In New York City, we see the amount of calories posted on all menu items in restaurants. How about 1,440 calories for the Quesidilla Burger at Applebee's? Or would you like 1,570 calories in the guise of the Fried Macaroni and Cheese from the Cheesecake Factory? Makes me think twice before ordering.
Check out this Time Magazine article by Sean Gregory. It mentions consideration by the U.S. Senate to make it a law to post calories on restaurant menus nationwide. I think that's a great idea.
There's at least one study that found that calorie postings count. Quoting from the Time article, "Technomic, a food-industry consultancy, 82% of New York City residents
said the new highly visible nutrition information has affected their
ordering. Of those people, 71% said they sought out lower-calorie
options, and 51% said they no longer ordered certain items."
How do you weigh-in on calorie counts on menus? Please comment and tell us whether or not your ordering would be affected by knowing your Whopper had 1,250 calories, or 62.5% of the recommended 2,000-calories-per-day diet.
OH -- and PLEASE TWITTER WITH ME at www.Twitter.com/drnorrischumley yes, I know it's trendy, but it's also really fun and a way to get a lot of free helpful tips!
Calorie Counts at Restaurants Count
Tuesday July 7, 2009
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About Dr. Norris Chumley Satisfied Life
Dr. Norris J. Chumley is a doctor of theology and the arts, and has lost 160 pounds and maintained it over 16 years with God's help. The author/host of "The Joy of Weight Loss: a Spiritual Guide to Easy Fitness," and many TV programs and DVD's, including "Spiritual Guide to Weight Loss" and "30 Days to Spiritual Well Being," Dr. Norris also does private consultations, leads workshops and lectures nationally. He has been a featured Beliefnet daily columnist and contributing editor for many years.
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Would I like to see calorie count on menus? yes, I think it would help people make informed decisions.
Do I want the government to pass a law enforcing this? No. They are too involved in personal decisions already.
It might be a stretch to have a mom-and-pop place submit their menu to lab analysis so I think non-chains should be able to extrapolate the data from standard calorie amounts applied to their serving size.
That said, I'm all for nationwide calorie count posting.
I had to laugh about the percentage of "recommended 2,000-calories-per-day diet." Recommended if you want to be HUGE! Or if you're a six foot guy....Those of us who are petite women maintain on 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day--what those dishes total is a day's worth of calories--or MORE.
I think there are a lot of things that the government NEEDS to work on such as unemployment, affordable health care (a lot of which wouldn't be needed if we didn't consume as many calories as we do). I would personally revisit restaurants that cared enough about their clientele to give us calorie counts.
It would be nice to know the calorie counts of menu items. ESPECIALLY at smaller cafes that don't have websites with the nutrition info. As it is, I have to try to figure it out by ingredients, and don't always guess correctly, I'm sure. Government forcing them to post calories? Nah. That would just force small cafes to either close or thier prices will skyrocket.
The government involvement to "protect" and "preserve" our society should not infringe on our choices. ON the other hand, why not put out general information and leave the choice up to the individual? How about those people who don't know or care what what they eat? It could get very sticky for those folks. There are ethic groups who have certain standards of foods and cooking that would be very hard to regulate. Making a way of providing safe walking trails and exercise programs that are low cost or free would help keep most of us in better shape. Hope we can preserve our wonderful freedom and cultures. I personally cook at home about 90% of the time. Nancy R.
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