A healthy lunch spot & sushi by the pound

While I try to avoid generalities, one I do use is that the less processed food is, the healthier it likely is as well.

That’s why sushi has become an even larger part of my diet than it was before my two stents were put in to unclog my arteries.

Nutritionists do raise a red flag about eating a lot of white rice, but sushi can be found with brown rice and there’s also sashimi which is sushi’s rice-less cousin. But sushi can get expensive.

So I was excited to try a Chicago sushi lunch spot that sells sushi by the pound ($1.25 an ounce) rather than the piece. Grain & Sea is a very neat-looking spot with an almost limitless sushi buffet.

You walk the food line, taking whichever you want and have it all weighed at the end of the line.

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September 5, 2025 0

But I only had a salad — with a truckload of junk on it

“Oh, I’ll just get a salad,” is what people worried about gaining weight say when they eat out with friends. Salads are low-cal right?

That depends. Places like the Cheesecake Factory load salads with so many unhealthy things they soon become high-calorie, high-fat and high-salt.

*Opt for salads without much added to the lettuce.*

Indeed, salads made this list from AARP: 12 Foods That May Cause Unhealthy Weight Gain.

“Salads can be loaded with fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals—but what you put on them matters. Piling on cheese, bacon bits, croutons or creamy dressings can pack more calories than you expect.

“Tip: Keep your portions in check when using calorie-dense toppings and opt for a light vinaigrette instead of creamy dressings. For an even bigger nutritional boost, go for a variety of colorful veggies and lean proteins to keep you full,” says the AARP article.

Other items on the list, such as nuts which are often touted as healthy, may surprise you too.

Even olive oil, everyone’s favorite fat these days, made the list. Quantity matters is the lesson here.

May 11, 2025 0

Another Chicago-area fast-food salad option

Regular readers of my blog know that McDonald’s salads, without the high-salt dressings, were a mainstay of my lunch diet over the years. But in 2023, those salads disappeared from McDonald’s menus. victim of Pandemic-related menu changes.

I’ve been searching for a quick-salad alternative ever since, trying Wendy’s and a chain called Zupas among others. I’m adding another option now, a salad at Chicago-area chain Buona Beef, its Tuscan Harvest Chicken salad.

Priced at $11.19, the salad has a nice mix of chicken, cranberries, apples, spinach and romaine lettuce. Eat at a Buona’s and it comes in a real bowl, not a plastic container, a civilizing touch absent at other outlets.

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February 11, 2025 0

Eating healthy on restaurant week, sort of

Chicago is in the midst of its annual restaurant week, a time when local restaurants offer specially priced menus to draw people in on cold winter days and nights. It’s a good time to try new places but can you find healthy offerings? Well, sort of.

Restaurant food is notoriously high in salt, fat and sugar. So you need to be picky, and also know you’ll likely go off your healthy menu more than once.

My wife and I so far have gone to two restaurants, Pescadero, a suburban seafood place; and Big Jones, a Cajun restaurant in Chicago. We also plan a trip to L Woods, another suburban spot, since we live in the suburbs.

Seafood dishes tend to be healthier per se, assuming they aren’t loaded with sauces heavy in fat and salt.

I opted for the oysters to start my Pescadero meal, they’re served raw, so aren’t mucked up with salt or fat. I had the octopus for my main course. It was grilled and wonderfully tasty, if you love octopus as I do.

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February 5, 2025 0

Fake meat meets grass-fed, which would you pick?

The makers of imitation meats such as Impossible Burger are running into more competition from grass-fed meats, reports The Food Institute, a food news site.

McDonald's third-pound sirloin burger has too much salt and fat for me to eat it.

“Growing interest in sustainably-raised meats, including grass-fed beef, is challenging meat alternatives, which continue to struggle with adoption and repeat purchases among their primary consumer base – flexitarians.

“Sustainable meat production is rising across the food industry, as products with Regenerative Organic Certification experience significant growth.

“Several major food companies have made regenerative commitments in 2024—including big meat players like JBS and Tyson—and some QSRs (quick-serve restaurants) have also revamped their menus to include more ‘climate-friendly’ animal products,” the Food Institute reports.

I’ve had the alternative meat products and worry about the salt in them. An ultra-lean grass-fed burger seems to me a better alternative to traditional 80% high-fat ground beef when you get that urge for red meat.

July 11, 2024 0

A reminder to check ahead when eating out

Restaurant menus are notoriously filled with high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar offerings. If you’re trying to lower your consumption of those that evil threesome, you need to do your research before eating out. That’s why we have an entire page of this blog devoted to eating away from home.

