salad. But don't assume it's automatically the lowest-calorie thing on the menu, or that you don't need to worry about portion size because it's salad, or that it's good to eat a salad and bad to eat something other than a salad. Nor should you reward yourself with food for choosing a salad. That's too often one step forward and two steps back.
One tip I'd give you: The first few bites are almost always the best part of the eating experience, and your eyes are usually bigger than your stomach (or at least mine are). If something comes in more than one size, don't order the largest size. Order a medium, or a small. A small serving of anything that has calories is going to have fewer of them than a large serving. If it has fat, carbs, sodium, or sugar, a small is going to have less of it than a large. (This all assumes that the small and the large are prepared the same way, just different amounts)
It also looks to me, from this post and some others of yours, like you often have problems when you "eat late" (however that's defined for you). You might want to look at when and why that happens, and try to think of some ways to keep it from happening as often. Your problem might be scheduling, not food. You might need to put a higher priority on eating on your usual schedule, relative to the priority you give to getting other stuff done. Or at least you might need to do that for a little while, until No S seems more natural to you.
Edited to add: It might be enough for you to know that you tend to overeat when you're eating late. If you know that, you might be able to slow yourself down when you're reaching for more food, and say "whoa, Nelly, slow down, you know we always eat too much when we eat late" (or words to that effect). Awareness of what causes a problem can be a powerful tool for fixing the problem.
It gets worse if you go to a sit-down chain restaurant. California Pizza Kitchen's Field Greens Salad might sound like a healthy choice, but a full order of it, with no meat or cheese, has 998 calories . Calorically, you'd be better off with half of any one of their pizzas (yes, even the Meat Craver's, steak tostada, or mushroom pepperoni sausage ones), or the four cheese ravioli with pomodoro cream sauce. (Source: nutrition information on cpk.com) I'm just comparing straight calories here, not sodium or any other nutrients.
The first takeaway here is that just because it's salad, doesn't mean it's necessarily low in calories, or that you don't have to worry about portion sizes. The second is that you shouldn't feel guilty about ordering something other than a salad at a restaurant, since the salad might in fact have more calories even than something else that sounds much higher in calories.
This is common. It's called the "health halo" effect. People tend to underestimate the calories in something they think is "healthy", and to think that because they ordered something "healthy", they deserve a treat as well. It's especially dangerous if the seemingly healthy dish is high in calories. If you ate half a CPK pizza, you probably wouldn't think you should reward yourself with a dessert. You might think you should reward yourself with a dessert for eating a Field Greens Salad instead of pizza, even though the salad actually has more calories than the half pizza.Sienna wrote:when I used to eat salad, I used to *feel* like I was eating healthier, so I'd let myself eat other less healthy things as a reward or something.
If you frequently eat at a particular chain restaurant, it might be worth your while to check any nutrition information they provide and see what's really high and low in calories, rather than going by what seems like it would be high and low. I don't think you need to consult the nutrition information every time you order, or memorize it, the way someone who counts calories might, but you should at least have an accurate general idea of what is high and low in calories.
If you really want a salad, eat a salad. But don't assume it's automatically the lowest-calorie thing on the menu, or that you don't need to worry about portion size because it's salad, or that it's good to eat a salad and bad to eat something other than a salad. Nor should you reward yourself with food for choosing a salad. That's too often one step forward and two steps back.
One tip I'd give you: The first few bites are almost always the best part of the eating experience, and your eyes are usually bigger than your stomach (or at least mine are). If something comes in more than one size, don't order the largest size. Order a medium, or a small. A small serving of anything that has calories is going to have fewer of them than a large serving. If it has fat, carbs, sodium, or sugar, a small is going to have less of it than a large. (This all assumes that the small and the large are prepared the same way, just different amounts)
It also looks to me, from this post and some others of yours, like you often have problems when you "eat late" (however that's defined for you). You might want to look at when and why that happens, and try to think of some ways to keep it from happening as often. Your problem might be scheduling, not food. You might need to put a higher priority on eating on your usual schedule, relative to the priority you give to getting other stuff done. Or at least you might need to do that for a little while, until No S seems more natural to you.
