Cracker Barrel Menu Calorie Counter + Healthy Losing Weight Tips

Cracker Barrel menu vs. fast food is night and day. Cracker Barrel uses slow cooking methods for some dishes that us foodie enthusiasts appreciate! This homestyle burnt-top Cellantani and cheese (with a healthy option) recipe is below.

In this post, you’ll get tips to lose weight from snacking, ordering off a Cracker Barrel menu, and how to make calories count! And how to to get the tasty burnt-top on your baked macaroni without drying out the pasta.

After your turkey feast has come and gone, what are the secrets to keep a healthy, trim body you aspire to?  …I share my best tips below. And they don’t require giving up macaroni-n-cheese if that’s one of your favorites.

If you’re on the road, it’s easy to get off-balanced in your diet. I recommend the Cracker Barrel menu that’s loaded with options for a conscious calorie counter, where you can find a healthy meal for under a thousand calories. Real homey comfort food and not a frozen packaged one.

👇 You can get to my Cracker Barrrel menu selections if you scroll way below. 

…But, as with most my blog articles, there is jam-packed meaty healthy inspiration and tips in between. So that’s where I’ll start… with my story.

My Food Life Lessons

I think I’m lucky because I have pretty much maintained the same ideal healthy weight since my late 20s (after some hairy years working  around decadent catering food).

And yep, I’m a Vata so my genetics play a big, big part.  I’m not a vain person, but I am self-conscious (another Vata trait we call sensitive). That could be you too.

We are all unique in that we have a different one-and-only body that’s given to us to maintain for our entire life. And that’s daily changing.

So we want to optimize our body and body image that’s relative to each of us. There are some tips that work for all of us females and humans. Some ideas that work better for some of us than others.

And you know your body better than anybody else.

For the lifestyle part, like everyone, I had to learn in life’s journey.

Early on I went into a testing phase and tried to listen to reliable sources about how to have a healthy body. I wanted to get more tone and slender so I tried the trendy health fad diets with so many others.

Back then, I focused on one diet in particular, where I counted calories. You can probably guess what happened?… I gained more weight during that season. I craved foods and especially pasta that I grew up eating and had given up.

I was also craving sweet foods I normally ate and gave up.  If you have a sweet tooth (e.g. for Vatas that’s your middle name), bread just doesn’t cut it as a sweet if ya know what I mean. 

That’s when I realized self-discipline and willpower produce backfiring results…

When I told myself “no” to certain foods, that just made me want them more.  …sound familiar? 

That’s because our minds, don’t actually hear “no.”  Instead, your mind hears you’re putting energy towards that food item, so then you just want it more. English isn’t your mind and body’s first language. Your mind-body interprets words by your feelings and actions…hmmm.

…so I ended up essentially on a “yo-yo” diet, where I was below weight, gained it back, and then went over the weight that I started with as I got a taste of the foods I loved like mac-n-cheese.

These were years before Oprah was popular on television and we learned all about the yo-yo diet effects from her sharing journey to the masses.

And, weight and size are relative to each of our bodies. In my body size journey, I went down to a size 2 (from a size 6 at the time) and grew to a size 8.

I have fit into the same size clothing and maintained a size 4 since then (it’s funny how some clothing pieces have come back in style a few times and I can live them up again!).  …OK, so before you judge or playfully roll your eyes at me, I KNOW what you’re thinking…

Oh my gosh, I would love to be a size 4 or 6 (if you are, you know what I’m talking about!)… Or maybe you prefer your ideal size whatever that is…

But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what your number, size, or weight is, as much as keeping overall balanced body proportions to your frame, where you like and feel better about yourself. When your feed your mind happiness, that shows up in a healthier body as body love (and NOT body shame).

That’s the ultimate goal (to feel good about ourselves and our self-image). We need to build up our self-esteem especially if it was beaten down in the past. You may have experienced PTSD or had a rocky childhood.

Or maybe you still need to heal from wounds, build self-confidence from insecurities, and develop an abundant mentality to replace the victim mentality. That’s common for most of us.

