For those of you who have been following Esther’s Weight Loss Journey, you may remember that she met her 6 month goal of getting under 130 pounds. See my previous blog post. I had told her that we were going to keep a close watch on her over the holiday season. I checked in with her yesterday to see how she handled Thanksgiving.

My interview with Esther post-Thanksgiving:

Martha: How did you handle Thanksgiving?
Esther: I didn’t do horrible,  BUT I didn’t do great. I tried to play with “Stinkie” my cousins dog to distract me from eating more - but didn’t work too well. Martha - I might have thought a dog with the name Stinkie might have curbed the appetite a bit. (Pic is of Esther and Stinkie) Were you conscious of what you were eating?
Esther: Yes, I definitely ate less that I have in years past. This year, I only ate one big plateful of food (and a little extra side dish of stuffing), whereas in the past, I would have had another big plate of food.

Here is what Esther ate:  
Cocktails
1 mixed drink ( oj, cran juice, apricot brandy, vodka)
2 glasses red wine
1 stuffed mushroom
sm mixed salad w/ oil & vinegar
Turkey - dark meat,  1 leg & pieces (generous portion)
side of stuffing (generous portion)
2 pieces potato
5 grilled asparagus
1 large spoon, mixed cranberries, cherries, brandy
1 large spoon sweet potato casserole w/ toated pecans
2 sm pieces candied yams
Dessert
1 sm espresso/chocolate martini
1 sm greek honey cookie
1 sliver of pecan pie, 1 sliver sweet potato pie, 1 spoon apple pie
THAT’S IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Martha: I hoped you enjoyed your Thanksgiving meal! I have to give you credit for recording what you ate on this day. I am not even going to bother to count the calories in this meal. It only comes around once a year. I always say no strict dieting on this day … but time to get back on track now. Stay tuned for my tips on getting rid of turkey day bloat.

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Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. And as I have been telling my clients, enjoy your meal…but not too much! Seriously, Thanksgiving is not a day to be on a strict diet. The delicious food served on this day only comes around once a year. Keep in mind that overeating one day will not wreak havoc with your diet. The real problem can occur if you have tons of leftovers in your house  - or if your Thanksgiving day hosts end up giving you a doggie bag full of all the fattening foods that they are trying to get out of their house!

 So while I discourage “dieting” on Thanksgiving, I am not encouraging you to totally overdo it.  If one slice of pecan tasted good, why do you need to have two slices?

Here are some last minute tips to avoid getting stuffed on Thanksgiving:

1. Don’t go into the Thanksgiving meal being ravenous. This will only lead to consumption of massive amounts of food. Have your normal (hopefully healthy!) breakfast and perhaps a light snack - depending upon what time the meal is served. (Pic is of city man consuming massive amounts of food - perhaps went all day without eating and was overly hungry at dinner)

2. Be careful with the appetizers. They often contain almost as many calories as the meal. Check out my previous post on calories in holiday foods to see the caloric content of appetizers. While waiting for the meal to be served, don’t plop yourself down next to the candied walnuts or bowl of chips and dip!

3. When the serving bowls are passed around the table, be descriminating. Don’t feel like you need to sample every dish. Stick to moderate portions of your favorite foods. Why take the creamed spinach made by your Aunt Betty if you don’t even like spinach? Why take a dinner roll when you can get one of these any day of the week? (pic is of young city girl consuming a moderate amount of food)

4. Eat really slow and drink a lot of water. Try to be the slowest eater at the table. That way you might feel gluttonish is you go back for seconds if everyone else is done eating.

5. If you are a guest in someone else’s home, avoid taking home goodie bags of desserts or other fattening dishes (i.e. stuffing, gravy, any vegetable with cream sauce, candied sweet potato). Instead, askfor turkey. If you feel it would be rude to refuse these leftovers, I hate to say it … but … there is always your doorman or trash can. (Sorry Aunt Betty!).

6. Get out and take a walk after dinner.

Stay tuned for tips on how to deal with post-Thanksgiving day bloat!

