What to Order at Cava for Fat Loss - 161

Coach Brian Parana (0:11.106) Picture two guys standing at the same CAVA counter. Same line, the same bowl that just empties standing in front of them, waiting to be filled, and about 10 seconds to figure out and decide what it is that they're actually gonna put in that thing. Person behind the counter is just waiting. What are we doing? What goes in here? How much do you want of it? One walks out with a thousand forty calories, and the other walks out with 580, and neither of them realize. Coach Brian Parana (0:39.674) What the heck had happened here? And that's the magic of fast casual type dining. CAVA lists its pomegranate glazed salmon bowl at 1,040 calories with 36 grams of protein, which is kind of where we always talk about 40 to 50 grams. And the Greek salad bowl comes in at basically half, 580 or so with 37 grams of protein. Which one do you think I'm gonna suggest? Coach Brian Parana (1:6.936) Probably the one that's 460 fewer calories and has the same amount of protein. This is a huge gap that a lot of people just don't realize. And just by the name, it sounds both of them sound healthy and they're coming from a place that is perceived as healthy. Welcome back to Driven for Health. I'm Coach Brian Parana, episode 161. Today we're breaking down CAVA, and it gives you several ways to build a meal. Coach Brian Parana (1:36.951) The base, the protein dressing sides, and a drink can change how many calories actually show up. So you are in the driver's seat of that experience. By the end of today's episode, I want you to know exactly what the order, which orders matter most, what type of words you should be saying, how to get the most volume and value out of the bowl. And value not meaning as many calories. We don't want Coach Brian Parana (2:5.394) As many calories in the bowl as we can. We want to feel full and a healthy amount that keeps us on track. CAVA gives you several decisions straight from the gate, as I just mentioned. We start with the base and it goes from there. And let's group these into just basically three different buckets: the base, your protein, your additions, your add-ons. Most people are not adding up every serving. Coach Brian Parana (2:35.062) While they are moving through the line, and that's obviously normal. Even I, when I go through Chipotle, I'm not mathematically doing calculations in my head about how many calories are showing up in this bowl. I always end up with a bowl. and episode 145 is the start of the what to order at what restaurant series, starting with Chipotle. So you could go back and start listening there. And we're already at 161. We still have a couple more to go through. Coach Brian Parana (3:2.988) I really want to be pretty extensive. I know that each individual place can have its perks, benefits, and not so much as well. So we go back to in the line where we're going through again, you're not adding up to calories, but just know that pretty much everything's adding 100 or 200 calories basically in a scooper serving as it goes down the way. So what you put in there can either Coach Brian Parana (3:29.172) Add calories or multiply calories. For example, cheese, that's a calorie multiplier, meaning it's got a lot of calories in it. Guacamole, calorie multiplier, fajita peppers, tomatoes, those are adding calories. And then rice or so rice multiplies, but lettuce. Any type of greens, really it's almost negligible. So if I before we go into the bowls and how to build them. Coach Brian Parana (3:58.541) You can jump on to my eating on the go guide. It's gonna be in the show notes. I sh sharing it pretty much every single order. And what to order, CAVA included, and you can get it at go.brianparana.com/eatingonthego. One word. This allows you to be able to download the guide, have very quick, easy access, understandable ways to understand what to eat, where to eat, wherever it is. Coach Brian Parana (4:26.882) That you do. It's very detailed, very simple to read as well. CAVA actually started as a full-service Mediterranean restaurant back in 2006. The customers raved about the dips in the spreads, enough that CAVA started selling them in grocery stores. The fast casual version of what we know today came in 2011. By 2026, CAVA has grown to 476 restaurants. Coach Brian Parana (4:56.258) Very interesting. the most restaurants, I believe, that we've come across with Domino's at 22,000 in the world. Now, CAVA also says this is off their own website in advertising and marketing, is that they have 17 billion possible ingredient combinations across its bowls and pitas. That's a lot. I I don't know how they did the math on that, but that's what they claim on their Instagram. So there it is. Coach Brian Parana (5:22.988) When CAVA filed to go public in 2023, the company said about 80% of the guests choose their own custom meal. And that's part of the big appeal to this place. Just like, say, Chipotle or any