Restaurant Eating

Goober and I probably go out to eat more often than most people we know. We used to go out without really thinking about it, ordering whatever we wanted and eating out up to five or six times a week. Recently, however, we’ve gotten much smarter about it. We only go out two or three times a week and we always check the restaurant’s menu online ahead of time to plan our meals. This way we can still go to our favorite places and order things that we like as long as we plan ahead. One of our favorite places to go is Qdoba. They have this really neat tool on their website that allows you to plug in each item you order and it calculates all of the pertinent nutritional information for you. They’re much more up-front about it than a lot of other websites that hide the nutritional info or make you hunt for it. You can access all the nutritional information right on the front page, which I love.

When we used to go to Qdoba before I would easily eat upwards of 1,500 calories in one meal. Now, my lightened up version clocks in at a manageable 695. I get a naked (no tortilla) chicken burrito with brown rice, black beans, pico de gallo, corn salsa, and guacamole. It’s packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fat from the chicken, beans, and avocado while the tomatoes in the pico de gallo and the corn salsa give me some much-needed veggies. The brown rice is a huge upgrade over the white rice with more fiber and sodium, with fewer calories and less fat. Again, it’s not something I’d eat every day, but as long as I continue to make better choices I know I’ll succeed in my journey.

(My burrito in the front with Goober's tacos in the back. Don't they look so fresh and pretty?)