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With Thanksgiving around the corner, we are entering the holiday season. The holiday season can spell trouble for those of you who are trying to watch your weight - or even if you are just trying to eat healthy. For the next 1 1/2 months, I’ll be giving you some tips to help you make it through the holidays without getting stuffed like a turkey.

Some good news…
We always used to say that the average person gains 5-7 pounds during the holiday season, however newer research has shown that we only gain one pound (though I’m sure there are still people who gain 5-7 pounds!). The problem is that we don’t take this one pound off. Hence, creeping weight gain as the years go by.

Thanksgiving Day calorie facts
The average American will consume more than 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day alone, according to the Caloric Control Council. Yikes - 229 grams of fat! And a lot of that is saturated fat (the kind that can clog arteries). And most of these calories don’t come from the actual meal itself, but rather from the snacking before and after the meal.

Here are the calorie counts in some typical Thanksgiving Day foods:

Of course, many of us consume alcoholic beverages with our Thanksgiving Day meal. Can’t forget about those “sneaky little calories” that contribute empty calories and often end up making us eat more.

Calories in alcohol:

Ok, so now you know how many calories are in typical Thanksgiving Day foods. In the next few days leading up to Thanksgiving, we’ll be talking about how to handle the actual day, as well as the entire holiday season. Stay tuned…

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Ever wonder why your urine has a strange odor after eating asaragus? Well, a city guy did and sent in this question:

Question from Jay: This may be a strange question, but I have always wondered why my urine has a weird smell after eating asparagus. BTW - why don’t you have a section for guys?

Answer from Martha: No - that really is not a strange question. I don’t think you are the only person who has thought about it. Actually, there have been quite a few studies that have been done on the whole issue of asparagus and urine odor. The strange odor to urine that occurs after eating asparagus is due to various sulfur-containing degradation products, including various thiols, thioesters, and ammonia. These are some of the same compounds that gives skunks their offensive odor! 

Here is where the debate comes in:
- Some studies have shown that only about 40% of us have the gene that produces this odorous compound
- Other studies indicate we all produce it, but some of us can’t smell it.

The odor in urine can occur within 15-30 minutes after ingesting it. Those are sneaky little asparagus! I noticed one time I got a salad from the “tossed” type places. By mistake a little piece of asparagus must have fallen into my bowl (you know how hyper those salad guys can get with their salad thongs). Well, not to get graphic, but 15 minutes after eating the salad, I knew I must have eaten a piece of asparagus.

My last bit of advice Jay, the first time you cook for your girlfriend, you may want to avoid cooking a meal that contains asparagus! And yes, I will be starting a For City Guys Only category. Thanks for the idea.

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Did you ever have trouble remembering things after a night of drinking? Perhaps it has to do with a shrinking brain! We know that alcohol in moderation is good for the heart, but now a new study shows has show that more alcohol you drink, the smaller brain volume you have. Like many kids in college and in their 20’s, I had my experiences with “overindulgences” … perhaps this explains my forgetfulness.  In all seriousness now here was the study (pic is of college guy too drunk to eat his meal)

Drinking Alcohol Associated With Smaller Brain Volume

ScienceDaily (Oct. 14, 2008) — The more alcohol an individual drinks, the smaller his or her total brain volume, according to a new report.

Brain volume decreases with age at an estimated rate of 1.9 percent per decade, accompanied by an increase in white matter lesions, according to background information in the article. Lower brain volumes and larger white matter lesions also occur with the progression of dementia and problems with thinking, learning and memory. Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease; because the brain receives blood from this system, researchers have hypothesized that small amounts of alcohol may also attenuate age-related declines in brain volume.

Carol Ann Paul, M.S., of Wellesley College, Mass., and colleagues studied 1,839 adults (average age 60) who were part of the Framingham Offspring Study, which began in 1971 and includes children of the original Framingham Heart Study participants and their spouses. Between 1999 and 2001, participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a health examination. They reported the number of alcoholic drinks they consumed per week, along with their age, sex, education, height, body mass index and Framingham Stroke Risk Profile (which calculates stroke risk based on age, sex, blood pressure and other factors).

“Most participants reported low alcohol consumption, and men were more likely than women to be moderate or heavy drinkers,” the authors write. “There was a significant negative linear relationship between alcohol consumption and total cerebral brain volume.”

