Healthy Options at Chili's

Met up with the girls tonight for dinner at Chili's and before I left, I made one smart move.

I looked up the nutrition chart.

And what I found was, as it always is, shocking.

The "best" burger plate has 1300+ calories with 65 grams of fat ... and they go up to one with nearly 2300 calories. There's a quesadilla "salad" with 1300 calories. The humble and sort of good-for-you sounding turkey sandwich meal has 1300 calories with 64 grams of fat. And not to be outdone, the Cajun pasta with grilled chicken clocks in at 1500 calories with a whopping 76 grams of fat.

Keep in mind that my daily calorie intake when I'm running 4 miles a day should be in the 2000-2200 range if all I'm doing is maintaining. And your daily allowance of fat is 60 grams, but most people, even those who don't pay that much attention to fat grams like me, think 30-45 sounds like enough.

Holy crap.

But there are good things to be had. You just have to poke around a little.

In addition to some "Lighter Side" offerings that are listed as Under 600 or Under 700 calories (I can't remember exactly), you can build a better meal by doing your best When-Harry-Met-Sally-Meg Ryan-in-the-diner-before-she-has-the-fake-orgasm impersonation. Ask for substitutions ... and dressing on the side!

I ate the Combination Meal with:

• Double garlic and lime shrimp. You'll get 12 shrimp. I ate 6 and brought 6 home. Total 230 calories. 
• Side of steamed broccoli. Total 80 calories.
• Substitute the loaded mashed potatoes (390 calories, 25 grams of fat) for black beans. Total 100 calories. Or, you could opt for a side salad, too. 

Grand total: 410 calories.

That means I had enough room in my daily calorie budget for a nice cup of hot cocoa (no sugar added) and an extra squirt of low-fat whip cream from the can when I got home!

Yum.

See for yourself: http://www.chilis.com/EN/LocationSpecificPDF/MenuPDF/001.005.0000/Chilis_Nutrition_Menu_Generic.pdf