Sunday, March 13, 2011

Since I'm trying to get more exercise these days, I'm also trying to be a little more aware of what I eat. Generally I think I have a pretty healthy diet, except for my darn sweet tooth that is always letting me down, especially at night after the kids are in bed. So, for the most part, I am just trying to cut back on things like deciding to make brownies at 9:00 at night or trying to convince Steve to run to Sheridan's for some ice cream when I should probably be going to bed instead. With this in mind, last weekend when we were at Mimi's for breakfast, I decided that maybe I should order something instead of my usual eggs Benedict. I picked out something healthier, but then I started to think about how I would feel when Steve's eggs Benedict showed up along with my less-delicious breakfast, I wanted to make sure it was absolutely worth it before I went ahead and ordered something else. I was frantically trying to look up the calorie counts on some website on my phone while our server was taking our order, and in the end I couldn't find it in time, so I went ahead and ordered my wonderful eggs Benedict (which, of course, was unbelievably tasty).

After that experience, I found an app that lists the nutritional information for every single thing at pretty much every chain restaurant there is. I was excited to find that because I thought it would be pretty interesting. Um, no. Interesting, yes, and probably really for the best, but now that I know the nutritional information on some things I eat pretty regularly, I kind of wish I could go back to my previous happily ignorant state! There are three places where we go quite a bit - Jason's Deli, Cheesecake Factory, and Chik-Fil-A. At Cheesecake Factory, I order the Chicken Bellagio every single time because it is SO delicious. Well, now that I know that it has 1,981 calories (!) I can, sadly, never order it again. Also, as a general rule no one in our family ever orders fries at restaurants, and we really like Chik-Fil-A because they have good options of fruit and yummy coleslaw instead of fries. I love their coleslaw and usually finish my own little cup as well as any leftovers that my family members do not finish of their own. I will not be doing this anymore, either, because one teeny tiny cup of coleslaw has 580 calories and 50 grams of fat! Jeez! We would be better off eating the fries! Lastly, every time we go to Jason's Deli we order our own things, but then always order a Plain Jane for everyone to share. A Plain Jane is a humongous baked potato that is loaded with everything that makes baked potatoes delicious - butter, sour cream, bacon, and cheese. Obviously, I knew it couldn't be good but split between the five of us, how bad could it be, right? Turns out, bad. Really, really bad. One Plain Jane baked potato has - are you ready for this - 2,291 calories and 146 grams of fat! So. I'm not sure if the lesson here is that you should try and find out the nutritional information for the stuff you get at restaurants, or if you shouldn't because they might end up being ruined for you forever!

Our weekend so far has been kind of a bummer. Emma has been really sick with a high fever and all day yesterday and all night last night she has gone back and forth between sleeping fitfully and crying because she is so hot and miserable. I don't remember her ever having a fever like this, but I hope it goes away soon. I feel terrible for her, and am also disappointed that we have not been able to do the fun stuff we had planned for this weekend.

And, just so this isn't yet another picture-less post, here is a picture of Allie in a dress that she has been wearing for four days now. I bought the girls matching dresses at Costco and I am glad that Allie likes her so much, although at some point I am going to have to wrestle it away from her because by now it's dirty enough that it's starting to gross me out a little bit!

8 comments:

Christina said...

So what's the APP!?!? I'd LOVE to know! Isn't it crazy how many calories are in the food we LOVE?!?! Ugh! Good girl for being more health conscious!!

Sarah said...

It's called Calorie Smart. It was 99 cents, but probably well worth it!

grandma bert said...

Oh my!!!!! The calorie count for that loaded baked potato just boggles my mind. Allie looks so pretty in her dress.

Laura said...

It's so sweet when the girls want to match clothes!

Wow, that app sounds full of info. I would not have guessed any of those #s to be so high. I find it amazing what the food service industry offers us as 'good food.' If people really knew what was in their food (or where it came from), would they make the same choices?

Mom said...

Gosh, if I knew how to get apps, I would get that one! I also feel mind-boggled, about the calories and fat, Mom. No wonder Americans have so much trouble staying thin, and no wonder they don't want to put nutrition information on their menus!

Nicki said...

I found out my favorite sandwich at panera has 1000 calories in it! A freaking turkey sandwich!

Allison said...

That is one cute dress!

So will you be joining me for fries next time? Please do not tell me how many calories or fat grams are in the broccoli cheese soup. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! ;-)

Deanna said...

You didn't share how many calories and fat were in the Eggs Benedict :-)