A few years back, I was reading an issue of ""Nutrition Action" and I
came across an interesting article about fast food. This article framed
fast food in the context of "which is better?" I'm sure we've all been
in the situation where you are choosing between dishes, but you have no
idea which is healthier or if either is healthy.
Well, hopefully this article (Decisions, Decisions....Which Is Better?)
by Bonnie Liebman and Jayne Hurley will shed some light on those qualms!
[Note: Since the article is rather long, I will be cutting it up into 3 separate blog posts.]
5. Chinese: Beef or Chicken?
At a Chinese restaurant, are you better off ordering chicken or beef?
Decisions: It depends. If you order General Tso's, orange,
sesame, honey, kung pao, or some other breaded, fried, sauce-laden
chicken dish, you'll push away form the table with 1,000 to 1,200
calories...and that's without any rice, according to numbers from Pei
Wei, Pick Up Stix, and similar chains. That's more than beef with
broccoli and other unbreaded beef dishes, which have about 700 to 900
calorie without rice.
Chicken with black bean sauce, moo goo pai pan, or another unbreaded,
nonfried chicken dish, on the other hand, delivers only 600 to 700
calories...and (usually) more veggies. Szechuan and garlic shrimp are in
the same ballpark.
Just don't expect less sodium. Most entrees, even the lighter ones, pack
2,000 to 3,000 milligrams (1 to 2 days' worth). Add another 400 mg for
every packet (or teaspoon) of soy sauce you use.
And don't assume that vegetarian dishes are a calorie bargain. You're
fine with szechuan string beans or Buddha's delight (500 calories), but
eggplant in garlic sauce, stir-fried spinach or other greens, or curry
vegetables (blame the curry's coconut) hover around 1,000 calories
without rice. Even fried tofu with vegetables hits 800 to 1,000
calories. Save (at least) half for tomorrow's lunch.
Tip: Whatever you order, try skipping some of the rice. Brown
beats white, but both have about 300 calories in a typical 1.5 cup
serving. At some food courts, you could get 2 cups. That's 400 calories
you probably don't need.
6. Sandwich or Salad?
For many people, a sandwich is "the usual" lunch. Is a salad better?
Decision: A salad beats a sandwich, though you have to choose your salad wisely.
Take Panera. Most of its sandwiches (not the half sandwich in a You Pick
2) and paninis start out with 300 to 500 calories from the ciabatta,
french baguette, focaccia, tomato basil, honey wheat, or three cheese
bread. Who needs all that (mostly) white flour? The Sierra Turkey on
Asiago Cheese Focaccia gets 690 of its 820 calories from the focaccia
(510 cal) and the chipotle mayonnaise (180 cal).
Only a few breads, like sourdough, keep the calories down to 200. And
expect roughly 700 to 900 milligrams of sodium --- at least half a day's
worth --- from most of the breads alone. With fillings, most sandwiches
hit 600 to 900 calories and 1,000 to 2,500 mg of sodium.
In contrast, a full salad starts with greens (maybe even spinach) and
raw veggies. With dressing, chicken, cheese, and other usual add-ons,
the totals typically hit 400 to 600 calories. And the veggies' potassium
may counter some of the damage done by the sodium (700 to 1,500 mg).
Note: at Panera, you can skip ingredients like crispy wonton strips or
croutons, which have about 100 calories each. And you can save another
100 by using just half the dressing. Whatever you order, don't forget to
add 180 calories if you get a baguette on the side.
Tip: Wraps aren't much different from sandwiches. You're just trading the bread for a 300-calorie white-flour tortilla.
7. Pizza or Pasta?
Both pizza crust and pasta supply a load of (usually) white flour. And
most pizzas come with cheese. Which does the least damage?
Decision: This is a tough one. Both are located with calories,
carbs, sodium, and more. But at least with pasta, you can dodge the
saturated fat...if you're careful.
At California Pizza Kitchen, where each person typically order an entire
pizza, the calories hover around 1,000 for both pizza and pasta. (At
UNO Chicago Grill, single deep-dish pizzas range from 1,600 to 2,300
calories).
That's very true even for pizzas like the Original Hand-Tossed
California Veggie (1,070 calories) or the Pear + Gorgonzola (1,420).
Roughly half the calories come from the crust. CPK's (mostly white
flour) honey-wheat with whole grain crust adds 140 extra calories. And
most CPK pizzas deliver 15 to 25 grams of sat fat.
With pasta, you can cut the saturated fat way back (to just 4 or 5
grams)...if it has no cream, cheese, or meat. At CPK, that leaves only
Kung Pao Spaghetti. At most other chains, you can go with a red or white
clam, marinara, or pomodoro (that is, tomato) sauce.
But watch out. A pasta with cheese or meat is likely to reach at least
10 grams (half a day's worth) of saturated fat. Worse yet, a pasta with
cream sauce --- like CPK's Pesto Cream Penne or Garlic Cream Fettuccine
--- can hit 40-some grams of sat fat. Bring your defibrillator.
Sodium is another minefield. Expect 1,200 to 2,400 milligrams in a
typical pasta and (stroke alert!) 2,000 to 3,000 mg (1,000 from the
crust alone) in most pizzas.
Tip: A salad beats both pizza and pasta because you fill up on
veggies, not white flour. (Note: at CPK, even the salads have around
1,000 calories, so order a half salad.) If you want to leave with no
more fat cells that you brought, stick to a salad or split your pasta
(try the part-whole-grain multigrain penne) or pizza. Or take home half
for tomorrow.
--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"
