I wanted to check on the nutritional value of a salad I had for lunch the other day. So I logged on to Wendy’s web site. I always look for the PDF document version of the nutrition info, rather than try to use some fancy fangled web form to find what I’m looking for. Some places will trick you with those web forms and not tell you the whole story.
Once, I’ve found the PDF, my eyes scan down the page, looking for “Mandarin Chicken Salad”. Ah. Here it is.

170 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Say, that seems healthy enough. It’s only 3 points on WeightWatchers*. Sweet!

But wait. Something is amiss. These numbers seem way too low. Could 170 calories include everything that was handed to me through the red head’s drive-thru window? NO! Strangely enough, they separate out the various other ingredients that will balloon your back side.

What?! But that’s … *seven… three… carry the two…* That’s 540 calories!! Wendy! You vixen! You lied to me. But why?! This salad is not 3 WeightWatcher points*. It’s 12!! Gah! Now I’m going to have to eat half a lettuce leaf for dinner! Curse your crimson braids, Wendy!

Okay, for the purpose of full disclosure, I’m being a little sensational here. I didn’t actually have the Mandarin Chicken Salad. I had the Chicken BLT Salad which is listed the same way, but the difference is not as dramatic. And if you do use Wendy’s fancy fangled web form, it does lump all the ingredients together and shows 520 calories (closer, I guess). But still it took me a bit to catch on and realize that that stupid Honey Mustard Dressing had almost as much calories and even more fat than the salad and it’s on-board chicken. So I’m still mad about it.

A big ol’ boy like me is allowed around 37* points a day to stay svelte and sexy. I’ll write soon about why WeightWatcher points matter to me.