No time for breakfast again? So you grab a bagel or muffin on your way to the office. Yikes … too many calories and no fiber or protein to keep hunger in check! The good news is that there are now some “somewhat” healthy breakfast choices that you can grab on the run. Check out the new Subway breakfast menu.

I’m sure most of you have had a sandwich at Subway at one time or another. They’ve now added breakfast items to the menu. The breakfast sandwiches are made with omelets from regular eggs or egg whites and are served on English muffins, flatbread or Subway’s fresh-baked sub rolls. You can create your own sandwich or choose one of theirs: 
- egg & cheese
- steak, egg & cheese
- double bacon, egg & cheese
- black forest ham, egg & cheese western egg & cheese  (pic is of Alexis, registered dietitian cutting sandwiches)

Nutritional content

The taste test …
On a busy Friday morning at the hospital where I work, I volunteered to get breakfast sandwiches for my co-workers to taste test. You know you’re in for some scrutiny when something is taste -tested by nutritionists (and no, we don’t cook the hospital food!) We only tasted the low calorie sandwiches on the english muffins. Here is what I purchased:  (pic of Samantha, registered dietitian testing sandwiches)
- egg whites and american cheese
- egg whites with swiss cheese
- egg whites, steak, american cheese
- real egg and american cheese
- egg whites, cheese and ham

Nutritional  content

The results
The overall feeling was that these sandwiches were an acceptable replacment if you had to eat on the run. However, no one, including me, was ready to give up their Greek yogurt and berries! Here were some specific comments:
- it was great that they had the option for light wheat english muffins with 5 grams of fiber
- bread should be toasted more (however I kind of liked it the way it was)
- avoid the swiss cheese (had a funny taste)
- the meats were salty and overall sodium content was rather high
- the price was right ~ $1.75
- nice idea that you are able to add your choice of veggies to the sandwich
- you can’t beat the calories!  (pic is of Amy, registered dietitian, taste testing sandwiches)

Bottom line -  not a bad choice if you had to eat on the run. Avoid the meats if you want to lower the sodium content somewhat.

Are you one of those people who just can’t keep their hands out of the restaurant bread basket? Maybe you’re really hungry, but likely you do it just because the bread is in front of you. You tell yourself you’ll just have one piece … which turns into three. Not to mention the butter you smear it with or just as bad, the frequent olive oil dips. There is nothing wrong with eating a piece of bread, but when one piece leads to several, this can be trouble if you are trying to watch your weight! Read on to learn tips on how to control your intake of bread .

The calories add up…
So how bad can one little piece of bread with butter be? Obviously it depends upon the size of the bread and the amount of butter or oil you use.
Here are the calories in common breads:
- small piece of Italian bread can have as few as 50 calories
- medium size piece of foccacia (2 oz) has 180 calories
- dinner roll (2 oz) has 160 calories

Now the spreads are where you can do some major damage! The calories from butter and oil add up really fast. While it is true that olive oil is a healthier choice than butter, your fat cells don’t know the difference between a good fat and a bad fat.
Here are the calories in spreads:
- 2 tsp butter has 70 calories
- 2 tsp olive oil has 80 calories
- 2 Tablespoons hummus has 50 calories

So basically, a roll with a few olive oil dips can be 240 calories. Get ready to jog 28 minutes or walk 67 minutes to burn this off!

Tips to limit bread intake in restaurants:  
So you are sitting in a restaurant, cocktail in front of you, waiting for your food. The bread basket is calling your name. How do you handle this?

1. Tell the waiter to remove the bread basket. This is most obvious and effective way to control your intake.

2. Take one piece of bread – no butter or oil 

3. Keep the basket out of your reach  (pic is of “Mr. Bread Man” in Hearth NYC restaurant. His job was to plop a piece of bread down in front of you as soon as you finished the piece he previously gave you…)

4. If you love bread, take 1 – 2 SMALL pieces and omit the starch (i.e. potato) with your meal. Omit the added fat to save 100 calories or more

5. Have a light snack before you go into the restaurant, so you will not be starving

6. Ask for your salad immediately, so you will be less tempted to eat the bread

7. Think about this bread situation ahead of time. Play the scenario in your head of you resisting the bread. Repeat the mantra (not out loud) “I will not eat the bread.” 

