I’m sure my three readers know that I go to Raising Cane’s for lunch after dialysis a lot. I’ve been going to the restaurant in Orange on Tustin Avenue since I thought that was the closest one. I just found out there is another restaurant in Santa Ana that is a lot closer to the hospital, and a bit closer to my house. Also, if I want to get food then charge my car, it’s also close to the Tesla Superchargers at the Santa Ana Main Place. I think I’ll go try the other location tomorrow.

Evidently there are a lot of locations in LA/Orange County now. I thought there were only two in Orange and Downey.

Lately, I’ve been getting just the chicken fingers and sauce since I don’t like their bread and coleslaw. I’m also trying to lose fluid so not getting the drink means I won’t drink it. Finally, their fries are just mediocre so not getting any is fine with me. I usually park in the lot right after getting my order and eating the fingers right away while it’s still hot and burning my tongue. So good though…

My only task for Thanksgiving dinner was to go pick up an apple pie. I pre-ordered the pie from Polly’s Pies in Santa Ana. It was $16 and I was supposed to pick it up today at 10:30 am after dialysis. When I got to the restaurant, there was a huge line out the door with at least 50 people. This was the pre-order line. I don’t know if they even have extra pies for people that didn’t pre-order. Anyway, I got in line with my mask and it took about 30 minutes to get my pie. I see people walking out with 5 or 6 pies. Excuse me, how many people are going to be at your Thanksgiving dinner? We are only meeting with my sister’s family so seven people in total. I’m guess there will be a few block parties and possibly superspreader events. Ugh.

We had dinner from Stonefire Grill last night. It’s the first time I’ve eaten there. I was getting food for someone in my church cell group that just had a baby. They provided a list of restaurants and I chose Stonefire Grill. Since I was getting their dinner, I just placed a second order for my family. It’s a “typical” American restaurant and the food was pretty good. I ordered the 1/2 chicken-1/2 rib meal that comes with salad and breadsticks. I also got some mashed potatoes and a huge carrot cake for dessert.

The nutritional information is a huge PDF file found here.

Menu Item	Calories	Total Fat	Sat. Fat	Sodium	Carbs	Protein
Baby Back Ribs (half)	420	23 g	8.5 g	610 mg	14 g	35 g
Lemon Garlic Chicken (half)	700	53 g	10.5 g	1170 mg	7 g	48 g
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (medium)	180	8 g	1 g	380 mg	23 g	5 g
Breadsticks (each)	200	9 g	4 g	420 mg	20 g	8 g
Carrot Cake (full portion)	680	37.5 g	14.5 g	445 mg	85 g	5 g

Couple of observations. I’m surprised at the sodium content of the 1/2 lemon garlic chicken. I thought it was kind of bland and needed a to of the lemon garlic sauce to give it flavor. My dad mentioned that the ribs were kind of fatty so it’s surprising that there’s more fat in the chicken than in the ribs. Our meal came out to ~$35 and there was a lot of leftover. I ate most of the salad since that can’t keep once you mixed the dressing.

I think I’m hooked. My parents bought a few bags of this snack from Costco and I just ate most of one bag this week by myself.

Here is more information, including nutrition, from the manufacturer. Since it’s a sweet snack made from coconut, there’s quite a bit of saturated fat and sugars. I was more worried about potassium and phosphorus. The nutritional information says there is very little potassium, and coconut seems to be okay on phosphorus. I also didn’t see any phosphate compounds on the ingredient list so I’m hoping it won’t spike my labs later next month.

My mom must have really liked the Costco Beef Stroganoff since she told me to heat up the other half of the package for dinner tonight. We also finished the salad package from yesterday so we had the exact two items for dinner as we did yesterday. She also thought we wouldn’t have enough noodles left in the package so she cooked some Chinese noodles and ate that with the sauce instead.