other fast casual, you can get quality food in the combinations that you want and really enjoy it. But as we go through, two orders. Coach Brian Parana (5:46.943) Even of the same foods might end up landing at different calories, even 100, possibly 200 calories, depending on how much the person served you. So we just throw that out there as well. And that's what we have with these the risks of the build your own type restaurants, fast casuals. So we have let's get into the three decisions that you need to make. Decision one is your base. Supergreens that runs about 35 calories. Perfect. Coach Brian Parana (6:14.734) Three grams of protein, four grams of fiber, wonderful start here. CAVA also offers more simplified greens like arugula, baby spinach, romaine, and those are much lower in calories. Just in FYI, most lettuces are 10, 20 calories in a cup, so you can really get away with a lot of that and help fill up, or even fill your bowl so that you keep space from the higher calorie stuff. Coach Brian Parana (6:44.438) Later on. So this is the lightest possible base. Saffron basmati rice is almost 300 calories with five grams of protein, two grams of fiber. Again, if someone's talking about fiber coming from rice or lentils or beans, sure, but rice there's really just not that much in there. And we're not using it primarily as a fiber. So sure, it could add fiber, but the vegetables, fruits, Coach Brian Parana (7:13.558) Are going to do a lot more work. Now, brown rice again runs roughly 300 calories in the serving, seven grams of protein and five grams of fiber, either or it doesn't really matter. Pick the one that you like and taste better. The black lentils, though, this is going to be a home run here, with it does still have a lot of calories. These are starchy carbs and they do have calories in them. 270 calories, 18 grams of protein and 15 grams of fiber. Coach Brian Parana (7:40.889) So this is a slam dunk. Now, rice and the black lentils are somewhat close in the calories, the, but the lentils win out hand over foot here, right? The protein to fiber value is significant. Rice, if we're thinking about it, rice is a still a good choice, it just depends on how much you're getting. Maybe you do a light order of it. Coach Brian Parana (8:7.122) And if you're really active, then great. Or it's after a workout, great. Get that in there, and we can totally account for it and make it work. If you aren't working out and just need something to hold you over, then we definitely want to go with some sort of a green base and then put some heavier protein on it. And you can even do greens with the black lentils. That'll help really add the protein fiber, but add the bulk with the greens. So it could come down to how big a meal are you? Coach Brian Parana (8:36.802) building today at the end of the day, how much food are you trying to walk out of here with? If you want a lot of in quotations value from volume, value for volume, right, of of calories, then you're going rice and lentils for sure. But we might trying to keep those calories in check. Greens, lentils will help. Next up we have the protein. This is the second main choice. And some Coach Brian Parana (9:4.494) Protein hacks I like to always share with you. The first hack is letting your base help build that up. The black lentils will again give you the 18 grams, and that's a super hack. You add that with the grilled steak, gives you 41. And the black lentils with the grilled chicken gives you 46 grams. Now that's between that 40 and 50 grams of protein that I generally suggest for most guys at most meals, most of their life. Coach Brian Parana (9:34.243) This can give you really solid amount. So remember, plant-based protein sources do work. This is before we start adding hummus, feta, or anything else. Like those do have protein in them, and it does add. Second hack is knowing what steak and chicken can give you. So let's run down what that looks like. Grilled steak runs about 170 calories with 23 grams of protein. All right, cool. Coach Brian Parana (10:0.728) Grilled chicken, shockingly enough, has 250 calories. So it has about what 80 more calories in it and 28 grams of protein. So it has about five more grams of protein, but it's a lot more calorie dense. So recapping that, steak gives you fewer calories, chicken gives you a little bit more protein, and both can build a good meal. And we can balance things out with these other. Coach Brian Parana (10:31.146) A third hack includes a falafel, a little more plant based. The falafel runs about 350 calories, six grams of protein, and then we've got the the it's a it's very much fits into the vegetarian bowl. But most of the protein we will need come from the rest of it because there's only six grams of protein in the falafel, it's mainly carbs. So we use again use the Coach Brian Parana (10:59.660) Black lentils there to get the 18 grams. If you rewere going pure vegetarian base, right? You