Eye Opening Meal Information on Salads

Yesterday was my first day since my calorie intake has been reduced by the Dr. For the day I ended up with a total of 1270 eaten, 102.1 grams of protein, and 83 grams of carbs. Not bad, my carb to protein ratio was off a little so I probably should have had a piece of fruit and it woud have been right on target. Fresh rasberries are a great snack. Per 10 berries there is only 10 calories, 1.1 carbs, and .2 protein. They go good with cottage cheese.

I just had my lunch. I opted to walk across the street to our cafeteria and pick up a small salad from the salad bar. I carefully constucted my little salad picking things like fresh spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, beets, peas..and I walked back to my desk. I also bought a fat-free packet of Kraft Ranch Dressing.

I log onto calorieking.com and start computing the calories of my salad breaking it down veggie by veggie. My little salad (and yes it was little because I used the little container versus the big container) came in at 203 calories. The biggest calorie offender was garbanzo beans.
Here is the breakdown of what was in my salad...

Veggie

c= Calories

p=Protein

ca=Carbs

1. 
   
   Spinach 20c 2.4p 1.2ca


2. 
   
   Romaine Let. 8c .6p .6ca


3. 
   
   Beets (3 slices) 19c .7p 3.4ca


4. 
   
   Brocolli (1 piece) 5c 1p 1ca


5. 
   
   Cauliflower (1 piece) 3c .3p .4ca


6. 
   
   Onion (1 Slice) 4c 0p .8ca


7. 
   
   Peas (1 spoonful) 11c 1p 1ca


8. 
   
   Bellpepper (1 sliver) 1c 0p .1ca


9. 
   
   Kidney Beans (1 spoonful) 14c .84p 1.4ca


10. 
    
    Garbanzo Beans (1 spoonful) 46c 2.4p 5.4ca


11. 
    
    Pepperocini (2 peppers) 8c 0p .5ca


12. 
    
    Mushrooms 4c .5p .4ca


13. 
    
    Fat Free Kraft Dressing 60c 0p 14ca

Garbanzo Beans 46 calories!!!! That was shocking to me. Next time I am skipping those! But seriously it is amazing how fast calories add up. This meal is actually a really good one. My calories for each mini meal are to be 150-200 and this meal is 203. It is hard to get detailed calorie counts for 1 piece of cauliflower or 2 peppers, so I rounded up. The protein to carb ratio is not even, but that is ok because as long as I end the day with the ratio being as close to even as possible..that is perfect. Right now in looking at everything I have planned to eat today while at work my ratio is 1.04, so right on track.

I love salads and before I started this diet I would load my bowl up with everything and then pile on the dressing. I am sure that my salads of the past were over 600 calories easy.

Well time to get back to work. Lots of stuff to do. Hopefully next time you are at the salad bar because you want something healthy you will think of me and really watch what you are putting on your plate. There are hidden calories everywhere.

Happy Friday!