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Is requiring posting calories of menu items going to help reduce obesity?

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Replies

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    77% of the US population has smartphones. Can check on line if really care.

    http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/

    not everywhere has good internet and i put my phone away when eating out with friends.

    So much this!!

    When it's just my wife and I, frequently we'll keep our phones out as there are several games we play together while out-Like PoGo. But if there are other folks, the phones go away.
  • tklivory
    tklivory Posts: 46 Member
    Not as much as actually reducing portions in their meals would. I've gotten quite fond of some local cafes/restaurants that serve *gasp* properly portioned meals for a reasonable price. I just wish that mentality would spread to the chain restaurants that I used to love. Sometimes I just want a reasonable amount of chain specialty food, but that food doesn't work well for leftovers (like, say, anything with chips or seafood or other things), or I just don't want to have it again before the food goes bad.
  • ashlaura581
    ashlaura581 Posts: 8 Member
    I mean, it’s definitely made me think twice a few times
  • Charlene____
    Charlene____ Posts: 110 Member
    I find it to be helpful. But I'm already tracking. When I got to McDonald's, it's nice to know that a Medium Fry and Quarter Pounder is about 1000 calories. I log it, eat and enjoy it, get a stomach ache, but at least I have a rough estimate for what it's worth.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    edited October 2018
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    77% of the US population has smartphones. Can check on line if really care.

    http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/

    not everywhere has good internet and i put my phone away when eating out with friends.

    Or you could check the menu of the place you're going before you meet your friends and decide what you want.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,192 Member
    T
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    mbaker566 wrote: »
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    77% of the US population has smartphones. Can check on line if really care.

    http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/

    not everywhere has good internet and i put my phone away when eating out with friends.

    Or you could check the menu of the place you're going before you meet your friends and decide what you want.

    Yes, you can decide what to eat but if it is not a chain restaurant most likely that the calories and/or macros will not be listed.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,192 Member
    When I go to a restaurant and I'm choosing between options the highest calorie count will win. Calories are energy. I'm buying food to get energy. More calories; a better deal. Let's say, I'm looking at two sandwiches around the same price. The one with more calories is the one I will buy. I'll take half home and have a second meal out of it. That is the best bet for my diet and for my budget. It's better to have two meals for the price of one.

    And what to you do/eat when the menu doesn't have the nutritional information?
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    To the original question - yes and no. For some, it is helpful as you don't have to guess what calories are if you are serious about watching what you eat. Perhaps some people don't realize how many calories are in an item and this will help.

    On the flip side, you think a Big Mac is 1000 calories and find out its about half as many (540 if I remember correctly, which I may not), you may start to think it's OK to eat a little more if you aren't seriously counting calories. You end up in a snowball of eating more "lighter calorie" items and as a result eat more than you would have if you were guessing because you aren't really counting your calories.

    Ultimately, it will help those that are serious about fighting obesity (myself currently). To others (including myself in the past), it can end up being counter-productive.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    To the original question - yes and no. For some, it is helpful as you don't have to guess what calories are if you are serious about watching what you eat. Perhaps some people don't realize how many calories are in an item and this will help.

    On the flip side, you think a Big Mac is 1000 calories and find out its about half as many (540 if I remember correctly, which I may not), you may start to think it's OK to eat a little more if you aren't seriously counting calories. You end up in a snowball of eating more "lighter calorie" items and as a result eat more than you would have if you were guessing because you aren't really counting your calories.

    Ultimately, it will help those that are serious about fighting obesity (myself currently). To others (including myself in the past), it can end up being counter-productive.

    It's not the Big Mac by itself but when you look up the "as a meal" they have to show the upper limit of the giant drink, Super size fries and the Big Mac. That was where my eyes bugged out.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    No. It a regulation meant to kill business. It also harms many small businesses thatsell product into local restaurants thataddress part of chains. Among them, local microbreweries. Chains can't sell anything that doesn't have nutrition content labeled.
    It costs over $100k to have just one type of beer analyzed for nutrition content. Budman can absorb that. You local microbrewery cannot.

    I can understand the argument that this has a negative impact on businesses, but *meant* to kill businesses? You mean that proponents of calorie values on menus don't actually care about obesity but instead want a covert way to destroy American businesses and have decide to start with chain eateries? Why?

    Regulations are about doing someone somewhere some good. Sometimes it is more about the politician and his donors. It is a inevitable creep with the mindset the corporation is rich and can afford it. It is not done to kill businesses but that can be the result.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    When I go to a restaurant and I'm choosing between options the highest calorie count will win. Calories are energy. I'm buying food to get energy. More calories; a better deal. Let's say, I'm looking at two sandwiches around the same price. The one with more calories is the one I will buy. I'll take half home and have a second meal out of it. That is the best bet for my diet and for my budget. It's better to have two meals for the price of one.

    It depends on your goals. If you're trying to lose weight, you won't choose the higher calorie options.

    Another difference between me and you is that I never buy two of anything at a restaurant. I get fast food as a stop gap option, expecting to get a real meal when I get home. So it's always very little, on the rare occasions I go.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Not if you truly believe calories aren't the root cause of weight gain.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited October 2018
    When I go to a restaurant and I'm choosing between options the highest calorie count will win. Calories are energy. I'm buying food to get energy. More calories; a better deal. Let's say, I'm looking at two sandwiches around the same price. The one with more calories is the one I will buy. I'll take half home and have a second meal out of it. That is the best bet for my diet and for my budget. It's better to have two meals for the price of one.

    My sister once dated a guy who analysed everything he ate on a calorie per dollar basis :D The more calories per dollar the better.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    When I go to a restaurant and I'm choosing between options the highest calorie count will win. Calories are energy. I'm buying food to get energy. More calories; a better deal. Let's say, I'm looking at two sandwiches around the same price. The one with more calories is the one I will buy. I'll take half home and have a second meal out of it. That is the best bet for my diet and for my budget. It's better to have two meals for the price of one.

    My sister once dated a guy who analysed everything he ate on a calorie per dollar basis :D The more calories per dollar the better.

    A whole generation of "dirtbag" climbers lived by this principle. Would eat loads of butter & bread and similar high calorie cheap foods.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    hesn92 wrote: »
    When I go to a restaurant and I'm choosing between options the highest calorie count will win. Calories are energy. I'm buying food to get energy. More calories; a better deal. Let's say, I'm looking at two sandwiches around the same price. The one with more calories is the one I will buy. I'll take half home and have a second meal out of it. That is the best bet for my diet and for my budget. It's better to have two meals for the price of one.

    My sister once dated a guy who analysed everything he ate on a calorie per dollar basis :D The more calories per dollar the better.

    I can't imagine why he's not your current brother-in-law! :tongue:
  • kds10
    kds10 Posts: 452 Member
    I don't think so..I can only speak for myself but when I am not in the zone (trying to lose weight) I don't even care about calories. If I want a big mac and large fries, at that moment I could care less about how many calories I am eating.
  • jillybeansalad
    jillybeansalad Posts: 239 Member
    I actually do adjust what I order by taking it into consideration. I like having it right there. But, I doubt it will work as a whole.
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    edited October 2018
    Only if people care about the number of calories they eat.

    How many even understand how many they need, on average, to simply maintain?

    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/who-looks-at-menu-labels/383320/
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    So the answer to the title of this thread is NO?

    I can see that if only the non obesity are reading the menu posted calorie info to make sure they do not become obese then the info is not likely to change obesity rates.

    Thanks for sharing the article.
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