Healthy Options For The Sandwich Generation Eating Out On The Flat Belly MUFA Foods Diet

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Spring is springing, daffodils are blooming, my senior mom is getting excited about getting back to her gardening, and the grandkids and I actually made it outside for more ball tag fun. (Aren’t these daffodils gorgeous! Thanks to Picmonkey and their easy to use tools along with my great digital camera that is also so easy, I’m very pleased with the outcome. 🙂 )

Seeing their red striped umbrella in the shed reminded us of the summer fun to come!

I’m still plugging away on the Flat Belly Diet-MUFAs foods but it’s tougher now that I’m helping out with nursing activities for grandparents and grandchildren as we deal with a nasty bug. One of the many Sandwich Generation issues that comes every year or so. I’m not able to stick to my eating schedules as well as I’d like, so my weight is still waffling at the 8-10 pound level. But at least it hasn’t zoomed back up to the BAD level so i’m happy about that.

On the run constantly I do eat out more than I might normally prefer. My favorites for this diet have been:

Chick-fil-A

Their grilled chicken salad is delicious. I use about 1/4 of the balsamic vinegarette dressing, no croutons, but 2 packages of sunflower seeds. That’s about 180 calories and includes the MUFA foods of sunflower seeds (Update: They’ve made some changes but their grilled chicken salad is still a good way of eating healthy on the run and tastes good)

Their chicken salad sandwich is a bit higher than I prefer at 490 calories, but when I’m on the run in the car, it’s quite handy, and I just lower the calories at another meal.

Moe’s Burritos

YUMMMM – I love burritos! I get their Joey Junior burrito with pinto beans, pork, guacamole, lettuce, pico de gallo (spicy tomatos), and cheese. You have a choice of  whole wheat tortilla or regular.  The whole wheat is healthier but not as tasty and seems to break easier, so I waffle back and forth on that.  The calorie count is about 380. 🙂

Panera Bread

Thai Chicken Salad – Delicious as well and very low in calories. It includes the MUFA foods of soybeans. I have them leave off the won ton noodles for a calorie count of about 390.

One important caveat to all this is to realize that what they list for the calorie count may not be what you get. For example, I got a really full salad at one restaurant one week and the same exact salad with much less filling the next week. The nutritional guidelines are only as good as the people making them. When eating out a lot, especially if you notice this, might be wise to go under 100-200 calories on those days. (Do I do that? Not always – which could explain my waffling weight 🙂 ).  For more detailed info about their calories and other nutritional content, just click on their names. 🙂

All of these restaurants are such a blessing for the “always on the run” Sandwich Generation baby boomer dealing with the issues of caring for the elderly parents and babysitting grandchildren. Especially those of us on diets like the Flat Belly Diet-MUFAs foods.

Kaye

Updated 2017