Counting calories? Don't be too quick to trust restaurants' tallies

[Elmore Furth]

Having trouble counting calories? It may be harder than you think.

(CBS) Are chain restaurants lying to their customers about calorie counts? Most restaurants post calorie counts on their menus and some states even require it. But a new study suggests that nearly one in five of these counts are wrong.

For the study, scientists checked calorie counts of 269 food items from 42 randomly selected fast-food or sit-down restaurants in Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Indiana. They found 40 percent of the food items contained 10 calories more than what was labeled on the menu. Nearly 20 percent of the foods contained more than 100 calories than what was stated in the nutritional facts. One side dish that was studied was off by an egregious 1000 calories.

100 calories here and there might not seem so outrageous, but according to the study published in the July 20 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association, eating an extra 100 calories everyday can contribute to an added 10 to 30 pounds a year


Counting calories? Don't be too quick to trust restaurants' tallies

[supernova]

1. I have an easier time

if I remember that a full meal at a sit down restaurant is roughly equivalent to about 2x/calories I should eat in a day. Another take away image is it's another Thanksgiving meal. I try to just eat half. A couple of tricks I've learned the past couple of years dating and eating out:

1) Stick to a veggie appetizer and use that as your "entree" Stuffed mushrooms are a great one for that. Add a side salad.
2), Or, skip the entree entirely and just enjoy coffee and dessert.
3) If you drink alcohol, order hard liquors neat or simply with water. It's only about 80 calories/shot. A couple do me just fine. About the same for a glass of wine. Sugary mixers are deadly on the waistline. i just skip them.
4) Order soup or salad and eat all of it if you are going for the full course experience. It will leave you less room for a huge entree.
5) I skip meal extenders like rice, potatoes, pasta, and bread. They don't add anything except calories.

I try to remind myself that the purpose of going out is to enjoy socializing, not gorging myself on food.

If I go to a fast food restaurant, I get the normal meal, no supersized anything. Regular one patty burger, small Fries and cola. I try to keep it to 5-600 calories. Not always possible and French Fries are sooooooo goooooooood. :D :-(

Yes, if you have an eating plan, restaurants can wreck it, no question.

edit: additional info