Wendy's

What I had for lunch today was spicy chicken nuggets, french fries, and chili from Wendy's.  The reason why I chose to eat at Wendy's today was because I really wanted to try the new fresh cut fries that my boyfriend has been raving about.  He compared it to Wing Stop fries and I love their fries, unfortunately it tasted nothing like Wing Stop fries which I turned out to be disappointed in.  Other than the fries, I ordered what I would normally order there.  I would typically order the five spicy chicken nuggets and a small chili.  Even though it was really inexpensive, I was overly full when I left the restaurant.  The total cost of the meal was about $3.65 which is a small amount of money for a lot of food.

Nutrition Facts

Five Piece Spicy Chicken Nuggets:

Weight: 75g

Calories: 230

Calories from fat: 140

Total fat: 15.0g

Saturated: 3.5g

Trans fatty acids: 0.0

Cholesterol: 35mg

Sodium: 690mg

Carbohydrate: 14g

Dietary fiber: 1g

Sugars: 0g

Protein: 10g

Vitamin C: 4%

Iron: 2%

Value Size Natural Cut Fries:

Weight: 77g

Calories: 220

Calories from fat: 100

Total fat: 11g

Saturated: 2.0g

Trans fatty acids: 0.0

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 270mg

Carbohydrates: 29g

Dietary fiber: 3g

Sugars: 0g

Protein: 3g

Vitamin C: 6%

Iron: 4%

Small Chili:

Weight: 227g

Calories: 220

Calories from fat: 60

Total fat: 7g

Saturated: 3.0g

Trans fatty acids: 0.0

Cholesterol: 35mg

Sodium: 870mg

Carbohydrates: 22g

Dietary fiber: 6g
Sugars: 6g

Protein: 18g

Calcium: 8%

Iron: 15%

I got the nutrition facts from Wendy's official website and out of all the websites that offer nutrition facts I like this one the best because it adds up all the nutrients listed.  Another thing about this Wendy's nutrition facts page is that they list out all the ingredients used to make each order.  Even the condiments eaten with what meal.  So the total calories of this meal was 680 calories which in my opinion is not that bad because I base my diet on a regular 2000 calorie diet.  So 680 calories out of the way for lunch is not that bad, especially if I have 1320 calories to spare for breakfast and dinner.  I would have to say that this meal is high in sodium, so if someone is concerned about high blood pressure they could take out the chili which has the most amount of sodium in it.  Personally, I did not think that the chili was not that salty, I felt that the new fresh natural cut fries had a ton of salt on it.  I am the person that like a little bit more salt than usual on their food but I felt that they put too much salt on the fries.  So I would ask for no salt for my fries and just get the packets of salt and put how much I want on it.  Even though I always tell myself that I need to consume less fried food from this place, I cannot resist because food from Wendy's is good.  If I still wanted to consume chicken that was not fried, a healthier alternative would be to order the grilled chicken sandwich, which is 370 calories but it comes with vegetables like lettuce, pickles and tomatoes.  If i wanted to go a little more healthier and stick with chicken, I would get the grilled chicken go wrap, which is 260 calories.  So those two options would be a better alternative to the five spicy chicken nuggets.  Another thing to keep in mind at Wendy's is that if your vegetarian, fish is not always the better alternative. The premium fish fillet sandwich at Wendy's is a whopping 500 calories, my whole lunch which included three items almost equaled to this one fish sandwich so that is not a good alternative.  So, prior to going to Wendy's or any other restaurant, it is always good to go check out the nutrition facts online and see what you would get and how many calories it is, or how much sodium what item contains and then you can make better choices.

A tasty little treat that I had later on today was a drink from Starbucks.  Starbucks are known for their high calorie frappucinos, and today I got an vanilla bean frappucino. The size that I got in this frappucino was a grande and according to their to nutrition facts on their website it is 390 calories.

Nutrition Facts per serving (16 oz)

Calories: 390

Calories from fat: 140

Total fat: 16g

Saturated fat: 10g

Trans Fat: 0g

Cholesterol: 55mg

Sodium: 230mg

Total Carbohydrate: 58g

Dietary Fiber: 0g

Sugars: 56g

Protein: 5g

Vitamin A: 10%

Calcium: 15%

This particular frappucino isn't something I usually get from Starbucks, it was something I wanted to try and something that did not have as much coffee, unfortunately this did not have any coffee at all which meant no caffeine, but that was okay.   I got my vanilla bean creme frappucino regular, which means that I did not change anything and I kept the whip cream on it.  Now the calories can lessen by changing the milk from whole milk to nonfat milk, so instead of 390 calories, it will be 350 calories.  The calories from fat will change as well, the calories from fat with nonfat milk will be 100.  They do offer other milks as well, such as 2% and soy milk which will be lesser in calories than whole milk.  Another thing that adds a lot of calories to this frappucino and other drinks from Starbucks as a matter of fact is the whip cream.  This drink is 390 calories including the whip cream already but without the whip cream is 270 calories, that means that the whip cream is 120 calories.  That is a lot of calories from whip cream.  I never knew that whip cream could have that much calories.  So a better alternative for this drink would be to consume a smaller size which is a tall, with nonfat milk and no whip.  If I were to order that instead of a grande size with whip cream, it would only be 170 calories, which means 220 calories less from the original grande vanilla bean creme frappucino.