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Eating out and staying healthy
Editor's Note: CNN Access is a regular feature on CNN.com providing interviews with newsmakers from around the world.
(CNN) -- Chain restaurants are notorious for sometimes serving less-than-healthy food. The December issue of "Men's Health" magazine evaluates the best and worst food choices at well-known chains and found that you can get a healthy meal if you know what to avoid. CNN anchor Bill Hemmer talked with Heidi Skolnik, a contributing editor for "Men's Health," about the survey. HEMMER: (The magazine) went to 20 national chains, is that right? Like McDonald's, I'm assuming? SKOLNIK: These are the chain restaurants like Applebee's, Thank God It's Fridays, all of those types of chain restaurants. HEMMER: OK, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, things like that. SKOLNIK: Right. HEMMER: What's the most surprising trend you found on menus? SKOLNIK: That there are a lot of good choices. You can eat out, you can eat fast and convenient and still eat well, but you have to watch out, because you can sabotage yourself just as easily. HEMMER: OK, let's pick Applebee's right now. What are some best bets and hidden dangers, which is essentially how the article breaks it down. You say that sirloin is a good choice, and so is the chicken fajita at Applebee's. How did you conclude this? SKOLNIK: Because the sirloin for a restaurant portion is actually 9 ounces, not very large. It's a lean cut of beef. That's 27 grams of fat. Chicken fajita would seem sort of indulgent, but it's a great way to get veggies in, and all the condiments on the side, like the cheese, the sour cream, the guacamole, you can decide how much you want to add. HEMMER: The hidden danger then, I'm assuming, is something that probably looks pretty healthy, but on the inside, it's bad. SKOLNIK: Exactly. And that is -- which I don't think this one is that surprising -- HEMMER: Chicken broccoli pasta, is that right? SKOLNIK: Right. But it's the alfredo sauce: 3/4 of a cup of alfredo sauce, two cups of pasta, 1,000 calories, 67 grams of fat. HEMMER: That's a lot. You can live on that for a week, probably. SKOLNIK: Ninety grams of fat is the top, for an active guy. Forty grams of fat is the minimum, for a sedentary person. That's a lot of fat in one meal. Next is the Ground Round. (The magazine) says stay away from the buffalo chicken salad. HEMMER: I don't know if that's something I'd even order, but why is that bad for you? SKOLNIK: I think that's when you think you're making a healthy choice, the salad sounds good, you might get it instead of something else. But because the chicken is breaded and fried, and there's blue cheese dressing and bacon in it, it's really loaded with fat. HEMMER: That sounds great, actually. The best bet at Ground Round is what then? SKOLNIK: The bourbon glazed salmon. You get the Omega 3 fatty acids in there. It's really a full meal. It's a good choice. HEMMER: You are starting to sound like (CNN medical correspondent) Dr. (Sanjay) Gupta ... At Red Lobster, you say stay away from the coconut shrimp. What's wrong with it? SKOLNIK: Shrimp is a great choice. Get the shrimp cocktail with the cocktail sauce. But the minute you take something that's healthy and bread it and fry it, it's no longer good for you. Roll it in saturated fat like coconut, and you're talking danger. HEMMER: What about the awesome blossom (at Outback Steakhouse)? SKOLNIK: This is an onion, which is no fat. Now you bread it and fry it. You put two ounces of the side dressing. This is 2,800 calories. HEMMER: You're kidding me. On one plate? SKOLNIK: For one plate. And that's an appetizer. Now even if you share that, that hurts. HEMMER: That is a lot, absolutely. Let's talk about the trends right now you're picking up on (among) fast foods. McDonald's came out with news last week saying (it is) closing roughly 100 franchises. Do you see a trend right now where the fast food chains like McDonald's are really trying to increase the fare in terms of healthy items on the menu? SKOLNIK: Yes, and you can see it in items, like McDonald's now offers a yogurt parfait. Wendy's has a stuffed pita that has garden salad in it, along with the chicken or the beef or whatever.
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