Olive Garden Unlimited pasta pass

[Lucantes]

We're saying pasta is bad for you...thats all. Im not going to bother going into the details as to why pasta is terrible for you. People just get used to feeling like cr*p so those who eat a lot of breads/pastas think they feel fine.
I challenge anyone to try cutting the majority of carbs out of their daily eating habits. Just do it for a week. Its actually really difficult at first. One thing you will notice is how you never have a crash during the day. You'll have a lot more energy.

I reject your challenge....I like pasta and bread and eat as I please!

 

[athena53]

My issue with overloading on food is twofold. First, a particularly colorful Econ 101 professor described the Principle of Diminishing Returns in terms of Izzy Kadetz corned beef sandwiches. (This was U. of Cincinnati.) The first one tastes great. Even the second one tastes pretty good. By the fifth, you're stuffed and don't want anymore. In any meal, the hundredth bite is a lot less satisfying than the first. I stop somewhere between the first and the hundredth!

Second- I think it's very bad to ignore your body when it signals that you've had enough. Sometimes I do, of course- because it's in front of me and it's something I like very much- but I try not to do that too often. When DS was little, there were days when I didn't know how he got through the day on what he ate, but I figured he was smart enough not to starve himself and I never pushed more food on him. Sure enough, he grew into a strong, healthy adult who's never had a weight problem. Overloading at a buffet means ignoring your body's signals.

 

[MooreBonds]

For us it is the Bellagio buffet in Vegas. Snow crab legs and melted butter. Three pounds of that plus some prime rib with horseradish, and maybe a few slices of cheesecake for desert.

Ahhh...My fiance and I went to Vegas right after Christmas last year. The only time we treated ourselves to a buffet was for dinner at the Bellagio. Expensive, but those crab legs and the beef (and everything else, too..). Mmmm....brings back memories.

I used to hang out on myfitbesspal boards and the stories of buffet binges in Las Vegas turned me off of them forever. Really, do you need your baked potato topped with butter AND sour cream AND bacon AND salsa?

So now it's not just the quantity of food you are berating, but also the toppings? So it's "acceptable" to have just butter, or just sour cream on your potato, but not both? (ignoring the over-the-top concept of just a few bacon crumbles). How about the evil demon laughingly called "salt"? Do you realize how many people have high blood pressure? Why, there's a salt shaker on EVERY TABLE. An entire YEAR'S worth of salt intake - just an arm's reach away. Dear God, what will they think of next? That's like having dining room tables an arm's reach from the Twinkie/Ding Dong cupcake production lines!

One of the best restaurant meals I ever had was at a little Italian hole in the wall in Chicago. I had the white bean and greens soup. Period. It was sublime. Every bite was infused with garlic. I guess I'm just a peasant.

No. You are a fellow poster (like me) who adores garlic, and can never get enough of it (and I agree that the holes-in-the-wall are often the places you get the best tasting, often most authentic ethnic meals!). There can be a true appreciation for sublime flavors with 3 ingredients like your heavenly soup...just as much as an appreciation for a perfectly cooked baked potato, with a hint of butter, sour cream, salt & pepper, and a few bacon sprinkles.

Umm now that you asked......YES. Well except the salsa.

+1 (I also love salsa, but just with tortilla chips)

 

[HFWR]

One of the best restaurant meals I ever had was at a little Italian hole in the wall in Chicago. I had the white bean and greens soup. Period. It was sublime. Every bite was infused with garlic. I guess I'm just a peasant.

Apparently not a vampire though...

 

[Meadbh]

One of the best restaurant meals I ever had was at a little Italian hole in the wall in Chicago. I had the white bean and greens soup. Period. It was sublime. Every bite was infused with garlic. I guess I'm just a peasant.

One of my best restaurant meals ever was garlic soup, eaten al fresco at a roadside bistro in southwest France. It was a blisteringly hot day, we were on a bike trip, and we had just toured a medieval castle. No trouble with vampires!

