Decisions, Decisions -- The Battle of the Tempting Foods (Part 3)

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.]

8. Pita: Gyro or Falafel?
At a Greek or Middle Easter sandwich shop, should you get the gyro (a blend of lamb and beef) or the falafel (fried chickpea patties?)

Decisions: Go with the falafel. The gyro had more saturated fat, more calories, and (usually) more sodium than the falafel -- or chicken or vegetable sandwich fillings --- on most menus.

Take Daphne's, a "California-fresh" West Coast chain with 56 restaurants that lists calories on its menus and Nutrition Facts on its Web site. The Classic Pita sandwich has 660 calories and 16 grams (more than three-quarters of a day's supply) of saturated fat if you fill it with Fresh-Carved Gyros, but 510 calories and 4 grams of sat fat if you fill it up with Falafel. They Gyro's 1,025 mg of sodium also tops the Falafel's 860 mg.

Ditto for the Classic Greek salad. You're talking 620 calories (and 20 grams of sat fat) for the Gyro version versus 540 calories (and 8 grams of sat fat) for the Falafel. And those numbers don't include the dressing (60 calories for the Greek lite or 110 calories for the Classic Greek) or the pita (180 calories) and tzatziki sauce (50 sauce) that come on the side.

Tip: A salad or a pita sandwich with grilled chicken or vegetables trumps both the falafel and the gyro. 

9. Noodles or Rice?
At some Asian restaurants, you can choose rice or noodles (like lo mein) on the side. Which is best?

Decision: If you're talking about a side dish at a quick-order restaurant like Pei Wei or Manchu Wok, go with rice to save on sodium. At Pei Wei, for example, an order of egg noodles has 1,010 milligrams of sodium. At Manchu Wok, the lo mein noodles 850 mg and the Shanghai noodles will set you back 1,620 mg.

In contrast, steamed rice has essentially no sodium. And Pei Wei and some other chains offer brown rice, which has more fiber and vitamins that white. Just steer clear of the fried rice (800 to 1,200 mg of sodium). And watch our for the main-dish noodles.

Tip: Ask for a side dish of vegetables instead of rice or noodles. The sodium (about 500 mg) isn't low, but the veggies have fewer calories (about 100) that the rice or noodles (300 to 400). And the vegetables' potassium may counter the load of sodium in the rest of your Asian food.

10. Pad Thai or Pad Pak?
Pad Thai is wildly popular. Most people have never heard of Pad Pak. Which is best?

Decision: Pad Pak --- stir fried vegetables with chicken, shrimp, or tofu and a small side of rice --- wins, hands down. That's because Pad Thai --- rice noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, egg, tofu, and crushed peanuts --- is such bad news.

At Pick Up Stix, for example, the Chicken Pad Thai has 1,480 calories and 4,300 milligrams of sodium. At Pei Wei, the calories (even for the Vegetable & Tofu Pad Thai) hover around 1,500, and the sodium rounds to a hard-to-believe 5,000 mg --- enough for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Somehow Pad Thai still has a decent reputation. People who would never order an entree of fried rice don't flinch at a plate consisting largely of oil soaked rice noodles. Yet Pei Wei's and Pick Up Stix's Pad Thais are worse than an entree of their fried rice with chicken, shrimp, or beef.

We estimate that the Pad Pak at most Thai restaurants has 400 to 500 calories (plus another 300 for every 1.5 cups of rice you eat). Sodium is hard to estimate.

Tip: Beware of curry dishes at Thai restaruants. Their coconut can easily supply a day's saturated fat.

11. Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt?
Does Pinkberry or TCBY beat a scoop of Ben & Jerry's or Haagen-Dazs?

Decision: Frozen yogurt wins. Even a single (half-cup) scoop of premium ice cream have about 10 grams of saturated fat. Frozen yogurt has anywhere from 0 to 2 grams per half cup.

But if you're not careful, your frozen yogurt could have as much calories as that single scoop of ice cream (250 to 300). That's the case with a 1.25 cup) regular soft-serve frozen yogurt TCBY or medium Pinkberry, for example.

Then comes the toppings. At Pinkberry, where employees do the scooping, calories range from 10 (fresh fruit) to 50 (nuts or chocolate chips) to 100 (peanut butter crunch)...if they stick to the tiny one-tablespoon scoop. At a self-serve chain, all bets are off. Topping your two-cup (16 oz) serving of fat-free chocolate with one scoop each of nuts, chips, and Nutella could rack up to 650 calories. Oops.

Tips: Order a "kids" or "mini" size (about 0.5 cup) to keep the calories down around 100, and stick to fresh fruit toppings.

--- this article was taken from the November 2013 issue of "Nutrition Action"