How to eat at Claim Jumper without killing your diet…

Many restaurants are a challenge for the diet-concious, but perhaps none so much as Claim Jumper, land of gargantuan portions of fatty, tasty meat.  Just check out their nutritional information right here (and kudos to them for offering this information in an easy-to-read chart format at every table, at least here in Washington state).  Keep in mind that the standard recommendation is for the average adult to consume no more than 2,000 calories per day in order to maintain a healthy weight (note that those of us dieting have to consume less in order to lose weight – my current daily calorie budget is about 1,850 calories per day).  So when you see a piece of chocolate cake weighing in at over 2,700 calories (Chocolate Motherlode Cake, 2723 calories), you know you’re talking serious business for a dieter.

The aptly-named Widow Maker Burger. You don't even want to know how many calories this one is.

In fact, it’s a lot like a gauntlet.  Check out some of the entrée choices and their calorie content, even for things that you think would be “safe”:  Spaghetti & Meatballs, 1,790 calories.  BBQ Chicken Salad, 1,009 calories.  The BBQ Chicken Sandwich, for crying out loud, is an incredible 1,523 calories – and these are the “light” choices I’d typically look for in a restaurant.   What do they do to that chicken sandwich, make it out of bacon? Don’t even think about stuff like the Country Fried Steak (2,409 calories) or the Beef Back Ribs, which are an astounding 4,301 calories – more than 2 days worth of calorie intake in a single dish!  That’s not even counting the sides or bread that come with the main course.  Even the sandwiches aren’t safe, with the Motherlode Sandwich clocking in at 1,541 calories and the Cashew Chicken Salad Sandwich costing a hefty 1,702 calories, not counting the fries (which certainly add another 700 calories or more).  Ouch.

Rotisserie Chicken - not bad at only 737 calories, including the skin which you shouldn't eat anyway.

Fortunately, if you look hard enough, you will find some reasonable choices on their menu.  The seafood is pretty good:  Cedar Plank Salmon is 985 calories, and the Shrimp Skewers are only 682 calories – still not exactly “light”, but manageable.  The Roast Turkey on Wheatberry sandwich is 945 calories, again not too bad if you just eat half.  Happily, one of my favorite dishes, the Rotisserie Chicken, weighs in at only 737 calories – that’s still a lot of calories, but it’s an entire half a chicken, which I certainly don’t need to eat all in one sitting.  (That calorie count also includes skin, which I don’t eat either, so you can probably shave a couple hundred calories off that total.)  Each entrée comes with grilled vegetables, one side dish and one bread.  I chose the red-skinned mashed potatoes (330 calories) and the sourdough roll (210 calories), both among the lightest options and both still plenty delicious.  I declined both butter and gravy (ok, actually I used a little butter for the roll, but only about half a tablespoon, 50 calories).  Add it all up and you get 1,277 calories, not too bad for half a chicken and generous side portions of mashed potatoes and bread.

Here’s where the huge portions at Claim Jumper become a good thing for dieters:  you don’t have to eat the whole thing, and the bigger the portion, the easier it is to split the dish.  I think this concept is key to dieting in any restaurant, and it’s something a friend of mine clued me into early on in my diet.  Just because you ordered it, don’t feel like you have to eat it all in one sitting!  You can take home leftovers, or if it’s something that doesn’t keep well, just toss it in the garbage.  How wasteful, you say?  Well, would you rather eat for the sake of not wasting anything even if it means you pack on the calories, or would you rather stay within your calorie budget and lose some weight?  Luckily, chicken, mashed potatoes and rolls all make for good leftovers.  I split everything in half, ate one half at the restaurant, and boxed the other half for dinner the following night.  The result:  only 638 total calories for dinner, and I have a dinner with the same calorie content for the next night as well.  Win!

The moral of the story is, no matter how hedonistic the restaurant, you can make it work for your diet.  If it can be done at Claim Jumper, the mother of all meat houses, it can probably be done anywhere.  Just use what you know about which foods are heavy and which foods are light, and don’t feel like you have to clean your whole plate.  Ask your waiter for the nutrition guide (don’t be embarassed or feel like you’re inconveniencing the staff – you’re on a mission and it’s their job), and if they don’t have one, make some educated guesses based on the rest of your diet (and then look it up later on the internet so you know what you consumed).  For example, you know for a fact that chicken is going to be lighter than beef, almost every time.  Grilled is better than fried.  And watch out for salads – not every salad is light!  Is it covered in bacon bits and blue cheese?  Then it’s probably just as bad as that bacon cheeseburger you passed over on the menu – avoid it.  Most importantly, regulate your portions.  Restaurants these days serve portions that are 2 or 3 times what the average person should be eating in a single sitting.  Split your meal up and box at least half of it.  Again, don’t be embarassed – you do what you have to do, and you do it proudly because you’re doing something good for yourself.  Why overeat, just because the restaurant is encouraging you to?  That annoying cousin who’s gently mocking you across the table?  Yeah, he’s 40 pounds overweight and wishes he had the discipline to skip the chocolate cake that’s going to literally add another pound worth of calories to his lazy lard ass.  And in 8 months, when you’ve lost 50 pounds and he’s pushing 50 pounds overweight himself, who’s going to have the last laugh?

So good luck, and be smart!  Restaurants don’t have to kill your diet if you don’t let them.