Although men were more likely to drink alcohol, the association between drinking and brain volume was stronger in women, they note. This could be due to biological factors, including women’s smaller size and greater susceptibility to alcohol’s effects.  (My comment: why would this suprise us? Women have a more difficult time losing weight, now our brains shrink more with increased alcohol consumption)

“The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol,” the authors write. “Prospective longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results as well as to determine whether there are any functional consequences associated with increasing alcohol consumption. This study suggests that, unlike the associations with cardiovascular disease, alcohol consumption does not have any protective effect on brain volume.”

This study was supported by a contract from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study, National Institutes of Health; grants from the National Institute on Aging; and a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Journal reference: Paul et al. Association of Alcohol Consumption With Brain Volume in the Framingham Study. Archives of Neurology, 2008; 65 (10): 1363 DOI: 10.1001/archneur.65.10.1363

Bottom line, moderation is best when it comes to alcohol!

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For those of you city girls and guys who travel on a regular basis, I bet this sounds familiar …  your flight is cancelled last minute, new flight delayed for hours, sitting on runway waiting for takeoff for over an hour and have a sick person next to you.  Compound that with sitting in those uncomfortable seats with neck and back problems … no wonder I ended up in a battle with the mini bar at the hotel!

I was on my way to Chicago to attend a meeting.  I know -  as soon as you hear “airport in Chicago”, you assume trouble is coming!  My  door to door “journey” took 10 hours and ended up in a battle with the mini bar. Here are the highlights of my journey to Chicago:

The sceniero in NY:
1. At 1 pm, I received a voicemail from American Airline stating that my 6:30 pm flight to Chicago that night was cancelled. They rescheduled me on a flight at 9 am the next day. This wasn’t too helpful as it meant I would have missed all my morning meetings.
2. Luckily I was home to get the message and was able call the airline to get myself on a 4 pm flight out of JFK (yuk!) that night. I had to scramble to get my things together to get to the airport on time. Starting to stress…
3. Barely made it to the airport in time - only to find out the flight was delayed by a hour.
4. Each hour, the sign comes up that the flight will be delayed by another hour. There was bedlam at the gate as other people were missing their connections. In addition, since AA had cancelled several flights at Laguardia, those people were now at JFK trying to get on a flight.
5. Luckily a Starbucks was right next to the gate so I had a continual supply of my favorite coffee. In restrospect, that was probably not a great idea as coffee can make me edgy … probably not a good thing right now.
6. After a 4 hour delay, we finally boarded the plane.  Of course, I get the seat next to the sick crying child who had a horrible hacking cough (And yes, I did get sick 2 days later!)
7. Engines revving, we were told to put “our chairs into upright position and put tray tables down” and get ready for take-off.  Twenty minutes later, engines still revving, it didn’t appear we were taking off. So I looked out the window and saw at least 25 planes ahead of us! Nice.
8. My back and neck were starting to hurt from those uncomfortable chairs (ever notice how they are slightly bent forward?). So I sneakingly put my chair back a little to relieve the stress on my back. Immediately the flight attendant notices and comes over to me and tells me to put my chair back into “upright postition”. The child contines to cough my way. Starting to get highly annoyed. (pic - I was not allowed to recline my seat like this)
9. Finally, after over an hour of “getting ready for take-off”, we finally do. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

The sceniero in Chicago:
1. We arrive in Chicago. I now have really low blood sugar and look around for something to eat. Everything is closed! So I figure I’ll get something light in the hotel.
2. Upon checking into the hotel, I am asked if I want the key to the mini bar. I emphatically say No. The last thing I need right now is to be faced with array of chocolate products ( I have minimal control when it comes to chocolate).
3. I get to the room and immediately check out the late night menu. Not too many choices, but at this point, I will eat almost anything. I call room service and find that their “computers were down” so all I could get was a cheese panini (the kind I always tell my clients to avoid). This didn’t make much sense to me, but at this point, nothing makes much sense. I get the panini delivered to my room. It was the largest sandwich I’ve seen! Had to be over 1000 calories. I told myself I’d eat only 1/2 as it was now 12:30 am. Of course, that didn’t happen. Inhaled the whole thing.
4. Now a normal person would have just gone to sleep at that point. But for some strange reason, I decided to see what the mini bar looked like (although I was told it was locked) I opened the cabinet and pulled the door. It opened! It was not locked as had been told it would be. Yikes! So of course I have to see what kind of goodies it contained. Lot’s of chocolate type products. Let’s just say what happened next was not a pretty site. I lost my battle with the mini bar! (pic is of the mini bar goodies in my hotel room)

