YOU are what YOU eat!

So...what is your favorite place to eat? What's your favorite meal out?  Do you know how many calories are in that favorite dish?  Fat grams? Sodium?  Well, you should.  Eating out can really make or break your diet or desire to live a healthy life and maintain weight loss.

Prior to this {eat clean} journey we would eat out maybe once or twice a week (heck, that's not even counting a quick snack here and there). I decided to share the information I gathered with you. Below you will see a few menu items I would have ordered when dining out before going {clean} and wouldn't have thought twice about what's in the food.  We currently curbed our eating out to 2-3 times a month.  I personally don't worry about what I am ordering when eating out now since it's now limited to 2-3 times a month. But, with that said, I have a better understanding about what's going into my body and have become more choosy on where we dine out.

Qdoba:3 Cheese Chicken Nachos
Calories:     1295
Fat:          68
Sodium:       2390 
Cholesterol:  200       


Moe's Southwest Grill:Billy Barou Chicken Nachos

Calories:     1439

Fat:          76

Sodium:       3008

Cholesterol:  189

McDonald's:2 Cheeseburgers with Medium Fries
Calories:     980

Fat:          43

Sodium:       1770

Cholesterol:  80

O'Charley's:Better Cheddar Bacon Burger with Fries

Calories:     1380

Fat:          81

Sodium:       2470

Cholesterol:  180

Red Robin:Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad

Calories:     959

Fat:          54

Sodium:       1579

Panera Bread:Turkey Artichoke Hot Panini with Panera Chips

Calories:     910

Fat:          32

Sodium:       2550

Cholesterol:  85

Donatos: 1/4 Large Pepperoni Pizza with 1 Breadstick with Cheese 

Calories:     826

Fat:          45

Sodium:       1987

Cholesterol:  110

Outback: Small Order of Aussie Cheese Fries

Calories:     1213.7

Fat:          89.8

Sodium:       1572

Cholesterol:  139.4

Ok, that was rough wasn't it?  

CALORIES:  You may be wondering how much is too much in a day? Well, that's a bit harder to calculate for you all as a group.  There are many great tools on the internet and apps you can add to your phones to help you determine how many calories you should be consuming on a given day. Here's one that I found: http://www.acaloriecalculator.com/

FAT:  This too will depend how much you have to lose and how much you currently weigh. I, personally, need to stay under 50g fat a day from what I've read.

SODIUM:  It is recommended that a HEALTHY person doesn't consume more than 2300mg of sodium a day(and the lower the better). If you are someone with high blood pressure, are African American, and/or middle aged(over 40) you should consume 1500mg or less a day. 

CHOLESTEROL:  The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recommends that your daily consumption of cholesterol should not exceed 200 mg a day.  

I challenge you to get online and see if your favorite restaurant has it's nutritional info posted and get the facts about what's going into your body. If you are someone that can  afford to eat out more often then it might be time to find some new "favorites" to consume while eating out that won't take your healthy train off the tracks.