Eating at restaurants used to be fun, now it's kind of stressful.
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Well, a few restaurant chains lost my business when they chose not to publish the nutritional content of their meals.
And that is your choice to make. Myself I think I might boycott a few of my restaurants if nutritional info was glaring at me when I was trying to decide cause sometimes I just don't care.
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That doesn't change the fact that it places an unnecessary burden and expense on the business, which is only further aggravated by the fact that most of their customers don't want the info in the first place.
I don't think there's evidence that customers don't "want".
There is plenty, however, that they really don't care much.
Fair enough.
I would still hypothesize (and I admit, it's a hypothesis), that if you asked customers at a fine dining, local business restaurant if they want to see the calories they would say no. Because, it's a treat. No one wants to go to a fancy restaurant and spend the money to censor themselves.0 -
The issue isn't stupidity, it is knowledge versus ignorance. I'm not sure why people are insisting that living in ignorance is more "responsible" than having information available.
again- you are not ignorant- you KNOW when you walk in there- it's not going to be home made- cutting corners to save calories- it's going to be butter and salt rich- delicious and much bigger portions.
that is the knowledge you NEED to have- and you refuse to accept that.I eat out probably about 2 - 4 times a month and log it and, aside from the sodium affecting my water weight, my overall weight loss has not been affected. Inaccuracys would self-correct over time, as consumers with concern for others would bring them to the attention of the restaurant (with a lawsuit if necessary..
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you're absolutely correct- and with that knowledge- I am capable of managing/manipulating my diet equally as well as you- and I eat out WEEKLY- and usually we go hit up all you can eat sushi or all you can eat brazillian at LEAST once a month- if not twice.
No, I really don't KNOW what is in the food or how it is prepared. I'm not a professional chef, I don't work at that restaurant, and I'm not psychic. When I prepare my own versions of the food I see at the restaurant it is almost always lower calorie and much lower fat, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I can guestimate, but that's hit or miss, and I can see how that would be stressful for some (especially if they've recently read posts slamming inaccurate logging).
Is the sushi thing what they call food bragging? I'm not sure what the point is...Some people have smaller deficits than others, so....let's just be gentle and supportive of people trying to improve their health (taking personal responsibility)?
I don't agree with anything in the previous quote. The biggest gift a person can give herself is knowledge, because that cuts a whole lot of dependencies. Estimate when you're not sure (if many have learned to do so before you it isn't impossible for you to learn those survival skills either) and bake the uncertainty into your weekly/monthly calorie counting.
Take charge and depend on your own judgement. Read and learn, use the scale when cooking for yourself and pay attention. That is a lifestyle change in this context if you ask me. You shouldn't depend on kindness of others, but on self-kindness; what you can do for yourself and how you can treat you to become the best me you can be.
Go with the flow, everything isn't ruined if you happen to underestimate calories eaten at a restaurant. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil or butter, if you think the restaurant kitchen may have been generous in the fats department. It doesn't have to be more difficult than this, but if you enjoy making things complicated, do remember not everyone else does.0 -
GiveMeCoffee wrote: »Well, a few restaurant chains lost my business when they chose not to publish the nutritional content of their meals.
And that is your choice to make. Myself I think I might boycott a few of my restaurants if nutritional info was glaring at me when I was trying to decide cause sometimes I just don't care.
If I were a chef, such a customer would actually be a real horror to cross paths with. It's like going to the dentist and wanting to know all the components of a filling, or to the hair dresser and asking what all the stuff is in the shampoo etc. that she's using, including the watt of the dryer so you're certain she won't burn your hair.0 -
GiveMeCoffee wrote: »Well, a few restaurant chains lost my business when they chose not to publish the nutritional content of their meals.
And that is your choice to make. Myself I think I might boycott a few of my restaurants if nutritional info was glaring at me when I was trying to decide cause sometimes I just don't care.
If I were a chef, such a customer would actually be a real horror to cross paths with.
You see these people at farmers markets all the time. They want - nay, EXPECT - the full life cycle story on every ingredient in a $1.50 croissant.
Avoid such customers at all costs...
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GiveMeCoffee wrote: »Well, a few restaurant chains lost my business when they chose not to publish the nutritional content of their meals.
