Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sacramento Calorie Counts

I'm sitting in Sacramento Airport right now....I spent the weekend with Anthony's family which was pretty cool (Which is why I haven't commented on your blog this weekend!..or run much).  His mom is the most ridiculously good cook ever although I have to be careful because anytime I enter her kitchen she's got something delicious up her sleeve.  I've actually got a giant pan dulce she packed for me in my bag right now, just in case I have a craving for a giant pastry.  That pastry's days are numbered....
If you've never had one, run to your closest Mexican bakery and get one fresh.   

Besides the half pig in forms of bacon, ham, and carnitas I consumed this weekend, we also went wine tasting in Placerville.  It's weird I keep going wine tasting since I still haven't learned anything about wine.  We ordered a Pinot Gris (doesn't that mean grey?) and I had no idea what color wine was going to come out.  (WHITE!)  

A's Bro and Girl
A and Me
We so classsyyyyy:

It was a beautiful day!  I'm pretty sure the Sacramento - Tahoe - Yosemite corner of California is my favorite.  Beautiful and a little less crazy.  =).  San Francisco, I'm lookin' right at you when I think crazay

Since I've been in Sac Airport for the last couple hours, I did a little nutrition fact research:

In California (and I believe New York....dunno where else), they've started printing calories of menu items for chain restaurants.   

The first time I saw this reporting I was a little confused and thought for a second it was the price.  But hey, I'm not the most observant crayon in the box.  =).  

However, in general, I love this.  This way I won't get the snack size Rolo McFlurry with 510 calories when a cone would have done just as well.  Yeah yeah... I guess the real good alternative would be an apple.

The sweet tea's got like 320!  

I've definitely found myself shocked at the calorie content of some items, like random California Pizza Kitchen Salads.  The one thing I don't like about this Fast Food reporting is that it sort of oversimplifies nutrition facts..as though calories are the only thing that matter.  Well ok...and I also don't like that I'll never be able to enjoy a Rolo McFlurry or a Giant Chocolate muffin without guilt again.  Darn you FDA.

How much do you change what you order when you go out to eat based on nutrition facts?  

Are these lists up where you live?  

Annnnnd Rolo McFlurry...is it WORTH IT?  
=)

Luckily the pastry I've got in my bag is nutrition fact free....

11 comments:

  1. I wish they had these lists up in Virginia, it intrigues me.

    I do try to be mindful of calories when I eat out, which is part of why the McDonald's ice cream cone is so heavenly. Good bang for the calorie intake.

    I am shocked that the snack size mcflurries are so high in calories!

    What a fun trip. I tasted some wine this weekend too, at a wine festival.

    Welcome back home!

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  2. I'm guessing that the pastry is like 5 calories. Don't sweat it! Sounds like a great trip! If the snack size Mcflurries are that much, I wonder how much the regular ones are!! Yikes!!!

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  3. You talk about McDonald's way to much :p. I don't think it's the calories I'd be worried about, I think it's what's going into the McDonald's ice cream (or anything else there) that would concern me.

    Pinot gris = pinot grigio silly! The "gris" is the grape grown in France and the "grigio" is its cousin grown in Italy! I'm sure you know at least that a pino grigio is white :p.

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  4. I would love to see calorie counts posted at restaurants near me! I check online sometimes before I eat out at chains just so I know what to expect. What an awesome trip, looks like fun!

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  5. No calorie counts on menus here in Texas. Which is kind of a shame because I think it would be nice to have it right there in front of me without having to look it up!

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  6. I loved the calorie counts on everything while I lived in SF. It really affected what I ordered.

    I didn't know anything about wine a few years ago when I moved to California. I just kept going wine tasting every weekend and was able to learn so much about the types of grapes and wine making process. The more you go, the more you will learn. :)

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  7. wine is a good lower cal drink option :) ~100 depending on your pour size. beware of dessert or really sweet ones, though, bc they can be double the calories. 2 glasses of wine or 2/5 of a rolo McFlurry, hmmmm..... It is good to be aware of things that are secretly really bad for you, but other than that, I try not to get caught up in calorie counting and just eat as healthy as I can. You should see the calorie counts they post on our work cafeteria website. I am really sure those are way off!

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  8. whoa! u were in sacto, i grew up in that area!! okay, so i know that airport well, and u have to tell us wat the calorie boards were reading at the Cinnabon!!! haha...i hope for ur sake, and all the rest of us who love that warm, sugary, euphoric lardo-ball, u didn't look! ;)

    but in honesty i do think that having that kind of information listed is a good thing, for the reasons you pointed out: stats can be crazy high on the things that sound healthy. sometimes those salads are the worst offenders.

    plus, i think for the mass public, they could use a little shock value and maybe it will help with the obesity problem. but for all us active individuals, it might give us a niggle of guilt indulging in some of these things (enter mcflurries) BUT to combat that i think we need to remember that we bust our butts and workout so we have a little more license to eat what we want. second, everything in moderation baby! ;)

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  9. Yes, pig is the best of all the meats! Thanks for your kind comment today. It was much needed!
    And I think having the calorie count right in front of you really does affect what you eat or not. I think it will help make good decisions!

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  10. There's still some trickery with those charts. The Pick Up Stix has the calories for most dishes displayed up on the wall like this 510 (2).

    If you are oblivious or choose to intentionally be ignorant and convince yourself that you're really just eating 510, you might not realize that it actually means one order has two servings at 510.

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  11. Hi there, I am from Sacramento. I was surfing for some Sacramento Screen Printing industries through Google and I got your site in my search. This is really interesting blog. I enjoyed going through it. Thanks.

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