8. Enlist the support of your dining partner not to let you have bread. Perhaps you shouldn’t do this on your first Match.com or Jdate though …

Dining out is one of life’s most pleasurable experiences.  However it can be a little too pleasurable for some! A martini here, a few bites of chocolate mousse there, fresh bread dipped in olive oil … soon enough your belly will be bulging out of your pants. The good news is that with a little planning and discipline, you can still eat out and maintain your waistline. (pic is of my coworkers and I dining out at Le Rouge Tomate) 

Here are some common problems areas and tips on how to deal with them:
1.  Portion sizes. Portion sizes in most restaurants tend to be oversized. Cut down on the portion sizes by:    
   - Splitting an entree with a friend
   - Ordering a half order of pasta for your entree, along with an appetizer
   – Ordering two appetizers instead of an entree
   – Taking some food home in a doggie bag
   – Avoiding those restaurants known to serve large portions
   – As soon as the food comes, portion off an “appropriate” amount to eat
   – Ask the waiter to bring you only 1/2 of your entree and wrap the rest up for you to take home

2. Excessive fat.   Restaurant foods are often high in fat. Your meal probably contains  
more fat than you realize, whether it is the olive oil drizzled over your salad, the oil used to sauté the portebella mushrooms, or the butter added to the marsala sauce. For example, butter is often added as part of  a roux to thicken a sauce. This is rarely stated on a menu.  Also many chefs “top off” the supposedly plain grilled fish, meat or poultry with butter. Here are some tips to cut down on fat intake:
   – Avoid fried foods
  – Avoid sauces containing butter, cream or cheese. Keep in mind that oil, although low in saturated fat and cholesterol, has the same total fat and caloric content as butter.
   - Request that salad dressings and sauces be served on the side
  - Ask questions – don’t assume what ingredients are used.
   – Request foods be prepared your way.

3.  “All-inclusive meals” These meals include appetizers, entree and dessert. We may feel compelled to eat each course because it is included in the price. It is generally recommended that “all-inclusive” meals be avoided. Avoid these meals! Order a la carte instead. It’s better to pay an few extra dollars by ordering  a la carte than to deal with the cost and embarrassment of having to buy new clothes!  (Pic is of me being “force fed” dessert)

4. Alcohol. Aside from being high in calories, alcohol tends to weaken willpower and  may impede the body’s ability to burn fat. Therefore, it is best to limit your intake of  alcoholic beverages. (This man seemed to be enjoying his vodka and tonic … wonder if he overindulged later on?)  
 
5. Too hungry by the time food arrives
   – Make dinner reservations earlier
   – Plan an afternoon snack between lunch and dinner. This will help get your blood sugar up so you won’t be so hungry at dinner.
    - Fill up on water or a club soda, rather than rolls and high calorie appetizers. The club soda is good because it will make you feel bloated and less likely to want to eat.

6. Little willpower.   Try to plan your meal in advance. It is much easier to think about
what you are going to order before you get to the restaurant than to make wise choices once the menu arrives. Check out the menu online ahead of time so you can plan in your mind what you’ll eat. Push the bread basket away from you.

7. Extra’s  (i.e. bread and butter on table) For some people trying to lose weight, bread can be a  major problem. There is nothing wrong with eating a piece of bread, but when one piece leads to four, this can be trouble!  Stay tuned for my tips on how to avoid eating the bread on the table…

I am obsessed with tuna tartare.  If it is on the menu, it’s pretty much a sure bet that I will order it! Any thoughts of mercury poisoning go out the window. I am on a quest to find the perfect tuna tartare. I had always assumed it was fairly low in calories, however recently I’ve realized that it’s not quite as low as I thought …

What is in tuna tartare?
Obviously you start with raw tuna. The additional ingredients will depend upon who makes it. Popular ingredients a combination of the following: ginger, soy sauce, mayonnaise, avocado, citrus, sesame oil, wasabi, capers, pine nuts, pesto, shallots, etc.  Also, many tartares come with bread, toast or chips. (pic taken at Nice Matin in NYC with Paula, Debbie, Laurie and me. Of course, I’ve ordered tuna tartare)

Estimated calorie content of 2 tuna tartare dishes
 Some tartares are quite dry, whereas others have higher calorie ingredients added in (i.e. oil or mayo). I would highly doubt that any tartare is made without added oil …  however question is – how much? So the caloric content of tuna tartare can very widely.