I managed to save the packaging so here is the nutritional information for the Beef Stroganoff:

Nutritional Item	Beef Stroganoff	% DV
Serving Size	5 oz
Calories	250
Calories from Fat	130
Total Fat	14 g	22%
Saturated Fat	7 g	35%
Trans Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	60 mg	20%
Sodium	400 mg	17%
Total Carbohydrates	17 g	6%
Dietary Fiber	1 g	4%
Sugars	2 g
Protein	12 g
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		4%
Iron		10%

The ingredient list is a mile long however.

For dinner tonight, we had an all Costco menu. I heated up the packaged Beef Stroganoff and mixed up the Asian Cashew Chopped Salad we bought a few days ago.

The serving count for each was pretty high: 8 for the beef and 7 for the salad, so I only prepared half of each package. I was also worried that my parents wouldn’t like the Stroganoff so I didn’t want to heat up everything. It turned out it tasted kind of like the IKEA meatballs and we ate everything I prepared. That means I have enough left over for another meal later in the week.

For a long time, I’ve been eating ok during dinnertime. That basically means no vomiting. However, tonight I threw up during dinner again. This time is was some stir fried chicken with mushrooms and snow peas. I took a small bite of the chicken and there was a strong flavor of something. Anyway, all the food I ate up to that point came back up quickly and I had to run to the bathroom so I didn’t throw up all over the floor.

Afterwards, I decided to try on of the sample Novasource protein drinks the renal nutritionist gave me. I drank the Cafe Mocha flavored one and it was pretty good. Unlike Nepro, Novasource also included a straw and a poke-through hole at the top of the carton. That naturally restricts fluid flow so you drink slower. I still had some diarrhea afterwards but it was a pretty mild case. Since I was running low on Nepro, I ordered a case of the Cafe Mocha Novasource since I don’t see my eating problems going away soon.

So after almost buying the killer Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches, we did get the muffin sandwiches, which had more reasonable nutritional numbers. The muffin sandwiches came in a package of four and cost $7. That’s not too bad since it’s basically a clone of a McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin with Egg. The McDonald’s app says it costs $3.90 or $15.60 for four, which is about 2x the price of the Jimmy Dean frozen version.

I think I’ve had the McDonald’s version before and they both taste about the same. The major difference is that after microwaving the frozen sandwich, the English muffin becomes a bit rubbery and hard to chew. Going forward, we are going to just buy the sausage patties and some cheddar cheese singles. English muffins are a few dollars for a lot at Costco, and I can fry up an egg. I like eggs more scrambled anyway.

Nutritional information:

Nutritional Item	Jimmy Dean	% DV	McDonald’s	% DV
Serving Size	130 g
Calories	350		480
Total Fat	20 g	26%	30 g	39 %
Saturated Fat	8 g	40%	12 g	61 %
Trans Fat	0 g		0.5 g
Cholesterol	115 mg	38%	275 mg	91 %
Sodium	760 mg	33%	830 mg	36 %
Total Carbohydrates	29 g	11%	30 g	11 %
Dietary Fiber	1 g	4%	2 g	6 %
Total Sugars	2 g		3 g
Protein	14 g		21 g
Vitamin D		6%		0 %
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		10%		15 %
Iron		15%		20 %

McDonald’s website also lists Potassium contents, which was 2% for this sandwich. I guess the numbers are kind of similar except for the cholesterol content. Maybe it’s because McDonald’s is grilling everything live while the frozen sandwich is microwaved? Also, the % DV values are not very consistent so likely they are using different DV standards.

Now looking back at the nutritional information on Jimmy Dean’s website regarding their Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches, the number have to be wrong. Everything seems like they are 4x what you would expect looking at the same info for the sausage muffin sandwich. Also, the nutritional information says each sandwich is 406 g or about a pound. No way that’s right since that’s huge, and the box says the the same value for four. Box also says 10 g of protein per sandwich while the website says 41 g. Website probably is showing the nutritional information for the entire box of four sandwiches. Probably need to go to the store and see what’s on the box.

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Ah, should haver read the reviews at the website. There are 128 reviews, most very positive, and a few does call them out for the errors on the nutritional information chart. Now I want to try them but it also looks like they’re hard to find nowadays.

