When I eat out, I usu­al­ly am both­ered by that restau­rants serve dish­es that are so out of sync with the Dietary Guide­lines — por­tions are meat-heavy, too much bread and oth­er carbs are served, and veg­gies are a mere gar­nish. So imag­ine how pleas­ant­ly sur­prised I was to dis­cov­er Sheetz on a fam­i­ly trip home from Pitts­burgh, PA. It was lunch time and we were under­whelmed with our oth­er choic­es, so we decid­ed to give Sheet­z’s “Fresh Food Made to Order” a try. On first glance Sheetz resem­bles a gas sta­tion mini-mart, full of aisle of snacks and desserts that we dieti­tians love to hate. Once we walked up to order our lunch using
Sheet­z’s com­put­er, how­ev­er, we were sold. We each ordered a dif­fer­ent sal­ad and the com­put­er gave us a choice of let­tuce, top­pings, and dress­ing, includ­ing two fat-free options. Want to add more veg­gies to a sand­wich or get a cof­fee drink made with skim milk? No prob­lem. Order­ing was easy using the com­put­er touch screen. Sheetz has plen­ty of nutri­tion info, and does­n’t hide the fact that lots of its choic­es might make a dietit­ian cry. But at least if you want a quick and healthy meal cus­tomized the way you want it, Sheetz is a very viable option.