Low-Calorie, Low-Fat Menu May Pack More Than Ordered
Health Team Investigation Finds Discrepancies

POSTED: 3:27 pm EDT May 19, 2008
UPDATED: 9:13 am EDT May 21, 2008


CLEVELAND -- People making an effort to consume less fat and calories might choose restaurants that make it easy to tell exactly what they're eating. Many restaurants have fat and calorie information printed on the menu.

But when NewsChannel5 put several restaurant menus to the test, some of them didn’t pass.

WEWS identified national chain restaurants that advertise low-fat and or low-calorie menu options.

Working with NewsChannel5's Scripps sister stations in seven cities across the country, investigators bought items off the low-fat, low-calorie menus at Macaroni Grill, Chili's, Applebee's, Cheesecake Factory and Taco Bell.

Next, they placed each sample in a Ziploc bag, labeled it and packed it on ice in a cooler. Then they shipped the samples overnight to Analytical Laboratories in Boise, Idaho.

Once the food arrived, lab technicians unpacked, logged and weighed each sample. Then to simulate how a body digests food, the lab put each sample in a food processor. Next, the chemists mathematically determined the amount of fat and calories in each serving.

Some of what they found was surprising, NewsChannel5 reported.

Investigators asked registered dietician Lisa Cimperman from University Hospitals to analyze the findings. She said she is convinced these discrepancies are enough to mess up anyone's diet plan.

"I'm an informed consumer, but yet this is telling me that the information that I have is incorrect," said Cimperman.

One of the worst offenders in the test was Chili's guiltless grilled salmon, investigators reported. The menu says it has 480 calories and 14 grams of fat. According to the lab, the sample had 664 calories and more than 35 grams of fat.

Another offender was Macaroni Grill's pollo magro skinny chicken. It's supposed to be 500 calories and 6 grams of fat. But with the huge piece of bread that was tossed in, the results showed twice the calories and eight times the fat. Cimperman said that's almost an entire day's worth of fat for a woman.

Chili's also made the top five offender list for its guiltless black bean burger. The menu says it has 650 calories. But the lab test came in at 770. The menu says the burger has 12 fat grams, but in the test, it was more than 32.

Taco Bell fans might be surprised to learn that the Fresco grilled steak soft taco did not score well. The menu indicates it has 160 calories and 4.5 grams of fat, but the test showed 263 calories and more than 19 grams of fat. Taco Bell's Fresco bean burrito has 330 calories according to the menu. The lab test showed it came in under that at only 290. The problem was the amount of fat. The menu indicates it has 7 grams of fat, but lab tests showed it had more than 19 grams of fat.

Taco Bell officials strongly disagreed with the results of the test. Its corporate office said the results "do not reflect the actual calorie and fat counts in our Fresco products." The company also said the way it was tested is "not scientifically or statistically valid."

The company that owns Chili's and Macaroni Grill, Brinker International, told Scripps in a written statement that they apologize to their valued guests and they "strive to ensure nutritional information is accurate."

Out of the 23 items tested from various chains, 18 of the items were higher in fat and 16 higher in calories. None of the restaurant chains was willing to respond to the investigation on camera.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
Chili's guiltless grilled salmon, investigators reported. The menu says it has 480 calories and 14 grams of fat. According to the lab, the sample had 664 calories and more than 35 grams of fat.

I put the salmon dinner into fitday and got 714 calories.

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=goingskiing

I suspect that it as Jill and Iz said. Corporate put together the menu in a test kitchen. However, I have NO idea how they can possibly advertise a dinner with 8 oz salmon, beans and vegetable and even pretend that it might be 480 calories.

Personally, I think that it sucks that they advertise a dinner as 480 calories and it is really 664. OTOH, when you consider that the AVERAGE restaurant meal contains 2,000 calories, 664 is a really, REALLY good number, especially when you are talking about 8 oz of salmon. If a person brought home 1/2 the salmon... the dinner would come in at about 500 calories... which even in weight loss mode is a VERY do-able dinner.

i think jill has got it right! it is chaos back in the kitchen. you just want to get things out on time, and make the customer happy.

