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Is requiring posting calories of menu items going to help reduce obesity?
Replies
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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.7 -
No. Just as the majority living in the Western world are in financial debt, the majority are going to be obese. It's the price of living with abundance.
It will help those who sacrifice their present for their future.
Exactly this.
And it warms my heart when public policy supports sensible behavior of people who are actually trying to do the right things (based on a view to not only the present but the future).
Maybe it's just that they're more publicized, but it seems like public polcies in this realm more often take forms like, say, a nanny ban on giant cups of sugary soda pop.
Will it help reduce obesity? Not very much. But it's a useful brick in the foundation for those who want to reduce their own.
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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.3 -
Counting calories has certainly helped me to lose weight. I've lost 122 pounds being mindful of what and how much food goes into my body. Every time I go to a restaurant, I find the calorie count extremely useful in deciding what I will eat. "That burger is 1,350 calories!?! Nevermind, maybe I'll have this instead". Calorie content listings on menus actually make my life easier. I think every restaurant should list the calories on the menu, but that's just my two cents.
We have an obesity problem in this country not because of restaurants posting calories but because not many people these days seem to have a genuine interest in living a healthy lifestyle. We can't force someone to make a healthy change, they need to arrive at that conclusion on their own. We can preach about healthy living til we're blue in the face, but it won't do anything unless that person truly wants to change. We all have a choice to make, good or bad, and that responsibility is solely our own.6 -
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.2
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I mean, it’s definitely made me think twice a few times3
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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.3
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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.3 -
TPackerjohn 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.3 -
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.15 -
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.
According to this, your $100k is off by a factor of 100. Is is a burden for a business, sure, but unless I'm really missing something, not to the extent mentioned.
http://www.nutridata.com/feeschedule.asp9 -
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.9
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marilynbeth2 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.
And what to you do/eat when the menu doesn't have the nutritional information?0 -
That article is... interesting.Moreover, the researchers found, people usually put back on more weight than they'd lost. This cruel twist is due to the fact that a person's metabolic rate slows down to accommodate semi-starvation, but it doesn't bounce back, resulting in a stubbornly depressed metabolism. To maintain that weight loss, it appears a person must restrict calories for life — a state of deprivation that, as it turns out, few humans can sustain.
They're acting like cutting your calories to a reasonable level is some terrible burden, only achievable by herculean strength and monk-like levels of asceticism.
But yeah, requiring calorie information will help my obesity, but that's because I've already committed to paying attention to calorie information. For people who aren't already paying attention, this won't do much at all.
The article they cite for that section you quoted is from 1959! Couldn't they find any research a little bit more contemporary? lol
Yeah, our genes and bodies have radically changed since then.
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marilynbeth2 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.
That doesn't take into account that a higher calorie meal split into several meals would not be a good deal hunger-wise. If that was the case, everyone would be buying nothing but oil because it's the best deal for the money and no one would be buying vegetables because the price per calorie sucks.14 -
I remember running seven miles and my running app said I have burned 1000 calories. Later that day I was looking at a big Mac meal at 1500 calories. I walked out and never went back. So it may help but why not put pressure on major restaurants to post calories and leave the mom and pop ones alone. The big chains can easily be looked up and most of us can understand a chillie cheese burger with fries and a side of onion rings is probably not a diet dish. I say keep government regulations out of it.12
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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?14 -
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.0 -
bigbandjohn wrote: »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.2 -
janejellyroll 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.3
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