It should be required by federal law...

Shropshire1959

No. If they don't provide it and you're not capable of doing a rough estimate, don't eat there.

I find it a bit frustrating that people think they should have the right to dictate how a private establishment conducts its business.

Next you'll want to force every restaurant to weigh and measure each ingredient in each of it's dishes and then weigh out the portions just so that nutritional information is even more accurate.

Complete strangers are not responsible for your weight loss efforts.

Spot on

Sarah4fitness

Even restaurants that DO offer nutrition information guides aren't 100% accurate. The cooks aren't measuring off 1 tbsp of mayo and 30g of lettuce for each portion. Sorry, it doesn't happen. Ever.
If you're concerned with EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE EATING, eat at home. It's the only way to be certain of what you're putting into your body.

Or go out, and do your best to estimate. I carry a pocket scale. I order things "dry" or specify exactly what I need. I still estimate overages from eating out, because that's what happens. If I need to be measuring everything to the ounce or gram, I don't eat out.

FireOpalCO

See, thing is, the serving size is what the manufacturer is telling you is an appropriate amount to eat in one... serving.

Not to be a pain, but do you really think that with as much money food companies spend on research just for color schemes, font, and buzzwords that "what is appropriate to eat" is the driving force? Or "what makes us look good" and justifies placement into the cart?

The new law is actually more of a capitulation. At the end of the day you still have to eat what's appropriate to either lose or maintain weight. Just because people eat a whole bag of chips doesn't mean it's right.

Again, this isn't about the full size bags sold in the grocery store. This is about the little convenience packs sold in gas stations and near checkout. They look like "single serving bags" but don't actually contain one serving. The King Size Double Stuff Oreos for example are sold at checkout. You might think "okay King Size, well that's probably two servings." No, it's actually four servings of two cookies each. They list "140 calories" when in reality the package contains 560. (I picked that because it was one of the items in my son's Easter Basket.) That little SHORT container of Pringles that you see in gas stations (not the standard size one)? That's 2.5 servings, lists 150 calories, in reality 375.

ksuh999

Or you could just take personal responsibility for what you shove in your gob.

It's really hard to do that without the proper information.

No it's not .. don't know what's in it ? .. Don't eat it if you are that worried about a single meal.

Your body YOUR choice. It's NO ONE else's responsibility. Keep the government doing the job they are paid for, not baby sitting.

Okay then.

What's the caloric content of this?



Because fark if I know.

Strokingdiction

No. If they don't provide it and you're not capable of doing a rough estimate, don't eat there.

I find it a bit frustrating that people think they should have the right to dictate how a private establishment conducts its business.

What's your opinion on the myriad of regulations regarding safe food handling? And employee rights?

Do you see what I wrote? Let's call it an apple.

Do you see what you wrote? Let's call it an orange.

Another way to describe your question would be a red herring. I'm glad I can eat a burger with a relative certainty that the meat was stored properly and I shouldn't get food poisoning. I'm glad that children aren't using their little hands to fix big dangerous machinery.

Not wanting one ridiculous regulation does not mean ALL regulations are ridiculous.

FireOpalCO

Or you could just take personal responsibility for what you shove in your gob.

It's really hard to do that without the proper information.

No it's not .. don't know what's in it ? .. Don't eat it if you are that worried about a single meal.

Your body YOUR choice. It's NO ONE else's responsibility. Keep the government doing the job they are paid for, not baby sitting.

Okay then.

What's the caloric content of this?



Because fark if I know.

Well it will be on the floor in a second, so we can catch in in a blender and find out! :laugh:

Strokingdiction

Again, this isn't about the full size bags sold in the grocery store. This is about the little convenience packs sold in gas stations and near checkout. They look like "single serving bags" but don't actually contain one serving. The King Size Double Stuff Oreos for example are sold at checkout. You might think "okay King Size, well that's probably two servings." No, it's actually four servings of two cookies each. They list "140 calories" when in reality the package contains 560. (I picked that because it was one of the items in my son's Easter Basket.) That little SHORT container of Pringles that you see in gas stations (not the standard size one)? That's 2.5 servings, lists 150 calories, in reality 375.