And that is your choice to make. Myself I think I might boycott a few of my restaurants if nutritional info was glaring at me when I was trying to decide cause sometimes I just don't care.
If I were a chef, such a customer would actually be a real horror to cross paths with. It's like going to the dentist and wanting to know all the components of a filling, or to the hair dresser and asking what all the stuff is in the shampoo etc. that she's using, including the watt of the dryer so you're certain she won't burn your hair.
It would be the worst! Just think about how such a regulation, and fear of litigation, would stifle innovation?0 -
The issue isn't stupidity, it is knowledge versus ignorance. I'm not sure why people are insisting that living in ignorance is more "responsible" than having information available.
again- you are not ignorant- you KNOW when you walk in there- it's not going to be home made- cutting corners to save calories- it's going to be butter and salt rich- delicious and much bigger portions.
that is the knowledge you NEED to have- and you refuse to accept that.I eat out probably about 2 - 4 times a month and log it and, aside from the sodium affecting my water weight, my overall weight loss has not been affected. Inaccuracys would self-correct over time, as consumers with concern for others would bring them to the attention of the restaurant (with a lawsuit if necessary..)
you're absolutely correct- and with that knowledge- I am capable of managing/manipulating my diet equally as well as you- and I eat out WEEKLY- and usually we go hit up all you can eat sushi or all you can eat brazillian at LEAST once a month- if not twice.
No, I really don't KNOW what is in the food or how it is prepared. I'm not a professional chef, I don't work at that restaurant, and I'm not psychic. When I prepare my own versions of the food I see at the restaurant it is almost always lower calorie and much lower fat, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I can guestimate, but that's hit or miss, and I can see how that would be stressful for some (especially if they've recently read posts slamming inaccurate logging).
Is the sushi thing what they call food bragging? I'm not sure what the point is...Some people have smaller deficits than others, so....let's just be gentle and supportive of people trying to improve their health (taking personal responsibility)?
You have enough education and input or the capabilities to figure it out and make and educated deductive guess. You know this walking in that it's going to be higher calorie- and you know that a heavy sauce laden dish is going to be more calorie dense than a grilled chicken breast and a side of veggies.
This isn't sending Apollo into space my friend- is calories.
Secondly- have you looked at my diary- it's only 1650. I'm not some she hulk eating 5 K a day.
it's not food bragging- I'm making a point- I can make it work- I eat out significantly more often and I eat out at high calorie places- and I still am capable of making educated decisions and not get fat.
sreiously- it is NOT. that hard.0 -
GiveMeCoffee wrote: »Well, a few restaurant chains lost my business when they chose not to publish the nutritional content of their meals.
And that is your choice to make. Myself I think I might boycott a few of my restaurants if nutritional info was glaring at me when I was trying to decide cause sometimes I just don't care.
If I were a chef, such a customer would actually be a real horror to cross paths with. It's like going to the dentist and wanting to know all the components of a filling, or to the hair dresser and asking what all the stuff is in the shampoo etc. that she's using, including the watt of the dryer so you're certain she won't burn your hair.
Exactly!
These are not the customers I would want, so I would not tailor my business to attract those customers.0 -
Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.0 -
Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.
Ah, more tips to become a dream customer. Scrape the delicately and beautifully plated sauce all to one side and ignore the fact that it took several hours to reduce as well as season to perfection... It's like saying hello to Mona Lisa and telling her to smile more or listening to Mozart and complaining there are too many notes.0 -
Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.
Ah, more tips to become a dream customer. Scrape the delicately and beautifully plated sauce all to one side and ignore the fact that it took several hours to reduce as well as season to perfection...
What does that have to do with what I posted?0 -
Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.
Ah, more tips to become a dream customer. Scrape the delicately and beautifully plated sauce all to one side and ignore the fact that it took several hours to reduce as well as season to perfection...
What does that have to do with what I posted?
The sauce you mentioned I was a bit sarcastic, not against you, but taking the poor sauce, which is an elaborate creation of art usually, and leaving it uneaten. Will make you really popular in the kitchen. 0 -
Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.
Ah, more tips to become a dream customer. Scrape the delicately and beautifully plated sauce all to one side and ignore the fact that it took several hours to reduce as well as season to perfection...
What does that have to do with what I posted?
