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Hungry Girl Today: 5.01.09



Need a little help surviving Italian restaurants? You're in luck. HG is here with

all you need to know...





DOs and DON'Ts!



DO start your meal off with a house salad (light dressing on the side) or

some minestrone soup. (Broth-based soup before a meal often means lower

calorie-intake overall!) Be careful with salad entrées though! Some are

worse than most regular meals, so watch out for red flags like oily croutons,

creamy dressing, fatty meats, and lots of cheese.



DON'T be afraid to make special requests, just make sure you're super-nice

when you do it. Swap fatty sides for veggies. Ask for whole-wheat pasta in

place of regular -- many places (including Olive Garden) offer up the fiber-

rich stuff as an alternative to plain white pasta, and it's better for you and

more filling.



DO save some to take home. Most Italian eateries serve up crazy-huge

portions -- so before you even start eating, get it into your head that you’re

not going to consume that whole ginormous serving. Then eat slowly and

savor your meal!



DON'T eat bread AND pasta at the same meal. In Italy, that's a no-no.

(Clearly, they understand the dangers of carb overload.) If you choose

bread, skip the butter. If you go for pasta, choose tomato-based (not creamy

or cheesy) sauce, and keep the portion reasonable. And if you feel like being

really good, avoid the bread and pasta altogether.



DO have a glass of wine, if you like (and if you're legal!), but control

yourself. A 4-oz. serving has about 100 calories and a POINTS® value of 2*,

but you should know that a glass often contains a few ounces more than that.

So if an Italian dinner without vino seems wrong to you, go for that glass,

just make it last. And be careful with sangria. A glass at Olive Garden has

220 - 250 calories (POINTS® value 4 - 5*). And we all know how one glass

can lead to another... and another...







Italian Chain Shockers!!!



Olive Garden, Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara

PER SERVING (1 dinner portion): 1,440 calories, 88g fat, 3,000mg sodium,

80g carbs, 9g fiber -- POINTS® value 35*



Clearly, anything in a carbonara sauce is NOT going to be light. But say you

really want it. How bad could it be? Well, in addition to the crazy amount of

calories coming from the pasta, there's the insane fat content of a sauce

made with eggs, cheese, cream, and bacon. It would take too much time on

the treadmill to justify this one. NEXT!





Romano's Macaroni Grill, Pinot Grigio Chicken

PER SERVING (1 serving): 1,630 calories, 82g fat, 3,910mg sodium, 131g

carbs, 10g fiber, 88g protein -- POINTS® value 39*



Macaroni Grill is notorious for having insanely high-cal meals. That place also

serves up some stuff that sounds light and innocent yet is actually REALLY

bad! Like this entrée. Chicken in a white wine sauce? Seems safe.

Unfortunately, it's crusted with Parmesan, topped with mozzarella, and

served up with a ginormous pile of pasta. Eeeks!







Bite It!



Appetizers: Steamed mussels, steamed clams



Entrées: Grilled, steamed or broiled chicken or seafood (in tomato sauce or

with a squirt of lemon)



Sides: Steamed or grilled veggies, whole-wheat pasta (small serving)



Desserts: Sorbet, fresh berries, biscotti, coffee or espresso with no-calorie

sweetener and skim milk







Fight It!



Appetizers: Fried calamari, fried mozzarella, fried ANYTHING



Entrées: Breaded Parmesan-style dishes, Alfredo pastas



Sides: Mounds of white pasta, buttery garlic bread



Desserts: Tiramisu and other rich desserts, full-fat cappuccinos and lattes







HG Recipes Italiano!



Faux-Fried & Fabulous Calamari - You won't even look at the real fried stuff

after this.



Fiber-ific Fried Cheese Sticks - The best guilt-free fried mozzarella fix

around... and probably the ONLY one!



Fettuccine Hungry Girlfredo - In four awesome varieties! Click and CHEW...



Veggie-rific Noodle-Free Lasagna - Who needs noodles? Not this lasagna.



Fiber-ific Chicken Parm - Our no-harm Chicken Parmesan swap will knock

your socks off!



Cannoli Cones - Every good dinner should end with a dessert that's this

delicious. Click & scroll.







For links please go to:

https://www.hungry-girl.com/fridaypreview.php?newsletterid=1744

--



HEY!! - Need more survival tips? HG will whisper (well, speak) them in your

ear. Check out Hungry Girl: The Official Survival Guides, our super-cool

audio book! Buy the adorably packaged CDs or download the guides online.



CHEW ON THIS:

Friday, May 1st, isn't just the start of a new month. It's also National

Chocolate Parfait Day! Whip up a Yum-tastic Double Chocolate Peanut Butter

Parfait (click & scroll) to celebrate.



Didn't your mama teach you any manners? Click "send to a friend" and

SHARE!

https://www.hungry-girl.com/send/sendfriend.php?nid=1744&idate=05-01-09



*The Points® values for these products and/or recipes were calculated by

Hungry Girl and are not an endorsement or approval of the product, recipe

or its manufacturer or developer by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the

owner of the Points® registered trademark.

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