I know that Applebee’s has a Weight Watchers menu right in its regular menu, and that’s way cool. Just out of curiosity, has anyone noticed any other restaurants that are doing this? I know I can go to Dotti's Weight Loss Zone and figure out the points, usually, but it’s so much easier to just have it right there on the menu. Just wondering if anyone had seen this at other restaurants. Thanks!!

No, not right on the menu. But there's been a lot of publicity lately about portion size.

So that suppose you were ordering a la carte, and the item was roast beef (not a bad choice; not fried, and you can trim the fat off)

Then the dish is served. For meat, fish or poultry you would eat only a portion equal in size to a deck of playing cards. I suppose if the roast beef was sliced you would need to imagine some slices stacked.

You would not eat a steak, because it's fried, and fried food's a no-no unless it's fried in olive oil or similar 'good' fat. And you could never trust the restaurant to tell the truth about it!

One cup of greens is about as big as a baseball. So that's how much you would eat. You would ask for lemon juice as a dressing.

One 'serving' of bread is about as big as a CD case. One serving of rice, pasta or mashed potato is about as big as half a baseball.

I doubt if a true 'dieter's' restaurant would catch on. People have such different weight-loss diets! High carb, high protein, grapefruit, etc. etc.

Besides, eating out is so often a social occasion. You wouldn't want to ask non-dieting friends to a diet restaurant! They'd immediately remember a prior engagement. So once again, the responsibility for making good choices falls back on the dieter. Life's so unfair!

But it would make sense to avoid fast-food joints. Even their so-called 'light meals' are high calorie. (See the Supersize Me movie for more on this topic.)

Vancouver started a 'lite' restaurant back in the 1970's. I believe it was called Air Affair. It went bust.

So I guess the guidelines would be: think about portion size, avoid animal and other 'bad' fats, limit 'good' fats, eat a piece of fruit for dessert, and eat at better restaurants that offer a wide choice on the menu.

Ha, you want me to THINK when I'm ordering? Good luck with that one!!

Thanks.

Subway is the only fast food I found that can be worked into a diet. They have made a lot of money with the Jerad advertising. Potbellies also seems okay with their "skinny wheat bread", but not sure they are located nation wide yet.

At restaurants it's tough because every restaurant out there except high priced meals give an ungodly amount of food. I've found that when eating out with my parents, the best approach is for my Mom and I to split a meal. This weekend my mom, my dad and I all split a meal and it was plenty. I'm not a big fan of leftovers so I try to split with anyone that is willing when I eat out. It always ends up being more than enough food - still too much often. The really great part is that there is guiltless splurging on the best item on the menu and getting a nice salad to go with... it always works out great although I'm sure it ticks off the servers. I try to leave a generous tip when I do split so that the servers don't suffer.

Sagus and I split meals ALL THE TIME. Many times, we are also providing some of the food to the Boys also since they are getting the kids meal, cannot eat an adult meal, but remain a bit hungry after completing their portions. Since we tip well, and we go to the same restaurants where the servers know us really well, this rarely is a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by babthrower:
One serving of rice, pasta or mashed potato is about as big as half a baseball.

I eat a plate of pasta the size of half a basketball, and that is 3 to 4 portions, honestly. So I think that these measurements, at least those for the rice and pasta, are precooked. If not, I will have to consider suicide, because life with my bit of overactive Italian blood will no longer be worth living! Tell the truth: how few strands of cooked spaghetti fit into half a baseball: maybe 8?

no, NOT precooked.. after cooking. Sorry.

Not wishing to have Tsaeb's death laid at my door, I decided to run a test.

I don't have any pasta in the house, but I cooked a bundle of Japanese buckwheat noodles, which are each 8 inches long and about the diameter of a spaghettini noodle. Then I measured half a cup of them, cooked, which is the recommended serving size. I didn't count every one, because by the time I got to 20 noodles I saw that I had counted about 1/3 of them. So about 60 noodles equals about half-a-baseball-sized serving. Then I placed the +/- 60 noodles on a plate and formed them into a dome-shaped mass. It looked a little bigger than half a baseball, but closer to half a baseball than to, say, half a softball.

Picture.

So I guess it's stir-fry for supper. Gotta use up those noodles.

As an addendum to this question... What about restaurants that at least show their nutritional information, either on their menus or on the internet? Anyone comes across any of these, please let me know!!