Dear people,

I went to the link below and looked up chicken salads at restaurants (like Bob Evans and Applebys). I was shocked out of my mind when I saw the carb count! Does this mean we can't even have Cobb salads at the corner diner? Now I'm afraid of restaurants but am also afraid I can't keep up with cooking every meal. UGH.

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/ca...?category_id=21

It is possible to eat out regularly and still maintain your Atkins WOE. The usual suspects in high-carb counts for salads are croutons and salad dressings. If you can get a break-down of where the carbs come from, you stand a better chance of making appropriate menu decisions.

In the past few months I've eaten at a variety of restaurants...both fast-food and "white tablecloth"...and still managed to keep my carb intake to less than 20/day.

Consider, also, the option of "make-ahead" meals that can be made up in bulk and consumed at leisure. Neither my wife nor I can afford to spend all of our time chained to the stove. But we're willing to invest a few hours in advance food preparation that pays off in cooking "vacations" in weeks to come.

Check out the recipe pages on this and other low carb sites...you'll find a variety of tasty choices that can be made up in advance and "nuked" on demand.

I agree, it depends on what they put in as "extras", since they base their nutrition info on "average amounts of all ingredients".... A few changes, and you have a salad fit for lc! Leaving out the obvious, like croutons, and watching the dressing like a hawk. (Most places will sub Ranch or oil and vinegar on request)

I was completely surprised to find out that McDonalds grilled chicken salad has 11 carbs without the dressing. I was told this and doublechecked on their web-site. I have one occasionally but make sure I closely watch my carbs for the rest of my day. Who knew?

I as shocked too at the McDonalds salad-I love the chicken caesar salad there . I wonder if they are adding the tomato,carrot,croutons and parmesan cheese in wth the 11 g?? Anyone know???

I think everything is added except the dressing and the crutons. That is my understanding anyway. I usually pick my carrots and tomatoes out (I get the chicken bacon ranch salad usually.) I don't care for the carrots and the little grape tomatoes actually taste too sweet to me. Gee, I never thought I'd say that!

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'm "processing" now. This is definitely a thinking person's diet. It forces you to be aware.

McDonald's (and other fast food places, I'm sure) marinate their chicken in a dextrose solution.

This causes the carb count to increase fairly dramatically (to us LCers, anyways.)

Hogarth

If you want to know the actual contents (but not quantities) of the various items on the McDonald's menu, you can check this page:

http://mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/...ents/index.html