Fast Food Friday: Moe's Southwestern Grill
*This post was sponsored by Moe’s Southwest Grill, however all thoughts and opinions are my own*
Fast Food Friday, it’s going to be a thing! I get lots of questions about what you can eat that is keto friendly outside of the home. I love to cook, and I make 90% of my meals and snacks from scratch. But let’s face it, we don’t want to always cook(or handle the dishes)! And there is no need to sacrifice your diet/lifestyle just to get a break in the kitchen. So I am going to start featuring a different restaurant each Friday and some options that will fit perfectly in with your day.
This week I teamed up with Moe’s Southwestern Grill that claims to cater to all diets including keto, gluten -free, vegan, and vegetarian! I am always skeptical when I see a company state they are “keto friendly”. We have all seen the “keto” branded products full of sugar or poor sugar substitutes, higher carbs, and even high protein. Needless to say, I went into this lunch with caution. The first thing I do when I chose where to eat is see if their website has nutritional information. This is available for most chain restaurants (next week I will show you how to get by when this isn’t available). Well Moe’s doesn’t disappoint! If you check out their websiteyou can literally see the macros for each item you can add to your salad bowl( and there are 20+ items you can add) to get FULL macros!
This fantastic Keto Friendly tool takes the guessing out of macros and meal planning!
So what can you have? Well the salads are a great option! You can choose from adobo chicken (148 cal,8g fat, 2g carbs,19g protein), steak (121 cal,4g fat, 2g carbs, 20g protein), pork carnitas (131 cal, 8g fats, 1g carbs,17g protein), ground beef (124 cal,7g fat, 3g carbs, 11g protein), fish (106 calories, 4g fat, 0g carbs, 20g protein), and organic tofu (108 calories, 8g fat, 0g carbs, 10g protein). I personally love the pork carnitas and fish! After you choose a protein you can then add toppings. You can choose from onions, jalapenos, cilantro, diced tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled peppers, pico de gallo, sour cream, shredded cheese, chipotle ranch, BACON, and guacamole.
So what did I have? Well as any of you that follow me know, I am a HUGE fan of planning my macros in advance. To ensure I hit them every day I track my dinner, dessert, and breakfast first. Then for lunch I make a nice big salad to fit my remaining macros. Salads are one of the easiest meals to customize. If you need protein you can add meats. If you need fats you can add avocado/guacamole, cheese, sour cream, and dressings. So today was no exception. I had looked up the nutrition in advance online and knew I wanted the pork carnitas. I walked up to order and asked for the salad, double lettuce (I LOVE greens). Next I asked for my toppings to be split half now and half to go. Oddly enough this wasn’t met with a weird stare JI do this because a salad can EASILY add up carbs, calories, and protein wise and I knew I only had so much for lunch. So I added pork carnitas, fresh jalapenos, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, chipotle ranch, and guacamole! This (for a half size) comes out to 208.5 calories, 16g fat, 4.5g carbs, and 15.5g of protein! Pretty amazing macros when you see how delicious and filling this big salad is! Plus I get my other half to add to my salad the next day(2 meals for the price of 1).
As far as drinks go they have water, soda( while some indulge on diet soda I personally chose not to due to the poor sugar substitutes but an occasional soda won’t kill you), and unsweetened tea(I went with this and brought my own sweetener)!
Now let’s look at how we actually did! I tested my ketones pre-meal, immediately after, and 3 hours later. The glucose increase and ketone decrease immediately after eating were not significant and I remained in ketosis (I dropped less than 0.5 mmol/L). At the 3 hour mark I had returned to my pre-eating ranges. So overall I would say that Moe’s is a great choice for someone looking for a quick lunch or dinner without sacrificing their diet! What’s your favorite combo here?
I am an old soul at heart and eat lunch early.. usually the first in a restaurant at 11am 😆
**This was a sponsored post and I received my meal complementary. But all views and opinions are my own and are uncensored. You will notice I don’t work with many companies and that because I first have to like the product/company and they have to truly be keto. And second I let them know in advance if their stuff sucks or it’s not keto I will be 100% honest. Needless to say many “keto” companies usually decline😆 Rest assures I would never “sell out” and only ever share things I love and would spend my own money on!**