Back during the whole Adkins diet craze, bread got a bad rap.  Wraps seemed to be the big craze and the better option.  But that may not always be the case. Wraps are made with flour tortillas.  Many times the same white flour that makes white bread, you can see where I am going with this.  Also, because tortillas are dense and flat as apposed to airy fluffy bread, you might be packing more calories into your tortilla than bread.  For example, the average 10 inch flour tortilla is about 220 calories as opposed to 2 slices of wheat bread at 160-200 calories and the fiber is typically higher.  And that is if you use the 10 inch.  Many places use the larger 13 inch tortillas because you can fit more into them.  Those can jump off the scale at 300+ calories before you put any meat, cheese, veggies and dressing into them.  Let me give you a comparison.  You walk into Subway (still one of my favorites because you have healthy choices and they are open about the nutrition info on their food) and you are going to go for the turkey.  You want to decide between the 6 inch wheat bread or the wrap.  You think the wrap is better right.  Well, the 6 inch wheat bun is 200 calories vs 310 on the wrap (look it up.)  Also the wheat has 4g of fiber vs 1 in the wrap.  Now 100 calories might not be that big a deal, but it adds up.  Many of the airport deli stands with those “pre-packaged wraps” are using the higher calorie 13 inch bad boys.  The other disadvantage with a wrap is they are great vessels for holding high calorie sauces.  You can put 3 times the amount of ranch dressing in a wrap that you can on bread.  Also if you look at a typical deli sandwich on bread, they put 1 slice of cheese.  If you deconstruct your average wrap, there are 2-3 slices in there.  Now you are adding 200-400 additional calories (a whole second sandwich) when you were trying to choose the waistline healthy option.  So should you give up wraps?  No, but if you are choosing them because you think they are better for you than bread, then do the research and make the smart decision.

OK when we think healthy, anytime we see a veggie burger or anything “veggie” on the menu, we assume it is healthy right?  WRONG!  I got burned the other day at Ruby Tuesday and chose their veggie burger.  Great choice right?  Yea, that sucker came in at 953 calories without the fries.  Add the fries for another 359 and that is what most women should eat in a day.  You would have thought I had learned my lesson from their 1000 calorie turkey burgers in the past, but no, I ate the thing and then found out the damage.  Oh well, but just proves the point that you can’t assume it is healthy, just because it sounds healthy.

So how do you take a typical healthy chicken sandwich and ruin it?  Put butter and bacon on it.  Now the chicken sandwich is a staple in my diet when I am traveling.  When I see it on the menu, I usually know it is a healthy option.  So when I ordered it and asked for something other that fries, that is usually a sign that I am looking for a healthy meal.  So when this bad boy came out with 4 slices of back and slathered in herb butter I was blown away.  Now I picked the bacon off and tried my best to remove some of the butter, but with the butter and bacon, that is an additional 300 calories tied to my sandwich that I did not need.  I know I should have asked how that was prepared, so shame on me, but that is the challenge we face.  We think we are making good choices, but the devil is in the details.

So I was out for lunch today and decided to hit Arby's and grab something quick.  We have all been there, you look up at the menu and you look for the good choice.  You read the words "Market Fresh" and Turkey and think, that you have found a healthy choice.  The problem is while you think it is healthy, it may not be.  For example, Arby's Market Fresh Turkey & Swiss comes in at 700 calories and 30g of fat.  By the way, that is about 50% of the recommended daily fat intake for an average man, all wrapped up in one sandwich.  How can that be?  Well, it is portions.  With really thick slices of bread, 2 servings of turkey and several slices of cheese, even and turkey sandwich can blow the waste line.  Funny enough, non of the roast beef sandwiches (even the ones with melted cheese on them are as high as the market fresh sandwiches.)  Take a look and see for yourself.  So looking for a smart choice?  Go for a medium roast beef or grilled chicken (both around 400 cals.)  You can go with the Martha's Vineyard salad or if you are really bold.  Order a kids meal.  All of the kids sandwiches are the right portion size for adults and you can get it with a fruit cup (300 calories total.)  I got a salad and a roast beef kids meal and I was good to go.  The sad think is many times we choose the turkey even though we wanted the roast beef, but in reality, we could have had it.  That is why it pays to do the numbers.