Edited to add: It might be enough for you to know that you tend to overeat when you're eating late. If you know that, you might be able to slow yourself down when you're reaching for more food, and say "whoa, Nelly, slow down, you know we always eat too much when we eat late" (or words to that effect). Awareness of what causes a problem can be a powerful tool for fixing the problem.
I agree, Nicest, but I think if you eat away from home infrequently it's not so much of a problem. Obviously, if you eat out daily it's an issue.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
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gettheweightoff
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I usually prepare before I go out to eat at a chain restaurant (rare for me) by checking out the nutritional value on a website before I order. I'm not a fan of fried food in general so I never order that.
In this case a grilled chicken salad w dressing and the yogurt was about 470 calories which I think is perfectly fine for dinner (even though I'm not too strict about calories any more but I know the amount that tends to fill me up)
I got a bit stuck because McDonald's was out of the salad and the yogurt and my two year old was running around and I had to catch him before he took off and it was getting late for me - yes, definitely a problem and it usually happens on the weekend when things aren't as structured for me.
Thank you for your advice as I'll definitely be using it next time I run into the problem of going too long between meals.
Regarding my food choice, I just don't like McDonald's food. The french fries don't even appeal to me so there wasn't much for me to choose from. I do feel better after reading your posts that I can feel free to choose what I like to eat instead of what I think I should be ordering.
I think I did ok considering the circumstances and I was proud of myself that my hunger level didn't lead me to a binge and that I went and got myself an activia yogurt while waiting for my sandwich to be ready. The jello cheesecake wasn't the best, or most nutritious but I felt like it and it was an s-day afterall!
Now I know that if I am somewhere else like Licks or another burger place I can order a burger and fries without guilt and save the salad for a side!
In this case a grilled chicken salad w dressing and the yogurt was about 470 calories which I think is perfectly fine for dinner (even though I'm not too strict about calories any more but I know the amount that tends to fill me up)
I got a bit stuck because McDonald's was out of the salad and the yogurt and my two year old was running around and I had to catch him before he took off and it was getting late for me - yes, definitely a problem and it usually happens on the weekend when things aren't as structured for me.
Thank you for your advice as I'll definitely be using it next time I run into the problem of going too long between meals.
Regarding my food choice, I just don't like McDonald's food. The french fries don't even appeal to me so there wasn't much for me to choose from. I do feel better after reading your posts that I can feel free to choose what I like to eat instead of what I think I should be ordering.
I think I did ok considering the circumstances and I was proud of myself that my hunger level didn't lead me to a binge and that I went and got myself an activia yogurt while waiting for my sandwich to be ready. The jello cheesecake wasn't the best, or most nutritious but I felt like it and it was an s-day afterall!
Now I know that if I am somewhere else like Licks or another burger place I can order a burger and fries without guilt and save the salad for a side!
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Nicest of the Damned
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One solution, of course, is to eat out less, or to eat out at a particular restaurant less. Most Americans would probably save some money and lose some weight if they cut down on eating out. This is why I posted the "cookbooks for beginners" thread.wosnes wrote:I agree, Nicest, but I think if you eat away from home infrequently it's not so much of a problem. Obviously, if you eat out daily it's an issue.
I don't tend to eat out much, and when I do it's usually not at the kind of large chain restaurant that would post nutrition facts online. It wouldn't help me to worry much about eating at restaurants, since restaurant meals are such a small part of what I eat. This may change when I start working again and eating lunches out, and I'll probably come up with some rules for eating out when that happens.
There's a concept in computer science called Amdahl's Law. It says that, if a particular part of a program consumes 20% of the total running time, optimizing that particular part can't give you more than a 20% speedup overall. It applies to diets, too. If you get 20% of your calories at restaurants, you will only be able to reduce your calories 20% by changing what you do when you eat at restaurants (in the real world, less than that, since you're not going to skip those meals instead of eating them). It's not worth sweating the small stuff, in other words, because even a huge improvement in the small stuff is going to be a very small improvement overall.