Accademia d’vino 
I got this as a take out order so I could weigh the ingredients in the privacy of my home. Weighing food in a restaurant is bit too much …  
- 4 oz of tuna (included some pine nuts and other flavorings)
- 1 1/4 oz toasted bread that was slightly oily (will estimate 1 tsp oil on bread)
- 2  T.of oil pesto sauce was drizzled on the mound of tuna as well as over the plate   (see pic)
Estimated caloric value: 550

Nice Matin
These ingredients are estimations as I didn’t weigh the food. But I’m pretty good at eyeballing portions.
~ 4 oz tuna topped with avocado
- 2  large potato chips
 - citrus tasting marinade (actually quite good … but a lot of oil) over the tuna and on the plate (a lot of  it)
Estimated caloric value: 580

I also looked on line for calories in tuna tartare to compare my findings. The calorie information  from recipe zarr regarding the Barefoot Contessa tuna tartare is based on a 2.3  oz portion. This would only be half a appetizer size portion in a restaurant, so I doubled the nutrition info. Caloric value for Barefoot Contessa tuna tartare 4.6 oz was 260 calories. This recipe was obviously low in fat and did not include any bread or chips.

Tuna tartare slimming tips: 
Tuna tartare can be higher in calories than I orginally thought, so if you are trying to watch your weight, try these suggestions:

- Split  it with a friend. Then split an entree as well. 
- Have it for your meal … along with a glass of wine of course!
- If you know it c0mes with a dressing on it, you might want to ask for it on the side (I do this at Accademia d’vino) 

*word of warning … raw fish can pose a risk of being contaminated and should not be consumed by pregnant women, children or people with compromised immune systems. If you decide to consume it, make sure you get it from a reputable restaurant.

 Hate it when your dinner reservation is late? How about 90 minutes late!  So what does the restaurant do to compensate? Send over a platter of complimentary desserts – of course! (why can’t they send over a bottle of champagne?)  Read on for more of this dessert extravaganza and learn tips on how to control your intake of decadent sweets!

This is the third time in 3 months I received a complimentary dessert (I guess the waiters can spot my ”chocolate seeking” tendencies…) Last weekend my brother Dustin (check out my previous post on his crazy 750 mile bike race)  and his friend Jamie  came to visist me in NYC. I decided to take them to a restaurant called called Tao. Our reservations were for 10 pm, but by the time we sat down an ordered it was 11:45 pm. Too  many cocktails were consumed during this wait. So of course we were famished by the time the food arrived and our willpower was low when the huge platter of complimentary desserts arrived.

The platter consisted of: 
- Molten chocolate cake with tahitian vanilla bean ice cream (at least 700 calories)
- Giant fortune cookie filled with chocolate and vanilla mousse (at least 1100 calories)
- 3 scoops of sorbet (estimate 125 calories each scoop = 375)
- a scoop of some kind of gooey pistachio concoction (estimate 250 calories)
- Crispy fuji apple blossoms with tahitian vanilla bean ice cream (at least 700 calories)
- Fresh fruit (estimate 100 calories)

Total estimated calories for this massive platter = 3225. This platter equals the calorie equivalent of running 1 – 1  1/2 marathons!

Did we consume the whole platter? You bet … every last drop!  FYI (pic is of Jamie devouring the platter … ok – I ate a lot of it as well) 

Tips to resist a complimentary dessert
(these were taken from a previous post but I thought they were worth reposting)
1. First of all, if this rarely happens to you, dig in and enjoy it! Ideally, you would just have a bite or two to taste it.

2. Eat slow. Your dining companions will likely scoff it down in a few minutes (especially after a few drinks!) They will be so caught up in their feeding frenzy that they won’t even notice you eating minimally.

3. Put down your fork/spoon in between bites and drink water. Again, this will slow down your rate of eating.

4. Place the dessert as far away  from you as possible. This will make it less likely that you’ll eat it. Leaning across the table to grab forkfuls of food looks greedy.

5. Secretly entertain yourself watching the sharks feed.  

6. Keep in mind that all calories count, including the free ones. Each large bite of a rich dessert can contain 80 calories or more.

You eat out in restaurants several times a week and make really healthy choices.  Yet you can’t lose weight. You diligently avoid the dessert and starch (ok – so one little piece of bread…) and limit your intake of wine. So what’s the problem? The problem is that these supposedly healthy restaurant meals contain more calories than you think!