There is no Olive Garden where I live, but I did enjoy some of my home made pasta yesterday. The ingredients are very inexpensive and the elbow grease required to make it use up some of the calories. Italians eat pasta in small quantities, often as a starter.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We cook a lot at home and pasta is usually a side dish (but I do love me some linguini in white clam sauce!), but not everyone likes to cook at home. I don't think there's anything wrong with Olive Garden--we have amazing Italian restaurants here not far from us so we wouldn't typically drive past them to get to an Olive Garden, but we have met friends there in cities without a big Italian heritage and we all survive somehow without going into cardiac shock or diabetic comas. They must be miracle Olive Gardens, I guess.

I'm actually looking forward to the OP's report on how he enjoys this year's pass.

 

[RobbieB]

Yes, we had one too (small family owned place) and it made Olive Garden taste like Pizza Hut. But it shut down for good, owner retired with no sale.

Now we have 2 chains, OG and Strings, both about the same, mediocre. It's a pity.

 

[explanade]

I read somewhere that al dente pasta isn't as bad as over cooked pasta.

In Italy, particularly Tuscany, pasta is first course, serving the function that bread, rice or potatoes serve. You order a meat dish separately.

Pasta dishes rarely have meat and the portions are small -- that isn't to say there aren't fat Italians. When you go to coastal areas, the restaurants will serve pasta with different seafood. Most of the time a simple pasta primo is under €10 so Americans used to pasta dishes in American restaurants may be surprised it's only pasta.

Also they sautée the pasta and sauce in olive oil, which makes it so good.

I bought this thing you put in microwave, which has premeasured water markings. It cooks it perfectly and the pasta hasn't stuck together yet.

 

[Slow But Steady]

My problem with all-you-can-eat is that it encourages me to eat until I hurt myself. If I pay $6 for a pizza buffet and eat four slices, they are $1.50 per slice. But if I eat thirty slices, they are only 20 cents per slice.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I had veggies last night topped with pasta with red pesto sauce. DH made the pasta and I steam sauteed a big batch of veggies in my wok - onions, carrots, peas, dried tomatoes, celery and zucchini in a little sherry and olive oil.

I hope it was reasonably healthy because it sure tasted good.

 

[Just_Steve]

Tonights dinner will be pasta, meatballs, sausage, all in my wife's delectable home made sauce. Oh and fresh Italian bread.
House smells wonderful, I'm almost drooling.

 

[braumeister]

In fact, pasta can actually help you maintain a healthy weight, Italian researchers have found, thanks to a study involving more than 20,000 people."

Really? Italian researchers? Who would ever have expected that?

 

[Walt34]

Really, do you need your baked potato topped with butter AND sour cream AND bacon AND salsa?

Why yes, I do. Well, substitute the salsa for melted cheese and that's my baked potato.

But understand that's something I do at most twice a month so I figure it's not gonna kill me. And if it does, well, it was worth it just for gracious living!

 

[explanade]

Really? Italian researchers? Who would ever have expected that?

Yeah and I've seen articles citing the national pasta association too.

But some say whole wheat pasta and portion control can work:

The Nutrition Facts
One cup of cooked spaghetti has approximately 220 calories, 1 gram of fat and no cholesterol. Most pastas on the market are enriched with iron too. Whole grain pastas contain about the same calories as regular pasta but have more protein, fiber and vitamins. As an added bonus, all that protein and fiber means that you’ll feel more satisfied by eating less.

Your choices don’t stop at whole wheat; other whole grain pastas include brown rice (my personal fave), corn and soba. Barilla also makes the tasty Barilla Plus, which has fiber, protein and added omega-3 fats (Toby’s kids are huge fans).

The reason that low-carb promoters bashed pasta is actually the main reason it’s so good for you! Pasta is great source of carbohydrate, the body’s primary source of energy (your brain runs on carbs and carbs alone –- that’s pretty important, no?).

So instead of looking at pasta as the enemy, embrace it as a vital energy source. The trick is making pasta part of a varied diet (read on).

