Lap Banders in Restaurants: Babes in the Woods
There you are, nicely adjusting to life with a Lap Band.
Then, you go with some friends for a nice dinner or lunch out.
But you run into an industry that knows insidious ways to make you eat too much.
We’re talking about the restaurant industry!
So observes Lap Banders Rachael Keilin, M.D. and her hubby, Dr. Ron Hekier on a recent foray to a Mexican restaurant in Texas:
“As soon as we sat down the waitress said: ‘Would you like something to drink? Sweet tea or Dr. Pepper?’” Lap Band Doctor Keilin blogs.
After weight loss surgery, you’re allotted something like 1200 to 1800 calories a day, depending on your size.
But the waitress wants you to quaff 350 calories at the get-go. Then, with refills, you may consume somewhere around 1000.
And you haven’t even eaten anything yet!
Then, Rachael and Ron saw the chip basket headed their way. Chips are basically fried fat and salt so that’s about 430 calories a bowl, with most people munching through two bowls.
Add Guacamole or Queso at 250 to 570 more calories and you’re already past your daily allotment. (Mexican food alert: Fajita nachos has 1580 to 1670 calories!)
Next, look at the diabolical entrée choices displayed before you:
Chicken enchiladas with rice only — 1180 calories
Steak Fajitas — 1160 calories
Taco salad – 1260 to 1390
Three beef tacos – 960 calories
Consume any one dish, add in the calories from chips and sweet drinks and your diet dance card is filled for the next two or three days! You can easily consume 3000 calories at one sitting.
All that is good reason for you to worry about the success of a Lap Band!
Being highly educated physicians and Lap Banders, what did Doctors Keilin and Hekier actually have for dinner?
Water and a Diet Coke
No chips — they told the waitress not to bring them
Jalapeno-BBQ salmon – 590 calories each
No desert
We asked Dr. Keilin how she knows what the calorie counts are.
Her reply:
“In Texas, very few restaurants post nutritional content of food. But you can find it on the corporate website for each restaurant. Do that before going.”
You can also enter “nutritional info and (restaurant name)” into a search engine.