Moderator: Lunch Ladies Gretchen and Kimberly are ready to take your questions now.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: So Kimberly, you just finished a triathlon in Cali, and I see from today's newsletter that you're going to train for the Chicago marathon. What keeps you motivated to do these things? (Readers, if you're not already signed up for our newsletter, go to www.dallasnews.com/newsletters and click on the Lifestyles link.)
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Well, mostly my friends keep me motivated. Four of my best girlfriends signed up for the triathlon in California wine country and decided to make it a fun girl's trip, so basically I trained so I wouldn't be left behind. Same thing with the Chicago marathon. Several of my favorite people are going and I didn't want to be left behind. Although in retrospect, if I were going to do a marathon, I wish it were the Nike women's marathon in San Francisco where they have a chocolate mile and a pedicure station, and a man in a tux presents each finisher with a Tiffany necklace and charm. That sounds more like my kind of athletic event.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: That kind of marathon might interest me! Although not if I actually have to run, too. It's also nice that you travel to fun places for these events.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Yeah, Gretchen, didn't I see you wearing a T-shirt the other day that said: Will run for Tiffany jewelry and chocolate?

Lunch Lady Gretchen: Today we wrote about P.F. Chang's. Does anyone out there have their own favorite from that restaurant that they'd like to share?

DeLaGomez!: Orange chicken, of course.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: That sounds interesting. What's the orange chicken like? Is it fried?
DeLaGomez!: Actually I meant Orange Peel Beef...chicken's good too though
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yikes, just looked up the nutritional for the Orange Peel Beef: 1330 calories and 82 grams of fat. DeLaGomez must have a high metabolism :)
DeLaGomez!: That high? Wow, never knew that. Haven't eaten there in a long time.

Moderator: I love PF Chang's chicken with black bean sauce
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I haven't tried that one yet, but it sounds good. And it isn't TOO bad for you if you split it. The whole entree has 640 calories and 22 grams of fat. But as Kimberly and I learned, one dish is really enough for two meals. Plus you have to leave room for rice and the fortune cookie.

JenD: I love the Lemon Pepper Shrimp from PF Chang's!
JenD: I used to do the Kung Pao Shrimp and Scallops until I looked up the nutritional data on them.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I'm so glad P.F. Changs put their nutritional info online! For those of you who haven't seen today's review, their address is www.pfchangs.com. Go to the menu portion and each item has a button for nutritional info.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Yeah, that's the beauty of knowing the nutritional information at restaurants. I love being able to make an informed decision instead of having to guess.

Moderator: Ladies, you noted in your review this week that P.F. Chang's is related to Pei Wei. Which restaurant do you think has more options for healthy eating?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: I really like P.F. Chang's training table menu and the people who endorse it such as triathlete Paula Newby-Fraser.

JenD: why didn't you guys mention the rice that comes with most of the entrees PF Chang's? I've never tried the white rice.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: We ordered white rice and brown rice with the entrees, but didn't include them in the review because we'd pretty much covered that in the Pei Wei review. However, we like the brown rice a lot. Here's the breakdown on it: PER SERVING (2.5 servings per dish): Cal 210; Fat 1.4g; Carb 45g; Fiber 2g; Protein 5g; Weight Watcher Winning Points® 4
Lunch Lady Gretchen: FYI, our Pei Wei review is here

JenD: Thank you for including the servings per dish. I am going to remind my boyfriend of this the next time we go. And thanks for the link.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: You're welcome! When you know what you're going to order ahead of time (and how much you should eat), you're more likely to be successful in eating healthfully.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I recently tried the Reese's Snackster 100-calorie packs, and OH. MY. GOSH. They're little packets of joy. They're 4 grams of fat and 2 Weight Watchers Points and are a mix of PB cereal, PB chips and Reese's Pieces. I brought a less-than-exciting lunch of leftovers today, but had a Snackster for dessert and it made my day! Here's the link. Anybody else have new products they've tried?

ag2432: I love yoplait light thick and creamy yogurt
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Any particular flavors?
ag2432: i like the strawberry and peach flavors
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Thanks for the suggestion! I myself find the Thick and Creamy too, well, thick and creamy. I prefer the regular Yoplait Light.

Lunch Lady Kimberly: So is anyone having anything good and healthy for lunch?

JenD: Lean Cuisine Panini with Tositos Multigrain Tortilla Chips. The chips aren't that healhy, but they're good. (3 points for 8 chips)
Lunch Lady Gretchen: If you're looking for a better chip and you don't mind the odd texture of the baked ones, try Guiltless Gourmet. They have a variety of flavors. I usually find them in the "hippy food" aisle.

Moderator: To answer Kimberly's question... I'm having my standard lunch today. A Lean Cuisine pizza (spinach and mushroom), fruit cup, yogurt and a cheese stick. And water!
Lunch Lady Kimberly: That sounds like a great lunch. I wish I would have brought something that good. I ate a salad from the employee restaurant.

Moderator: Kimberly, you wrote about those Genisoy chip things in the newsletter today. Are those really good? Do they taste like chips?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I've been a fan of these for a while -- I love the BBQ flavor. They're definitely nothing like chips, more like a better version of rice cakes. MUCH better version
Lunch Lady Kimberly: They are a nice little snack that are crunchy like chips but cause less damage. I love the sea salt crisps but disliked the salt and vinegar ones.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: I notice that I've been drinking twice as much water as normal. This summer heat (mixed with stupid allergies) has me needing extra fluids these days.

Moderator: Um... just so you all know... we're having fire alarms going off here. If we have to break off the chat unexpectedly or there's a long lag, it's because we're doing a fire drill!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: A little fire won't keep me down!
Kimberly: Or we could be leaving a burning building. Sometimes fire alarms are real. Just ask a firefighter.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Kimberly: Are you saying you're a firefighter?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: We've had many false fire alarms in our building and people don't even look up from their screens anymore. I'm just saying one day the fire alarm could be real.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: OK, good point. And I should enjoy any reason to get up from my desk and stretch my legs.

Moderator: Ladies, tell us about what you've got next on your plate to review.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Next we have Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice pizzas -- they both came out with new ones.

JenD: I'm excited about reading about these. I have not liked Healthy Choice pizzas in the past.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Sneak preview: They've improved, but Lean Cuisine is still the frozen pizza Queen, in our opinion.

Moderator: The Ladies have time for another question or two... send 'em in now

beachlizard: Where can I find the Genisoy chips . . . I've never heard of them?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: I bought mine at Whole Foods and Gretchen found some at Kroger.

Trying2Eat: How have you gotten the restaurants to part with the calorie and fat gram numbers? Usually when I ask I get a blank look from the waitstaff.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Check for it online before you go. Restaurants often don't have it available in person.

Moderator: OK, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for your questions, and thanks to the Ladies for chatting.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: If you have any suggestions for our next chat, please e-mail us at breakroom@dallasnews.com. We want to know if these are meeting your expectations. A different time? More specific topic? Expert guest chatters? Let us know.