Healthy Restaurant Eating at Olive Garden Restaurant!

I love Italian food but am always a bit less enthusiastic when I read through the listings of calories, fats, and carbs in Italian restaurant food!

My husband was in the mood for some Italian food and considering we don't have many independent Italian restaurants in our area with great Italian food, we ended up at Olive Garden Restaurant. I was determined to stick with my healthy eating routine since we had splurged on high calorie food only several days ago.

The Olive Garden menu, like the menu in most Italian restaurants, is heavy on pasta dishes. In fact just about every entree listed comes with pasta in some form or another. Since pasta isn't exactly known for it's low calorie or carbohydrate content, it makes it a challenge to order a healthy entree at most Italian eateries. When you add to that the high fat sauces on many of the pastas, you've added quite a few calories to your meal.

Olive Garden does have some healthy options if you're creative enough to think a little out of the box. I politely asked my waitress and was informed that it's fine to substitute steamed vegetables for the pasta for most of the entrees. This certainly added some health options! I finally ended up choosing the Chicken Giardino which consisted of a sauteed piece of chicken served with a variety of vegetables which could include on any particular day a mixture of diced red peppers, broccoli, carrots, squash, zucchini, , spinach, asparagus, diced tomatoes, and peas. It does come with a butter based sauce, so if you're really being diligent, you could ask for the sauce on the side. The entire meal checks in at around 460 calories and 8 grams of fat. Not too bad. Plus, the taste was actually quite good. When served along with the unlimited salad, it makes quite a filling meal.

Some other options for eating healthy at Olive Garden would include the::

1. Unlimited soup and salad special. The wisest choice for healthy eating here would be the minestrone soup at 160 calories per bowl. Go light on the salad dressing or try substituting oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Olive Garden always brings the salad to the table with the dressing already applied. I would suggest asking that it be placed on the side so you can control the amount.

2. Capellini Pomodoro. This is heavy on the pasta, but has only around 400 calories and 9 grams of fat per serving

3. Linguine ala Marinara. You'll get some heart healthy lycopenes and only 340 calories and 8 grams of fat per serving.

4. Shrimp Primavera. More heart healthy lycopenes with only 483 calories. It's a little heavy on the fat with 11 grams per serving.

Other tips for healthy eating at Olive Garden:

1. Avoid the bread sticks that come with every meal! They're quite addictive once you get started and are a source of empty calories. Don't even let them bring them to the table to tempt you.

2. Drink unsweetened iced tea or water. Avoid adding calories with the wine.

3. Ask for sauces on the side.

4. Substitute mixed vegetables for pasta as we previously discussed. It's more heart healthy and calorie friendly.

5. Avoid those tempting high fat, high calorie desserts!

6. Watch those appetizers! They can be as high in calories as the entree.

7. Eat lots of salad (with the dressing on the side, of course). This will prevent you from overindulging during the main course.

8. Eat slowly and enjoy the pleasant Olive Garden Atmosphere

If approached properly, there's no reason why healthy restaurant eating can't include a trip to the Olive Garden!