The sauce you mentioned I was a bit sarcastic, not against you, but taking the poor sauce, which is an elaborate creation of art usually, and leaving it uneaten. Will make you really popular in the kitchen.
Again, where did I say anything about scraping sauces, etc?
I said nothing of the kind...
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I just wanted to post this here because it's on topic and interesting: http://www.nber.org/papers/w15648.pdf
Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants
Bryan Bollinger, Phillip Leslie, Alan Sorensen
NBER Working Paper No. 15648
Issued in January 2010
NBER Program(s): HC HE IO
We study the impact of mandatory calorie posting on consumers' purchase decisions, using detailed data from Starbucks.0 -
That doesn't change the fact that it places an unnecessary burden and expense on the business, which is only further aggravated by the fact that most of their customers don't want the info in the first place.
I don't think there's evidence that customers don't "want".
There is plenty, however, that they really don't care much.
Fair enough.
I would still hypothesize (and I admit, it's a hypothesis), that if you asked customers at a fine dining, local business restaurant if they want to see the calories they would say no. Because, it's a treat. No one wants to go to a fancy restaurant and spend the money to censor themselves.
I live in New York, where we have had calories posted on fast food and chain restaurant menus for a while now, and all I hear is people complaining about how depressing it is to see how many calories are in what they are about to eat. They knew what they were going to order was more calories than they should be eating, seeing the number doesn't stop them from ordering it, it just makes them feel bad.
I just think it's a lot of work and bureaucracy for something that most people will ignore anyway. And I still think that there is so much variation in how an item is cooked and served on the fly that the numbers would be vague generalities anyway.0 -
how's that working out?
people still smoking themselves into an early grave.. it put a minor dent in the smoking population.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4843a2.htm
"An important accomplishment of the second half of the 20th century has been the reduction of smoking prevalence among persons aged greater than or equal to 18 years from 42.4% in 1965 to 24.7% in 1997, with the rate for men (27.6%) higher than for women (22.1%)"
Smoking has been reduced almost by half. That's huge. Yay us
kyta, forget it, this is an ideologically influenced conversation on a largely US site.-1 -
I just wanted to post this here because it's on topic and interesting: http://www.nber.org/papers/w15648.pdf
Calorie Posting in Chain Restaurants
Bryan Bollinger, Phillip Leslie, Alan Sorensen
NBER Working Paper No. 15648
Issued in January 2010
NBER Program(s): HC HE IO
We study the impact of mandatory calorie posting on consumers' purchase decisions, using detailed data from Starbucks.
Hmmm what happened during the study period? Oh yeah the recession. How any times that was mentioned? Zero0 -
how's that working out?
people still smoking themselves into an early grave.. it put a minor dent in the smoking population.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4843a2.htm
"An important accomplishment of the second half of the 20th century has been the reduction of smoking prevalence among persons aged greater than or equal to 18 years from 42.4% in 1965 to 24.7% in 1997, with the rate for men (27.6%) higher than for women (22.1%)"
Smoking has been reduced almost by half. That's huge. Yay us
kyta, forget it, this is an ideologically influenced conversation on a largely US site.
Oh boy. Here we go.
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Good grief. Anybody that worried about calorie counts should not be ordering anything fried, sauteed, or covered in sauce to begin with.
Once those are eliminated, it's really not hard to get reasonable guesses on the rest.
Ah, more tips to become a dream customer. Scrape the delicately and beautifully plated sauce all to one side and ignore the fact that it took several hours to reduce as well as season to perfection...
What does that have to do with what I posted?
The sauce you mentioned I was a bit sarcastic, not against you, but taking the poor sauce, which is an elaborate creation of art usually, and leaving it uneaten. Will make you really popular in the kitchen.
Again, where did I say anything about scraping sauces, etc?
I said nothing of the kind...
I know you didn't and I haven't claimed so either. I simply took it off in a tangent, but for logic's sake I quoted the starting point, your comment.0 -
I make waitresses sad. Because of my reduced stomach, I typically only eat half of what is offered...and they NEVER understand why my beverage remains untouched. (Post surgery I have the choice of beverage or meal, but never both at the same time).
Believe me, it is simpler to take the offered water than to explain why I don't want it.0
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