Uh Oh! Olive Garden Feast

I love food. I love all kinds of food. I have never been one to discriminate. American, Asian, Mexican, Greek--I love all types of delicious cuisines. But there is one cuisine that I like above the others: Italian. I can't get enough of the breads, sauces, pastas, and spices. For this reason, my wife and I have been quite frequent patrons at Olive Garden. And why not? Olive Garden is very affordable and over all, quite good.


We usually get the all-you-can-eat soup, salad, and breadsticks meal (under $10). Besides walking away satisfiably stuffed from my meal, I used to think I was walking away from a pretty healthy meal as well. Boy was I wrong!





According to a recent article on Yahoo! Health, the bottomless portions of salad and breadsticks are ranked among the worst "free" foods that restaurant chains give out. In fact, after eating just one serving of salad and two breadsticks, you will have consumed almost half of your daily caloric intake...and that's before you even tasting the soup! Ouch! And I thought I was doing my body good by selecting Olive Garden over a local burger joint.
So, will this stop me from eating Olive Garden? Heck, no! But, I might feel a little more guilty the next time I finish a meal from there.
Here is the article from Yahoo! Health: Click Here

Garden-Fresh Salad (1 serving with dressing)
350 calories
26 g fat (4.5 g saturated)
1,930 mg sodium
22 g carbohydrates

Breadstick (1 with garlic butter spread)
150 calories
2 g fat (0 g saturated)
400 mg sodium
28 g carbohydrates