Multiplication is a stumper for a lot of people.

Math, why you so hard?

I'm so glad that politicians are spending time making sure people don't have to be quite as observant. You think they were hiding the information or printing it in Swahili but no, they just make you do a little primary school math. :huh:

CA_Underdog

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-health-menu-calorie-idUSBRE91E15O20130215

A study indicating that displaying calorie information does, in general, sway people's eating decisions.

With such a change, I believe you'll see more restaurants offering a true healthy choice or two. We're a democracy, so if enough of us want something, we can make a change, ala food safety regulations or ala the nutritional labels we already have on foods sold in supermarkets.

Jestinia

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-health-menu-calorie-idUSBRE91E15O20130215

A study indicating that displaying calorie information does, in general, sway people's eating decisions.

With such a change, I believe you'll see more restaurants offering a true healthy choice or two. We're a democracy, so if enough of us want something, we can make a change, ala food safety regulations or ala the nutritional labels we already have on foods sold in supermarkets.

If we lived in a real democracy or anything resembling one, we could indeed force them to label food. We don't, however. A lot of money goes into the coffers of politicians to ensure we never will, either. Not until and unless we get furious enough to insist. Which I'm all for. As I'm also all for proper food labeling, and not just in the context of calories and restaurants.

GiveMeCoffee

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-health-menu-calorie-idUSBRE91E15O20130215

A study indicating that displaying calorie information does, in general, sway people's eating decisions.

With such a change, I believe you'll see more restaurants offering a true healthy choice or two. We're a democracy, so if enough of us want something, we can make a change, ala food safety regulations or ala the nutritional labels we already have on foods sold in supermarkets.

If we were truly a democracy then the government wouldn't be involved in so many aspects of our lives that the majority doesn't want, but that's another topic.

I don't base we're I'm going out to eat on nutritional information I base it on what I want to eat, then I go enjoy it come home log to the best of my ability and move on to the next day.

luzdelua

Wow this got political...

But I so agree with you!

I'm just really happy some restaurants have the "healthy options" and include the calories.

Shropshire1959

Or you could just take personal responsibility for what you shove in your gob.

It's really hard to do that without the proper information.

No it's not .. don't know what's in it ? .. Don't eat it if you are that worried about a single meal.

Your body YOUR choice. It's NO ONE else's responsibility. Keep the government doing the job they are paid for, not baby sitting.

Okay then.

What's the caloric content of this?



Because fark if I know.

No idea SO if I was worried bout it I wouldn't eat it ....QED

Shropshire1959

No. If they don't provide it and you're not capable of doing a rough estimate, don't eat there.

I find it a bit frustrating that people think they should have the right to dictate how a private establishment conducts its business.

What's your opinion on the myriad of regulations regarding safe food handling? And employee rights?

Safety regulation are a completely different subject .. try to keep up.

kgeyser

I don't think it should be required, but I would be more likely to eat at a restaurant regularly if they could at least give me an estimate of the nutritional info for their popular dishes. Yes, amounts will vary slightly, but they generally have some standard of measurement for ingredients and servings, even if it's "one spoonful," otherwise their food purchasing would be way off. So it could possibly be figured out in a rough estimate should the establishment be so inclined.

lemurcat12

Expensive? it would take about 2-4 hours (depending on menu size) to sit down with a menu and go through every item and calculate the totals. Then you could print out 1 copy for each table and laminate it and it could cost less than 50 bucks.

There is no excuse not to let your customers know whats in what they are eating.

Lots of small restaurants have menus that change a lot for seasonality and such, not to mention that on occasion the specifics may change during the night--I've see that happen with a different vegetable substituted or some such. It's really quite burdensome in that context, not to mention the possibility of someone noticing something off and having some idiotic cause of action.

