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Ontario Adds Calories to Restaurant Menus

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Replies

  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Human error will play a huge roll here.
    Subway sub, lets say 400cal with a table spoon of mayo. Now, ever see a subway employee measure anything with a spoon or a scale? This sub can quickly become a 600cal sub with a simple 3 second squeez of that mayo bottle etc.

    True. However it will still provide a relative ranking of the available choices

    And if you're that concerned about the higher calorie items being left up to human error, which will happen no matter how well trained, skip it. Problem solved.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,148 Member
    I appreciate it now because when new foods come out, the nutritional info isn't on the website, but the calorie number on the case is at least something to go on.
  • EricaCraigie
    EricaCraigie Posts: 1,396 Member
    Yes a good idea! Will make some people think twice about items they assumed to be healthy but aren't. Went to Tim Hortons the other day and was surprised to see it (as I don't go to fast food)
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    EricaCraigie wrote: »
    Yes a good idea! Will make some people think twice about items they assumed to be healthy but aren't. Went to Tim Hortons the other day and was surprised to see it (as I don't go to fast food)

    Yep. Some foods aren't as terribly high-calorie as I thought. And then there's Timothy's red velvet cake at 995 per slice. (And yes, it's about twice the size of a slice I'd cut if it were my cake, but if it were my cake it probably wouldn't have inch-thick frosting, etc.)
  • RaenaLynn
    RaenaLynn Posts: 87 Member
    Went out to dinner last night to find they had cals on the menu. Wish I had known. Would have saved me time from prelogging the night before. I wish all restaurants did this. Would make eating out world's easier.

    I do try to overestimate what cals I eat at a restaurant so I don't bust my calories. I quick add anywhere from 20% to 30% of the meal's total calories to try and account for variables like extra cooking oil, those things. :smiley:
  • markrgeary1
    markrgeary1 Posts: 853 Member
    I love the idea.
  • Shawshankcan
    Shawshankcan Posts: 900 Member
    I hate this idea...I'm still going to eat the food, I just don't want to feel guilty about it when I go for a second order.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    They have that in a lot of chain places here (Chicago), so much that I just expect it, there might as well be a law. (And isn't the US one in effect or soon to be?)

    I like it, but I don't think it makes a difference except for those of us who pay attention anyway.

    Precisely.

    It's nice, but I'll still go to restaurants that don't have it - since the one-off places are often some of the best.

    I wouldn't expect it to make much difference to the general population. At least, not alone. Perhaps combined with other nutrition education efforts it might help. There was a study done when McD's initially put calories on their menu showing no significant difference in patterns of ordering before or after.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    Shawshankcan wrote: »
    I hate this idea...I'm still going to eat the food, I just don't want to feel guilty about it when I go for a second order.

    it puts things into perspective for a lot of people who are obese and "don't eat that much" thinking they have some metabolic disorder or are in starvation mode. Sure you only ate a poutine and dinner, the Poutine set you back 1350... maybe people will be a little more aware now.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    They have that in a lot of chain places here (Chicago), so much that I just expect it, there might as well be a law. (And isn't the US one in effect or soon to be?)

    I like it, but I don't think it makes a difference except for those of us who pay attention anyway.

    Precisely.

    It's nice, but I'll still go to restaurants that don't have it - since the one-off places are often some of the best.

    I wouldn't expect it to make much difference to the general population. At least, not alone. Perhaps combined with other nutrition education efforts it might help. There was a study done when McD's initially put calories on their menu showing no significant difference in patterns of ordering before or after.

    I mostly don't go to restaurants with it either. If I'm going out to eat it's rare I am going to a chain place with all the great local places here. Where it's helpful is if you need to grab a quick lunch and are out or don't have food with you or are with people for work (but it's not a nicer sit down kind of thing). Something like Pret or various other chains are great with the calories AND some good options.

    And that's where I think it might actually have a more significant effect. I know from past experience that it's easy to just not look is you aren't counting calories (or not really have a good sense what it means), but I think when you have to list calories places have more pressure/incentive to have at least some stuff that has reasonable calorie counts, since they know SOME people will care.

    Will that help with obesity overall? Probably not, but it's selfishly better for those of us who care, again. ;-)
  • Shawshankcan
    Shawshankcan Posts: 900 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    Shawshankcan wrote: »
    I hate this idea...I'm still going to eat the food, I just don't want to feel guilty about it when I go for a second order.

    If you are going to eat the food anyways, why feel guilty about it? Just eat it and dont care for or read the caloric content.

    ...its a joke.

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