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 Have you heard that a judge in New York City has ruled that calories must be listed next to prices on menus of chain restaurants with at least 15 outlets nationwide? My gut instinct is to be annoyed and appalled. After all, we've become a diet culture and l once overheard an 8-year-old girl talk about whether or not she could justify eating dessert, since she's lost some weight playing sports. That's messed up! Part of dealing with my own disordered eating required me to stop thinking about calories and whether or not I "deserved" dessert, but rather listening to my body and desensitizing the concept of vegetables=diet=deprivation. Would being faced with a 1,800-calorie hot fudge brownie sundae send me reeling back into the crazy food-phobic mindset? Or could I treat the number like a tool, a piece of necessary unemotional information, just like the price on the menu? And then I think back to my shock and dismay when I found out that the roasted garlic hummus I thought was a reasonable benign healthy choice of a snack actually had 800 calories in it, without even counting the pita chips I was using as a hummus delivery device. I had chosen the hummus because I thought it was a good, filling choice, but 800 calories? I would have been more satisfied with some seriously dark chocolate. And everyone knows that if you want to watch calories, you stay the heck away from the taco salad. It may be full of veggies, but the meat, cheese, sour cream and fried salad bowl will blow the calories out of the water. I think about the last time I bought a car: at first I could afford it, but then I found out that there were mark-ups and taxes and service charges and shipping and handling and an extended warranty and then oy vey, bottom line was a lot higher than I anticipated. In fact, if I had known walking into the dealership how much the car would have ended up costing, I probably would have chosen a less luxurious car. So in short, I guess I'd prefer to know exactly how many calories are in my onion rings or turkey burger. After all, forewarned is forearmed, and this is no different or emotional than the calories listed on the side of a package of Pop Tarts. But what do you think? Would knowing the caloric content of a menu item affect how you order or enjoy yourself at restaurants? The comments want to know if you're going to finish those fries. 6 CommentsLeave a comment |
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I think it would affect how I order, but wouldn't affect what I order. But then, I'm the girl who will finagle her calories to get in half a piece of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory.
Honestly, though, I wish all restaurants had to provide nutritional information. I keep track of my calories every day and really appreciate the restaurants that provide the info, whether online or at the restaurant. I always wonder what the restaurants that don't provide nutritional info in any context are trying to hide. Like we don't know that stuffed pizza is a thousand calories? Sometimes I think they're trying to hide the fact that their "healthy" options aren't so healthy after all.
I think the restaurant should decide what if anything it would like to make public.
Then the customers could decide whether they want to eat there or not.
Enough of this nanny state garbage.
Well I know Burger King and McDonald’s already list that stuff on their websites. And I would assume most other fast food places do the same.
I think putting calories on the menu is a waste of time and money. People that actually care can and will find the numbers and the people that don’t care aren’t going to start because the numbers are on the menu.
I think it's a great idea, because it allows you to hold yourself accountable for your food choices. If you're gonna order the 1,500 calorie burger, then own it, don't pretend you're not doing it. If you want a grilled chicken salad, own that too, ya know? I know we live in a diet culture, but we also live in a culture where restaurants can do whatever they please with nutrition and we just have to guess. I was in Subway the other day, and I was happy to know that adding double meat to my turkey sub added 300 calories.
People who are actively trying to change their health/weight are going to take the time to look for nutritional information, no matter the location of it.
If people aren't actively trying to manage their health/weight then they aren't going to give two shits about the calorie info tacked on next to the price.
I think a better approach would be to require the restaurants to have literature on hand/easily accessible for people who request it. As someone trying to get healthy and manage weight, I want to know more about the food I'm putting in my mouth than JUST the calorie content.
There have been many times where I wished I were one of those people who doesn't know the calorie counts for things. I had a friend once who didn't know, for instance, the average number of calories in an apple or a glass of milk.
Counting calories is not particularly healthy in a mental sense, but at the same time, all the gross processed junk that we eat on a daily basis has way more calories than its non-processed counterparts.