Healthy Fast Food?

Well my friends, I think it's about time I shared with you a quick little blurb on my favorite fast food.  That's right, I do eat fast food, though I don't think it resembles the greasy burgers and salty fries you're imagining.  In fact, I think it actually tastes a lot better than both of those, and is most definitely a lot more filling.  Oh, and you know if I'm writing about it, then it's actually legitimately HEALTHY!!!!  Too good to be true?  Not at all!

So where is this magical place?  Why, I'm sure it's in your nearest big shopping district.  It's called Panera Bread, and boy do they serve some good stuff.  Panera is famous for delicious salads, sandwiches, and a bakery that will put most others to shame.  The stores are well designed, modern, comfortable, and welcoming.  And while you may be screaming "NOT FAST FOOD!!!" -- you'd be dead wrong.  The food there is remarkably fast.  Often I place my order, get my little buzzer thing, and by the time I'm sitting down the darn thing is already going nuts (and scaring me half to death.)  Believe me, that food is speedy.  

You know what else is great about Panera?  They post caloric information right next to the menu items.  Now while you may be a little leary as to how accurate it really is, I believe they're required by law to put the same portions in each bowl in order to comply with those measurements, so you won't have to give or take too many calories from the stated number.  

Now keep in mind, NOT EVERYTHING in Panera is healthy.  In fact, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble with both the bakery (those pastries are incredible), and certain greasy sandwiches or cheesy soups.  Now don't get me wrong, everything tastes fantastic, but if you want to stay healthy, watch both the number of calories and the content of each sandwich, salad, or soup.  When I'm in Panera, I usually get the Thai Chopped Chicken Salad.  It's 470 calories for a GIANT bowl of tasty salad that's completely loaded with protein and healthy carbs.  Sure, the dressing is pretty sweet, but is completely manageable.  If you want to make it even better, take out the little Chinese noodles (as good as they taste.)  

Want a better idea of the nutritional information in Panera's food?  Here's a link to that exact information for your dieting knowledge:

http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf

I believe the best sandwich choices are:

Roasted Turkey and Avacado BLT (510 calories)

Smoked Turkey Breast on Country (420 calories)

And the best salad choices are:

Thai Chopped Chicken Salad (470 calories)

Poppyseed Chicken Salad (340 calories)

Asian Sesame Chicken (450 calories)

BBQ Chopped Chicken (500 calories)

As far as sides go, I'd suggest either an apple or whole grain baguette.  The chips are baked though, so they're not the worst thing going.  

Panera is definitely my favorite fast food joint.  If you keep your head on your shoulders and don't get tempted by the crazy chocolate stuffed croissants or cheesy, creamy soups, you can walk out of that place with a pretty healthy meal in your belly.  Remember folks, not all fast food is bad.

Enjoy your meals, choose wisely, and as always, GOOD LUCK!!!

Food Worship #6: The Red Beet

I'm always looking for something new to put in my salad, and recently I've discovered the magically little root vegetable known as the red beet, or just plain "beet" for short.  Maybe you've seen them, and had to look twice because of their crazy red/purple hue.  Woah man, it's purple!  But seriously, these little guys are absolutely delicious, and positively packed with nutrients.  In fact they have quite a few nutrients in high quantity that you'd be hard pressed to find in almost any other veggie.

What I find most amazing about the beet though, is how naturally sweet it is for a vegetable!  These things have a pretty hefty sugar content for being in the veggie family, but believe me don't let that fact steer you away from consuming these wondrous sweet little treats daily. It's all natural sugar that most likely will not sabotage your diet like the processed stuff might.  I say "most likely" because it's possible to go overboard with pretty much any food, even fruits and vegetables.  But believe me, if you eat a normal portion of beets daily, you've got nothing to worry about.  That's great news, considering the awesome flavor kick they give, and the delicious texture they have when they're boiled.  

