Don’t think about getting a salad at taco bell if you are watching your waist line! Salads are nowhere close to a healthy option at Taco Bell!
The lowest calorie salad option is the fiesta taco salad without the shell, calculating at 470 calories and 23g of fat
… add that shell and you have 840 calories and 43g of fat!

WOW! Eating this salad is like eating about 6 tacos!

  

Not too sure what healthy options they have? Not to worry, Taco Bell has created their very own healthy choice menu!

Taco Bell has a “Fresco Style” menu, containing 9 healthy food choices with less than 20-100 calories than the original item and fewer than 9g of fat. These “Fresco Style” food items replace cheese and sauces with a fiesta salsa made of diced tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. Here are those 9 healthy options:

Fresco Crunch Taco: 150 calories, 7g fat
Fresco Soft Taco- Beef: 180 calories, 7g fat
Fresco Burrito Supreme- Chicken: 340 calories, 8g fat
Fresco Burrito Supreme- Steak: 330 calories, 8g fat
Fresco Fiesta Burrito- Chicken: 340 calories, 8g fat
Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco: 170 calorie, 4g fat
Grilled Steak Soft Taco: 160 calories, 4.5g fat
Bean Burrito: 340 calories, 8g fat

I always ask for extra lettuce to my tacos. Not only does it add a little freshness to them but it adds bulk to your meal… keeping you full longer!  

Want to add a side to these healthy options? The rice and beans is your best bet. The beans are 180 calories with 7g of fat and the rice is 130 calories with 3.5g of fat.

Other than these food items, I highly suggest staying away from those gorditas, burritions, and chalupas… they are high in calorie and fat!

If you want the nutritional information on your favorite food items Taco Bell, click HERE

Enjoy Taco Bell… Fresco Style!

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Wendy’s any one?
Here are some really healthy options when eating there!

SALADS: 

SANDWICHES / HAMBURGERS:
Jr. Hamburger: 230 calories, 8g fat
- Add cheese for another 40 calories

Ultimate Grilled Chicken Sandwich: 320 calories, 7g fat

Grilled Chicken Go Wrap: 250 calories, 10g fat

AVOID THE CHICKEN CLUB SANWICH (550 calories, 26g fat), ANYTHING CRISPY, BACON or DOUBLE / TRIPLE IN THE NAME
- Ask to hold the mayo and cheese on any sandwich or hamburger. It cuts out unnecessary calories and fat!

NUGGETS / WINGS:
4 piece chicken nuggets: 190 calories, 13 g fat

SIDES:
Side Salad: 35 calories
- Don’t forget to add the calories from the dressing!

Mandarin Oranges: 80 calories

Plain Baked Potato: 270 calories
- Add the sour cream and chives and you just added 100 calories

Kids Meal French Fries: 210 calories, 10g fat

Small Chili: 190 calories
Large Chili: 280 calories
- Avoid the crackers and cheese and just added about 100 calories

If you ask me, I love their chili (without the cheese and crackers), a side salad, and a diet coke or ice tea.

Has anyone seen the documentary of “Super Size Me?”

I swore up and down that I would never go back to that place after I watched this. For those of you that have not seen it, it’s about a man that decides to eat at McDonalds day in and day out for 30 days. As a result, the then-32-year-old gained 24½ lbs which was a 13% body mass increase, and experienced liver damage and mood swings, along with several other health affects.

Months passed after watching this documentary and I decided that it’s ridiculous to avoid places solely because one person ate Big Macs, three times a day, for 30 days. I’m obviously not going to be eating McDonalds like this!
So I decided to figure out how to eat McDonald’s and not kill myself.

Here is a list of foods that I have found low in calories.

- Original Hamburger: 250 calories, 9g fat

- A fruit and yogurt parfait without granola: 130 calories, 2g fat

I absolutely love their breakfast, but be careful, some of these meals can add up to over 1,000 calories and pretty much anything on their breakfast menu is 20-60g of fat. Here are the best options to pick up on your way to work that are less than 400 calories.

- Scrambled Eggs: 170 calories, 11g fat

- Sausage McMuffin: 370 calories, 22g fat
(I would just stick to the regular Egg McMuffin!)

… Sorry guys, everything else is over 400 calories ?

