Restaurants don't have to supply nutritional info?

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rochelleruby
rochelleruby Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
This morning I had breakfast at a popular restaurant and I was shocked when I asked to see the nutritional information, they said they didn't 'do' that. Is this normal? I live in Australia. Maybe I'm just naive. In the end I ordered a Short Stack (3 medium sized pancakes). I passed on the maple syrup, ice cream and berry compote. I have no idea how many calories I just ate. I literally could've consumed hundreds of grams of sugar. Should 500 calories cover it or should I leave more? I feel so bad.

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  • KeepOnMoving
    KeepOnMoving Posts: 383 Member
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    In United States there is a push for restaurants to show their nutrition values. Recently I heard some restaurants lie to attract customers. The safest way is to enjoy your favorites by making it yourself and eating out less.
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
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    I know IHOP refuses to disclose full nutritional information. If you looked at their cal counts, you'd see why!
  • rochelleruby
    rochelleruby Posts: 8
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    In United States there is a push for restaurants to show their nutrition values. Recently I heard some restaurants lie to attract customers. The safest way is to enjoy your favorites by making it yourself and eating out less.
    Thanks for your reply. This is the first time I've eaten out in months.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,557 Member
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    This morning I had breakfast at a popular restaurant and I was shocked when I asked to see the nutritional information, they said they didn't 'do' that. Is this normal? I live in Australia. Maybe I'm just naive. In the end I ordered a Short Stack (3 medium sized pancakes). I passed on the maple syrup, ice cream and berry compote. I have no idea how many calories I just ate. I literally could've consumed hundreds of grams of sugar. Should 500 calories cover it or should I leave more? I feel so bad.
    In California it's a law. Almost every menu has calorie values. Makes it easy in Cali!
  • megz4987
    megz4987 Posts: 1,008 Member
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    Nope, it's voluntary.
  • i_love_vinegar
    i_love_vinegar Posts: 2,092 Member
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    This morning I had breakfast at a popular restaurant and I was shocked when I asked to see the nutritional information, they said they didn't 'do' that. Is this normal? I live in Australia. Maybe I'm just naive. In the end I ordered a Short Stack (3 medium sized pancakes). I passed on the maple syrup, ice cream and berry compote. I have no idea how many calories I just ate. I literally could've consumed hundreds of grams of sugar. Should 500 calories cover it or should I leave more? I feel so bad.
    In California it's a law. Almost every menu has calorie values. Makes it easy in Cali!

    i hardly (basically never) see calorie values on the menus here and i eat out a lot o_o;;; only places I've ever seen it is at a cookie store and mcdonalds :/ Do u have to ask for them???
  • calibri
    calibri Posts: 439 Member
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    I think in the US they only have to disclose calorie counts, many of which have been proven to be incorrect from 10 to 400 calories: http://news.yahoo.com/restaurants-calorie-counts-wrong-research-finds-204604334.html

    Actually, it might only be CA. I know it's for "chains" which qualify as 14+ locations in the state.

    California bill went into effect July 1, 2009: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1401-1450/sb_1420_bill_20080221_introduced.html
  • moprincess76
    moprincess76 Posts: 37
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    I just check the restaurants online.. every single one that i visited online had their nutrition info.
  • kr3851
    kr3851 Posts: 994 Member
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    There's no guidelines in Australia for providing nutrition info. I've found that if they don't advertise it on their website, you'll have no chance of them having it printed out in store. Kinda sucks... but makes cooking at home (and knowing what you're putting in your mouth) quite attractive to me.
  • Michelle_M2002
    Michelle_M2002 Posts: 301 Member
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    I've been to a few restaurants who don't supply info. Craziness.

    God bless!
  • MelC2564
    MelC2564 Posts: 182 Member
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    Try shoot them an email at customer service or something. If its somewhere big like pancake parlour or something they should get back to you (hopefully). But yeah, I never see nutritional info at ANY restaurants in Melbourne, I know maccas have it on their stuff, and subway, but otherwise.
  • SouthCoastSaint
    SouthCoastSaint Posts: 3
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    Hungry Jacks have nutritional pamphlets as well, was the restaurant of the "Lovely!" kind?

    I know Hog's Breath Cafe don't which annoys me, they say it's because foods are cooked to order with the ingredients available at the time.
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    1st, don't feel bad about eating some pancakes, I'm positive you won't gain anything from that. enjoy your food, especially since this is the 1st time you've done it in a while

    2nd, every restaurant I go to with the exception of a few have nutrition facts, even a lot of the local restaurants have nutrition facts that they might not fully disclose to the public, but I know I asked, and they have a book, and if they're nice enough they'll let you look through it.

    otherwise, when you eat something, just look up the same product from another restaurant, and get as close as possible. calorie counting isn't an exact science anyway, so close enough, is good enough :)

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