are gonna end up with a lot of carbs in this meal naturally because it's vegetarian base, and that's okay. We just have to understand what that looks like. This is why you definitely wanna understand the protein, the the calories, the carbs, the fats. Coach Brian Parana (11:26.270) And look at the menu first so that you don't get fooled by whatever looks good or smells good as you walk down the line. So CAVA does list a falafel among the protein choices. And if you're just not paying attention, you might even know what a falafel is. Then you might just like, I'm just gonna have that because it sounds good or it tastes good, and I'm gonna have that and it's in the protein. And that that just isn't true. All right. Coach Brian Parana (11:55.171) For a full meal, I want you aiming for about 40 to 60 grams of protein. So I'm gonna add up all those with it. If we can get to 40 with that combo of the black lentils with the chicken or steak, that will be a slam dunk to easily get you. Let's move into the additions. Coach Brian Parana (12:16.780) The decision that you need to make here is everything that you add on to the base and the protein starts to add a lot more calories. There are smaller choices that have less calories and larger ones that will multiply calories. Let's look at some of these. The crazy feta is one of its signatures. It is whipped feta with jalapeno, onion, and olive oil. Coach Brian Parana (12:42.102) Sounds pretty tasty. Now it's listed at 70 calories with four grams of protein. And that is still part of what they ship out into grocery stores and spreads all over in their restaurants. So this could be a great ad, and it's not a lot of calories. Most say dips, hummus, things like that. For example, hummus comes in at 35 calories per. Coach Brian Parana (13:12.008) for tablespoon and and so this is kind kinda feels similar. I don't know exactly what this serving size is specifically. It's gonna be close to like a tablespoon for the 70 calories here. We have white sweet potatoes. They first appeared in 2021. When CAVA removed them, fans kept asking all across the socials to bring back. And so they ended up bringing them back in 2026 as part of a big Coach Brian Parana (13:40.971) menu relaunch and wanted to surprise the fans with the news about this coming back. This is how an ingredient becomes a cult favorite. If Crazy Feta and White Sweet Potatoes are what you enjoy, include them and account them for their serving and the calories that it's going to cost there. Biggest thing is we just have to do math is that we're just going to keep adding how many calories are going to keep showing up. Coach Brian Parana (14:10.168) So the next one could be the yogurt dill. It's 30 calories in a serving. The garlic dressing is 180. So there's a big difference right there. Dill, yogurt dill, garlic dressing. What do you think the difference is? Probably the base that it comes in. Dill and garlic don't have any calories, but the yogurt and the dressing, an oil-based dressing, is where it's going to start showing up. Coach Brian Parana (14:39.416) We also think about the pita. This one always gets people tripped up. Pita crisps that top add to your bowl, they can run a lot, 70 calories or more. A separate side of pita chips can run yet almost 300 calories. Remember, chips. A chip has a normal potato chip has about 10 calories. A tortilla chip has on average about Coach Brian Parana (15:6.360) 15 or so and a pita chip is gonna fall right in line with that and that is going to multiply. The Harissa BBQ version comes in at the same amount, 280. Those are two different things with two different names. Know which one you're ordering before you say yes to it and just add it in blindly and just don't know. So again, small amount of the yogurt dill or the garlic dressing. Coach Brian Parana (15:35.939) Big difference in overall calories here that could topple the bowl and make it just be more of a weight gain bowl instead of a keep you full bowl. The drinks, classic lemonade can run 250-300, but 66 grams of sugar. Coming from our last episode, the Jamba Juice, Robeks, the Tropical Smoothie ones that we had. I hope that you learned that the majority of these. Coach Brian Parana (16:3.032) Drinks that are sugared have crazy amounts of sugar in them. That is basically one and a half cans of Coke, Coca-Cola that you're drinking there in that classic lemonade. Going to the salmon bowl, the pita chips, the small lemonade can easily add up to over 1500 calories just from that. And you just don't feel that many calories because it tastes so good and it goes down easy and you're full long enough and then it's Coach Brian Parana (16:32.130) Your next meal time and you end up eating more. And next thing you know, you've had three or four thousand calories or something crazy in the day, and you wonder why you're struggling to keep your weight in check. Small additions can add, remember, 50 or more calories per