MelanieC
<font color=blue>BL II - Blue Team<br><font color=
- Joined
- Sep 28, 1999
- Messages
- 11,928
I want to create restaurant lists that are more detailed for both Weight Watchers & Atkins. I have the restaurant info from Dotti's Weight Loss Zone & Diet Fact.com, but what is listed for Restuarants (not fast food) is so incomplete. Most restaurants do not give nutritional info unless something is considered Low Fat.
Going to restaurants scares most people, but lately I have noticed it can be done. Restaurants are warming up to substituting items, which will allow us to be able to gear items to both Weight Watchers & Atkins.
I am going to be working one restaurant at a time. I am starting with Applebees since I had dinner there last night and I brought home a TO GO menu. I want to maybe include items for people on Weight Watchers & another Section for if you are on Atkins
The reason I have decided to do this is that the menu options that already have points listed are few and far between for most restaurants. Last night I was looking through the menu, and I missed a few items that I could have had with some thought and subsitutions. A couple sitting across from us, who was talking to an employee that he knew was eating salmon and the the woman was eating a Turkey breast sandwich. Both looked low fat, and they mentioned that they were eating HEALTHY. As I ate my low fat Chicken Quesadilla, I started thinking about things that I missed on the menu because I was so focused on what I knew what low points already.
Most menu items are fairly easy to break apart, but when you are sitting at a restaurant and the waiter or waitress is bugging you to order, you feel pressured. You don't have the time while sitting there to look up everything individually.
Here is where I need help..........Would anyone be interested in forming a sort of TASK FORCE - for working on this project. I would need imput from people who have eaten different menu items as to what exactly is in it. I would need help from people doing both Weight Watchers and Atkins. We could even e-mail the companies and ask for what the ingredients are. I know that most do not give nutritional info, but I would imagine most would be able to tell you what goes in the item (MAYBE?).
This morning, with my wheels rolling I pulled out a piece of paper and got busy. Here are some ideas......
The oriental chicken salad is one of my favorites - but is very fattening. If you substituted the blackened chicken instead of the fried, had the almonds, crispy noodles & dressing on the side. You could control how much of the fattening stuff to put on your salad. (Almonds 22 nuts, 1 oz = 4 pts & crispy noodles 1/2 cup =3pts) If you used half of each of those amounts, and dipped your fork in the salad you could significantly lower the points in the salad by ALOT.
If you took some of the sandwiches and subsituted the fries for:
plain white rice, rice pilaf with almonds (higher points), small amount of salad on your plate w/dressing on side and no croutons.
They have a few low fat options, they have FF cheese. There are so many possibilities. My goal is to come up with a list of things that you could eat, and things you could subsitute to have a wonderful ON PROGRAM meal, and still loose weight.
Is anyone game? I am hoping to find a few people who want to work (possibly via e-mail or PM). This would not be an exact science as we are not a lab and cannot guarantee exact nutritional information. It would be more of a guide, and an approx. I feel that we are not on DIETS, but rather are working on a new way of life. Which means we will always have days that we eat OUT. This is something we have to do for the rest of our lives.
Melanie
Going to restaurants scares most people, but lately I have noticed it can be done. Restaurants are warming up to substituting items, which will allow us to be able to gear items to both Weight Watchers & Atkins.
I am going to be working one restaurant at a time. I am starting with Applebees since I had dinner there last night and I brought home a TO GO menu. I want to maybe include items for people on Weight Watchers & another Section for if you are on Atkins
The reason I have decided to do this is that the menu options that already have points listed are few and far between for most restaurants. Last night I was looking through the menu, and I missed a few items that I could have had with some thought and subsitutions. A couple sitting across from us, who was talking to an employee that he knew was eating salmon and the the woman was eating a Turkey breast sandwich. Both looked low fat, and they mentioned that they were eating HEALTHY. As I ate my low fat Chicken Quesadilla, I started thinking about things that I missed on the menu because I was so focused on what I knew what low points already.
Most menu items are fairly easy to break apart, but when you are sitting at a restaurant and the waiter or waitress is bugging you to order, you feel pressured. You don't have the time while sitting there to look up everything individually.
Here is where I need help..........Would anyone be interested in forming a sort of TASK FORCE - for working on this project. I would need imput from people who have eaten different menu items as to what exactly is in it. I would need help from people doing both Weight Watchers and Atkins. We could even e-mail the companies and ask for what the ingredients are. I know that most do not give nutritional info, but I would imagine most would be able to tell you what goes in the item (MAYBE?).
This morning, with my wheels rolling I pulled out a piece of paper and got busy. Here are some ideas......
The oriental chicken salad is one of my favorites - but is very fattening. If you substituted the blackened chicken instead of the fried, had the almonds, crispy noodles & dressing on the side. You could control how much of the fattening stuff to put on your salad. (Almonds 22 nuts, 1 oz = 4 pts & crispy noodles 1/2 cup =3pts) If you used half of each of those amounts, and dipped your fork in the salad you could significantly lower the points in the salad by ALOT.
If you took some of the sandwiches and subsituted the fries for:
plain white rice, rice pilaf with almonds (higher points), small amount of salad on your plate w/dressing on side and no croutons.
They have a few low fat options, they have FF cheese. There are so many possibilities. My goal is to come up with a list of things that you could eat, and things you could subsitute to have a wonderful ON PROGRAM meal, and still loose weight.
Is anyone game? I am hoping to find a few people who want to work (possibly via e-mail or PM). This would not be an exact science as we are not a lab and cannot guarantee exact nutritional information. It would be more of a guide, and an approx. I feel that we are not on DIETS, but rather are working on a new way of life. Which means we will always have days that we eat OUT. This is something we have to do for the rest of our lives.
Melanie
