*hehe* i just had to blab about something for a bit. sunday i had a bit of a dilemma! hubby and i have been going to subway for lunch almost every sunday afternoon this year. its just our thing. i almost always got the oven-roasted chix breast on honey wheat, baked lays, and a cookie (no meal w/pop). okay, obviously a super-carby/sodium-packed meal, but DEFINITELY better than cheeseburger and fries!!
well obviously my dilemma was, what in the heck do i get at subway now that doesnt contain wheat? they have salads, but they're a bit pricey and pretty much the same as what i'd make at home. so we thought, how about mcd's salads? with grilled chicken, they're pretty darned healthy really. and with newman's own as the dressings they use, they're much better than most. and their website claims no trans fats in the salads with grilled chicken! well...soooo...for fun i did a little mcd's salad research! *nerdy look*
part of my goal is to also avoid high fructose corn syrup, or corn syrup of any kind, preservatives (MSG and the like) as much as possible, and obviously trans fats. and the trans fat thing is tricky since the FDA only requires labeling to show over .5g of trans fat per serving. otherwise, companies can claim zero. sucks, cause if its something you eat more than one serving of, you could still be getting a decent amount of trans fats thinking you're getting NONE! that's why its a good idea to become label-savvy and look for the word "hydrogenated." if you see that, there's trans fats in it no matter what the nutrition info says!!
anyhoo, i wanted to have mcd's new southwest (grilled) chicken salad. i had it a few weeks ago and loved it, so let's take that one for our example! here's the main ingredients found on this page:
Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken:
Salad Mix, Grilled Chicken Breast Filet, Southwest Vegetable Blend, Cilantro Lime Glaze, Shredded Cheddar/Jack Cheese, Limes, Chili Lime Tortilla Strips, Liquid Margarine
okay, so the things that alerted me to possible bad stuff are "glaze" (possibly sweet--corn syrup?), the tortilla strips (seasoned with what and fried in what?) and obviously the margarine. so here's the ingredients for those ingredients *hehe*: (i hilited in red the stuff that i knew was either in my no-no list or looked shady/didnt know what the heck it was. my motto is if ya cant pronounce it or dont know what it is, its probably not health-promoting. *lol*)
Cilantro Lime Glaze:
Water, corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, distilled vinegar, olive oil, soybean oil, freeze-dried orange juice concentrate*, cilantro, salt, freeze-dried lime juice concentrate*, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), garlic*, propylene glycol alginate, spice, onion*, citric acid. *Dehydrated
Chili Lime Tortilla Strips:
Corn, vegetable oil (corn oil and/or soybean oil and/or sunflower oil), salt, maltodextrin, sugar, dried tomato, dextrose, spices, onion powder, green bell pepper powder, citric acid, autolyzed yeast extract, malic acid, paprika extract (color), disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, natural flavor (vegetable source), lemon extract, spice extractive.
Liquid Margarine:
Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color). CONTAINS: SOY LECITHIN
i also happened to look at the grilled chicken ingredients, which obviously people choose to stay away from trans fats...note what it is "prepared with"...
Grilled Chicken Breast Filet:
Chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed [corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten] proteins, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source), caramel color, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, onion powder, extractives of paprika), modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates. CONTAINS: SOY AND WHEAT. Prepared with liquid margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color). CONTAINS: SOY LECITHIN
then the dressing:
Newman's Own® Creamy Southwest Dressing:
Water, corn syrup solids, soybean oil, distilled vinegar, egg yolks, corn vinegar, corn starch, whey, salt, cilantro, sugar, spices, paprika, onion*, garlic*, apple cider vinegar, sour cream* (cultured sour cream, skim milk solids, whey, sugar, citric acid, lactic acid), natural flavors (animal and vegetable sources), xanthan gum, lactic acid, parsley*. *Dehydrated. CONTAINS: EGG AND MILK
soooo...whew! what a lotta work!! so i guess on studying the ingredients of the ingredients in the southwest salad, i was a bit disappointed! i naiively figured since it was a salad, and the chix was grilled, that it was nearly perfectly healthy for you! WRONG!
HOWEVER!!! the salads are definitely the BEST of the WORST choices. that should be pretty obvious. you're getting greens and there's no refined carbs (aka buns!) at least...and the dairy is at a minimum (shredded cheeses).
the chicken isnt fried and breaded at least, which is certainly muchmuch worse for you than the grilled.
the calories are lower and even the salad dressing for the southwest salad has a "readable" label--i knew what every single ingredient was at least!!
so, to end my little dilemma-filled story, i ended up having the salad! haha! ;)
my reasoning is, obviously we cant avoid every single bad thing for us unless we grow our own food organically and never cook anything! the foods i eat at home are trans fat-, HFCS-, and preservative-free...so i dont feel too badly eating one or two meals a week that contain that junk.
my point in sharing this experience is to be smart when you make what you're thinking is the better choice in eating out!! there's always the potential of a lot of hidden crap in even the healthiest foods offered at restaurants. the more educated and aware we are of what companies and restaurants put in our foods, the healthier we will be in the years to come!!
here's a few links you may find interesting regarding some of the stuff i mentioned in this post. they are all from mercola.com, and to view some or all of them, you may need to sign up for the newsletter.
- MSG info (the part that is most useful i believe is the listing at the bottom of the article)
- BK takin a step in the right direction
- good info about corn and HFCS
- see and hear "The Merc"--that's what i call him *hehe*--in action about trans fats
i hope you found this post intriguing, and i hope it makes you think about what you order next time you eat out!! good health is something we all deserve, and for goodness sake, its tough to be healthy in today's world once you learn what you "grew up eating" wasn't very good for ya!!
take care and eat your veggies today! heheh!
~josey~
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