Today I met up with a long time friend from college. One of our favorite places to grab lunch is Olive Garden. I mean who doesn't love their salad and breadsticks?! And you absolutely can't beat unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks for $6.99. I always choose that option, especially now more than ever, because I felt like the salad and the minestrone soup were healthy choices, and the breadsticks were okay as long as I limited myself to just one or two. Right?? WRONG!!
Today's valuable lesson learned was PLAN AHEAD. I will never go out to eat again without knowing the points value of a menu item that I will most likely get. When I arrived home from work today, I sat down to chart out my daily point intake. If I've gone to a restaurant, I get on that restaurant's website to locate the nutrition facts, and then I calculate the points value of each item. So I'm thinking, "I ate one serving of salad, one bowl of minestrone soup, and 1 and 1/2 breadsticks, and just a bite of my friends appetizer. I did pretty good, I think I have plenty of points leftover!" Boy, was I in for a shocker, because I about fell out of my desk chair. Just to warn you...lovers of Olive Garden salads who thought they were healthy...prepare to be bitterly disappointed. :( Just ONE serving of the salad (not the whole bowl they bring out, just a share of that bowl) has 350 calories and 26 grams of fat (9 points for those of you who speak WW)!! Yes, you read that correctly. One serving of that salad has almost the same nutritional value as a Quarter Pounder from McDonald's. I couldn't believe it! And that was coming straight from the source. I knew the salad came with dressing, but I never imagined the dressing would be that fatty! I mean, the dressing tastes like a vinegar/olive oil combination and I thought that was supposed to be better for you! On the contrary, a breadstick is 150 calories and 2 grams of fat (2 points on the WW system). So there you have it! The salad is actually far worse than the breadsticks! This was not an enlightenment I was thrilled about...I was also not thrilled about the fact that the fat-loaded salad was over 1/3 of my daily point allowance by itself. So, I had to go pound it off at the gym. 30 minutes of full out running ALMOST burned off the pesky side-item.
Wow...what a disappointment. Sorry to those who adore Olive Garden's salads. Ignorance is bliss...BUT ignorance also gives you love handles!
PS. I've been slack this week, but I'm planning on stopping by everyone's blogs Friday morning when I have some time off!
Be careful with Panera salads too. If it is an oil and vinegar dressing the oil would contribute a significant amount of fat. We went to olive garden last month and I too looked up the fat in a meal we had and I couldn't believe how much fat they could get into something so simple.
ReplyDeleteUgh...that totally stinks!!
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea they were that bad! I guess its all the dressing they thrown on it huh? Ill not get that again!
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy. That is why I will not waste my time on a pesky salad. If I don't fix it myself, which rarely happens, I will not eat it. Let's be honest, a quarter pounder tastes better! Miss seeing you at the gym :(
ReplyDeleteI love it, "Ignorance is bliss...BUT ignorance also gives you love handles!" - that should be a bumper sticker!!!
ReplyDeleteWell thanks for the facts about Olive Garden.... so the moral of the story is I can more breadsticks, j/k (=
Sorry it was a bummer, but I'm proud of you for working it off!
Boo.
ReplyDeleteGood job though. Accountability is winning the battle if you face your consequences. Even when we find out after the fact.
Great job for going to the gym to counteract the extra calories!
ReplyDeleteI love OG...when I'm skinny again I can enjoy that stuff. I don't go often enough to gain a lot of weight from it:)
BTW, did I miss the points/calories for the soup? How bad was that?
NOOOOOOO! I love their salad. I was even going to buy their dressing for my house. I'm going to go cry now :(
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