Well, let me first give it to Applebee’s for even TRYING! But, as you might expect, the stonewalling on the true salt content of Applebee’s new line of entrees under 550 calories is AMAZING. I even ended up contacting my good aquaintance and also food expert, Dr Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in Public to help. We tried to find an Applebee’s in Seattle where they would’ve been required to list the sodium content…but, no luck – all the Applebee’s there are just outside the Seattle city limits. But by this spring, Applebee’s corporate will either do the right thing, someone will independantly analyze the dishes and report them on an independant website, or the 3 Applebee’s in Philadelphia (thanks to that city’s progressive stance on informing their residents and guests of what they’re putting into their bodies) will be forced to let the world know what we’re having billed to us as “healthy”.

In the meantime, my beautiful wife and I just got back from our local Applebee’s where I tried what looked the lowest risk – the Asian Crunch Salad (with the blood pressure raising, salt saturated dressing on the side, of COURSE) while Angela tried the Grilled Shrimp and Island Rice. Well….if we’re not counting some degree of effort or passion in presentation, I’d say that the Asian Crunch Salad wasn’t HORRIFYING…the salad (though uninspiring) was unadulterated with any croutons, bacon bits or other forms of junk….and though there was a good complement of almond shavings, which are calorie dense, at least they weren’t salted and in a see of leafy vegetation, are hardly a problem. The chicken breast certainly didn’t taste like high quality, pasture raised meat and was definitely salt injected, but was grilled and lean. So in terms of health, I’ll bet – despite the saline injected breast that I suspect – it was the lowest in salt and calories of all the choices.

The Grilled Shrimp and Island Rice was pretty bad though….the veggies were ok…though they had some salt and butter applied. The white rice was definitely plain, no salt – but had horrible texture and the 3 skewers of shrimp were WAY over salted!! And, in fact, they were way over spiced too…

SOOO…I guess that for now there isn’t a restaurant that has anywhere near the huevos of what Andiamo’s Corporate Executive Chef, Jim Oppat and I have put together – ANDIAMO LEAN! (www.andiamoitalia.com) When you order Andiamo Lean your gonna get PASSION from a starter, entree AND dessert with ALL THREE COURSES for only about 550 calories AND for no more than 250mg to a MAX of 750mg of sodium for, again, ALL THREE COURSES COMBINED! Even with the new CDC ultra low guidelines for daily sodium intake (less than 1500mg/day), Andiamo Lean is going to leave happy and GUILT FREE! It isn’t bragging if its true!

‘Til next time, I hope you’ve enjoyed this Food For Thought!
Dr Tom