There are a number of health concerns that run on mine and my husband's side.  We do tend to eat out a little too much and yes we should just eat at home to not only save money but to also eat healthier.  A few weekends ago we went up to Flagstaff and there are actually so many things that I can't eat as well as my husband so it makes it difficult to eat out.  While at Chili's in Flag., he came across a "Guiltless Black Bean Burger" and from what the menu said, 650 calories and 12 grams of fat made it a little easier for him to eat it.  You see, his family has a lot of heart problems and so the doctor said that he doesn't have a bad heart problem yet but just as a precaution he needs to decrease his fat intake because the trans fat, saturated and polyunsaturated and cholesterol does clog up your arteries.  Remember, trans fat is a fat that is man made and is the worst fat that you can eat.  Saturated fat is the kind that raises your blood pressure and is also a "bad fat".  Monounsaturated fat is the kind of fat that can lower your blood pressure or a "good fat".  Polyunsaturated fat that are a mix of both "good and bad" fats.

With having an Ileostomy, my diet has also changed because I'm on a low fat/low fiber diet since I no longer have a colon to help with digestion so I'm not allowed to eat quite a few things like whole nuts, seeds, lettuce of any kind, beans, etc.  I still eat tomatoes even though they have seeds but that one of the few things I still do eat.

Getting back to the dining out thing.  Ok so here's the gist of it.  Nine times out of ten at a restaurant if the calories/fat are too good to be true, like it life, it probably is.  I have done some research and have come to the conclusion that really to be healthy, you need to eat at home.  Even though we don't keep track of the calories/fat, it's probably better than eating out.

Here a few examples from a Restaurant Comparison Chart to prove my point on the chart there are five restaurants with 25 different items that were tested.  How many of you eat at Chili's?  I'm going to pick on them a little longer, I already told you how bad the "Guiltless Black Bean Burger" is, now here's how bad the "Guiltless Chicken" is: Published calories/fat are 580/9.  The actual calories/fat are 627/32.5.  Imagine all of you on Weight Watchers, makes you wonder what they do to your food huh?

I have come across a lot of websites trying to figure things out and like I said, "It's best to eat at home."  It's really a sad day when the restaurants have to lie to get business.  Some people who eat out rely on certain nutrition facts because it can hurt them and if the restaurants aren't careful with their lies then they may have a very bad class action lawsuit on their hands.

Please look at these websites and make you next dining out hopefully a little healthier.

• Eat Right.org-Nutrition Fact Sheet about the types of food you should/shouldn't eat.  This has nothing to do with restaurants but rather a point of reference to eating at home.
• About.com-Should restaurants cut back?  Just something for you to read and decide for yourself.
• Time-The restaurants are waiting until now to with the new mandate of publishing calorie information.
• FitSugar-It's a comparison of veggie burgers, which I will be able to eat again in a few weeks.
• Restaurant Comparison Chart-I wanted to add this again just so you'll look at it again.
• SpinalHealth.net-This helps give you an idea and more information about "Good vs Bad Fats".
• Healthy Dining Finder-If they are going on the calories by what the restaurants have given, take them with a grain of salt but it's just to give you an idea for what to order.
• South Dakota DOE-It also helps give you information about how to order food and just to take certain things into account, no condiments, no extra cheese, etc.  If you want the pretty pictures you can Google search South Dakota life in the fast lane and it should be the 3rd one down.

Please take this information seriously.  If you are dieting and/or have health problems and need to limit intake of certain things you really have to think if eating out is really worth it AND is the nutritional information actually correct or fudged?  Ask questions and feel the server out and if it's not what you want to hear or sounds rehearsed, then pay for your drinks and walk out.  Soon they will get the picture that they cannot lie and put our health at risk just for a profit.