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! 👋