By By Danny Deza, News Staff
Whether it’s dinner or dessert, more people across the nation are looking for a healthy option.
According to Fit to Eat, a campaign for the Floyd County Health Department in Georgia, health-oriented restaurants have become a booming business nationwide as more consumers flock toward better choices.
In the same study, restaurants reported more than 70 percent of consumers are more interested in customizing their food choices to make them healthier today than they were two years ago.
Robyn Goldberg, a dietitian in Beverly Hills, Calif., works with different clients nationwide on healthier food options. Because of the rise of obesity in the US within the past decade, especially among women and children, more people are becoming more health conscience in hopes of avoiding negative health conditions, she said.
‘Because of the rates in obesity in the recent years, more restaurants are popping up and are forcing other companies to reanalyze their menu options,’ she said.
Goldberg’s most recent client, Panda Express, a Chinese fast-food restaurant, has hopped on the bandwagon for healthier options, she said.
‘Panda Express is currently in the test kitchen for some new recipes, but it should be coming out with some new options for people who are looking for something with less fat and calories,’ she said. ‘A lot of companies are taking another look at their menus so they keep up with restaurants like Subway.’
In Boston, the restaurant scene has health nut options of its own. From sweets to late-night grub, the Hub has the right menu for the healthy hungry Husky.
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b. good
At the Boston-based burger joint b.good, it’s all about how food makes you feel.
The family-oriented business takes pride in its ‘real’ ingredients, making fast food a healthy choice for many Bostonians, according to its website.
According to the menu, the long lists of homemade burgers are made with house-ground and hand-packed ingredients.
Options range from regular beef to turkey, veggie or chicken burgers and the choices promise to be fresh and healthy.
Andy Cush, a middler music technology major, said b.good has always delivered the fresh taste that its menus promised.
‘There food just taste like real food,’ he said. ‘They have a great range of toppings and a good variety to choose from. They have great sweet potato fries.’
Cush said he visit the burger joint about once a month.
‘I usually go with a group of my friends when we are looking for a comfortable place to hang out and eat,’ he said.
Restaurants are located throughout the Greater Boston and Cambridge area, including the 272 Newbury St. location and stores in Brookline, Harvard Square and the South End.
Burgers and salads range from six to seven dollars with combo deals that include drinks and side orders.
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UFood Grill
Variety is their policy at Boston’s UFood Grill, formally known as KnowFat!
Located at 201 Brookline Ave. in the Landmark Center, UFood Grill has an abundance of choices that make customers feel light and healthy, according to its website.
At UFood, the menu is focused on the individual, whether it’s a diet, lifestyle or urge to spice it up.
The choices allow patrons to customize their meal using fresh and organic ingredients. Nothing is fried at UFood; everything is either steamed, baked or grilled, according to its website.
Melissa Parsa, a senior biology major, calls it ‘a refreshing dinner.’
‘I have had eaten there a few time and it’s great,’ she said. ‘It is a healthy meal but it still has the same taste as any other fast-food restaurant.’
Parsa said the portions are average sized but worth your buck.
‘It is a bit on the pricer side but it is worth it,’ she said. ‘it’s healthy for you and delicious.’
In 1997, this Boston-based restaurant got its start when Tim Kurts and his wife-to-be, Joli, collaborated with Mike Gervais, a fitness center proprietor. The project started out as Flex Appeal II, a sports nutrition store.
After years of meeting new people in the health industry, the trio wanted to create restaurant where people could find mainstream food prepared in a healthy way.
The eatery went through incarnations as Lo Fat No Fat and KnowFat!, to now UFood Grill.
Wheeler’s Ice Cream Bar
Sweet teeth beware.
Wheeler’s Ice Cream Bar at 334 Massachusetts Ave. offers a healthy vegan ice cream selection.
When dinner is just about to settle, Wheeler’s variety of flavors is just what the dentist ordered with more than dozens of flavors to choose from.
Flavors include cr’egrave;me de cocoa, earl grey and jalape’ntilde;o and rum raisin; the flavors are endless and ever-changing.
Using soy, coconut, rice or almond milk, Wheeler’s changes flavors weekly and sometimes daily.
Al Deluca, a middler business and international affairs major, said his favorite flavor is sweet potato.
‘I know it sounds weird, but it is really good and everyone should try it,’ he said.
Deluca said even though everything is made for the vegan tooth, it taste the same as regular ice cream.
‘I took a friend to Wheeler’s and didn’t tell her it was vegan until after we left,’ he said. ‘She couldn’t believe that it wasn’t ‘real’ ice cream.’
According to the company’s website, Wheeler’s has ice cream designers who are specially trained as dessert chefs that know what the palate likes.
If the customer is still not satisfied, Wheeler’s provides Ice cream designers who concoct any flavor for your liking.
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