Ruby Tuesday's Portobello Swiss Turkey Burger sounds like the perfect burger alternative when dining out.  I mean the name says it all, turkey and mushrooms, it must be healthy.  Well, that bad boy comes in at 1145 calories and what do most of us do? We eat the fries because we think we choose a healthy burger, well add 360 calories for those fries.  No one simple meal has turned into a 1500 calorie meal, which by the way, is the daily caloric intake for many women, all in one meal.  If you want the burger, get the regular cheese burger, it is the same calories and at least you are getting what you want.  Why is this supposedly healthy choice so much?  Portions.  The bread on it is the equivalent of 4 slices of bread and it is.  The burgers are 1/2 pound patties, twice as much as we should have.  Now I don't mean to go on a rant here (channeling Dennis Miller) but this kind of thing just pisses me off.  Restaurants put things on the menu that sound healthy and we think we are making good choices, when in fact we aren't.  Now I think it is the responsibility of each of us to do the research and know what we put in our mouth.  The good thing is that these restaurants do publish their nutritional info, so you can find it, but I wonder how much their menus would change if not only they had to put the price next to the item, but also the calories.  Now, I am not saying Ruby Tuesday's is a bad place.  Actually it is one of the restaurants that does publish their menu and has some great choices, I just look and make the better choice.  If you look at their seafood choices, there are some really good ones there.  I usually go for the salmon or Creole Catch with mashed cauliflower and steamed broccoli.  OK, off the soapbox for the day.

Well, we all know that everyone jumps on the bandwagon with buzz words and following the latest craze, and that has always been the case when it come to health.  Just think back to when the Adkins diet was the craze and everything was "Adkins Friendly."  Well we as consumers just take it for face value.  We choose foods that say their are healthy because they are lower in fat or lower calorie or lower sodium or no sugar added or whatever, but many times those foods are no better for us than what we wanted in the first place.  We have started to learn to look for things like Whole Grains and Veggie, but the truth is, we may be stuffing more in our face.  Let me give you some examples.

You go to your pancake house of choice and look through the list of the decadent disks.  You see Buttermilk and Whole Wheat or Buckwheat.  You know whole grains are better so you load up on the whole wheat thinking they are better for you and your waistline.  The problem ... they are about he same calories (about 150 per pancake.)  While they may be higher in fiber, they are not reducing your calories and the butter and syrup that we slather on is about 50 cals per tablespoon on the syrup and 80 cals per tablespoon on the whipped butter we put on top.

Soup is another example.  We go for the classic bowl of soup which is good for us, but you know that bread bowl that looks so tasty with it.  Well, add another 500 calories just for the bread bowl.  Skip the bread and just go for the soup.

My favorite is the "Veggie" tag.  You see something that is veggie and we assume that it is healthy for us and a good low calorie choice because veggies are low calorie right?  Well not always.  For example Panera's Mediterranean Veggie is 590 cals and 13 grams of fat.  Where do the cals come from?  The fact that their idea of a serving of breat is double what you would get if you made a sandwich at home.  Instead get 1/2 a sandwich and choose a low fat soup for 100-120 cals.

That same principle applies to salads.  Salads are all time healthy choice right.  Just by saying you had a salad impresses people as to your dedication to health.  Not if you go with the Taco Bell Fiesta Taco Salad.  It comes barreling in at 840 calories (that is the same a 5 original crunchy tacos.)  You can thank that edible bowl that makes up 400 of those calories.  OK, but that was Taco Bell.  So a better alterative might be Chili's Mesquite Chicken Salad right?  Not at 800 calories.  To to give you an idea, most women need between 1200 and 1500 calories per day.  1 salad is half the day.  No wonder we struggle.  So when you get salads, get dressing on the side, have them go easy on the cheese and drop the crunchy fried things like tortilla strips, crispy noodles and croutons.  That will help keep your salad in check.

Fish is always good for us right?  Not when we fry it.  Typically 3oz of fish is about 100 calories.  Fry it, add some tartar sauce, cheese and throw it on a bun and you can take that some piece of fish and turn it into 640 calories.  Just see Burger Kings BK Fish.  Hold that tartar sauce and save yourself 170 calories and that is much better.  Remember, that is no fries or drink yet.

The final example is the fast food icon for eating healthy ... Subway.  Yes, I am a huge Subway fan and most of their subs are very low calorie, low fat and good for you.  But that does not mean you can assume that everything on the menu is a good choice.  Take the 6in Chicken Bacon Ranch.  Good choice right.  It is grilled chicken (no fried) whole wheat bread, just a few slices of bacon.  How bad can it be? 580 cals.  Same as a Big Mac.  And remember, that is a 6 inch sub,, double that if you splurged for the footlong.

So who's fault is this.  Nobody's!  I am not about placing blame.  It is up to each an every one of us to know what we eat and how that affects the overall intake we should have (or what I have affectionately called the damage bill.)  I give credit to the restaurants and chains for publishing the info on them menu items.  As you looked through, you found better alternatives.  You arm yourself with knowledge and you know what you can do.  I know that I can eat a footlong turkey on wheat at Subway for the same cals as the 6in Chicken Bacon Ranch.  Now that is if I skip the cheese and mayo and I know that and am willing to make that choice.  So just as I have done the "If you eat this ..."  I am going to start another segment called "So it sounds healthy."