So here is a typical restaurant meal:
- One glass of wine (120 calories)
- Piece of bread dipped in 2 tsp. olive oil (170 calories)
- Mixed green salad dressed with oil and vinegar (150 calories)
- Grilled salmon (8 oz) with vegetables (750 calories)

Yikes - the total caloric content of this meal is 1200 calories! And this is one of your “good” nights when you limited the wine and bread, selected fish over that pasta dish you were eyeing  and bypassed the dessert. Can you imagine the caloric content of some of your other restaurant meals?

The major calorie culprit with ”healthy” restaurant meals:
Oil, oil, oil! Food tastes better when it is moist, so many chefs are rather heavy handed with the oil (I’ve taken part in many cooking demonstrations and can attest to this!) The typical amount of fat added to restaurant food is as follows:
-   1/2 tsp of oil per ounce protein. So a 8 oz piece of fish might contain 4 tsp of oil (160 cal)
- 1 tsp fat per cup of vegetable
Then of course, there is oil in your salad and oil to dip your bread in …

Caloric needs of the average person
In order to lose one pound a week, the typical woman needs about 1200-1600 calories a day, while a man needs 1600-2000 calories a day. This varies depending upon your age, weight, activity level, individual metabolism, etc.  So you can see how difficult it is for the typical woman who eats out frequently to keep her caloric intake low enough to lose weight. She might be getting all her calories for the day in this one meal!

Stay tuned for my slimming restaurant dining tips – learn tips and tricks to help you stay slim while dining out!

With the Superbowl around the corner, I bet many of you city girls and guys have been spending time in bars watching sports games.  What goes hand in hand with watching a game in sports bar? Beer and bar food of course! Two weeks ago when the Jets were playing,  I took part in this “bar food/booze  fest” and decided to tally up the damage.

So here is what I ate/drank:
- 3 pints of beer = 640 calories, 0 fat (Ok - guess I was a little thirsty!) 
- 1 cheeseburger slider = 280 calories, 10 gm fat   (I could have had another one … but controlled myself)
- 7 buffalo wings = 455 calories, 28 gm fat  (Definitely could have had more, but they were so hot it was burning my mouth. Luckily I skipped the blue cheese dip as that is 80 calories and 10 gm of fat per tablespoon. My companion ate quite a bit of the blue cheese dip…) 

Total: 1375 calories and 38 grams of fat  

To burn these calories off, you would need to:
 - Jump rope for 1 hour 45 minutes
- Cycle for 3 hrs
- Run 5 mph for 2  hours 30 minutes
- Walk 13 miles

Stay tuned for my tips to minimize damage while watching the SuperBowl this Sunday!

If you a sushi fanatic like me, you may be wondering if  it’s possible to have sushi on a regular basis and still lose weight? The answer is yes … assuming you have a little “sushi smarts”!

Is the rice really fattening?
I see people getting a little too caught up in thinking the rice is really fattening but forget about the calories in sake, the orange salad dressing, spicy sauce and the higher fat fish. While I agree that you shouldn’t overdo the rice, the amount that is put in most rolls and pieces of sushi is not that much. For example, a piece of sushi has about 20 more calories than a piece of sashimi (due to the rice).  Not too bad! However, I still would suggest a combo of sashimi and sushi.

So how many calories should your sushi meal be?
I generally recommend a woman trying to lose weight consume approximately 500 -600 calories for dinner while a man can consume up to 800. Of course, this number will vary depending upon your activity level, age, weight and individual metabolism.

salmon avocado roll or eel avocado roll = 280
yellowtail scallion roll = 190
miso soup = 50
520 total calories

salmon avocado roll or eel avocado roll = 280
3 sashimi = 105
miso soup = 50
small sake or a beer = 180
615 total calories

yellowtail scallion roll = 190
5 sashimi = 175
4 shumai or green salad with 2 T. orange dressing = 140
green tea = 0
505 total calories

spicy salmon wrapped in cucumber = 210
4 shumai = 140
2 sushi = 100
2 sashimi = 70
miso soup = 50
green tea = 0
570 total calories

tuna roll = 190
seaweed salad = 120
3 sashimi = 105
small sake = 180
595 total calories

8 sashimi = 280
miso soup = 50
2 small sakes (this one isn’t my first recommendation!) = 280
610 calories
*I averaged the calories in the above meal plans from the lowest calorie fish to the highest. Check out my FREE Downloadable Sushi Survival Guide. This is a more comprehensive list of the calories in sushi and sashimi.