And like most personal growth goals, it’s up to you to make your choices along the way. That’s where replacing habits helps (plus, not denying yourself any one specific food or category to reach the goal).

Along my journey, these are a few tips I discovered in choices that I’ve found that make the biggest impact.

3 Weight Loss Tips for Daily Menus

Tip # 1. Try to cook and prepare most of your meals over ordering out menus.

Try not to overeat in any one session and be in tune with your body’s cues. For imbalanced hormones that’s common, use your visual cues (size of plate and how you look in clothes) as your pointer guide.

For dinner, I usually have a light dinner like spinach salad with no salad dressing (or maybe some vinegar) or cook brussel sprouts with sea salt and a few bacon bits..delish! Keep it simple and interesting to you and your biodiverse food cravings. I have a 200+  anti inflammatory foods list as a go-to.

I have a 5-day balanced workweek approach to eating more or less healthy, and then on the weekends I give myself 2-days off. And have added intermittent fasting to the mix. Balance and moderation are your friends because that’s what is sustainable.

So for most dinners, I wilt my salad by heating with a few drops of EVOO, and then I add red onions or garlic, and that’s tastier one than any high-calorie dressing I could add.

I realize that if you feed a family or others they won’t necessarily be impressed with your meals. It could be too boring for them, but you can prepare your meals separately and maybe have a bite of the other.

And that’s what made sense for large events (having two separate dish versions) when I was a catering food manager for hotels and restaurants over the course of 10 years.

When I home bake, I use less sugar (or use fruit or monkfruit sugar) and very little butter (substituting yogurt, applesauce or coconut oil) and use less than the recipes calls for.

I’ve found that except for sugar or shortbread cookies, most general bakes don’t need butter at all that’s very high in calories and fat. You can also bake with ghee that’s easy to find (clarified butter where the fat is removed) or use applesauce for brownies with minimal taste compromise 😊…

And if cooking at home is not always possible or that’s not your lifestyle jam, the Cracker Barrel menu below could be your inspiration.

…You can work up an appetite driving to one of their locations  I feel like they build their restaurants out in the country outside major metro areas…

But worth the drive. I think of their food as healthier, fast-food, cooked slow (that was a mouthful!) 😋

Tip # 2. Cut out high fat.

Fat is fat, even the good mono-saturated kind. Too much EVOO or avocados is going to show up. Another compelling reason why enjoying in moderation is the better way to live.

You can grow into baking in healthier ingredients like recipe for a cake with apple cider and coconut oil.

And when you go out, avoid addictive french fries and potato chips. Try baked potatoes, or cooked potatoes that you turn into a deliciou potato salad or soups. Or reach for salted and crunchy sunflower seeds instead where your taste buds are looking for something salty.

Tip # 3. Snack healthy regularly in a time window that helps lower weight.

Yup, that’s right…. I learned this secret along my journey that eating small meals throughout the day keeps you from feeling hungry, (or hangry) and more importantly, it communicates to your body to store the good, lean energy. And then to stop eating because of a time stopper that helps.

People on a mission to lose weight tend to avoid this strategy because they’re afraid of the consequences…  that eating more calories could be the problem.

And it CAN BE a problem if moderation is not used. And a healthy snack isn’t what’s available. A snack is usually a palm size and not a plate size. Reaching for a handful of carrots or nuts is a good filler.

We all have different bodies but they have similar parts. Optimizing your body so you do calories out along with calories in (calorie balance) work toward weight management. And if you want to lose more weight, then you want to lose more calories than the calories coming in.

And if you eat less frequently, your body stores more fat (and often craves the bad stuff as in my food journey mentioned above).

Fat serves a life-saving purpose, where your body conserves energy if you haven’t eaten in a while and saves you from starving quickly if you were say, lost on a trail. Carbs burn much quicker in the macros equation. And having more healthy proteins is a good solution.

In our modern society, we have easy access to food, and in America, there are grocery stores, restaurants, food delivery services, food pantry and soup kitchens everywhere… and the hotels I worked at. 😊 Food is abundant.

Tip # 4: Know your body weaknesses and use them to your advantage. 