Tips to help you avoid losing your battle with the mini bar:
1. When traveling, plan ahead. Carry small snacks with you so you don’t get low blood sugar. Once you get low blood sugar, it is almost impossible to control what you eat. Ideas for small snacks include: mini bonbel cheese, small bags of nuts, 100 calorie packs, raisins, energy bars.
2. You don’t need to order room service at  midnight. Just get into bed. Chances are that you’ll fall asleep within 5 minutes. We all have enough fat stores to feed our body until breakfast the next day.
3. Tell them you don’t want the key to the minibar. Hopefully it will really be locked!
4. If you do have to order room service, order something healthy if possible. You could also tell them that you only want 1/2 the portion. Of course, you’ll pay for the whole portion. For example, knowing that the cheese panini was not a good choice, I could have said “send me only 1/2 the sandwich”. The same goes for telling them to omit the chips (which I did!) or french fries or extra bread.
5. If too much caffeine makes you edgy, drink decaf or better yet, just drink water. Being edgy can increase the chances you encounter emotional eating later on.

On a side note, the trip was really worthwhile. I went there on business. I am a consultant/spokesperson for a GREAT new product! I will be talking about it in the next few weeks. All I can say at this point is that it is really SWEET, has no calories and is all natural! More to come later. 

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What are you doing this Sunday afternoon? How about joining Martha on the upper east side for a grocery shopping tour? It will be held at D’Agostino’s on Lexington and 83th St. (1233 Lexington) this Sunday November 16 from 5-6 pm. You’ll cruise the aisles of the store and learn some tips and tricks to make the most nutritious choices. Whether your goal is weight loss or just healthy eating, this class is for you!   (pic is of me was at a San Francisco outdoor market)

Discussion will include:

-how to choose whole grains
-best cuts of meat
-best choices for frozen dinners
-should you go organic?
-probiotic sources of food
-recommended types of oils
-choosing the best cereals  ….. and more!

This class is brought to you by NYC Adventure Boot Camp. More about this later (it’s a great workout - check out the website). The cost is only $25.  Sign and pay via paypal at this link or call 917 822-3440. Walk-in’s are welcome. (pic is of Stacy, the owner of NYC Adventure Boot Camp and Gemini Adventure Fitness).

For more tips on choosing food products, check out my previous posts:

- Peanut Butter; Friend or Foe
- The Most Contaminated Fruits and Veggies
-  No time to Cook - Grab a Frozen Dinner,
- Snack Survival Guide
- Get the 411 on  Organic Foods 

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What were you doing this past Monday morning at 9 am? Perhaps inhaling your bagel or in a meeting? Not me! I was having breakfast with Jared from Subway at Sarabeth’s in NYC. And no, we weren’t having Subway sandwiches for breakfast. Instead, we ordered fluffy egg white omelets with whole grain toast  - no oozing cheese omelets with home fries for Jared!  (pic is of Jared showing me his famous pants!)

For those of you aren’t familiar with Jared - he is the spokesperson for Subway. He lost 262 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches. I was really excited when I got the invitation for breakfast so I could find out the scoop on how he lost the weight.

