South Beach Diet Phase 1 at Panera Bread

Panera Bread has become a very popular restaurant chain. It's good, fresh food that is served quickly but without too much grease or preservatives. But it does have one drawback--the menu is built around bread--which means lots of carbs. But, as with any other restaurant, you can find options if you are following Phase 1 of thee South Beach Diet or any other low carb plan. Here is what we deemed acceptable for SBD Phase 1 at Panera:

Soups

French Onion--Served every day, but be sure to omit the croutons and ask for the cheese it comes with on the side.

Salads

Grilled Salmon--Grilled salmon, chilled and served over mixed field greens, romaine lettuce, green beans, roasted red peppers, wheat berries, red onions and tossed in a lemon vinaigrette. Just ask for the wheat berries to be left out and order the dressing on the side

Greek--Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese, red onions, peperoncini, Kalamata olives, and tossed in Greek dressing.

Grilled Chicken Caesar--Pepper-mustard chicken on top of romaine lettuce, topped with Asiago-Parmesan cheese and croutons with homemade Caesar dressing. Just ask for the croutons to be omitted and get the dressing on the side.

Classic Cafe--Mixed field greens and romaine lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion and tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. Just order the dressing on the side, or better yet, ask for a low carb dressing instead such as ranch or blue cheese.

Beverages

Acceptable beverages are water, diet soft drinks, unsweetened iced tea, coffee or tea, cappuccino (no added sugar), espresso or skim milk.

Desserts

If you are not on a diet, the breads and dessert pastries at Panera are awesome. But if you are on Phase 1, you'll have to have some coffee or tea, and then go home to have your ricotta creme or sugar free gelatin.