I’ve seen I don’t know how many documentaries in the last few months about learning how to eat healthy, and the ones that concern me is about how restaurants are being checked by government-funded agencies for their safety measures in preparing foods for the public. Most, or all, of these on this short list have had many lawsuits from patrons who have either became very ill or died after eating their foods.

What happens after millions of dollars in lawsuits, most say they will improve their ways of handling-or worse yet, they begin closing some, or all of their restaurants. Their violations include using fake meat, re-using left over foods for the next day, not using fresh ingredients where some use precooked frozen meats, not keeping sanitary kitchens, using too much sodium salt, and/or sugar to enhance foods to last longer and/or look better or taste better.

Not only are these ongoing violations found by unscheduled inspections, but by interviewing former employees. No, all chain restaurants aren't guilty, but how do we know which ones are? So, when I eat out, I ALWAYS pray over my food, asking God's protection Here is the list. Yes, I've been eating at some of these with confidence. After this list is a list of the safer restaurants-which, by the way, all have fewer items on their menus than these other restaurants, making it less complicated to handle.

Documented list to consider: Outback (meat improperly kept), Red Lobster, nothing is fresh; Panera Bread (most breads are kept frozen until used); TGIF Friday's (precooked, then frozen); Bob Evans (most items reheated); Denny's (using recycled food); P.F. Chang's (varied issues); Ruby Tuesday's, unsanitary kitchens with deteriorated food; Chipolte (unsafe practices); Olive Garden, use too much sodium, veggies reheated, unsafe kitchens; Cracker Barrel, reheated frozen and left-over foods ....

Through inspections, these restaurants have been found safer, with much fewer problems: Waffle House, freshly cooked; Mom & Pops, no frozen foods, (Cooked from scratch); Chic-fil-A, using no frozen meat, freshly made daily; 5 Guys, fresh prepared daily; Culver's, fresh daily; In & Out Burger (considered the best).

Most violators are suffering from millions of dollars in lawsuits. Some, or all, are inspected by the FDA. I decided to go further in researching, and didn't like what I found about the ones on the first list. Of course, we know human error is always possible. In larger restaurants, good managers have more stressful responsibilities in seeing that all employees are going by all the rules and regulations, but having large menus allow for more mistakes, as was reported.

Now, when we hear on the news of closings of restaurants in our nation, we know it's not all about a decreasing number of patrons.

Have a blessed week... and don't forget to pray over your food, WHEREVER you eat.