Serve It Up!
Portion control is most important. Eating huge portions of pasta smothered with cheese or a heavy cream sauce expands waistlines. Keep portions to 1 to 1 1/2 cups per person and add vegetables and lean meats, beans or fish to balance out the meal.

Read more at: Pasta: Good or Bad? | Healthy Eats – Food Network Healthy Living Blog

What's shocking is how fatty Asian noodle dishes can be. The noodles themselves can be worse nutritionally than pasta.

The whole wheat organic pasta is up to double the price of the regular stuff.

 

[Aerides]

As much as I like to go out for a nice dinner, the idea of going to the same place twice a day for weeks on end would make me never want to go there again. Even if it was the healthiest gourmet with chocolate on top and only 100 calories per meal!

After about day 3 I'd be... "ugh- there again?"

 

[HFWR]

So instead of looking at pasta as the enemy, embrace it as a vital energy source.

Given the levels of obesity, I'd say getting adequate energy is not a problem...

 

[HadEnuff]

My issue with overloading on food is twofold. First, a particularly colorful Econ 101 professor described the Principle of Diminishing Returns in terms of Izzy Kadetz corned beef sandwiches. (This was U. of Cincinnati.) The first one tastes great. Even the second one tastes pretty good. By the fifth, you're stuffed and don't want anymore. In any meal, the hundredth bite is a lot less satisfying than the first. I stop somewhere between the first and the hundredth!

Second- I think it's very bad to ignore your body when it signals that you've had enough. Sometimes I do, of course- because it's in front of me and it's something I like very much- but I try not to do that too often. When DS was little, there were days when I didn't know how he got through the day on what he ate, but I figured he was smart enough not to starve himself and I never pushed more food on him. Sure enough, he grew into a strong, healthy adult who's never had a weight problem. Overloading at a buffet means ignoring your body's signals.

I grew up in Cincinnati and I loved me some Izzy Kadetz! Also went to UC (class of '75)...All you can Skyline? No diminishing returns there.

 

[panacea]

Yes, we normally order 3 bowls of the salad, that is the main reason I go, the main course is just average. I love the salad

We haven't been to Olive Garden in a long time... but their commercials make me hungry every time. We love the salad too and found the Olive Garden Italian Dressing at Costco (2-pack). Might not be exactly like the restaurant salad but it's really good! We usually just buy a couple kinds of greens and throw in some red onions and croutons. Actually, that's how we got our kids to eat more salad.

 

[mickj]

I did have 3 browsers open on my computer and one browser open on my phone to increase my odds in getting the pass.

This actually isn't as good of a deal as last time I had the pass. They aren't allowing take out orders. Last time I would get take out quite often and let family and friends eat the food.

I probably won't do pasta everyday (meat and salad most days.)

Last time I didn't gain any weight; I predict the same this time.

I'll keep everyone updated!

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[lemming]

As much as I like to go out for a nice dinner, the idea of going to the same place twice a day for weeks on end would make me never want to go there again. Even if it was the healthiest gourmet with chocolate on top and only 100 calories per meal!

After about day 3 I'd be... "ugh- there again?"

You are the only one who gets how that pass works everyone else is hung up on the "unlimited' idea. It was fun last time to see how the system worked for him and now he has had time to think up new strategies

A buffet does not mean you have to overfeed yourself, try just making a reasonable plate of things. One not great restaurant is the only place that serves carrot salad(yes I know the calorie and sugar content on that) Makes it worth a stop(to me) once or twice a year .

 

[mickj]

Lunch day 1 under my belt..

The grilled chicken (new this time) was pretty good.

They had whole roasted garlic cloves in alfredo sauce, very good as well.

I got full quick so I didn't eat even half of the pasta.

So far so good


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Sunset]

I "won" a pasta pass this year.

I really tried for the trip to Italy, but didn't get it, so I refreshed the page and clicked on the pass and got it !!

It was a bit surprising as DW's computer showed about a minute quicker than mine on the countdown.

So, soon I'll find out if I like Olive Garden every week or not.

In one way, since I will be taking DW with me, they are going to be making money from us, so maybe it's really clever marketing.