The Bread Basket Decides Your Italian Dinner
Researchers at Tufts measured real restaurant meals and Italian came in highest of any cuisine, averaging upwards of 1,755 calories. Most of that lands before the entree does. This post covers what the bread and the sauce and the breading each cost, and how men over 40 can order around them.
A breadstick at Olive Garden runs 140 calories. Three of them puts you past 400 before anyone takes your order. This episode covers what an Italian meal costs and how to order one that fits a fat loss day.
Four Things Land Before Your Entree
The bread arrives before the menu does. The olive oil follows it. Then the appetizer, then your drink, and the server still has not asked what you want.
None of those four is a problem on its own. All four together is how the meal gets away from you.
You get one opening, not four. Pick it on purpose before the basket hits the table.
What A Breadstick Costs
One garlic breadstick at Olive Garden is 140 calories. Round it to 150 and the math gets fast.
Two or three of them without noticing puts you at 400 to 500 calories. That happens before your entree exists.
The basket refills. That is the whole point of the basket.
Soup And Salad Buy You Time
A cup of soup runs 100 to 150 calories. A bowl runs closer to 200 or 250.
Eating soup before a meal has been shown to cut total calorie intake by up to 20 percent. Part of that is timing. Your entree takes 20 to 30 minutes to arrive, and human fullness signals land in that same window.
Olive Garden's salad is bottomless and lettuce carries almost nothing. Ask for more vegetables on it. The tomatoes and onions do more for fullness than a second breadstick.
Take the dressing on the side. Dip your fork, stab the food, eat. You get the same taste for a fraction of the calories.
Red Sauce Against White Sauce
A full dinner portion of spaghetti with marinara runs 400 to 500 calories with 10 to 12 grams of fat.
Chicken Alfredo with grilled chicken can reach 1,500 calories. Olive Garden's own nutrition menu lists 95 grams of fat on it. That is close to two days of fat in one plate.
Red sauce is lower in fat. White sauce is cream and butter and cheese, and the kitchen adds more cheese on top before it leaves.
The sauce decides more than the name of the dish does.
What Breading Adds
The crispy Chicken Fritta is breaded chicken over pasta with cream sauce. It reaches 1,500 calories on its own.
Swap the breading for grilled chicken and you save 200 to 300 calories. The breading and the frying are where that number lives.
Two questions do most of the work at the table. Is the protein breaded or grilled? Can I get the sauce on the side or lightly sauced?
The Parmesan Nobody Counts
A couple of cranks of Parmesan adds 25 to 75 calories. They offer it on the salad, on the soup, and again on the entree.
Say yes three times and you have added 100 to 200 calories of cheese you never tasted separately.
One Cup Of Pasta
A cup of cooked pasta runs about 200 calories and roughly 40 grams of carbohydrate. A full plate holds several cups.
Give pasta one job on the plate. It is the starch. It is not a second starch stacked on the bread you already ate.
A cup of pasta with a salad and a real protein checks the box. It is less fun than the Tour of Italy, which passes 1,500 calories if you finish it.
Why The Local Place Is Not The Safer Bet
A family run Italian restaurant posts no nutrition facts. Testing food is expensive and a small kitchen has no reason to pay for it.
Researchers at Tufts measured real restaurant meals in a lab instead of reading menu descriptions. Italian came in highest of any cuisine tested, averaging upwards of 1,755 calories per meal.
The same work found independent and small chain restaurants ran about 49 percent higher in calories than large chains. No corporate spec sheet means the oil, the butter and the portion move with whoever is cooking.
When the local place posts no numbers, borrow a big chain's. Order chicken Alfredo at a mom and pop and use Olive Garden's figure as your working estimate.
Two Orders That Work
The tighter order sounds like this. Grilled chicken or shrimp or salmon with vegetables, sauce on the side, and a side of pasta with marinara. Water or sparkling water or unsweetened tea to drink.
The pasta night order is spaghetti and marinara with grilled chicken added, plus a side salad. Marinara runs 450 to 500 calories and the chicken breast puts that pair at 700 to 800. Add the pasta and you are near 1,000, against 1,500 for the alternative.