I just got back from seeing Transformers at the Movie Theatre and thought I should blog on their concession stands. Not only is the food over priced, they are over-caloried… yep, just made up my own word! And lets face it, a typical date includes dinner and a movie so most of us have already eaten up our calories for the night before we even get to the theatre.

Here is the run down on those “Not So Healthy” concession stand foods we all love and enjoy.

Large Buttered Popcorn: 1500 calories, 116g fat
Large Nachos with Cheese: 1101 calories, 59g fat
Large 44 oz Coke: 572 calories, 0g fat
Large Soft Pretzel: 483 calories, 4.5g fat
Hot Dog: 305 calories, 4.5g fat

Careful with the candy! Although you would think that choosing skittles or starbursts would be a better option than those chocolate candies, they aren’t.

Twizzlers: 600 calories, 4g fat
Skittles: 765 calories, 9g fat,
Starburst: 480 calories, 10.5g fat
Gummi Bears: 390 calories, 0g fat
M&M’s: 735 calories, 31.5g fat
Whoppers: ?676 calories?, 24g fat

My suggestion is stop by your local grocery store or gas station and pick up some healthy snacks and pack them in your purse… not only are you saving calories, but you are saving money!

WARNING: You might not like what you are about to read

No wonder Cheesecake Factory has held out on releasing their nutrition facts! These numbers are outrageous! One plate is worth a few days worth of calories. If you are looking into a healthy, low calorie meal at Cheesecake Factory, good luck. Even the salads add up to 1,200 calories.
A part of me wishes that I never found the nutritional contents for this place… it ruined my favorite sandwich.
The Navajo sandwich is over 1,228 calories and 1,909 mg of sodium. Watch out for the beef ribs, they hit a spiking 2,306 calories.
Very few meals can be found here with less than 500 calories, even the weight watcher salads. The oversized portions might be the cause of this! One plate can easily serve two people. The next time you hit up Cheesecake Factory you might try splitting your favorite meal with a friend or significant other.

So what should you order when going to the cheesecake factory?

So should we even go to the dessert section? Everyone loves cheesecake and nothing beats cheesecake from the cheesecake factory itself! Forgive me now before I ruin the fun of this cheesecake!

Adams Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple Cheesecake has 1,326 calories… WOW!

The Original Cheesecake has 707 calories

The Low Carb Splenda Cheesecake has 570 calories… for a little over 100 more calories, you might as well go for the real deal!

Strawberry shortcake has 878 calories

So what should you get for dessert?

… and America wonders why diabetes is growing at a rapid pace! ! ! ? ? 

I have never been to a Starbucks that hasn’t had a line out the door. The growing trend of coffee has created a new world for coffee lovers, but most people don’t realize that they are drinking their diet good-bye. Just because it’s liquids doesn’t mean it doesn’t have just as much calories as a meal… or two.
For example, Starbucks Venti White Chocolate Blended Creme Frappuccino has 760 calories with 21g of fat.

You would think the Strawberries & Creme Blended Creme Frappuccino would be somewhat healthy with fruit, but be careful; this Venti drink has 750 calories and 15g of fat.

The Venti Caffe Latte Hot Beverage, Venti Cafe Mocha Hot Beverage, and Grande White Chocolate Mocha Hot Beverage all with Whole Milk and whip cream have anywhere from 22 to 27g of fat.

With so many options to choose from, how does one find a healthy drink or cut down their calories on their favorites?

Here are some tips when ordering your drink:

* Hold the Whip! Without whip cream you save anywhere from 50-110 calories and 5-11g of fat

* Over ice instead of hot will save your 60 calories.

With this in mind, here are a few healthier options at Starbacks!
– Tall Hot Non-fat Caramel Macchiato (140 calories)
- Tall Hot Non-fat Café Mocha w/out Whip (170 calories)
- Tall Hot Skinny Vanilla Latte (90 calories)
- Tall Caramel Frappuccino light (130 calories)
- Tall Shaken Tazo Black Tea Lemonade (100 calories)
- Tall Non-fat caramel macchiato iced (140 calories)
- Iced Green Tea (0 calories)

To see more nutritional facts on your favorite starbucks drink, check out their website:

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_beverages.asp