Jared’s story (as told to me)
He had a weight problem since the 3 - 4th grade. He had an insatiable appetite and loved to eat. Jared was a very inactive child and prefered to play Nintendo rather than playing outside. As his weight increased, his activity level decreased even more. He tried numerous diet plans - from frozen food meals to liquid diets at the enouragament of his dad (who was a doctor). However none of them had lasting results. By the ninth grade, Jared was morbidly obese. He said he felt like he missed out on his entire high school life due to his weight. (pic is of Jared telling his story)

By the time he was 20 years old, he was over 400 pounds. At that time, he began experiencing some health problems including edema and sleep apnea. Having started college, he noticed a Subway right next door to his apartment. He checked out the nutrition info, found he liked the sandwiches and decided to put himself on his own “Subway” diet. He ended up losing ~ 250 pounds in about a year on this diet. In 1999, one of his friends wrote a story about this in a local paper. Subway picked saw the story and the rest is history! For those of you who read CGB, you will notice that I frequently recommend Subway as a healthy, low cal and inexpensive option for a meal on the go.

Jared stats
Body stats
Height: 6′2    Starting weight: 425 pounds    Current weight: 190 pounds
Jared’s diet
Diet start date: mid March 1998   End date: early March 1999
What he ate every day:
Breakfast: nothing  (Hmmm…)  Lunch: 6″ turkey, tons of vegetables, including hot peppers and spicy mustard. No mayo and no cheese. He also had a bad of Baked Lays and a diet drink
Dinner: foot long veggie sub - no cheese and no mayo

Exercise routine
Jared did no exercise until he lost 125 pounds and got to a weight of 300 pounds.  Slowly, he replaced riding the bus with walking to class. By the time he reached 250 pounds, he was walking at least 1.5 miles a day

Motivation
His friend J.L. and his family helped to keep him motivated

My final interview with Jared
Since there were other health professionals at the breakfast, I couldn’t monopolize his entire time, so I had to ask my final questions:

Martha: Is it still hard to keep the weight off? Do you still get the craving for junk food? (I didn’t say this - but I’m sure being a spokesperson for Subway having lost over 250 pounds must put some pressure on Jared to keep the weight off… but he still must get strong urges to overindulge at times, especially considering the fact that he had a major weight problem for much of his life)
Jared: Absolutely! It can be really difficult at times because my life is so hectic. I travel about 250 days a year for Subway. I still eat a lot of Subway sandwiches, but not everyday. I definitely get cravings for junk food but try to control it as best as possible.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and couldn’t probe anymore. I am so impressed that he has lost so much weight AND has kept it off!

Lastly, I just wanted to say what a nice guy Jared is. He is so sincere and loved sharing his story. He also said that he still finds this whole thing about being a spokesperson and kind of “famous” so surreal - especially when he saw some people dressed up on Halloween as Jared with big baggy pants stuffed with Subway wrappers! (Pic is of Jared, his pants and the group who attended breakfast)

Jared’s commitment to fight childhood obesity
The Jared Foundation is commited to helping kids fight obesity. Here is a message from Jared: Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic. I believe there is a solution; educating kids about the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity. I am proud to have my name on this foundation. Its vision and mine is to eliminate childhood obesity. Check out the Jared Foundation website for more info on these great programs.

Keep up the good work Jared and Subway!

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Who is that “Slim Spider” you may be wondering? It is Esther on Halloween. Her spider outfit from last year had to be taken in to accomodate for her 19 pound weight loss! For all of you who have been following Esther’s weight loss journey, you’ll be happy to know that she has met her 6 month goal of getting under 130 pounds! It has been MANY years since has gotten her weight this low. She currently weighs 129 - down from 148 pounds 6 months ago.

It has been a rough and rocky road for Esther. For those of you who have been following her progress on CGB, you know that Esther has an active life - lot’s of social occasions, family and work events. Most of these occasions involve quite a bit food and/or adult beverages. Esther’s family get togethers (i.e. Greek Bar-B-Q) are especially tempting as Esther loves Greek food. But despite all this temptation, Esther has managed to lose the weight and keep it off. 

Pic is of Esther holding on to 5 pounds of fat! She has lost at least double this. Keep in mind, when you lose weight, some is from fat, some from water and a small amount may be from muscle - though not much in Esther’s case as she is working out so much.

