by:  Darrell W. Butler, ACE certified personal trainer

February 2008

 Attack of the 3,000 Calorie Salad...

            Last weekend I went out to dinner at a local establishment with a friend of mine.  Her New Year resolution was to shed a few pounds so she ordered the salad bar and being the supportive buddy that I am, I followed suit. 

            With that, we grabbed our salad plates and headed over to the lavish bar set-up.  Things started off normally enough as we both started with a base layer of lettuce, but then things took a dramatic turn south.  This restaurant offered much more than the traditional salad bar selections so I watched as she loaded on fried onion rings, buffalo strips, bacon bits, shredded cheese and sealed it all together with what seemed like a half gallon of blue cheese dressing.  She then grabbed 3 or 4 rolls and spread butter on both sides before proudly returning to our table and taking a sip from the water with lemon that she had ordered.

            “See?  I told you that I could stick to eating healthy” she said with a smile.  I felt horrible, as I had to explain that she had just created a meal that was more fattening than a double cheeseburger probably would have been.

            Many people make the same mistake though so I thought I’d devote this month’s letter to warning everyone about the selections that we’re making to doctor up our healthy foods.  Just because it can be found at a salad bar doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily good for you.

            The same can be said for the choices many people make when doctoring up protein shakes.  I once had a friend who added a pint of peanut butter cup ice cream and a banana to every shake to make it taste better.  Had be selected low fat frozen yogurt, perhaps that wouldn’t have been quite as bad.  His selection however offset any nutritional value the original product would have provided.

            While I admit that many healthy selections are acquired tastes, there are more tasty selections out there than you may realize.  It may take some experimenting and product sampling but eventually you will find healthy selections that work for you. 

In general, if you’re frying or lathering butter on any of your veggies, you’re probably not going to see as many benefits from the nutrients buried inside.  And if you’re doctoring up a shake with anything aside from fruit, be sure to read the nutritional information on the back of your addition first.

Here’s to a safe and healthy 2008. 

    Sincerely,

    Darrell W. Butler

Click here to read January's Letter

     ISP founder Darrell Butler is a certified personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise and a certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (for a brief bio, click the photo).