New Study: Eating Out Isn't Good for You!

So, in a recent obnoxious comment from Melanie, she indicated that she was making her own spaghetti sauce because the store-bought kind she was using had half a cup of sugar in it.  Her question:  why?  Honestly, I have no idea why a savory sauce should need half a cup of sugar in it.  I mean, in most of those bottles you only end up with 2 or 3 cups of sauce in the first place. 

Anyway, her comment reminded me of a story I read about a new RAND Corporation study finding that 96 percent of entrees at restaurants exceed USDA limits on fat, saturated fat and sodium.  (See a Huffington Post article on the study here.)  I was a bit surprised that it didn't state that sugar was exceed the standard for sugar too.  The USDA standard is that only 5 to 15 percent of your daily calories should come from sugar.  Given that a 12-ounce Coke has about 10 teaspoons of sugar (in the form of high-fructose corn syrup), you have exceeded that 15 percent threshold in one can. 

Ultimately, what I have learned (and it has been really hard to learn it) is that I just cannot, under any circumstances, go out to eat if I want to lose weight.  There is just too much butter and oil, too much sugar and salt, to justify it.  Even the "healthy" options cause me to gain back what I have lost.  The irony is that about 80 percent of Americans eat out at least once a week, and although those of us going to McDonalds or Burger King are making a poor choice, those going to The Cheesecake Factory, Chilis, or the Olive Garden are probably making an even worse choice.  Check out the slideshow on that Huffington Post article, it is amazing how much sodium and fat we are eating when we go out for a "nice" meal at The Cheesecake Factory.

Then again, when you walk into The Cheesecake Factory and see something like this, it is hard to pass up.

My suggestion?  Ask Melanie to get you a bottle of her homemade spaghetti sauce to pour over it.  That should douse any craving for even one little bit.