Some smart rules apply to everyone like eating fast food in moderation, and some are specific to your body and body type (Vata, Pitta, Kapha).

One I’m all too familiar with is that bread is mostly broken down in your saliva and can sit in your stomach longer, and depending on your natural body type, can make your tummy look puffy.

While a natural Kapha may look at food and gain weight. That’s not really happening but can feel that way.

If you’re naturally a Kapha body type, you may find calorie counting as critical to getting down to your ideal weight. Keeping score helps to meet a daily goal (and specially if you have a Pitta mind edge). There are much easier ways to restore body balance.

For a losing weight mission, 80-90% is based on the food/diet you intake. Exercise is important but it will not appear to move the needle if you are consuming more calories than you’re burning off.

A better idea for optimization: take time to healthy meal plan over getting on the treadmill.

The good news is you can find new habits, tell your body who’s boss, and keep implementing better habits.

Tip #5: You can eat healthy with a slow comfort food (like some Cracker Barrel Menu items)

Especially around the colder months, one of my favorite comfort food places if I can’t cook at home, is from the Cracker Barrel menu because they use southern slow cooking-inspired methods for flavoring and maintaining nutrients.

Off the Cracker Barrel menu, you can create and order health-conscious meals for under 1,000 calories.

The selection on the Cracker Barrel menu can satisfy everyone in your party, even if that’s just you. The saltiness appeases a Vata’s salty palate and a Kapha’s comfort needing one.

Cracker Barrel uses slow cooking (or patient cooking) as their process like that in Southern foods. It’s like an episode from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. And they use the healthier heartier flavor secrets and let off the heavy butter and creaminess.

If you have “let’s eat” (that’s one of Cracker Barrel’s sayings) on your mind, here are some suggestions:

Cracker Barrel Menu Combos Under 1,000 Calories

For your calorie counters, you can put together a meal for under 1,000 calories.  You can order a popular 600-calorie country-fried steak. Most American restaurant dishes have plenty of salt, so not adding more salt is a good disciplined move.  You train yourself to desire less salt for your next meal.

Another popular dish is the Meatloaf – 520 calories, plus 3-cheese squash casserole or mac-n-cheese (270 calories) = 790 calories

You can add green beans, turnip greens, carrots or broccoli for under 100 calories each.

Or mashed potatoes (200 calories) with or without gravy.  That’s less than the steak fries

There’s also the Chicken n’ Dumplings (450 calories)

Why does the Cracker Barrel menu get a healthier stamp of approval?  Because a good section of their menu is based on vegetables, slow-simmered in seasonings.

If you’re online ordering you can lower your calories by skipping the cornbread and biscuits.  You could substitute with your own home bread.  You could go with your own lower or zero-carb bread.

If you add marmalade or apple butter, then you can skip dessert.  Sometimes you’re just looking for something crunchy that a piece of toast offers.

If you’re still with a sweet tooth you could order a side of apples (with cinnamon glaze). You’ll get the benefit without the high-calorie buttery pie crust.

Then when you get home, you can be inspired to make your own comfort southern-style foods. You can easily make a pumpkin pie with a graham cracker crust, spices (cloves, cinnamon, or pumpkin spice), applesauce, evaporated milk, and canned pumpkin. I say easy because you just bake it until a toothpick comes out clean after an hour or two depending on your oven and temperature.

And after your pie is done, while you have the oven on, you can make the perfect mac-n-cheese. After you cook the macaroni or pasta al dente, set your dish on a higher oven self, and turn the broil setting on for less than a  few minutes. Be sure to watch your oven so it doesn’t burn the cheese.

…Guess what I’m having for dinner?  Perfect mac-n-cheese with a spinach salad.

If you want healthy suggestions for your current season, take the body balance quiz where you will receive restoration and food suggestions you can use to replace some of the ones you’re in the habit of doing that your body desires (as part of the body’s intelligence for knowing what it needs).

This recipe can be enhanced with homemade pasta. You can use other pasta shapes other than macaroni. But I would use a curvy shape like the corkscrew ones or tubes as they hold more cheese than say a stringy one or fettuccine.

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