Anyone paying attention to the food going into their body understands how hard it can be to find healthy options in public eating establishments.

It makes matters worse that big food brands deliberately attempt to hide the truth about their products.

Case in point. I’m sitting in Starbucks with a cup of coffee and the Protein Bistro Box in front of me. This box food breakfast contains a hard boiled egg, some fruit, cheese wedges, a biscuit, and a honey peanut butter packet.

At first glance, people may purchase this ‘Protein’ Bistro Box because of the name. “Oh, cool. A high protein breakfast.”

Not so fast. Scan the box label with any food tracker on your phone and you’ll discover that, when it comes to macronutrients, protein is least represented in this ‘protein breakfast.’

The macronutrient ratios of the Starbucks Protein Bistro Box are as follows

Fat: 19g
Carbs: 37g
Protein: 10g

If 15% of total calories equals a high protein breakfast to you, then I suggest you give the Protein Bistro Box a try. For me, it’s just plain deceptive. So, I ate the hard boiled egg, the tiny bunch of grapes and apple slices. I left the cheese wedges, biscuit, and honey peanut butter behind. That was an expensive hard boiled egg and fruit!

You’d be better off boiling some eggs for the week and grabbing an apple on your way out the door. Stop by Starbucks for coffee if you like their coffee, but don’t expect healthy food choices there. High carb, high fat, processed food items fill their display case. It’s not for the fitness-minded person.

Don’t be fooled by big food marketing. If you want, relative to protein intake, a high carb, high fat meal, then go for the protein box. Otherwise, take your healthy food with you.