Tropical AND healthy

By request, I have decal'd some of the menu items from Tropical Smoothie Cafe:

To start, their menu does have an assortment of low calorie/low fat entrees to choose from, though you might want to be careful before assuming that they're all healthy. You might assume the hummus veggie sandwich is the healthiest, but this packs a 630 calorie punch with 24 grams of fat, while the Bistro Sandwiches with the lowest calories are the Wasabi Roast Beef and the Turkey Bacon Ranch, each coming in at only about 400 calories. Surprising, huh? Other great choices are the Veggie Veggie wrap with 440 calories and the Honey Ham and Swiss flatbread with 420.

If these options aren't your favorite from TSC, you can always special order your picks to drop some calories off the total. Asking for half or no cheese is always a great way to shave some calories and fat off of your meal. You can also try to special order your favorite wrap or sandwich as a salad and nix the calories from the breads. Just ask them, they might be up for anything.

Now the smoothies...These seemingly healthy drinks/meals can be a bit deceiving. Some of them average between 300-400 calories each, while others can have from 600-700 per 24oz smoothie (i.e. the Peanut Paradise (600) and the Caramel Cream(690)). That's almost cruel, TSC.

They do offer the option to substitute Splenda for sugar which takes the calorie count way down. But it also doesn't taste as good, and I believe that Splenda and aspartame are really bad for you.

When I order a smoothie, I go for the Blue Lagoon. As it comes, it's only 330 calories and it's really tasty. Sometimes, I ask them to only use half the sugar which takes it down to about 250 and tastes perfectly sweet and tart with the blueberries and strawberries. If I'm in the mood for super sweet, I bring my own packets of Stevia for them to use instead of sugar. You can bring any sweetener you want them to use, actually, from honey to stevia to anything you can think of that isn't dangerous or illegal, lol. Don't let the employees deny you on this, though. They can and will use the sugar substitute you bring in. If they give you a problem, get a manager and tell them a well known food blogger sent you to Tropical Smoothie Cafe because she knew they would accommodate healthy eaters. Trust me, that'll get it done :) (Everyone loves free press lol)

Have another restaurant you want me to pick apart? Now that finals are over, I've got time! :)