As others have said, I wouldn't worry about this if it's a once in a while thing.
I'm fond of a big mac and fries, myself. But I go very infrequently. I'm not sure how I pulled this off, but it's possible my kids (6 and 3) may not even know what mcdonalds is.
If you find yourself at mcdonalds more often than you'd like, just try to come up with a better "default" for that situation. One example from my family: we travel from the Boston area to New York city semi-regularly. It's a long trip, and we almost always break for a meal on the road. But instead of opting for one of the ubiquitous fast food joints, we go to a great old-school deli we've discovered about half-way in Vernon connecticut. Not exactly health food (and not exactly cheap) but fresh and well prepared.
http://vernon.reinsdeli.com/ordereze/default.aspx
The name is pretty awesome, too.
Great rugelach too -- beats the pants off of Zabars' (S-days only, of course).
Is Deli healthier than fast food? Probably not, in terms of raw calories. But it's less dangerously convenient. My kids aren't going to start nagging me to drive them out to connecticut when I pick them up from school.
Reinhard
I'm fond of a big mac and fries, myself. But I go very infrequently. I'm not sure how I pulled this off, but it's possible my kids (6 and 3) may not even know what mcdonalds is.
If you find yourself at mcdonalds more often than you'd like, just try to come up with a better "default" for that situation. One example from my family: we travel from the Boston area to New York city semi-regularly. It's a long trip, and we almost always break for a meal on the road. But instead of opting for one of the ubiquitous fast food joints, we go to a great old-school deli we've discovered about half-way in Vernon connecticut. Not exactly health food (and not exactly cheap) but fresh and well prepared.
http://vernon.reinsdeli.com/ordereze/default.aspx
The name is pretty awesome, too.
Great rugelach too -- beats the pants off of Zabars' (S-days only, of course).
Is Deli healthier than fast food? Probably not, in terms of raw calories. But it's less dangerously convenient. My kids aren't going to start nagging me to drive them out to connecticut when I pick them up from school.
Reinhard
Wish we had that option, Reinhard. 
We have a rule in our house that McDonalds is allowed only on long car trips (ie to the country or another city), which means DD gets to go once or twice in the holidays if we're going somewhere.
She wants to go, and I figure she has to be able to fit in with the culture shared by her friends at school, etc, but clearly there have to be limits on visits. I'd never been into one till she arrived (they weren't really part of my youth - and they aren't as ubiquitous here as they might be in the States).
Another trick I found when she was younger was that you could buy the cheap toy quite cheaply by itself and avoid the happy meal.
Not meaning to be smug though - We do eat fast food from time to time. We sometimes get fish and chips from the local fish shop. Or I pick up BBQ chicken if I've not planned properly and need to provide something in a hurry. Sometimes we get it just because its nice not to have to cook!
We have a rule in our house that McDonalds is allowed only on long car trips (ie to the country or another city), which means DD gets to go once or twice in the holidays if we're going somewhere.
She wants to go, and I figure she has to be able to fit in with the culture shared by her friends at school, etc, but clearly there have to be limits on visits. I'd never been into one till she arrived (they weren't really part of my youth - and they aren't as ubiquitous here as they might be in the States).
Another trick I found when she was younger was that you could buy the cheap toy quite cheaply by itself and avoid the happy meal.
Not meaning to be smug though - We do eat fast food from time to time. We sometimes get fish and chips from the local fish shop. Or I pick up BBQ chicken if I've not planned properly and need to provide something in a hurry. Sometimes we get it just because its nice not to have to cook!
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Nicest of the Damned
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20 restaurant salads that are worse for you than a Whopper at Burger King:
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow ... se-whopper
http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slideshow ... se-whopper
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stonetoomany
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