Ihop ?
 

Howdy,
I am looking at calories for spinach mushroom omlete, over 1500. Question, would this include sides or not, a full meal or just omlete? Looking at dietfacts site.
Thanks,
Karen

Karen, I think in this case it's for the omelet only. IHOP's omelets are very high in calories because they add pancake batter to the egg mixture. So they're almost cake-y.

I just went to their web site and see that they have a menu section called "IHOP For Me" that has lower calorie choices. There's a spinach omelet there that's a much more reasonable 350 calories. Check out the whole section -- it looks pretty good!

And it says the regular spinach and mushroom omelet is served with Hollandaise sauce -- mega calories!!

You can also order all of there omelets made with egg beaters, this is what I do. I just can't handle all the carbs, especially, for something that should be low-carb high protein.

You have got to be kidding. Who would ever think to do this at home?

I certainly will.

Howdy,
Thank you, each and every one. I didn't have internet access at Mother's and so could only send out shot and sweet bursts when I found a hot spot.

Mom decided to fix sausage and fried eggs with toast for breakfast on Sat. I never was so happy to see fried eggs and sausage, after seeing the calorie count for Ihop, as I was that morning.

I was able to stay 50 cal under, or 1 day over 50 cal, for the three days.

3FC is the best for emergency roadside help:carrot:

Karen, you did great! :cp: Restaurant calories are always completely insane. Typically they're at least double what the same food in the same portion would be at home. One of our members (Megan1982) says that restaurants brush magic calorie sauce on all their food. I believe it!!

Meg-
My physicist husband thinks these calorie counters must be wrong because he couldn't see how the values could be so high, even adding the pancake batter in. I know what he means, that is why I thought the calories HAD to include, hashbrowns, a whole english muffin, butter for the bread, and jam for both slices but clearly the various sites were only showing the omelet and NOT a meal as some listings had. When all of these other components are added in, geezey peasy. I used to normally eat half of this, and so felt I was being moderate. Shucks, I still would have eaten calorie wise my days allotment with only eating half.

I have learned quite a bit more from this experience. I hadn't had an Ihop trip possiblity since before i started counting. Now that I have time to research, I will do so. Thanks again 3FC.

I was looking at the calorie count a few weeks ago and they are high. When you check the individual ingredients as they have them you would be surprised. The omelets have a lot of whatever ingredient you choose in them. So if you just wanted a cheese and tomato omelet you would get about two cups of cheese and a whole tomato.

Howdy,
No offense Meg, but i just had to research this adding the panake batter in the omelette thing. It really is true. Cheap filler. From that perusing, it seems that if there is no limit to where food manufacturers (can one really call this cooking) can stuff sugar and fat into a dish. Things I never would in a million years contemplate doing. Though I am not a low carber, they did help to uncover a lot of these additives.

You are right about the cheese but would it be the good quality or more of the cheapo, filler saturated fare with higher calorie count?

Glad some restaurants are starting to make healthier fare and post calories in the menu. I am glad to be better educated. Ignorance helped me gain weight and knowledge is helping me to lose it.

And again, thanks for the help. DH loves their stuffed french toast. I replied when I hit goal for a couple of weeks and save up a day worth of calories for 1 meal. Then the question is, is it worth it for fake food? If I had 1,800-2,000 calories to blow do I want fake syrup or would I rather go some place that had maple? Would it be at Ihop or a nice italian place?

Right now, I don't think it is worth the cost, but the iHop and me looks like something that could tie me over. No egg beaters, have to ask for "shell" eggs not the prepackaged ones. These are the thoughts I am pondering as I near goal.

Absolutely no offense taken, Karen! There's a tremendous amount of misinformation on the Internet, as well as valid information. So it's always a good idea to check it out on your own.

As for food manufacturers engineering food to appeal to us with huge quantities of fat, sugar, and salt, you have to check out David Kessler's The End of Overeating. He's the former head of the FDA and did extensive research into how restaurants and food producers deliberately craft high calorie foods that are designed to get us to eat more than we need (and that NO ONE should be eating!)

Did you know that food manufacturers produce about 1000 extra calories of food per day per person in the United States? Of course, then they have to figure out a way to get us to consume all these excess calories. It's actually quite infuriating to know that restaurants and corporations are more interested in profits than in health and social costs, considering the tremendous obesity problem we have in this country.

You're so right that knowledge is power and the more we can educate ourselves about the foods we're eating, the more successful we'll be.

And if I was going to have a splurge meal? It wouldn't be at IHOP. :p

Meg-
To be clear, and I think we are on the same page, I never doubted your veracity. I was really hoping you were wrong because I then wouldn't really have to grapple with the implications of this deviant behavior of food manufactures and with my ignorance and with those who don't have access to this info..

I saw the video clip and will order the book.

My dear mother is 80 and doesn't cook anymore so she realies on the restaraunts with their senior specials. She tries to watch what she eats, she is 5'2" and quite overweight. I don't have the heart to tell her the food counts of Olive Garden, Ihop, Black Eyed Pea, etc.... She eats half her meal, but when the value is over 1600, even half is too much. This is when I get angry with the immorality of food purveyors. I think this is like cigerettes spiking their product. She isn't computer savy and journaling food the old fashioned way would be beyond her abilities. She is stuck trying to do right in a corrupt system.

Thank you and all the mods for 3FC.

That's so sad about your mom, yet I think she's a much more typical consumer than those of us here at 3FC. We actively seek out information about what we're eating -- and sometimes it takes quite a bit of effort to find out basic facts! Exhibit A = IHOP.

Most people don't have the time, knowledge or resources to research restaurants and food choices. They just think "Salad! That must be a healthy choice!" or "I'll have chicken instead of beef" or "A spinach omelet sounds healthy!" and never have a clue about the hundreds of extra calories that they're eating.

That's why I'm totally in favor of making nutritional information more accessible and understandable. And if I may go so far, I think some "food-like substances" should be completely illegal, period. But that will never happen. So maybe we can start with the basics and help people make better choices. :)

Meg-
So true about the "healthy" salad. And all of us are doing a part to get to raise awareness. My kids know as do my SIL about nutritional counts. At one point this weekend I asked DD to check 3FC website for info. Her knowledge base grew both about ihop and 3FC. SIL watches his sodium so he has been very appreciative of my research as does DS who has Crohn's.

So you and the entire forum help not just the poster (me) but groups of people. And one day, maybe these obscene food additives will be thought of as cigarettes. Maybe Europe's food tastes better because it is real food. But that is for another thread.

Again thank you.:hug: