Salty Sundays - Red Lobster

(excerpted from Wikipedia:)
In recent years, Red Lobster has received a number of awards including "#1 Best Seafood" in a 2009 Zagat Consumer Survey, "Healthiest Sit Down Chain Restaurant in America" from Men's Health Magazine's 2010 Eat This, Not That Guide, and Restaurants & Institutions Consumers' Choice in Chains award in the seafood category.

Red Lobster is also known for its signature Cheddar Bay Biscuits which accompany a purchased entree; they are also available a la carte for carry out. Red Lobster serves 1.1 million biscuits daily and over 395 million per year. The biscuits are made from scratch and are baked fresh every 15 minutes.


I hear the call of the ocean, even tho I don't eat seafood. That's what fish oil pills are for. Maybe I can convince my healthier-half to head out to dinner tonight. Otherwise it's baked chicken or pork. Again. Let me check out the Nutritional Info page on their website. When you want to get your way, back it up with facts!

The serving size for meat is 3 oz. I would order steak, because, you know, fish be icky. According to their site, they have one type of steak available without a seafood sidekick, and it's 14 oz. Nearly 5 servings of meat, geesh. And the sodium? That would be 1,420 mg. Lightly seasoned, my ass. Seriously, I can't believe this. Typo, right? Accidental 1 thrown in front of the respectable 420. Please? Sigh. Moving on.

Blink, blink. How does a baked potato have 900 mg of sodium, before any toppings are even added?? A baked potato DOES NOT have this much sodium. I'm looking it up online all over the place and no, just no. Apparently, the potato you bake at home will not kill you. The potato you eat in a restaurant, maybe. (I believe there will be a baked potato post in my future.)

But, I'll assume Red Lobster's nutritional info is correct. Maybe they inject each potato with a salt concentrate or something. Since this is apparently a plain baked potato, I'm plopping on some butter, some sour cream... 90 mg additional sodium, according to the Nutrition Facts page on their site. (The sour cream accounts for only 10 mg. Sour cream gets a bad rap.)

Now I really need to find something healthy... I'm going to order broccoli. That's only 200 mg of sodium in the broccoli. What a minute? 200 mg of sodium in freaking broccoli?! But, half the time it's not even tasty because it's not been steamed properly, and never has enough butter on it! So, that's an extra 80 mg of sodium for melty goodness drizzled on top.

Need a drink. Which will be Coke, and will be about 3 servings, over the course of the meal. I have an addiction, it's true. That's 105 mg of sodium helping to quench my thirst right there.

Well, it sounded healthy-ish: Potato with a little butter/sour cream, some steak and now broccoli. Oh, and those reason-we-came-here biscuits. Two please! Ack - 350 mg of sodium each! And my drink.

Let's tally it up, shall we?
3,495 mg of sodium. In one meal.
Daily Value recommendation is 2,400 mg of sodium.
My recommended daily allotment as a CHF patient = 1,500 mg.
That's 2.3 days worth of sodium in one sitting for me.
A year ago, this is what I would have ordered. And been a little proud, what with the broccoli and all.
Hell, it's what I would have ordered tonight, had I not looked online.

If I take this same meal, but drink water instead of Coke, enjoy only one biscuit, save half the steak for the dog I don't have, and deny myself butter and sour cream... 2,160 mg of sodium.
(And approximately $25 for the privilege, but I'll bitch about that later.)
You know what? I'm just going to put my head in the oven now.

Remember that award listed earlier, for "Healthiest Sit Down Chain Restaurant in America" from Men's Health Magazine's 2010 Eat This, Not That Guide?
Neither did I.

Yes, yes, it's all about the fish. After all, if you're heading to Red Lobster, it's probably for the seafood. I want to like fish, I really do. Most likely, you do enjoy seafood, and the folks at Men's Health Magazine were probably chowing down on some tilapia while they were rating the restaurant. So, here's the sodium on four fish dishes, something for everyone. Remember, this just replaces the steak. There's still side dishes to consider.

Admiral's Feast: 4,400 mg. Eating like this, there must have been some serious turn-over at the Admiral's table.
North Pacific King Crab Legs: 3,520 mg. Does this include the butter to dip it in?
Broiled Seafood Platter: 1,610 mg. But it sounded so healthy...
Wood-Grilled Fresh Salmon: 240 mg. And we have a winner!

To recap: If you're going to Red Lobster, order grilled fish and have only one biscuit. Because the biscuit is part of the experience. And, as always, move the salt shaker out of reach. Or to an empty table. Which I have done. More than once.