worst offenders on the menu: Nandos
Worst
offenders on the menu: Nando’s
Hey guys!
I apologise for being absent for so long, I’ve had a busy
time at uni and have exams to revise for, so I haven’t had a chance to write
the post I’ve been planning too. This is a longer piece that requires a bit
more time, but I hope you enjoy!
I want to start a series where I look at some of the worst
offenders at popular restaurants. I know people don’t usually go to a
restaurant looking for something healthy, but I think it is important to be
aware of what you're consuming. Also, most people don’t eat out everyday so
going slightly over your nutritional requirements won't be too much of an issue
if done occasionally. It’s nice to have a meal out for a special occasion or if
you don’t fancy cooking that night but remember that cooking your own food
means you are in control of what goes in.
The first restaurant in the series is the one and only
cheeky Nando’s. Nando’s may seem like a healthy choice since it offers grilled
chicken with various vegetable side options but there are some items on the
menu that genuinely surprised me.
For reference, here are the recommended daily amounts of
nutrients for the average person:
Nutrient
|
Amount
|
Energy
|
2000 kcal
|
Fat
|
70g
|
Saturated fat
|
20g
|
Carbohydrates
|
260g
|
Total sugars
|
90g
|
Free sugars
|
30g
|
Protein
|
50g
|
Salt
|
6g
|
Fibre
|
30g
|
Everything is plain spiced, I imagine the salt content would
go up if you got medium or hot spiced.
Let’s start
with the starters!
The hummus with
peri-peri drizzle and warm pitta bread has 800 calories, 31.9 grams of fat
and 3.6 grams of salt. Bare in mind this is a starter, which means you would eat
another meal after this. It contains almost half your daily calorie and fat
amounts, and more than half the amount of salt. If you were sharing with a few
people, it would be fine but someone eating this to themselves is a lot to
handle. On the plus side it has 9.4 grams of fibre and 23.3 grams of
plant-based protein which is something we should be getting more of.
Onto the
burgers, wraps and pittas:
The fino pitta is
essentially chicken, lettuce and cheese with some fancy sounding condiments and
it has 793 calories, 37 grams of fat, 12.5 grams of saturated fat and 3.9 grams
of salt. I’ve have personally tried this before, without the cheese (I only
like cheese on pizza, don’t hate me). I was a bit disappointed, I don’t think
it was that great, definitely not worth the calories, fat or salt.
The Portobello
mushroom and grilled halloumi wrap has 720 calories, 41 grams of fat and
11.7 grams of saturated fat. It also has 2.9 grams of salt. The halloumi cheese
is probably the reason for such a high fat content.
These options are main dishes which means most people would
get a least one side with it, and it all adds up.
On a positive note: I was pleasantly surprised that the
fillet steak options have a decent nutrient profile, the salt is quite high,
but the rest of the macronutrients are good. The fillet steak Prego roll has 364 calories, 7.6 grams of fat, and 32
grams of protein.
Some sides
just for good measure:
A large peri-salted chips has 1260 calories, 50
grams of fat and 3 grams of salt. I’m guessing a large side is to share but
this is over half a whole days’ worth of calories in itself.
A regular creamy mash
has 11 grams of saturated fat, more than half the daily amount.
Time for
dessert!
The chocolate frozen
yoghurt has 16 grams of sugar and its bottomless, so you can refill as much
as you want. It can be easy to want to get your moneys worth and load up, but
frozen yoghurt isn’t necessarily healthier than ice cream and still has a lot
of sugar. It also doesn’t state the portion size for the nutritional
information provided.
The mango gelado
has 20.3 grams of sugar, two thirds of your daily limit for free sugars. If you
were to get basically any drink that’s not water with your meal, then you’d be
over the guidelines.
The gooey caramel
cheesecake and carrot cake both have
20 grams of saturated fat, all your daily amount in one course of one meal.
The white chocolate
raspberry swirl actually has 21.8 grams of saturated fat, going over the
20g guideline and 26.3 grams of sugar which is very close to the 30g guideline.
The choc-o-lot cake
has 47.1 grams of free sugar, almost two and a half times the recommended
amount.
I’m not telling you what you shouldn’t eat but I think it is
important to be aware of what you’re consuming. I’m not trying to shame any
nutrient either. For example, a lot of these meals are high in fat, and fat is the most calorically dense nutrient,
but it is an essential nutrient in the body. Fat is found in all your cell
membranes, it helps absorb some vitamins and it protects your organs. So, we
need to get fat from our diet. I think eating out is nice experience and you
should get what you feel like eating but at the same time, try to consider the
nutritional aspect of the food too.
I hope to continue the series, as I quite enjoy looking at restaurant
menus, I always look at the menu online before I eat out. I like to read the
menu thoroughly and hate feeling under pressure when a waiter is taking my
order!
I hope you enjoyed this post, remember, it’s fine to eat out
occasionally.
Bye for now! 👋
Very well written post, look forward to reading future posts 🙌🏻
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