Since COVID-19 hit, I have not eaten inside a restaurant. Any prepared food we get has been take-out. This is especially true for lunch after dialysis. As I’m already outside the house, it’s more convenient just to pick something up on the way home, or eat it while Supercharging my car. I couldn’t sleep because of the pressure my chest, so I pulled up Mint to see how much I spent where in the past six months:

Restaurant	Transactions	Six Month Spend
Raising Cane’s	24	$214.58
Jersey Mike’s	12	$110.35
Panini Kabob Grill	12	$155.97
Carl’s Jr.	3	$14.73
Johnie’s Jr. Burger	?	Cash

Others with one or two transactions include Victory Diner, Holdaak Chicken, Pei Wei, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Yoshinoya, Taco Bell, John’s Place, and In-N-Out Burger. No surprise the restaurant with the most transactions is Raising Cane’s since I’ve been going there twice a week recently. Now that I can order just chicken fingers a la carte, I don’t need to get their combo with stuff I don’t really want.

If I go three times a week and average $10, then it’s about $120/month. I guess that’s not too bad since otherwise I would just skip lunch, like I often do on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. That’s okay too except I’m losing too much weight and probably need to eat more (and better).

Since I have to get up at 4:30 am three times a week to get to dialysis by 5:30 am, breakfast is always an issue. The dialysis center wants patients to eat before the session in case our blood sugar drops too much during the session. I’ve been alternating between eating cereal with almond milk, and just toast with some jam or peanut butter. There’s not enough time to prepare something more elaborate unless I want to get up even earlier.

I know there are pre-cooked breakfast sandwiches and Jimmy Dean seems to be the most common brand. I thought they were available at Costco but I didn’t see anything on their website. Since my parents were going grocery shopping today, I asked them to pick some up at our local Albertson’s (supermarket). I went to the Jimmy Dean website to send them the specific sandwich, and saw the nutritional information for the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit sandwich.

Nutritional Item	Breakfast Sandwich	% DV
Serving Size	408 g
Calories	1,250
Total Fat	75 g	96%
Saturated Fat	36 g	180%
Trans Fat	1 g
Cholesterol	410 mg	137%
Sodium	2,880 mg	125%
Total Carbohydrates	102 g	37%
Dietary Fiber	8 g	29%
Total Sugars	16 g
Protein	41 g
Vitamin D		10%
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		50%
Iron		40%

Wow! When I first saw the numbers, I thought they screwed up and listed the values for an entire box of sandwiches. Nope. Just one. How can a breakfast sandwich contain so much fat and sodium? Forget dialysis patients… normal people shouldn’t be eating this for breakfast either. It’s also pretty big: 400 g is almost a pound. I think I’ll stick to my two pieces of toast for now. I told my parents that I can’t eat this so don’t buy it.

Ingredient list:

Biscuit: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Contains Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin And Folic Acid), Water, Bleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Contains Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin And Folic Acid), Palm Oil, Dried Buttermilk, Contains 2% Or Less: Isolated Soy Product, Dextrose, Leavening (Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Sugar, Baking Soda, Acidic Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Natural And Artificial Butter Flavor [Natural Butter Flavor {Maltodextrin, Enzyme Modified Butter [Butter (Cream, Salt), Enzymes], Annatto Extract (Color), Turmeric Extract (Color)}, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Lactic Acid], Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate, DATEM, Natural And Artificial Sautéed Butter Type Flavor [Maltodextrin, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Annatto Extract (Color), Turmeric Extract (Color)]. Grilled Egg Patty: Whole Eggs, Nonfat Milk, Soybean Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Natural And Artificial Butter Flavor (Soybean Oil, Butter, Lipolyzed Butter Oil, And Natural And Artificial Flavors), Citric Acid, Soy Lecithin (Release Agent). Pasteurized Process American Cheese: Milk, Water, Cream, Contains 2% Or Less Of Cheese Culture, Citric Acid, Color Added, Enzymes, Potassium Citrate, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Soy Lecithin, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate. Fully Cooked Round Bacon: Bacon (Cured With: Water, Salt, Sugar, Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite).