But what about these infamous health benefits I've hinted about?  Are beets really that nutritionally valuable?  Let's examine why you should definitely give these purple wonders a try in a meal of yours:

Antioxidants:  You may have noticed a trend by now that darker colored fruits and vegetables tend to be pretty rich with a blend of healthy antioxidants.  Beets are no exception, and have a whole host of these healthful substances hidden inside.  But what's surprising is that the particular antioxidants found in beets aren't found in huge quantity in any other common vegetable.  Instead of the common beta-carotene, beets have large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin. Crazy names, yes, but extremely useful substances.  They help to maintain eye and skin health, and because they're hard to find in large quantities in most other foods, having beets once in a while would definitely be to your advantage.  

Beets are also rich in the antioxidant betalain, which is also the substance that helps give them their rich red/purple color.  These antioxidants help with general cell function in your body, and also may help prevent diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.  

As I've said before, this blend of antioxidants in beets really is unique in a sense, and makes the beet a very desirable vegetable in any diet.  Here's a quote from whfoods.com that puts it into better perspective:  

"While research is largely in the early stage with respect to beet antioxidants and their special benefits for eye health and overall nerve tissue health, we expect to see study results showing these special benefits and recognizing beets as a standout vegetable in this area of antioxidant support."

Vitamins:  I bet you saw this one coming.  Beets are loaded with all sorts of vitamins and minerals!  They are extremely rich in Vitamin C (you need a whole bunch of Vit. C this time of year, or you're going to be suffering from runny noses and coughs), and Vitamin A.  They also have a large quantity of the minerals iron, calcium, folic acid, niacin, biotin, and manganese.  In fact, here's a list of some of the nutritional information about beets, and the most densely packed vitamins and minerals they contain:

Nutritive Values : Per 100 gm.

• Vitamin A : 20 I.U.
• Thiamine : .02 mg
• Riboflavin : .05 mg
• Niacin : .4 mg
• Vitamin C : 10 mg.
• Calcium : 27 mg.
• Iron : 1.0 mg.
• Phosphorus : 43 mg.
• Fat : .1 gm.
• Carbohydrates : 9.6 gm.
• Protein : 1.6 gm.
• Calories : 42

Low Fat:  This one seems like a no brainer, but is still definitely worth mentioning.  Beets are extremely low in fat, and are virtually free of ALL saturated fats.  That means that any fat that is there (though you'd be hard pressed to find much at all), is heart healthy unsaturated fat.  Win-win situation!

Low Calorie Salad Topper:  What I really love about beets though, is their flavor.  I implore you to give them a chance, because they really are a sweet, low calorie salad component that could easily make that boring old salad of yours suddenly alive and tasty as heck.  In fact, boiled, chilled beets are so juicy and delicious that I bet you'll be fine content with no other salad dressing than the red beet's delicious juices.  It'll add a whole new health factor to your salad, and may even help you to take away some of that processed salad dressing.  

How low calorie are they?  Well, half a cup of delicious red beets is less than 40 calories, and every single calorie that is there is a quality calorie packed with nutrients and other health promoting substances.  Don't ever stress about eating beets!  

There it is!  A whole nutritional profile of a vegetable that isn't quite as common in mainstream society today, but definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY is worth trying in your diet.  I bet you'll like the flavor, the soft texture, and the awesome purple hue!  I mean how cool is it to have a food that's like, PURPLE!  Anyways, enough immaturity.  Beets are awesome.  Try some. Today. Please.

Keep eating the good stuff, make that salad interesting, and as always, good luck!

Don't Destroy your Salad

I love salads.  All my friends will vouch for me on that one.  There's nothing like finishing up a delicious entree then finishing off the meal with some greens.  I bet many of you will agree that salads are delicious.  And they're healthy too, right?  I mean all those vegetables in one place, it's like the holy grail of bodily nutrients.  But hold on.  I'm here to tell you that your salad might not be as healthy as you think.  You may be accidentally creating a meal that's got a lot of unseen unhealthy elements to it.  Here's a few tips to make sure that your salad is liberated and can do your body the good it deserves.

