Dieters beware: These meals chock-full of calories, fat

Weighing in at 2,710 calories and 203 grams of fat, Chili's Awesome Blossom may seem like the worst dietary nightmare any restaurant ever foisted on America's dining public, but it's not.

According to Men's Health magazine's Matt Goulding, Outback Steakhouse's Aussie cheese fries with ranch dressing and their 2,900 calories and 182 fat grams are so evilly conceived he named them "The Worst Food in America."

To combat those delicious demons Goulding suggests starting a meat at Chili's with a side item: garlic and lime grilled shrimp. He also noted that starting any restaurant meal with a higher protein appetizer helps diminish hunger, especially since many restaurants still serving overloaded entree portions.

For a meal-starter at Outback he'd head for the seared Ahi tuna or shrimp on the barbie. Since restaurants still don't reveal how much trans fats are in their fryers, it's best to steer clear of deep-fried appetizers or entrees.

Goulding didn't stop with just those two diet-busters. He revealed what remained on his "20 Worst Foods in America." Here's a few highlights.

McDonald's Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips: It still amazes me how a restaurant can take a high protein, low-fat piece of chicken breast and turn it into a mealtime nightmare. Goulding ranks the Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips with creamy ranch sauce as fast food's worst chicken meal. Just five pieces bring 830 calories (60 percent from fat) and 55 fat grams (4.5 grams trans fat) to the table.

On The Border's Stacked Nachos Those nachos arrive with a stunning 2,740 calories (54.5 percent from fat) and 166 fat grams. Do the math and you'll find that's almost 6 ounces of fat. Not sufficiently insulting; On the Border adds a hard-to-ignore 5,280 milligrams of sodium. Aye carrumba.

Macaroni Grill's Spaghetti and Meatballs. Spaghetti seems like a somewhat benign entree since it's just pasta and red sauce. That's not Macaroni Grill's view, since its version with meat sauce brings a whopping 2,430 calories (a full day's worth for an average man) and 128 fat grams (50 percent more daily fat than recommended) to the dinner table. La mia qualità! (My goodness!)

Goulding suggests ordering that same entrée as a lunch portion, with regular tomato sauce; doing so slashes the calories in half.

P.F. Chang's Pork lo Mein. A simple pork lo mein (sliced pork with noodles and veggies) would seem to be a fair restaurant choice if you're watching your meal's calories and fat and without the nutrition facts, you could blindly order some at P. F. Chang's. However, that would be a huge mistake since its version of this popular Asian entrée serves up 1,820 calories (62.8 percent from fat) and 127 fat grams.

Instead, Goulding suggests opting for the Singapore Street Noodles at 570 calories or Moo Goo Gai Pan or Ginger Chicken and Broccoli each with 660 calories.

To see what else landed on Goulding's list head to www.menshealth.com/eatthis/20worst.html. Be prepared to be surprised.

Try this recipe: Chicken soup can cure what ails you and sometimes be soulfully satisfying. With their unique vegetables and seasoning combinations, Asian-inspired soups deliver something extra that sets them apart from everyday, out-of-the-can chicken noodle soups. Give this one a try.

Asian-Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon sodium-reduced soy sauce

4 ounces thin no-yolk egg noodles

1 quart fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

6-8 fresh shitake (or small brown) mushrooms, stems removed and sliced thin

1½ cups (about ½ pound) cooked skinless, boneless chicken breasts thighs, shredded

1 cup canned bamboo shoot strips, drained

1 cup (about 5 ounces) frozen baby peas

Asian hot pepper sauce (such as Sriracha), to taste

2 tablespoons chopped green onion, green part only, optional

In a small bowl whisk together water, cornstarch and soy sauce until combined. Set aside.

Cook noodles in boiling, salted water according to package directions; drain.

While noodles cook: Add broth to a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, place over medium-high heat and add mushrooms. Bring broth to a simmer, reduce heat to medium and add noodles, chicken, bamboo shoots, and peas.

When the broth returns to a simmer, stir cornstarch mixture and then add and stir into broth. When broth returns to a simmer season to taste with hot sauce, remove soup from the heat, ladle into bowls, garnish with green onion, if desired, and serve.

Serves four.

Nutrition values per serving: 256 calories (9.5 percent from fat), 2.7 g fat(0.6 g saturated), 31.1 g carbohydrate, 3.6 g fiber, 24.8 g protein, 48 mg cholesterol, 759 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Substituting no-salt-added chicken broth reduces sodium per serving to 159 mg. If using no-salt-added broth, consider adding a few drops of Asian sesame oil to each serving to boost flavor.