The Pitfalls of Eating Out… or the 1,687 Calorie Turkey Burger From Hell.

Not the offending Turkey Burger, but it could have been. (and I didn't even eat the freakin' fries!) Photo courtesy of abcnews.com

I consumed more than my ENTIRE daily caloric intake in one meal.

In one turkey burger no less.

Whoa.

Now eating well, especially if you eating strict, is tough- Memorial Day BBQ, dining out, these take preparation. In a pinch I’ve relied on my gut and common sense.

Baby Lug (he of the 1/8th” inverse Mohawk saga of Monday) went to visit the hubby at work for lunch. Off we went to the usual great eats of NotYourAverageJoe’s. A quirky, fun chain dotting the surrounding areas of Boston (read: ‘burbs.)

We like it. Everyone is always happy.

Mama’s not happy.

Scanning their meals I opted out of the creamed, the fried, the smothered and the breaded. I settled on what I thought was a sensible-sounding “Turkey Burger.” Greek-inspired, made with turkey, spinach and feta it came with Ziziki sauce (yogurt, garlic blend) and a bun. I ate it, had a side salad of greens with no dressing and the usual seltzer water with limes.

Come to find I ingested no less than 1,687 calories. HOLY CRAP!

As you can see, the Turkey Burger is the worst "sandwich" available. (Data Courtesy of NotYourAverageJoe's Nutritional Information)

Think of it this way- it’s the fat equivalent of 9 Hersey bars or the caloric intake of eating 8. I would have been better off eating 7 regular size Hersey bars than eating 1 regular size Turkey burger.

Holy Crap is right Batman!

Usually I try to stay within 1200-1500 calories a day. I’ve been working out so I’ve leaned toward latter, but in ONE burger 1687 calories, 117g of it Fat? Hello my entire day of food plus a side order of cardiac-arrest!

According to an online ABC News article, the fat and calorie content of a turkey burger depends on the ration of ground dark meat to white meat. Higher the dark, the more fat. And it can easily be higher in fat and calories than a beef burger:  one 4 ounce, 85% lean, turkey burger can have 17g of fat. This still doesn’t get me to the 117g of the turkey belly-bomb I had yesterday but you can see how it doesn’t help.

Let’s see what I could have ordered instead at NotYourAverageJoes:

• Veggie Burger (694 calories)
• Regular Burger (813 calories)
• Pizzas (any of the personal pizzas are less and range between 950-1372 calories)
• Full Meatloaf Dinner (1184 calories incl. BBQ sauce and buttered beans)
• Mediterranean Chicken 735 calories, incl. cucumber salad and Ziziki sauce)
• Crab Cake BLT (965 calories)
• Sashimi Tuna (at 344 calories, 31 gram of fat incl. sauce, this is what I should have ordered)

And the list goes on and on…

Not that I would have 900+ calories in a sitting, but I learned a lesson. Check before you eat. Plan ahead. What I thought was common sense was not. Just more comical, in retrospect.

A lot of restaurants (especially chains) carry their nutrition info on their website. This is where I went when I had saw the gobsmacked caloric number of N.A.J.’s Turkey Burger posted at another site. Another great site, especially for those on Weight Watchers is Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone, they have the point value of a TON of restaurants. Calculate your WW point total (X) , then keep each meal (X/3 meals) at your allotted number of pts. and you can select on the fly pretty easily.

I just added (can you tell I am really pissed this happened?) the “Restaurant Calorie Counter” by Euliax. Though it doesn’t have NotYorAverageJoe’s on it, I feel better if I find myself in the same situation as it has a lot of places I tend to dine at. Plus I just zipped them off an email requesting they include them and Bertuccis, another local fave.

Update: Euliax got back to me, they’re adding both Bertuccis and NotYourAverageJoe’s to their next release- should be out in a month. Hooray for their quick response! If you have a fave restaurant let me know- send me the link to their nutritional information (a breakdown of each dish into calories/fat/fiber/sodium, etc.) and I’ll send it their way! I also emailed the executive Chef of NotYourAverageJoe’s yesterday and yet to get a response.

Take aways (to be reminded each time my stomach will be growling later on tonight for sure.):

• Plan ahead.
• If you can’t do #1, don’t stray too far off the reservation. If you know plain salad with grilled chicken will do the trick then stick to that, boring as it is.
• Good health is a journey, some pitfalls, some hills but also a lot of nice, open road. Sometimes you just need a map to keep from getting lost…
• Have a bad day? Learn from it and then it’s in the past. Move on. Dwelling is just toxic.

OK. I thought I’d share. With this, and with the Memorial Day weekend, I hope I can make up in the next few days before my measurements are taken for the Go Betsy Go! 90 day Fitness Challenge. I wasn’t expecting another epic 6 inch loss but some inches gone would be nice. I’ll take even 1″.

Cheers.

3 Responses to “The Pitfalls of Eating Out… or the 1,687 Calorie Turkey Burger From Hell.”

1. Flames says:

   June 2, 2010 at 1:04 PM

   How frustrating! You try to be a good dooby and get slammed. Another good rule — if it has cheese, or any dairy for that matter, let it be. The feta and yogurt did you in! And the bun too.

   Great advice on the websites that help you make better choices. It’s good to know there are ways to “arm” myself so I make the right choice!
2. betsy says:

   June 2, 2010 at 1:08 PM

   I knew the feta would be something, and the bun too but not 11g of fat worth. (there was spinach in there too, so how much feta are they shoving in this regular size burger?) Compare this to the hamburger (bacon and cheese) which clocked in at just over 1100 cal and 74 g of fat– this is ridiculous.
3. Christine Sierra says:

   June 2, 2010 at 1:21 PM

   Wow – Dottie knows her stuff. I was checking out Outback Steakhouse since my kids love their mac n cheese (which I’m sure is HORRIBLE for them) and was floored by the Aussie Cheese Fries points – 73.5!!! Seriously speaks to the obesity issue when that is even on a menu.

   Good advice on learning and moving on. Good luck with your 90 day challenge.