No Dressing:  Ah!  Madness!  No dressing on a salad?  That doesn't sound too good, does it?  Hold on a minute.  I eat my salads plain every single day, and I can promise you not one of them is ever dry, bland, or distasteful in any way, shape or form.  What's my secret?  I use very juicy vegetables!  Every one of my salads is piled high with juicy yellow peppers, red beans and chickpeas, cucumbers, and my favorite, tomatoes.  Mix those around a little bit and your salad will take on a natural dressing that is actually quite tasty.  And once you pop a bite into your mouth and crunch into a fresh and juicy grape tomato, you'd never know there was no dressing.  I suggest you guys give it a try!

But why do I prefer not to dress my salad?  Well I'll tell you a little something.  That pile of ranch on top of your salad probably has at least twice the calories as the actual salad itself, along with a lot of artificial ingredients, sugars, saturated fats, and things of the like.  In my opinion it's a LOT of calories you don't need.  In fact only two tablespoons of traditional ranch has about 150 calories, and I see lots of people put on two to three times that amount.  That's just ridiculous.  The natural flavors of the vegetables are masked, and any sort of nutrient benefit from the salad is being overshadowed by the shear caloric weight of the ranch.  This goes with all sorts of dressings, just read the nutrition labels.  Thousand Island, italian, you name it, a lot of it will most likely be more than you bargained for.

But don't despair you dressing addicts.  Salad dressing is not inherently bad, and there are a lot of very healthy alternatives.  Let's discuss a few, and how they can make your salad absolutely delicious without adding many calories or other undesirables.

Salsa:  Yes, that spicy, chunky, juicy, delicious tomato paste with peppers and beans.  Salsa is VERY low in calories (10-20 calories for two tablespoons) and VERY flavorful.  It can add a lot of character to any salad, and there are hundreds of varieties to choose from.  In fact you can usually have your salad as spicy or sweet as you like with salsa.  It's a great alternative that I highly suggest.  Just watch out for the sodium, it tends to be pretty high in salsa, but 1-2 servings won't kill you.

Mustard:  Same deal here, high amounts of flavor for low caloric density.  Dijon and yellow mustard both can really give those greens a big kick, and will only add a few extra calories to the dish.  It's all about amount of flavor for very little cost.  Try it out!

Healthy oils:  There's been studies that have proven that many nutrients in salad are FAT SOLUABLE.  So you can kiss those low fat, high fructose corn syrup dressings goodbye.  In fact low fat dressings can actually be worse for you than their traditional counterparts.  But if you want great flavor and a lot of healthy, unsaturated fats to fully absorb nutrients from your bowl of veggies, I suggest either olive oil, or balsamic vinaigrette.  Both are delcious and high in healthy fats which will do nothing but good for your body.  Don't go overboard on the olive oil though, it's still high in caloric density, so measure out your portions.

Meats:  I love me some salmon.  And chicken.  And shrimp.  And anything of the like.  And what an amazing way to make your salad more enjoyable!  Stick some lean protein in there, make sure it's fresh and moist, and I guarantee you will NOT miss dressing for one second.  That is if you decide to have it plain.  I would also suggest trying any of the above dressing styles with meat, especially if you're looking to get some more protein in your diet.  Again though, don't go overboard, and make sure that the meat is lean, fresh, and juicy.  My all time favorite is a salmon salad, though shrimp and chicken are close seconds.

Portioned Traditional Dressing:  Like I said before, the salad dressings you're used to aren't inherently bad!  The shear amount of them is sometimes what kills you.  If you want that ranch, go for it!  Absolutely!  But take the time to measure out the serving size.  Heck, try half the serving size, and see if you can get by on it.  Sometimes if you just take a little more time to appreciate the flavors of the food, you'll realize you didn't need so much dressing to begin with.

It's up to you, but I'd suggest experimenting.  Try it plain, like me, and load it up with some juicy veggies.  Then try some salsa, see if you like the kick.  Then try the mustard, then some healthy oil.  The same old thing gets boring anyway, right?

Dress lightly, love those greens, and good luck!