Will eating the Rabbit Wrap hinder my progress?

I love to eat out when I can find healthy options. When I lived in Miami and Boston, I relied a lot on Panera Bread Company as my go-to place because they had several options that fit my diet plan. How do I know this? They provide detailed nutritional information. Most places nowadays do, actually. So what does it mean when a place tells you they are "unable" to provide nutritional information.

Flying Star is an amazing restaurant in the Albuquerque area. Everyone knows them as the sort of place you would go if you care about the environment and eating healthy. They pride themselves on being local, organic, sustainable, humane. But they are also one of those places where nutritional info is elusive.

Click on Nutritional Information on the Flying Star web site and you get a message saying: "Unfortunately, we’re unable to calculate nutritional information at this time. However, if you have a specific allergy or dietary restriction, or have a question about our menu items, please email your request to:info@flyingstarcafe.com".

I don't know what that means, but I'm going to email them to find out. I'll even send them a link to my blog so they might have a better sense of why this information is so important to me. In any case, I know for a fact they use Velveeta in some of their cheesy items, which doesn't really concern me since I stay away from cheese anyway. But this tells me first that their food can't be quite as local as they'd have us believe, and second that their primary focus can't really be their diners' overall health either. It's a confusing mixed message of an attitude that screams, "Save the environment, but screw the humans!", if you ask me.

Will the Rabbit Wrap hinder my progress? The company's "unable" to tell.

Anyway, tonight I went into the Satellite Coffee location (which is a Starbucksy coffee house off-shoot of Flying Star Restaurant, with a limited but tasty menu and more of a focus on the company's hand-batch locally roasted brews). I ordered an awesome sandwich wrap, called the Rabbit Wrap. It contained kale, carrots and roasted peppers, as well as hummus, a few other goodies I think, a pomegranate vinaigrette, and was wrapped in a big flour tortilla.

Lots of nutritious elements I look for in my food were present - the veggies and even the buzz-word pomegranate told me it was packed with natural vitamins and minerals, and the hummus signaled protein. But because it only came pre-made, I didn't have a choice to substitute a healthier whole wheat or lower calorie bread or even to order it without the dressing.

After eating it, I didn't feel terribly weighed down or like I overrate in any way, but my guess is that the calorie count was higher than I'd have liked to have for my dinner, and there really was no way to be sure.

For this reason, I will most likely limit my visits to both Satellite and Flying Star, opting for Starbucks in the meantime, which provides detailed nutritional info and lots of sandwiches in the 300 calorie range I look for. I'll also be on the lookout for other local options that ARE able to be nutritional-information transparent.

Bummer, though, because I really love this company and their delicious, enviro-friendly foods!!!