Italian food is the ultimate comfort food and the Olive Garden does a delightful job of preparing mouthwatering bowls of pasta for hungry diners. It's hard to not feel good when you're devouring a fragrant bowl of their freshly prepared pasta. Unfortunately, the calories, carbohydrate and fat content of these foods can be enough to spoil your good mood, as well as your appetite.
Thankfully, it's possible to eat healthy at Olive Garden Restaurant if you're creative about how and what you choose to order.
Your first challenge when dining at Olive Garden is to learn to make your pasta selection carefully or choose a menu item that has no pasta. If you opt for the pasta route, your best choices would be:
- Shrimp primavera with 708 calories and 10 grams of fat
- Linguine ala Marinara with 551 calories and 8 grams of fat
- Capellini Pomodoro with 644 calories and 14 grams of fat
You can also ask for a grilled chicken breast with a side of sautéed vegetables for a heart healthy, low fat, low carbohydrate meal. When you eat this meal along with the unlimited salad, you can enjoy the Italian atmosphere without all the guilt.
If you're even more disciplined, you can forgo pasta completely and go with the unlimited salad and soup. Be sure to ask for the salad dressing on the side so you can control the portions. Also, it may be best to hold off on the bread sticks. A few of these empty calorie sticks can blow your diet for the day.
Fortunately, Olive Garden offers some relatively healthy and delicious tasting soups. The minestrone soup is a particularly healthy option with its sweet fragrance of roasted tomato and its heart healthy lycopenes. As a substitute for the almost ubiquitous pasta, you can ask for a side of steamed vegetables with just a touch of butter added for flavor.
You may want to resist the temptation to indulge in one of Olive Garden's Italian deserts. They don't list the calorie content on their website but from all appearances they aren't exactly diet food. A better choice would be one of Olive Garden's cappuccinos served prepared with skim milk. This makes a satisfying finale to a delicious and healthy Italian meal.
Who says you can't eat healthy at Olive Garden restaurant? By making the right selections an Italian dinner at Olive Garden can be an evening to remember.