Slenderizing Sushi Tips
1. Limit alcohol – the calories add up fast…

• 5 oz sake (small) ~ 180 calories
• 12 oz beer ~ 150 calories
• 6 oz wine ~ 150 calories

2. Omit the alcohol and save 150-180 calories. You can eat more food instead (or have a lower calorie meal!) Substitute green tea and get tons of antioxidants.

3. Limit crunchy rolls (adds ~ 60 calories or more) and spicy sauce (adds ~ 50-70 calories or  more)

4. Vary your fish. This will help to limit mercury from excessive amounts of tuna or PCB’s from too much farmed salmon. In addition, some fish (i.e. eel and salmon) contain almost double the amount of calories as compared to other fish. See my FREE Downloadable Sushi Survival Guide for more details.

5. The Japanese orange dressing appears very innocent from a calorie standpoint. I was suprised to learn it contains about 150 calories per 2 Tablespoons. Some larger salads may contain 4 Tablespoons!

6. Drink a lot of water or green tea while you are eating. This will help fill you up and flush out the sodium from the soy sauce.  Even low sodium soy sauce is loaded with sodium. High sodium meal = bloated body the next day!

7. Miso soup and the green salad with dressing on the side are good low calorie fillers. Start with them and you will end up eating less at your meal. Your goal is to slow down your rate  of eating. Eating your salad with chopsticks takes an even longer time (now who would use a knife and fork in a Japanese restaurant?)

Lastly, keep in mind that eating raw fish may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions. Pregnant women should not eat raw fish.

Who doesn’t LOVE Houston’s spinach dip – creamy and oozing with cheese? It’s obviously loaded with calories so you tell yourself you’ll just have one chip with dip. But once you start, you can’t stop! I had the experience of having this addicting dip in front of me last night at Houstons in NYC. Initially I was able to avoid it. But as the effects of the wine kicked in and I saw my friends digging in, my resolve withered away and I gave into temptation. After numerous chips loaded with this spinach dip, I decided to come home and figure out the calories.  (pic is of my friends hand digging into the dip)

 For those of you who aren’t familar with Houstons, it is a chain restaurant that is popular in NYC. The food is actually pretty good. I had seared tuna sashimi salad for dinner (after my dip indulgence).  I will calculate the calories in this at another post.

Recipe for Houston’s Spinach Dip  … I am not suggesting you make this dip if you are interested in controlling your weight and/or cholesterol levels!  

Serves 20 , 4 cups
Ingredients
1/2 cup grated romano cheese (2 oz)
1 clove garlic, peeled
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 (6 1/2 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
8 ounces soft garlic-chive cream cheese
2 large eggs
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place Romano cheese in a food processor.
3. While running, drop garlic in the feed tube.
4. Start the machine and add spinach, artichokes, cream cheese and eggs, process until thoroughly blended.
5. Turn into a casserole dish and fold in Mozzarela.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

Nutritional content
Portion size: 3 Tablespoons  (this is a level Tablespoon – not a heaping one. One Tablespoon would likely fit on one chip)
Calories: 95
Total fat: 7.7  gm
Saturated fat: 4.4 gm
Cholesterol: 44 mg

Now this doesn’t count the chips. I would estimate the calories in the chips at Houstons to be 10-15 calories a chip. So 3 chips loaded with a Tablespoon of dip each would be ~ 140 calories. Who can eat just 3 of these????

Tired of the same old breakfast? Looking for a healthy choice to “eat on the run”? No time for breakfast – need something quick? Look no further! I have compiled a comprehensive list of healthy breakfast choices – both meals you make at home and meals you eat on the run. Download this guide (see link on right side of home page) and keep it with you. You can find the healthiest choices to make on the run – whether you are at Dunkin Donuts, Pax, McDonald’s, Jamba Juice, etc.

Most of my breakfast choices are in the 200-300 calorie range. Some people may need more calories than this. If so, add a fruit and/or increase your portions. Keep in mind that not all the breakfast choices on my Survival Guide are ones that I would necesarily recommend as being the most nutritious, however they are much better choices than some other items. For example, my recommended choice of a Wake-up wrap at Dunkin Donuts (170 cal, 10 gm fat) is a much better choice than the Sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit (600 cal, 40 gm fat).

Don’t forget to Download my FREE Lunch, Snack and Sushi Guides if you have not alreadydone so. Pass one onto your friend as well.