Tag: salads

Costco Food Court Salads: you can make them healthier

Costco is one of my favorite places to shop, as I’ve written here. But since my angioplasty, I’ve been severely disappointed at the unhealthiness of its food court offerings. I can no longer eat the hot dogs I once did, too much fat and salt. Same for the giant slices of Costco pizza. And even the Costco turkey sandwich, which you might think was healthier, is loaded with fat and salt, far too much for me.

So after my usual Thursday night Costco shopping run, I normally have only a frozen fat-free yogurt and a Costco food court salad — with some major alterations.

I recently came across a post talking about how unhealthy that Costco food court salad is. “This jacked-up salad has more calories, total fat, cholesterol and sodium than either the Kirkland Signature All Beef Hot Dog or Polish Sausage,” writes the Tasty Island blog.

The fat is in the dressing, of course, and the cheese and croutons that come with the salad. If you eat all that, the salad has 40 grams of fat and 2,680 mgs of sodium, about two days worth of salt for me, or for you if you’re dealing with blood pressure or heart issues.

“As for the salad, substitute the OEM Caesar dressing for an Extra Virgin Olive Oil-based vinaigrette dressing and take out some of the parmesan cheese and croutons, and it obviously will be far better for you than the hot dog. But who’s going to do that at the convenience of Costco’s Food court? Not me, that’s for sure,” writes the Tasty Island.

This is what a Costco food court Caesar salad looks like when you unwrap it, a giant cup of fat-filled Caesar dressing and a mound of high-salt, high-fat grated cheese
This is what a Costco food court Caesar salad looks like when you unwrap it, a giant cup of fat-filled Caesar dressing and a mound of high-salt, high-fat grated cheese

Well, that’s exactly what I do routinely. First, I never get the croutons. The counter help will offer them to you in a small bag. I simply say hold the croutons, they are fat bombs I don’t need. Continue reading “Costco Food Court Salads: you can make them healthier” →

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27 Live, a new Evanston spot worth checking out

27 Live is a new restaurant, whiskey lounge, music venue hybrid in Evanston, the Chicago suburb where I live, that’s worth checking out for its food and ability to accommodate a low-salt dinner request.

I was interested in seeing what the operators of 27 Live had done with the space they have. For many years, it housed a Carmen’ pizza place in a cavernous two-story restaurant complete with big staircase and upstairs bar and party area where I spent many an end of the soccer season when I was coaching my son’s AYSO teams years ago. Carmen’s was always a family favorite, even after it downsized a few years ago, turning over part of its space to a Brazilian steakhouse I never got to try out.

Chestnut gnocchi in a brown sugar and bacon sauce was amazing at 27 Live.
Chestnut gnocchi in a brown sugar and bacon sauce was amazing at 27Live.

As always before I dine out these days, I first checked 27 Live’s menu online to see if anything seemed remotely low-sodium and low-fat so I could eat it. I saw a fish dish and a vegetarian option, both of which I thought might be able to fit my needs, so my wife and I went there for dinner to check the new place out. Continue reading “27 Live, a new Evanston spot worth checking out” →

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Simple salads of carrots, cabbage and celery root

Salads always are part of my meals these days because I can’t pick from much else and still maintain a low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar eating routine. So I’m always looking for new takes on salad.

Salads of celery root, carrots and cabbage, they look very tasty,
Salads of celery root, carrots and cabbage, they look very tasty,

I came across these in the Boston Globe recently and love the simplicity of them. The recipe states: Continue reading “Simple salads of carrots, cabbage and celery root” →

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Loser’s Jillian Michaels – Shame on you for this recipe

Biggest Losers’ trainer Jillian Michaels has always been my favorite on that show. If I need to work out, I wouldn’t opt for Zen-man Bob or any of the other trainers who have come and gone on there, I’d pick drill sergeant Jillian to get things done as quickly as possible.

I’ve subscribed to an e-newsletter she does for years and often found useful advice there and on her website.

Salads can be minefields of salt if you're not careful.
Salads can be minefields of salt if you’re not careful.

But a recipe she sent out recently under the subject line “The easiest on-the-go lunch” shocked me. Jillian usually pushes healthy eating but this salad has enough salt to meet my daily limit, along with that of others on a salt restricted diet. Even if you’re not on a low- or no-salt diet, it has way too much salt, 1,397 mgs, more than half of the 2000 mgs recommended for the average person. Continue reading “Loser’s Jillian Michaels – Shame on you for this recipe” →

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Why is Lunch My Toughest Meal of the Day?

The nutrition nazi I saw to shape my new healthy eating plan post-angioplasty minced no words about it, there is no healthy way to eat out. Restaurant food has too much of everything that’s bad for me, salt, sugar and fat.

Yet I eat lunch out every day of the workweek and some weekend days as well. I need that time away from my office to break the daily routine and clear my head. So my lunches have become pretty much nothing but salads.

I normally eat at the food court in Chicago’s mammoth Merchandise Mart building, which is only a block from my office. It has an Arby’s, a McDonald’s, a Japanese fast sushi place, a Mexican place, a pizza place, a Mideastern fast food place and a place with a build-your-own salad bar. The build your own salad place has become pretty much my daily stop.

A McDonald's chicken salad
A McDonald’s chicken salad

My usual salad has field greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red quinoa, dried cranberries, a chicken breast, celery, garbanzo beans, and beets. Several of those items may actually be on my forbidden list, dried cranberries have sugar, for example, but I’m hoping the small number each day are ok so I have some flavor. I bypass all the dressings there and bring my own individual packets of olive oil and vinegar that I bought in bulk on Amazon.

Using Lose It!, a calorie counting and nutrition app for my iPhone, I put the calorie count for that at 521 calories. I bring along a 32-ounce bottle of water from my office because I detest paying for small bottles of water. Continue reading “Why is Lunch My Toughest Meal of the Day?” →

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