I'm thinking that in these restaurant's test kitchens, under controlled circumstances and precise measuring and weighing, they are getting those exact numbers they list on their menus. Fast-forward to the restaurant's actual kitchens where the same food is prepared for large numbers of people. I too have worked in a lot of restaurants. If a restaurant is crowded, there is chaos in the kitchen and even if these people are trained to make X food a certain way there is NO way they can measure, weigh, etc. and if you have a regular order of whatever food and an order for "low-cal" of that very same food you can bet it is being made on the same grill, same grease, same amount of oil, etc. I know even at home it is easy to "add just a little more oil", or "just a little more salt". So I'm sure in restaurant kitchens, where everything is done in a rush, there is a lot more room for error. When I go out for dinner I rarely order from the "diet" or "healthy" section because I know that in most cases I am not getting a steamed fish cooked in no oil or butter, veggies with no salt or fat added, etc. What I am getting is probably pretty close to the real deal. We don't go out a whole lot anymore because what we make at home tastes so much better and we control what is going into it. So, when I do go out, it is to a favorite place where there is usually something I order that I normally wouldn't make at home. Something I really enjoy. We also eat very, very little at chain restaurants. So much of that is not fresh, it is frozen and the taste is just not worth the calories and the money.

We did go to the Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. The closest one is an hour away and I go there about once a year. We happened to be in King of Prussia at the mall and decided to go. I realized something pretty fantastic while I was there. We ordered an appetizer, each ordered a dinner, and dd and bf had talked to the waitress while I was in the restroom about a piece of birthday cake. After eating the appetizer (tortilla chips and spinach/artichoke dip) our meals arrived. I had ordered the Hibachi Steak, served w/wasabi mashed potatoes and tempura asparagus. I was full after the appetizer, and ate a few small bites of dinner and boxed the majority of it to bring home. Had a few small bites of the cake and brought the rest home (should have just left it!!). But-a few years ago I would have eaten every single thing the waitress placed in front of me. No matter how full, I would have kept plowing through. And while I ate a large amount of calories in what I did eat, it was nothing compared to the damage I could have done. I've come a long way in a few years. I still have a lot of work to do but that really struck me when I thought about it. sorry, I went off on a tangent there!

Jill

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy:
I am remembering back to by health class...

1 gram of fat has 9 calories

1 gram of carb/protein has 4 calories

The fat calories add up really quickly.

32 g. of fat in the black bean burger is "only" two tablespoons (and 288 calories) of oil/butter/grease. I'm actually surprised that it is not more. For a commercial kitchen to only use 2 TBS of oil/butter/grease... they were probably showing a LOT of restraint. I'll guess that it was 1 TBS of grease/oil to cook the burger in, and 1 TBS of mayo. Incredible restraint... IMO.

I am remembering back to by health class...

1 gram of fat has 9 calories

1 gram of carb/protein has 4 calories

The fat calories add up really quickly.

I agree--- eat at home (mostly) to lose weight and maintain weight loss.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:
Chili's also made the top five offender list for its guiltless black bean burger. The menu says it has 650 calories. But the lab test came in at 770. The menu says the burger has 12 fat grams, but in the test, it was more than 32.

I've always wondered how much grease food soaks up while sitting on the grill... also MOST people would claim that they would taste 32 grams of fat... but they don't. Most people would go home and count it up as 650 cals. I know that I would.

I'm not surprised at all. I’ve worked in restaurant kitchens… I know what goes on back there.

I know that I've weighed a slice of pizza hut pizza and a small McDonald's french fries on a food scale... and they both weighed 20-30% more than the grams listed on their websites. (A Subway sandwich weighed nearly EXACTLY what the website said.)

I've been with my mil when she has gotten the Chili's Guiltless Salmon... And I remember looking at it and thinking that I couldn’t even make that at home for 450 calories… and it had to be much more. PLUS… because she was being “good” and getting a “healthy” meal… she splurged and had the cream soup… so most likely her entire meal was more like 1,200 calories.

KD keeps saying… if you want to lose weight… you got to eat a home (at least MOST of the time).