One chain restaurant that seems to be expanding across the United States at a rapid pace is Panera Bread. One just opened up in my small home-town of La Canada, Ca and one just popped up next to the Salon I go to and there is a new one down the street from my work in Malibu. This chain’s growth started to spark my interest, so I went on their website to see if they had any nutrition information. Panera Bread has an awesome menu guide with a nutrition calculator included. You can go through their menu online and it will break down all of the ingredients in each dish so you can play around with the food choices until you reach a meal with calories within your metabolism budget! After taking a peak at it, here are some of the lower calorie meal and snack options that I found…
- Strawberry Granola Parfait (310 calories)
- Breakfast Power Sandwich (340 calories)
- Classic Cafe Salad with Reduced fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (170 calories)
- Greek Salad (swap out dressing for Balsamic Vinegar) (160 calories)
- Fresh Fruit Cup (60 calories)
- Thai Chopped Chicken Salad with Low fat Thai Chili Vinaigrette (390 calories)
- Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (410 calories)
- Low fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup (170 calories)
- French Onion Soup with croutons (250 calories), save 80 calories by omitting the croutons
- Low fat Garden Vegetable Soup with pesto (160 calories)
- All Natural Low fat Chicken Noodle soup (140 calories)
- Mediterranean Veggies Sandwich (600 calories) but save yourself calories by swapping the bread loaf (380 calories) for the White Whole Grain bread (140 calories)
- Smoked Turkey Sandwich (420 calories)
Jessica Hummel, Nutrition Counselor