I love it when chains do it, and would send my business to those that do it vs. other chains that don't, but it seems crazy to demand that everyone do it--at a minimum you need to exempt the kinds of restaurants I am talking about. And I hardly think that demanding more conformity and standardization for restaurants, vs. being able to take advantage of a new creative idea or deal on some local seasonal specialty, is necessary or good. There's a certain assumption of risk when you go to a restaurant (specifically, if you don't know, assume there's butter) and if you really care about preparation and ingredients, I've never seen them refuse to answer.

Strokingdiction

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-health-menu-calorie-idUSBRE91E15O20130215

A study indicating that displaying calorie information does, in general, sway people's eating decisions.

With such a change, I believe you'll see more restaurants offering a true healthy choice or two. We're a democracy, so if enough of us want something, we can make a change, ala food safety regulations or ala the nutritional labels we already have on foods sold in supermarkets.

We're a constitutional republic actually (the US).

lynn1982

Maybe you should learn how to make healthier choices.

There's also no way of enforcing exact calorie counts - an extra handful of cheese on your salad and you've just bumped up the calories, another glug of olive oil on that fish and there goes the calories again! It's a nice thought and I guess it makes you feel better, but unless you are doing the weighing yourself, it most likely will not be accurate.

Strokingdiction

Expensive? it would take about 2-4 hours (depending on menu size) to sit down with a menu and go through every item and calculate the totals. Then you could print out 1 copy for each table and laminate it and it could cost less than 50 bucks.

There is no excuse not to let your customers know whats in what they are eating.

Lots of small restaurants have menus that change a lot for seasonality and such, not to mention that on occasion the specifics may change during the night--I've see that happen with a different vegetable substituted or some such. It's really quite burdensome in that context, not to mention the possibility of someone noticing something off and having some idiotic cause of action.

I love it when chains do it, and would send my business to those that do it vs. other chains that don't, but it seems crazy to demand that everyone do it--at a minimum you need to exempt the kinds of restaurants I am talking about. And I hardly think that demanding more conformity and standardization for restaurants, vs. being able to take advantage of a new creative idea or deal on some local seasonal specialty, is necessary or good. There's a certain assumption of risk when you go to a restaurant (I call if, if you don't know, assume there's butter) and if you really care about preparation and ingredients, I've never seen them refuse to answer.

My cousin works in a restaurant that shops daily at local markets. The menu is different every single day. A salmon dish one day that had sides xyz or was prepared with xyz ingredients is made with abc ingredients and served with abc sides the next.

SunofaBeach14

Wow this got political...

But I so agree with you!

I'm just really happy some restaurants have the "healthy options" and include the calories.

Funny how posting about wanting to pass more federal laws got political . . .

RageEight

I love the, "hey I haven't paid any attention to my health in decades but now I care so I have to know everything" mentality on here.

^ It's funny because it's true.

it's not the governments place to do this

Agree with the above quote. This is definitely way outside the scope of government. Take a step back and consider "the government regulating nutritional information on restaurant menus". Can you say the quoted statement with a straight face?

To be fair, I do like when nutritional information is available, but I consider this a "nice to have".

However, if some regulation like this were to be put in place, have you considered the systemic effect? Restaurants are going to have to put considerable time into this. The menu's will also be considerably larger, and that's more cost as well. That new incurred cost is going to show up in the form of a price increase on the food you're ordering. Who is going to be auditing the restaurants, and at what interval? How much is that going to cost us in tax dollars? How much faith do we have that the nutrition numbers are going to be wicked accurate? They'll most likely be "pretty close", with an acceptable margin of error. So, what's would the net difference be between your own caloric guesstimate vs. the approximation provided on this menu? With that difference in mind, is all that extra cost (on both sides), worth it to get a little closer for the sake of your calorie counter? If the concern is more along the lines of the ingredients specifically, and not so much the calories - just stay home if you're THAT worried about it. What level of granularity would be "acceptable"? Does every ingredient need to be listed individually? Along with how much of each ingredient are present? May as well list the manufacturers at this point! I prefer to order off of a menu that is a few pages, rather than a pocket dictionary.

Remember kids, regulation is not a substitute for education.