Chicken Parmesan and lasagna are the two that cost the most. Both are breaded, fried, or layered with cheese. If one of those is the order, plan a lighter day around it.
Ask For The Box When You Order
Cutting the plate in half puts you at 700 to 800 calories instead of 1,500. That number fits a normal day.
Ask for the take-home box when you order, not after you are deep into the plate. The decision is easier before the food is in front of you.
What Parmesan Means On A Menu
Parmesan on an Italian menu means breaded, fried, and topped with melted cheese and sauce. It is the heaviest word on the page.
Eggplant is a low calorie vegetable. Eggplant Parmesan is not a low calorie dish. The preparation did that, not the eggplant.
Order First
You copy the people around you without noticing it. Ordering first means you decide before the table decides for you.
Move to the side of the table away from the bread. Your hand goes where the basket is.
The Sodium Nobody Reads
Spaghetti with marinara can run 1,200 to 1,300 milligrams of sodium.
A breaded fried Alfredo dish can pass 2,600 milligrams. The recommended daily limit is 2,300 for adults and teens, and 1,500 for men with high blood pressure or diabetes or kidney or heart conditions.
One plate can carry more than a full day.
Where Unlimited Breadsticks Came From
Olive Garden opened its first location in Orlando in 1982. During opening week the kitchen fell behind and staff handed out free breadsticks to keep waiting customers happy.
The stopgap became the signature. In 2014 an activist investor pushed Darden to cut the free breadsticks back. Olive Garden serves around 700 million of them a year and kept the policy anyway.
They are good and they are free and that is the design. Count them like food.
Action Steps
- Decide on the bread before the basket reaches the table.
- Start with a cup of soup or a salad with dressing on the side.
- Ask whether the protein is breaded or grilled before you order it.
- Take the sauce on the side or ask for the dish lightly sauced.
- Ask for the take-home box when you order, not halfway through.
- Give pasta one job on the plate and skip the second starch.
- Borrow a national chain's number when the local place posts none.
- Send questions to [email protected].
More From Driven For Health
- Episode 162 covers what to order at Mexican restaurants.
- Episode 145 opened the what-to-order series with Chipotle.
- Episode 53 and episode 140 cover Andy and Jamie, who each lost 38 pounds eating real food.
Get The Guide
I built a guide for eating away from your own kitchen. It runs 25 plus pages and covers restaurants and travel and airports in one place.
Grab the Eating On-The-Go Guide at go.brianparana.com/eatingonthego.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories are in an Olive Garden breadstick?
One garlic breadstick runs 140 calories. Two or three of them puts you at 400 to 500 calories before your entree reaches the table.
How many calories are in chicken Alfredo?
Chicken Alfredo with grilled chicken can reach 1,500 calories. Olive Garden's nutrition menu lists 95 grams of fat on it, which is close to two days of fat in one plate.
Is marinara or Alfredo better for fat loss?
A full dinner portion of spaghetti with marinara runs 400 to 500 calories with 10 to 12 grams of fat. Alfredo is cream and butter and cheese, and that is where the extra thousand calories comes from.
Does eating soup before a meal help you eat less?
Soup before a meal has been shown to cut total calorie intake by up to 20 percent. A cup runs 100 to 150 calories and your entree takes 20 to 30 minutes to arrive.
How many calories are in a cup of pasta?
One cup of cooked pasta runs about 200 calories and roughly 40 grams of carbohydrate. A full restaurant plate holds several cups.
Are local Italian restaurants healthier than chains?
Researchers at Tufts found independent and small chain restaurants ran about 49 percent higher in calories than large chains. A small kitchen has no corporate spec sheet, so the oil and the portions move.
How much sodium is in a plate of Italian food?
Spaghetti with marinara can run 1,200 to 1,300 milligrams of sodium. A breaded fried Alfredo dish can pass 2,600 against a daily limit of 2,300 for most adults.
What is the Call To Rise program?
The Call To Rise is a 100-day fat loss challenge built around strength training, personalized nutrition and real accountability. Most men lose 20 plus pounds and rebuild the confidence that comes with it.