The nutritional information chart does not give any information on potassium and phosphorus, the two things dialysis patients need to look out for. Judging by the ingredient list, there’s probably a lot of both in the sandwich as well. Also, that’s a lot of chemicals in the ingredient list.

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Weird. I had given up on the entire line of breakfast sandwiches but decided to look at some other products on the website. The nutritional value for other sandwiches are much more reasonable. They’re probably never going to be classified as “healthy” but it’s much better. I’m guessing it’s the bacon in the first sandwich since the rest are made with sausage.

For the sausage muffin (Egg McMuffin clone!), it’s only 130 g so it’s much smaller, and only has 350 calories, 20 g of total fat, and 760 mg of sodium. Again, not great, but not a widow-maker like the other sandwich.

I scheduled a meeting with Chase Bank at 11:00 am today so I got some lunch at Carl’s Jr. across from the hospital, and went to charge my car for about 30 minutes. The Supercharger only had three stalls occupied so I was able to charge at ~80 kW for most of the session.

I’m pretty cheap and not too hungry so I got one of the more inexpensive meals: California Classic. It was ok. I think the Famous Star I got last time tasted better but was a couple dollars more. I think CJ is trying to compete with In-N-Out’s Double Double with this burger but it’s not really the same.

Nutritional information for the California Classic burger:

Nutritional Information	CA Classic	Medium Fries	Double Double
Calories	560	420	670
Fat Calories	350	190	370
Total Fat	39 g	21 g	41 g
Saturated Fat	12 g	3.5 g	18 g
Trans Fat	1.5 g	0 g	1 g
Cholesterol	80 mg	0 mg	120 mg
Sodium	990 mg	850 mg	1,440 mg
Carbohydrates	38 g	55 g	39 g
Sugar	8 g	0 g	10 g
Protein	21 g	5 g	37 g

I also had a medium unsweetened ice tea so that probably didn’t add much to anything on the list. Nutritionally, it compares pretty closely to the Double Double except the DD has a lot more sodium. Also, I just had several bouts of diarrhea. I’m not 100% sure it’s Carl’s fault but the burger combo was the only thing I ate after dialysis. I weighed myself after all the water came out and it was 83.3 kg at 11.3% fat. I may still yet get down to 80.0 kg before the kidney transplant surgery.

Uh oh, another not-so-healthy choice for lunch. My parents went out shopping for groceries today and they’re picking up Korean fried chicken from Furai Chicken for lunch. They’re going to the one inside Zion Market in Irvine. There is no website for that location but here is one from the same chain in La Cresenta. I’ve had their chicken several times and it’s pretty good and not too greasy, though it’s still probably not good for you.

For half a fried chicken, Furai charges $13; a whole chicken is $23. Compared to KFC, an 8-piece bucket goes for $17. I don’t know how the two compare but I feel the 8-piece is probably an entire chicken. It does look like Furai is quite a bit more expensive than KFC but it is better tasting than KFC.

There’s no nutritional information for Furai on the web but since KFC is a national chain, I think they are required to provide it. For four pieces of original recipe KFC fried chicken, here is the nutritional information:

Nutritional Information	KFC Original Recipe	%DV	KFC Grilled
Calories	930		510
Total Fat	56 g	86%	23 g
Saturated Fat	12 g	60%	7 g
Trans Fat	0 g		0 g
Cholesterol	330 mg	110%	320 mg
Sodium	2,910 mg	121%	1,530 mg
Total Carbohydrates	26 g	9%	0 g
Dietary Fiber	4 g	16%	0 g
Sugares	0 g		0 g
Protein	80 g		75 g

Whoa! I guess one of the colonel’s secret recipe ingredients is salt. There’s almost 3 grams of salt in the breading on just four pieces of fried chicken. What if you don’t eat the chicken skin? I wonder if that cuts down on the fat and the salt? I went back and looked up the nutritional information for KFC’s grilled chicken and it does appear slightly healthier than the fried chicken.

I think my parents are buying an entire fried chicken from Furai. I’ll try to keep lunch to two pieces.