*Halibut on a carrot puree at a restaurant in Milwaukee which is, sadly, no longer there. What was the salt content? We asked for it without salt added.*

Are people doing their research? A recent study by foodservice supplier US Foods shows a large chunk of the population is checking menus before going out, for a variety of reasons.

The study found 83% of people eating out review menus from home before going to a restaurant, and of those, 50% decide what they’ll order before setting foot in the restaurant.

Also encouraging, from a health standpoint, 58% say nutritional value information impacts their ordering, although here portion size and calorie content seems to be the major concern.

More people need to be checking salt content, it’s the most dangerous in most restaurant options.

US Foods gathered this data by surveying 1,003 people last September, reflecting the demographic makeup of the general American population.

May 14, 2024 0

QR code menus? Most give them thumbs down

The Crab Pot seafood feast — *Eating a seafood feast at a restaurant? Check nutritional content online first.*

One eating-out trend that developed during Covid was the disappearance of physical menus. In those Covid years of ‘don’t touch anything anyone else touches’ restaurants decided to use QR codes customers could scan to see menus.

How have people reacted? Not well, according to a survey by US Foods, a major foodservice distributor. A survey of 1,000 people recently found 89% prefer physical menus. Roughly one in six don’t know how to scan a QR code to get to a menu.

And 51% say QR code menus slow down ordering.

It will be interesting to see if restaurants keep the codes or go OG with real menus again.

On the healthy eating front, the survey found 53% would prefer to see calorie counts on menus and 17% have asked for additional nutritional information not listed on menus.

That’s a good practice for anyone who cares about eating heart-healthy. My advice, check menus online before going anywhere to eat. You’re likely to find more nutrition information than will be available in a restaurant and so you can make smarter choices.

March 29, 2024 0

Here come the new year diets — which can you stay on?

The beginning of every year is normally when people talk about dieting and losing weight. Yet few stay true to that goal by year’s end. Still, we keep trying and now the calorie-tracking app LoseIt is offering some help with this list of most sustainable diets.

*Good luck with your healthy eating in 2024!*

The familiar Mediterranean Diet is number one but then come some surprises, like Hara Hachi Bu from Okinawa. Those words translate into 80% full, roughly, and that’s what the diet advocates, only eat until you are 80% full.

Coincidently I just saw this discussed on a Netflix series about places around the world where people live into their 90s and 100s,

I’ve long been fascinated by Okinawa. My dad built airfields for the U.S. Army Air Corps there during World War II. He wished he could have seen it without the destruction of war all around, saying it seemed a naturally beautiful place.

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January 10, 2024 0

Another round of low-salt, fast-food options for the new year

Finding healthy food at a fast food outlet is a lot like grabbing gold out of the air — it’s impossible. Yet different sites keep trying to give you alternatives. I’ve written about some in the past, check this post, for example. But now there’s a new one from Cheapism.com, Low-Sodium Fast Food: 42 Menu Items to Order from Burger King to Taco Bell.

*Since McDonald’s dropped its salads, there’s nothing healthy on its daytime menu.*

The list shows just how hard it is to find low-sodium foods at these places (I’m sitting at a McDonald’s as I write this, ironically, after having some unhealthy free fries, a Friday give-away).

What’s listed for Chick-fil-A, for example? A yogurt, not any of its salt-laden chicken offerings.

A salad is listed at Burger King, but with no dressing because those are all high in salt and fat. Bring your own oil and vinegar like I do with portable, small bottles.

Americans are hooked on salt and fat until they start demanding alternatives, which doesn’t appear likely anytime soon. Happy New Year!

January 5, 2024 0

Sultan Kebab — a great find after a long day

It’s never fun being on a delayed flight, and it’s no fun waiting for someone on such a flight either.

So on a recent Friday night, my son and I were both tired and hungry when his flight finally made it to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport where I had been waiting to pick him up.

We’d planned to cook dinner once we got to our house, but were both hungry by the time he landed, so we went searching for food near O’Hare and found Sultan Kebab & Shawerma. It was a great find.

As we ordered (at almost 9 p.m.), the man behind the counter offered us free lentil soup he’d made. He wanted our reaction to it. It was delicious.

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June 6, 2023 0

Tag: eating out

A healthy lunch spot & sushi by the pound

But I only had a salad — with a truckload of junk on it

Another Chicago-area fast-food salad option

Eating healthy on restaurant week, sort of

Fake meat meets grass-fed, which would you pick?

A reminder to check ahead when eating out

QR code menus? Most give them thumbs down

Here come the new year diets — which can you stay on?

Another round of low-salt, fast-food options for the new year

Sultan Kebab — a great find after a long day

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