Health magazine names top chain restaurant fare. OLIVE GARDEN

[auntAgonist]

ranks in there!! OMG who'd have thought?

" Backed by an advisory panel of experts in healthy dining, we sifted through 43 chains with more than 75 locations across the country and, frankly, were astonished by how many restaurants made no nutritional information available. Health.com: Meet Health's experts

But judge we did those brave (and progressive) enough to share their numbers. What you hold in your hands are the 10 that stood at the top of the heap."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/25/hm.restaurants/index.html

Olive Garden

Like Macaroni Grill, this Italian eatery has great-for-you options, as long as you keep your wits about you (again, avoid the baked pastas!). Use the olive-branch icon on the menu to find low-fat "Garden Fare" items such as Venetian Apricot Chicken. Even the fries aren't a disaster, because they're done in trans fat-free oil. You can grab some whole-grain goodness, too, by choosing the whole-wheat linguine at dinner as a substitute for any pasta.

• Danger zone: The non-olive-branch entrees. Olive Garden provides no nutritional information on anything else on the menu.

• We love: The low-fat Capellini Pomodoro (644 calories and 14 grams fat).

[flvegan]

1. Not surprised to see P.F. Chang's on the list.

Love that place.

Don't see how Denny's made the cut, though.

[auntAgonist]

2. Denny's is typically horrible ...

at least every experience with them I've ever had has been horrible.

Most of those named are not anywhere near us. :(


:hi:

[jmowreader]

4. Maybe that's how they made the cut...

Denny's: This place's food SUCKS, man, and that's how it made the list here: if you can't eat the shit, it can't fuck up your arteries.

[ironflange]

8. It must depend on the franchisee

There's a Denny's near us that is consistently very good. I've been to some horrid Denny's too, but this place has never given us a bad meal. The owner seems to always be there, so he obviously cares about the place, and it shows.

I was glad to see Sweet Tomatoes on the list. We really love to eat there (chicken noodle soup is to die for) but we live far from any location. When in Orlando at Xmas time, we hit them three times in ten days.

[auntAgonist]

12. There's a Denny's in Niagara Falls Ontario that isn't TOO bad.

We've had decent breakfasts there.

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. If I eat lunch at P.F. Chang's, my blood pressure goes up 25/15

Because of the salt.

Almost all restaurants make my weight spike up a pound or two from fluid retention from excessive salt, but PF Chang's is the only one that I've noticed a quick blood pressure jump.

[DarkTirade]

5. Can you request less salt when you order?

I've never eaten there, but I know the chinese place we usually go to will use less salt if we ask them. And we do, since my grandpa's on dialysis and he has to watch his salt intake.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. P. F. Chang's upset my stomach.

I sampled three bites of it as take out. It was too spicy and I headed for the host's fridge to rummage for something I could eat.

After three bites, I burped all night. It was not pleasant. Yucko.

And I hate Italian places who think everything has to have tomatoes on it. I'm allergic to tomatoes.

[XemaSab]

10. OMG! I'm allergic to tomatoes too!

And yeah, Olive Garden (and other Italian places) have little appeal for me. :P

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. I can't eat shellfish either.

When my sweetie eats smoked oysters he goes out in the backyard so as not to make me gag.

[Kat45]

14. Tell me about it. I'm allergic to garlic, and it's not just Italian places

that think everything has to have garlic in it! I recently had to leave a restaurant because there was nothing on the menu that didn't involve garlic. (I think it was Ruby Tuesday's, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly.)

[LeftyMom]

11. The one near me is very bad about not making the veg food in separate pans.

I've heard quite a few stories about bits o' critter showing up in people's supposedly veg dishes. :puke: So I've never been there, but then again, this is California, so we have local authentic places coming out our ears, and avoiding chains is pretty easy to do.

[KamaAina]

6. It's gotta be the breastfeeding

that's healthy, right? :shrug:

[Dr. Strange]

7. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN OLIVE GARDEN*

*THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN OLIVE GARDEN is a registered trademark of TrogL. All rights reserved.