Natalie Butler: The last video I just did we talked about fast food restaurants. So the average American eats out four times a week. So because you watch the video and you are informed now, you decided to eat a little bit healthier, so you're going to go spend a little bit more money and eat at the sit down full service restaurant. You may think you are eating healthier but that's not necessarily the case, check this out.
Now I think everybody knows that fast food is bad for you, and even if you still are going to choose to eat that food, you know it's bad. But I think a lot of people have the misconception that going to a sit-down full-service restaurant is going to be better. Well, the national restaurants that we're going to be talking about these are chains, on their menu, some of these items are way worse than you would ever expect, I mean some of these items literally could be worst than the McDonald's value meal.
Now with this in perspective, I want to tell you what the requirements are for a male and female. Men, you need 2,400 calories a day. Now that is an average, so it'll vary a little bit based on your height, weight and age. But 2,400 calories average per day, a maximum or 80 grams of total fat and a maximum of 26 grams of saturated fat. Now women are lower, the average is 1,800 calories per day, a maximum of 60 grams of total fat and a maximum of 20 grams of saturated fat. Now these numbers are only if you are maintaining your weight. So if you are trying to loose weight, these are going to be lower. Now if you have any questions about what protein is, what carbohydrates are and you are confused or you know have questions, I did another video called understanding food and that'll explain it in more detail. So what kind of restaurants and what kind of foods are we talking about? Well, let's find out.
Romano's Macaroni Grill, they have an item called twice baked lasagna with meatballs. It packs 1,360 and 3,900 milligrams of sodium. Now the sodium that you need in a day is 2,400 milligrams. So in this one on tray, you are getting more than, you know, almost double of what you need. So you know I wonder hyper pressure is such a common problem. Then not only that, this item is equivalent to five pork chops and the fat in two McDonald's Big Macs.
The Cheesecake Factory; now a lot of people like to go there to get dessert. Well, they have lots of options. So say you are out with some friends and they are getting cheesecake and you want to choose a little bit healthier options, then you go for the carrot cake. Well, their carrot cake one slice weighs one pound and packs 1560 calories. Once slice of carrot cake all that icing and all that sugar and all that fat came to that one slice of cake so you think you're going to go out and have a little splurge. Then you know, little do you realize that it's not only a little splurge, it's almost all your day's worth of calories.
Ruby Tuesdays; they have an item on their menu called the fresh chicken and broccoli pasta. It's covered in cheese. It has a total of 2060 calories. Now if you are a women, that is 200 more calories than you need in your whole day. And if you are a man trying to loose weight, that's definitely more than you need as well. That this is equivalent to put it in perspective, two 12 ounce steaks, two Ceaser salads, and two butter baked potatoes.
On The Border; this is a Mexican food restaurant national chain. It has an item on their menu called the Double-Stacked Club Quesadillas, this has 1,820 calories, 52 grams of saturated fat, now that's not total fat, that's saturated fat, and 3,400 milligrams of sodium. So if you are a woman and you are just trying to maintain your weight, you've already gotten all you need in calories and that's not including a margarita that you had and the appetizer's chips and salsa, any dessert you are eating, I mean that is there right there in that OnTray. So if you are going to get this at a restaurant, it's going to be easy to gain weight.
Now I can't forget about the Chinese food. P. F. Chang's has Pork Lo Mein. It has 1820 calories and 127 grams of total fat, that's equivalent to a stick and a half of butter. You can just see yourself cramming a stick and a half of butter down your throat. That is not the kind of thing you want to be eating if you are trying to loose weight.
Now I want to give you some quick tips so that when you are at a restaurant, you can make some better choices. Number one; ask if your meal can be cooked in a different oil. A lot of times they are using saturated fat oils that just aren't good for you. If you ask for a palm olive oil or any healthier oils that they may have on hand, that's going to be the better choice and then a lot of times, they don't even have to cook in the fat. So if they have non-stick pans in their kitchen, you can ask them and see if your menu item can be cooked without any butter or oil.
Number two is plate your meal or a get a baggage before they bring the meal out, that way you are not tempted to overeat or gauge yourself and you're already full.
Then number three, regardless of whether it comes with a sauce, just get on the side, if it's a salad on OnTray, I do that and I find that when I get it on the side, I will use less of the sauce and then of course I am getting less calories and it taste the same, it's great, it's fabulous but then I am not, you know, my food is not drowning in the sauce. So they are some quick tips.
Now the purpose of this video isn't to bash or put all the blame on these restaurants because nowadays, most of these restaurants do have healthier options that you can choose from. The point of this video is to tell you that you have to pay attention to what you are ordering and what you are eating. Because if you are overweight or you do have health problems and you haven't been paying attention to what you've been eating or how much you've been eating, that is actually what got you there in the first place.
So I know you are trying to eat because you want to get full and you want something that taste good and you are hungry. And maybe you are finding foods that fill you up but then in a few hours, you get hungry again and so you are getting all these extra calories, you are gaining weight and you don't know what to do about it because your purpose is to get full and not be hungry. Well, I want to make a video talking about that very subject, hunger and why people get more hungry than they should and what we can do to keep that from happening. That's coming out soon so subscribe that you know when that hits the pages and I'll seek us next time, take care of yourself, bye.
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