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Posted: January 2006

January’s Featured Product:
Chef Salads

January is upon us and we are starting to think about our new year’s resolutions.  Weight loss is usually at the top of the list.  As we hunt for our jogging suits and dig our treadmills out from under the piles of clothes and old magazines, we think about how we are starting off on the right foot by having a salad for lunch from the local fast food establishment.  Think again!!!  Although a salad can be a healthy meal option, it isn’t always so.  Adding the regular dressing and croutons can offset the low calorie and fat benefit of a salad. When you start including shredded cheese, bacon, the second packet of dressing and the other little extras, the original healthy salad can become a real waist expander.

The chart below shows how some salads can be so high in calories and fat that they can be as high as a cheeseburger!  This month we are comparing salads served at our schools with those offered at local fast food establishments.  As you can see, there is a significant difference when it comes to calories, fat, sodium, and vitamin C.  Our school chef salads  provide 42% less calories, 53% less fat, 32% less sodium, and 65% more Vitamin C than the fast food alternative.  By using lower fat breaded chicken and reduced fat cheese and dressing, our salads are actually the healthy alternative they were intended to be, so have a school chef salad today---guilt free! 

 

School Breaded Chicken Strip Salad

McDonald’s Bacon Ranch Salad with Crispy Chicken

Burger King TenderCrisp Garden Salad

Wendy’s Homestyle Chicken Strip Salad

Calories

396

510

670

680

Calories from fat

189

270

400

400

Total fat, grams

21g

31g

45g

45g

Saturated fat

7g

7.5g

9g

12g

Cholesterol

53mg

90mg

60mg

85mg

Sodium

1263mg

1670mg

1850mg

1770mg

Carbohydrate

29g

31g

39g

40g

Dietary fiber

5g

5g

6g

4g

Protein

22g

29

28g

30g

Vitamin A

89%

120%

135%

140%

Vitamin C

128%

50%

45%

50%

Calcium

28%

19%

20%

34%

Iron

10%

10%

15%

12%

*Nutrition information includes 1 packet of Ranch Dressing.  Nutrition information for salads taken from posted establishment websites.

www.irvingisd.net/foodservices