Beware of Salads
Eating a salad can be worse than eating three greasy burgers.
So you go to your favorite restaurant and decide you’re going to make healthy choices. You choose the salad. But did you know some restaurant salads can be more fattening than McDonald’s quarter pounders? That’s right. A greasy burger from McDonalds is often lower in calories and fat than salads at your favourite family restaurant.
Of course, the best option is to eat at home. But if you have to eat out, beware of the items – salads – you think are good for your waistline. They can often do more harm than good. Below is a collection of salad nutritional facts from some popular food chains. (Incidentally, a McDonald’s quarter pounder is 420 calories and 20g of fat. So, eating one salad can sometimes be the equivalent to eating three or more McDonald’s quarter pounders)
Kelsey’ s
Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad: 1720 calories, 56g of fat
Taco Salad: 1120 calories, 75g of fat
Chicken Sonoma Valley Salad: 730 calories, 44g of fat
Chili’s
Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad: 910 calories, 58g of fat
Caesar Salad with Lime Grilled Shrimp: 980 calories, 77g of fat
Southwestern Cobb Salad: 970 calories, 60g of fat
Montana’s
Country Cobb Salad: 521 calories, 34g of fat
Summer Feta and Blueberry Salad: 590 calories, 44g of fat
Caesar Salad: 570 calories, 49g of fat
The Keg
Sirloin Caesar Salad: 1015 calories, 70g of fat
Applebee’s
Crispy Orange Chicken Bowl: 1700 calories, 69g of fat
Santa Fe Chicken Salad: 672 calories, 46g of fat
Boston Pizza
Citrus Chicken Salad (grilled chicken): 800 calories, 19g of fat
Crispy Chicken Pecan Salad (with Ranch Dressing): 1140 calories, 93g of fat
TGI Friday’s
Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad: 750 calories, 49g of fat
Bob Evan’s
Country Spinach Salad: 605 calories, 41g of fat
Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad: 836 calories, 46g of fat
Wildfire Grilled Chicken Salad: 654 calories, 32g of fat
Cheesecake Factory
Weight Management Asian Chicken Salad: 574 calories, 39g of fat
Ruby Tuesday
Carolina Chicken Salad: 986 calories, 69g of fat
Club House Salad: 733 calories, 47g of fat
Liked it
Darlene McFarlane | Aug 4, 2008 | Reply
Very good advice,I used to make the same mistake. Another thing that is added to commercial salad dressing is MSG. Even if we read the ingredient list we may not be aware of it because MSG is hidden behind more than 50 different names.
Very good article.
Mark Gordon Brown | Aug 4, 2008 | Reply
I only eat salad at home, picked fresh from my garden.
KathySpring | Aug 4, 2008 | Reply
This is a great list, I’m always careful when ordering a salad, grilled chicken instead of fried. I can’t have egg or milk so that cuts out a lot of dressings. thanks for sharing this
kathy
Lola | Aug 5, 2008 | Reply
Very good article. Is the fat mainly from the salad dressings? Or the chicken. I read that most restaurants marinate the chicken in butter to give it more flavor!
neelam pandey | Aug 7, 2008 | Reply
very informative article, thanks for sharing!!
Verniel Cutar | Aug 13, 2008 | Reply
I’ll think about this article each time I go to a vegetarian restaurant!!
eunice tan | Aug 14, 2008 | Reply
New information for me. Thanks for sharing
R J Evans | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the info…. but now I’m hungry!!
RJ Chamberlain | Aug 15, 2008 | Reply
Great info Boo. Thanks.
BC Doan | Sep 15, 2008 | Reply
Wow, and we think that salad is the best thing to eat in restaurant! Very informative!
clay Hurtubise | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply
Beware of what you eat, salad or not. Nice piece, would like to see it expanded. For instance, it isn’t the salad that’s bad, it’s the dressing. If you get a salad, without fried toppings!, go with something like a raspberry vinaigrette, and you’ll cut the fat way down. When I go to Ruby Tuesdays, I pay attention to which greens I use (iceberg is worthless), and ultimately, how much I eat.
Thanks for keeping us on our toes.
Clay
hfj | Dec 10, 2008 | Reply
Good information. A lot of calories in those salads that you mentioned in you article. Makes you wonder what is good for you, and what isn’t.