On Friday, I promised a new 1200 calorie sample menu and thought I would have it ready in a couple of days. Sorry. Hope you like it! This menu provides a healthy but somewhat different nutrient breakdown than the others I’ve shared. It has a higher amount of total fat than the previous three sample menus but is still within the recommended range given by the National Academy of Sciences. The fat is predominately healthy fat and there is research to indicate that some people actually fair better with respect to overall health when their daily carbohydrate intake is in the lower end of the recommended range.

The total fat is 34% (recommended range is 20 to 35%). Total protein is 16% (recommended range is 10 to 35%). So despite featuring a vegetarian dish for supper, the total carbohydrate count is only 50% (still within the recommended range of 45 to 65%). Why does this matter? If you haven’t had a chance you may want to read my last post in which I responded to a question about how many carbohydrates a woman should have on a 1200 calorie diet.

In addition to sharing the new menu, I wanted to tell you about a couple of interesting and helpful online resources. I also have a few additions to my low calorie Italian food guide to recommend if you are heading out to eat at Romano’s Macaroni Grill anytime soon. (See my previous post on Low Calorie Italian Food).

I’ll start out with the online resources. If you have not yet discovered the page on the Diet Blog that shows photo examples of what 300 Calorie Meals look like, you are in for a treat. Learning to get a feel for what is the right portion size for you is half the battle when watching calorie intake. (The other half is, of course, choosing healthy foods!)

For another excellent visual when it comes to developing a better sense for the calorie count of different kinds of foods, go visit the Wise Geek site. You’ll find a wonderful photo display of 200 calorie portions of a wide variety of foods. The photos were taken in a way to keep the foods relative in size to one another. Also, notice that the images are sorted from low energy to high energy density (low calories to high calories).

Foods with a low energy density provide you with a way to eat more food by volume and still stay within your low calorie allotment. There have been a number of research studies that indicate people tend to be more satisfied when eating a larger volume of food than when eating a smaller volume even when the calorie count is the same (at least in the United States). I wonder if part of the reason for this may be that Americans have unfortunately been lead to believe that the large portions served in many restaurants and elsewhere is actually normal. When we eat a small amount we may feel deprived.

Now I’d like to give you an update on lower calorie Italian foods when eating out. At the Macaroni Grill your best bet may be the Pollo Magro “Skinny Chicken” with asparagus and broccoli. This delicious sounding dish will cost you a mere 330 calories! No need to box this up to bring half home with you. In addition, it has only 1 gram of saturated fat and 770 mg of sodium. Wow!

Another choice to consider is the Chicken Caesar Salad with low-fat dressing on the side. The salad has 460 calories without the dressing, 520 with. It’s likely to be a fair amount of food so bring some home to keep the calorie count down. The saturated fat and sodium count are O.K. if you are watching it the rest of the day (8 grams saturated fat, 890 mg sodium). A healthy and delicious sounding dish is the Simple Salmon with Asparagus and Broccoli. This entree has approximately 590 calories with 6 grams of saturated fat and a significant amount of sodium, 1,390 mg. Plan on bringing a third to a half home with you to stay within your calorie allowance as well as distributing your total calorie intake throughout the day for greater success.

Most of the other choices at the Macaroni Grill have more than 1,000 calories. Some have significantly more. Whatever you do, stay away from the Dessert Ravioli with an incredible 1,630 calories for just one serving! That’s more than my needs for an entire day!

O.K. here’s the sample menu for this week. The menu calls for making Quick Vegetarian Chili. (I’ve shared the recipe for it on one of my other blogs. It makes a fair amount so if you live alone you may want to consider freezing some of the extra for easy nutritious meals at a later date.) You’ll see that it includes an avocado salsa that I did not account for in this sample menu. If you’d like to include that with the vegetarian chili just cut back a little on some of the extras in the menu such as the peanut butter (with apple) for a morning snack or the cookies after supper. (The salsa and a “little” reduced fat sour cream add a LOT of great taste to the dish. A serving of the avocado salsa is only 59 calories and a tablespoon of reduced fat sour cream has about 20 calories).

Sample 1200 Calorie Menu #4

Breakfast:

1 cup Instant Oatmeal (plain made with water)

4 oz. Skim milk

1 Tbsp. Raisins

1 Tbsp. Light Brown Sugar

4 oz. Orange Juice

Morning Snack:

1 Medium Apple Sliced

1 Tbsp. Natural Creamy Peanut Butter

Lunch:

1 cup Vegetable Soup (low sodium, made with water)

An open-faced sandwich:

1 slice Whole Wheat Bread

6 slices Honey Ham (thin slices)

1 slice Tomato

1 slice Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese

1 tsp. Yellow Mustard

Water, unsweetened tea or coffee, or diet soda

Afternoon Snack:

1 container Yoplait Light Yogurt - Key Lime Pie (about 100 calories)

Supper:

1 cup Quick Vegetarian Chili

8 oz. Skim milk

1/2 cup Broccoli Spears

3 Sunflower Seed Petite Cookies by Grace’s Best (about 65 calories)

Remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day!

Total Calories: 1189

Protein: 16%

Carbohydrates: 50%

Fat: 34%

Iron: 18.1 mg

Calcium: 1041 mg

Fiber 22 grams

Vitamin A: 5847 I.U.

Vitamin C: 156 mg

From here on out, when I mention a brand name I will try my best to include the calorie count for that item. I don’t want you to be at a loss if you can’t buy a particular brand. What is more important is having a sense of the importance of that particular choice with respect to overall calories and nutritional balance.

Questions? Be sure to ask. Comments? Feel free to share. Have a great week, watch those calories, and most importantly, stay healthy!

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