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How do you feel about the NYC law which requires that chain restaurants post the calories of the foods they serve on the menu? Have you even noticed the calories there on the menu? If so, did it lead you to adjust your order at all?
I personally love this requirement and feel it is beneficial without being too costly or burdensome for the restaurant chain. We get this information on the foods we buy at the grocery store, so why not on the menu too? NYC is really ahead of the game on this one!
I actually dont care about calories, I count carbs not calories.
I prefer to see carbs listed, but still when I go out the least that I want to be reading is calories, its depressing. When I go out to eat I dont care about the calories I only care about having fun with my family and friends. Is no way to live if you really want to eat something and you end up ordering something else because of the calories.
I think it is a good thing as well, since it can help people tailor the portion for their needs. I have been out with people I know who order a full entree, and ask for a salad plate. They put what fits on the salad plate as their dinner and take the rest home for another meal. It's not cost or anything like that as to why she does this, it's a healthy habit she developed along the way so as not to over eat all the time when out.
I like to see the calories, but then again I am in a minority when it comes to eating most foods, since I need to know what's in the dish as opposed to the caloric count. But, it is a good thing to have on the menu, especially if it begins to make people aware of what they are eating at a given meal. There's a reason why we have epidemic proportions of obesity and related illness in this country, and it's not due to plates of roasted vegetables.
One of my professors is actually one of the lead researchers/experts that brought this initiative to fruition. He says that, disappointingly, initial results show that overall New Yorkers have NOT changed their eating habits as a result of posting calories on menus. However, they are going to do further studies to see if this changes when isolating for variables of class; e.g. do the middle class respond differently than those who are lower-income? He predicts that they will see differences there.
Oooohh I feel special giving information straight from the source.
I think it is a good thing as well, since it can help people tailor the portion for their needs. I have been out with people I know who order a full entree, and ask for a salad plate. They put what fits on the salad plate as their dinner and take the rest home for another meal. It's not cost or anything like that as to why she does this, it's a healthy habit she developed along the way so as not to over eat all the time when out.
I like to see the calories, but then again I am in a minority when it comes to eating most foods, since I need to know what's in the dish as opposed to the caloric count. But, it is a good thing to have on the menu, especially if it begins to make people aware of what they are eating at a given meal. There's a reason why we have epidemic proportions of obesity and related illness in this country, and it's not due to plates of roasted vegetables.
Yes the US has an overweight problem, but we are not alone, others countries are starting to have the same problem, like the UK.
Hate it! I wasn't aware of it until I wandered into Pain Quotidien and saw the numbers on all the desserts.
It doesn't influence me directly, as I rarely eat in chain restaurants. But, although I know I'm in the minority with this, I think that people should be taking responsibility for their choices, including food choices, and that means educating themselves, not having government tend to them in this. (Now that I think of it, this isn't a great analogy, but it's like the conservatives who, when a woman came in for an abortion, wanted to show her film of the fetus.)
Also, I believe we should be thinking of it as enjoyable food, not numbers. I think Pollan or someone did an article touching on this in the NYT magazine a while ago.
It influenced my decision this evening when I finally got a moment to myself to run some errands. I walked past a Dunkin Donuts and decided to go in for a few munchkins, though what I really desired was a creme filled donut. Well I noted one little munchkin was 80 calories and usually I eat 3 or 4 so I figured, what the heck I'll get the donut I want for 300 calories hehe. This was a first as usually I think the munchkins are less. I ended up getting a bag of Funyons and calling that dinner. I'm full now!
Its sort of shocking when you look at it, but I don't go to fast food places all the time, so when I go I sort of see it as treat. So I don't go in there calorie counting.
Plus calories only give you part of the picture. I think its sort of dumb like someone else pointed out that they only give you calories. But then how much stuff are they going to put up there, lol.
The REAL essential problem is that most people have NO CLUE how many calories they need each day to only MAINTAIN a given weight. There are studies with compelling data that show that most individuals overestimate the number of calories they require each day.
If one doesn't have a clue about the number of calories needed, how is one supposed to judge whether a specific menu item has too many calories?????
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