How does she do it?
I often get asked by my clients “How does Esther do it? What kind of diet is she on?” No, I did not give Esther a “special diet” because she is on CGB. Esther just works hard! No gimmicks or radical diet plans. She calorie counts (or rather I do!) and exercises 5-6 days a week. Here are some her other “tricks”:

1. Keeps a daily food log. She has kept records for the past 6 months. You have to give her credit for that! See my previous post on how keeping a food record will increase your weight loss by 50%.

2. She doesn’t deprive herself of her favorite foods. She just tries to eat them in moderation and cuts back on calories on other days. Total deprivation leads to diet disaster!

3. Exercises 5-6 days a week on most weeks. This includes at least 3 cardio sessions (usually more), 2 personal training sessions (pic is of Esther’s trainer Anastasia who kicks Esther’s butt! Calm down city guys - Anastasia doesn’t wear this when she trains Esther! It was her Halloween costume), and takes a pilates class each week (pic below is of her pilates trainer)

4. While she does over indulge on alcohol on some occasions, she is still having quite a bit less than she has had in the past. Esther is not alone. Many city girls and guys to consume alcohol when socializing - having wine with dinner, meeting friends for drinks, having a drink(s) on a date, etc. The calories from alcohol can really add up. In addition, it can decrease your willpower to watch what you eat. Bottom line, Esther has significantly decreased her alcohol intake.   (Pic is of Esther wearing her old pants which no longer fit!)

5. Esther is great about compensating for her overindulgences. When she has a higher caloric day, the next day she tends to have a much lower calorie day.  Check out my previous posts on Recovery Dinners from Your Indulgences. 
 

Esther is becoming a celeb…
Esther is becoming a bit of a NYC celeb. She is going to be on Channel 2 News! She was interviewed by one of my nutritionist colleagues at New York Presbyterian Hospital for a segment on Holiday Eating.  I’ll keep everyone posted as to when it will be on.

Esther wants to thank CGB for “keeping her honest”, her family for watching her like a hawk during get togethers, her trainer Anastasia and Jill, her pilates instructor (pic on the right).

Esther, we’ll be watching you during the holiday season!

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Are you tired of paying close to $10 for lunch? I am! My midtown NYC lunches usually cost between $8 - $10 (and they aren’t even that good!). Why pay $8 for a chicken wrap?  I think most city girls and guys are looking to tighten their belts a bit with this economy. Why not start with cutting back on the ridiculously expensive lunches that most of us pay.  I decided to do a little investigation to see if I could find some lunch options for $5 or less.  (pic is of my $8 wrap)

Here were my criteria:
1. Lunch needed to be $5 or less (ok - so the tax may bring it slightly over $5)
2. It needs to be at least somewhat healthy. For example, I’m not going to recommend street vendor hot dogs or fast food burgers and fries! On the other hand, don’t expect organic greens and wild salmon for $5.
3. It can’t be excessive in calories. I was looking for lunches in the 300-500 calorie range.

My quest began….
 I was focusing on the areas near my offices (57th St and 68th St). As I wandered from restaurant to restaurant in midtown and the upper east side picking up take out menus, I soon found that this was not going to be an easy task! There were VERY few choices for $5 or less. I also found that many restaurant workers seemed to think it was strange that I was in their stores with a notebook looking at their menus and taking notes. One store manager at Hale and Hearty actually approached me to see what I was doing! 

Here are the lunches I found for $5 or less: 
1. Subway sandwiches. Most are ~ $4.60 or so. Healthiest choices are turkey and grilled chicken with a lot of veggies, mustard on a 6″ whole grain bread.

2. Deli. Turkey sandwich or grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and mustard at a local deli versus gourmet sandwich shop such as Cosi’s, Pax, or Metro cafe. Wraps/sandwiches at those establishments tend to be close to $7 whereas the deli sandwich prices are in the $4.50 range.

3. Chinese restaurant lunch special for $5. This includes soup (avoid the crispy noodles), entree (best bet would be to order steamed chicken and veggies) and brown rice.

4. Equinox bowl of soup and slice of bread for $4.49. Try to order a soup with beans, barley and/or protein to help keep you feeling full longer. Avoid cream soups.