basically, and that's simple math for you to help. Let's go over two different custom orders that we can and put these all together. Coach Brian Parana (16:57.600) A base of protein additions built into two real orders that you can say word for word, and the math is already done for you. Both orders will be in the show notes so you don't have to write them down by every ingredient. Here's the lighter order built on supergreens with grilled chicken as the protein. So you'll say a bowl with supergreens, grilled chicken, hummus, avocado, tomato, cucumber. Coach Brian Parana (17:27.502) Crumbled feta and yogurt dill dressing. This bowl is going to come in around 500 to 550, 40 grams of protein, and about 10 grams of fiber. So this is going to be completely reasonable for you to be able to eat something within reason and move through your day and it not carry over. Here's another order that we can do that has some black lentils. So we go bowl with black lentils, grilled steak, hummus. Coach Brian Parana (17:57.199) Tomato cucumber, the Persian cucumber, fiery broccoli, sumac cabbage slaw, crumbled feta, and yogurt dill dressing. Wow, that's a lot. But the bowl comes around 650-ish, 600, 650, depending on whoever's serving you how much it is. 50 grams of protein, 19 grams of fiber. So this is going to be a little more calories, but it should be a lot more filling because of the extra fiber there. Coach Brian Parana (18:27.554) Both orders use the same dip and the same dressing. The base and the protein are what separate them and some of the extra vegetables from one to the next. If you choose a lighter order, it easily can fit in your target. If you choose the bigger order, it will help you with your protein and fiber needs for the day. So just do the total math and help it fit into your day so that CAVA can be a part of a healthy, responsible lunch or dinner for you and work out for your health goals and your nutrition goals. Coach Brian Parana (18:58.444) If you don't want to build anything, they already have pre-built bowls for you. The Greek salad bowls, just under 600 with 36, 37 grams of protein. It's already on the menu. You can just order it as is, and out the door you go. Some things to just pay attention to, and we've talked about this a lot, is high sodium restaurant meals are always there. They will increase water retention, scale weight, and your need to drink a lot more water. Coach Brian Parana (19:26.136) So we've done a couple of things talking about how to build greens with chicken for lighter orders, lentils, and steaks for a bigger, more bold, or that Greek salad bowl of walk out and not have to think about anything. And we've gone through the process of how to do this. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we need you to look at the nutrition on the website before you make the choices, period. So you're making educated decisions. Coach Brian Parana (19:52.973) And if you need help with this, again, I have the eating on the go guide. You can get it. The show notes will have the link. I'd love to have you jump on it and grab it. And people have been raving about this because it's super helpful. I I spent I've spent a lot of time on this thing, scouring the internet for all the hacks and and the Reddit forms and looking at the nutrition websites on the on the actual restaurants themselves. Coach Brian Parana (20:21.740) So it's it's been a a a labor of love in a sense, and I hope that you really enjoy it. So grab it today. If you need more help than just what to eat or how what whatever your goals are around weight loss, improving your blood panels and helping figure out how to do it in a sustainable way, because you've tried in the past and you still are overweight and unhappy with your health, then that's what the call to rise is. A hundred day fat loss program for men. You get Coach Brian Parana (20:50.666) specialized individualized strength training, nutrition, accountability, and support from me, the brotherhood of other guys that are driven to propel themselves up. And that's a cool little piece of this is that everyone's in there working at their health goals. And when you surround yourself by others that are working hard and striving to improve themselves too, you naturally lift up. So if you're a guy that wants to lose 20 plus pounds, improve some of your blood work, then Coach Brian Parana (21:20.596) This is what we're doing in here in the 100 days. So check out more. I have a very detailed website at thecalltorise.com. Answers a crazy amount of questions and would love to have you if you're driven, if you're ready to get going, and you just know that you need help because you know what to do, but you're not doing it. And you need someone there to make sure you do it. Well, literally, that's been my job for 23 years in this industry. That's it for Driven for Health. Train hard. Coach Brian Parana (21:49.866) Eat smart and I'll catch you in the next one.