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Most people think that if they’re going to eat out, a salad, especially one with chicken, is automatically the safest choice. Unfortunately it’s not that simple.

Check out the nutrition info for these popular salads:

Chili’s Quesadilla Explosion – 1300 calories, 28g saturated fat, and 2370mg sodium

Chili’s Boneless Buffalo Salad – 990 calories, 14g saturated fat, and 4320mg sodium

TGI Friday’s Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad – 1100 calories, 16g saturated fat, and 1650mg sodium

TGI Friday’s Strawberry Fields Salad with Grilled Balsamic Chicken – 810 calories, 12g saturated fat, and 1550mg sodium

Portillo’s Chicken Caesar Salad – 1200 calories, 15g saturated fat, and 2010mg sodium

Applebee’s Bruschetta Chicken Salad – 1110 calories, 18g saturated fat, and 3120mg sodium

Portion control is key. No matter what you eat when you eat out, remember to EAT HALF. If half portions or “Pick two” options with soup/salad, ½ sandwich/salad, ½ sandwich/soup are available, go for these options.

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Do you have a kid who refuses to eat vegetables with their dinner? Here’s some ideas to get your kids to eat veggies more often:

Put out some fresh veggies and lowfat dressing, dip or hummus before dinner.

Have them make funny faces or other “art” on bread, English Muffins, pitas, or individual pizza crusts using fresh vegetables. They’ll probably eat as they create.

Let them experiment with cutting their own veggies like cucumbers, zucchinis and carrots using a child-safe knife (Pampered Chef offers one for a few $). If they are involved in the preparation they more be more apt to eat it.

Let them pick out fresh and frozen veggies at the grocery store. If they choose it, they’ll be more interested in eating it.

Phone apps are an easy and trendy way to get all kinds of info. 

Go Meals is a free app powered by Sanofi-Aventis U.S. and Calorie King™. It allows you to add foods to your “plate” and calculates your daily calories, sodium, fiber, and fat. It also breaks down the percentage of your food intake into % carb, % protein, and % fat.  

The best function of this app is its ability to look up chain restaurant menus and their nutrition information. Under the “Restaurants” function, it detects your location and pulls up restaurants nearby based on category of food (American, Buffet, Pizza, Sandwiches, etc.). You can view menu items and nutrition information, and select items to add to your plate.  

While I don’t find the general food tracking function of this app to be as good as others that are out there, the restaurant function is a good one that I have used numerous times when out to eat to help me make better choices.

Yes, even the dietitian needs help making better choices now and then.
 

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The sea salt option has been around for a while. They always used to sell it in the health food stores I worked in and I always bought it assuming it was healthier for me.

In my years as a dietitian, I’ve seen many others share the same assumption.  

Here’s the real scoop on sea salt:

Sea salt is not a lower sodium option. A ¼ tsp of sea salt has 590mg sodium…the same as regular table salt.

Sea salt has a higher mineral content which may inhibit the blood pressure raising effects of the sodium.

Sea salt is typically more expensive than regular salt.

Sea salt may provide a better taste and texture when used in cooking.

Some sea salts may have some environmental pollutants or contaminants.

The moral of the story…Go easy on the salt, no matter what kind you use.

Well, yes, it appears that it can.  

Although the mechanism of it is not fully understood, and it doesn’t work for everyone, there are very interesting and promising results regarding the effect of bariatric surgery on Type 2 diabetes.

Weight loss is often results in an improvement in blood sugars. However, blood sugar control appears to normalize soon after bariatric surgery, often days later, before any major weight loss has occurred.  

Research so far shows that the closer the surgery is to the appearance of diabetes, the greater the “curing” effect will be. For example, someone diagnosed with diabetes in the past year may see better results that someone who has had diabetes for 15 years.

Bariatric surgery is becoming more common, but only certain people are eligible for such intensive measures. Typically, surgery will be considered as an option if someone has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 35 and has found conventional weight loss methods to be unsuccessful.   

BMI is based on height and weight. If you are a man who is 5’10” and weigh more than 245 lbs, than your BMI is greater than 35. To find out your BMI, go to the BMI calculator at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's website.

For further reading on bariatric surgery and diabetes, check out: MedPage Today, the Northwest Herald, and WebMD.