5. Street meat (from those street carts). Grilled chicken with hot sauce on a pita (400 calories) or grilled chicken on salad with a little tahini sauce on the side. Both are $4. While I might question the cleanliness of some of these carts, the one near my office at the New York Presbyterian Hospital has lines of people from 11 am to 3 pm, so I would feel fairly comfortable ordering lunch from them. But some of the other street vendors may not be quite as clean … order at your own risk!

6. Hale and Hearty medium sized soup with a piece of bread for $4.39.  As I mentioned previously, order a heartier soup with beans, rice or barley and/or protein to help hold you longer.  Calories will range depending upon your soup selection, however they would average at 400 calories for soup and bread.

7. Slice of cheese pizza with veggies for about 500 calories. Pizza often gets a bad wrap as not being nutritious, but it actually isn’t so bad - assuming you can stick to one slice! In addition, one slice of pizza pizza  is a much better choice than a caesar salad or most of the gourmet wraps (which can contain 800-1000 calories!) And it’s cheap - $2.50 a slice.

8. Fast food grilled chicken sandwiches from restaurants such as McDonalds or Burger King.   OK - I usually am NOT a fan of fast food, however these sandwiches are not a bad choice if you are on the run and looking to save a few bucks. Keep in mind the chicken is processed and the buns are often refined carbs. Grilled chicken sandwiches are in the $4 range.

9. Fast food mexican:
       -  Fresco Tortilla (1167 Third Av). Each grilled chicken fajita is $1.79. Order 2 for $3.58
       - 879-Taco (yes - that’s the name!) on 1st and 66th St. Each taco is $2.50. Each fajita ranges from  
         $2.95-$3.50

10. Chirping Chicken (multiple locations) 1/4 chicken with pita bread and homemade spiced tomato sauce for $4.35

11. Chicken Bar (multiple locations): Grilled chicken sandwich on bun with greens and hour sauce for $4.25. Grilled chicken wrap with BBQ sauce or grilled chicken wrap with rice and beans and salsa for $3.95

12. The Grill (1st and 68th St). Sandwiches (ham, grilled chicken and turkey in different flavors)  on a variety of breads for $4.75 - $5.  They also have a salad bar. I was able to make a good sized salad for $4.49. I used the small salad container and filled it with shrimp, roasted brussels sprouts and about 1/2 cup of cellophane noodles. It was a filling lunch for under $5.

13. Le Gourmet (1st Avenue and 68th St.): Many deli sandwiches on sliced bread are $4.98, whereas the wraps and sandwiches on a roll are more. For the healthier sandwiches, limit mayo, cheese and fatty luncheon meat such as pastrami, salami.

14. Food Fair (1st Avenue and 68th St.). Grilled chicken on a pita for $4. Fresh roast turkey for $2 for a 1/4 pound. Buy a roll for 75 cents and you have a sandwich for $2.75.

15. Fast food salads.  
       - McDonalds grilled chicken salad (southwest, asian or caesar) with low fat dressing
       - Wendy’s Mandarain Chicken Salad with grilled chicken, roasted almonds (no noodles) and balsamic vinaigrette. Both salads are under $5 and 400 calories or less. (Pic is of McDonalds Asian Chicken Salad)

 Here are some additional $ saving lunch tips:
1. Best choice is to bring lunch from home. You can make a sandwich that comes out to ~ $2.00. Or bring leftovers. More on these kinds of lunches at a later date.
2. Don’t waste money on fancy coffee drinks. Get your co-workers to chip in and invest in a coffee maker for the office or at least buy coffee from a non-Starbucks kind of place (although I will still splurge each day for a Starbucks regular coffee - nothing fancy!)
3. Since some of the above lunches may be smaller than what you are used to eating (not a bad thing!), add a fruit that you buy from the street fruit venders for 25 cents.
4. Don’t waste money on drinks. Get water from your office water cooler (hopefully they have one)
5. Local deli’s tend to have less pricey items as compared to Cosi’s, Prete-a-manger, Pax, etc.
6. While I normally do not recommend fast food places, they are very reasonably priced and you can actually find some healthy choices. Not bad for an occasional lunch.

Has anyone else found a healthy restaurant lunch for $5 or less? Please share - we could also use some tips to save some $

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