Why hasn't the entire world..
ellygolightly
Posts: 61
Embraced the idea of putting nutritional information on our menus? It's so frustrating to go out for a meal and have no indication of how many calories are in each dish. I like to be informed about this stuff people! It's not going to make me leave, I'm still eating there! I'd just like to eat the best meal possible (nutrition wise).
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
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Replies
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Embraced the idea of putting nutritional information on our menus? It's so frustrating to go out for a meal and have no indication of how many calories are in each dish. I like to be informed about this stuff people! It's not going to make me leave, I'm still eating there! I'd just like to eat the best meal possible (nutrition wise).
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
Because not everyone looks at food as numbers, and not everyone worries about losing/maintaining weight.0 -
Yeah, that's fine, but those who don't care don't have to read it, I just want a CHOICE.0
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Yeah, that's fine, but those who don't care don't have to read it, I just want a CHOICE.
As do the menu writers.0 -
Embraced the idea of putting nutritional information on our menus? It's so frustrating to go out for a meal and have no indication of how many calories are in each dish. I like to be informed about this stuff people! It's not going to make me leave, I'm still eating there! I'd just like to eat the best meal possible (nutrition wise).
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
Because not everyone looks at food as numbers, and not everyone worries about losing/maintaining weight.
But there's no harm to those who DON'T pay attention if they put the numbers for those who DO.0 -
Embraced the idea of putting nutritional information on our menus? It's so frustrating to go out for a meal and have no indication of how many calories are in each dish. I like to be informed about this stuff people! It's not going to make me leave, I'm still eating there! I'd just like to eat the best meal possible (nutrition wise).
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
Because not everyone looks at food as numbers, and not everyone worries about losing/maintaining weight.
But there's no harm to those who DON'T pay attention if they put the numbers for those who DO.
I'm fairly certain you won't die, either.0 -
If i go out to out to eat I already have it in my head what I may want so I just look up the nutritional values online and take the best guess. Honestly it not the restaurant responsibility anyway. And if i go out spur of the moment i just eat part and take home the rest0
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Embraced the idea of putting nutritional information on our menus? It's so frustrating to go out for a meal and have no indication of how many calories are in each dish. I like to be informed about this stuff people! It's not going to make me leave, I'm still eating there! I'd just like to eat the best meal possible (nutrition wise).
And those restaurants who are like "no that has nothing to do with me" (I saw that on a show once).. of course, cause it's not like you sell food... to people............ or eat yourself...........................
I feel your pain
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pretty sure the average restaurant doesnt have to time or the money to get food items calorically tested like mass produced products are... just gives them greater liability and false advertising to get sued... food chains like mcdonalds,subway, and dennys sure.. but not some average breakfast place0
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*shrugs*
You know what is good for you and what isnt. If you think McDonalds is "healthy" then clearly there is something weird going on with you to begin with.
Fast food never made anyone fat. The overuse of it did. Fast Food IMO, does not have any obligation to put nutritional labels on anything. Enjoy in moderation. Period.0 -
well, theres a few variables. In the small mom and pop restaurants or the restaurants where they don't have a set menu since they're not a chain, the menu constantly changes along with how different people make special requests so its hard for the small restaurants to do this. But yeah, I know its frustrating. Believe me, I live in Asia and it is very very frustrating to look up everything online because most of the products here that're mass produced don't even have the nutrition facts in the back like they do in US 0
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I live in Australia and unless you go to places like McDonalds, there's no nutritional information given at all. For the record, I don't eat at McDonalds... an example would be going to a Vietnamese restaurant. Another state (not the one I live in) is making it mandatory to show the calories in every meal if you're a food provider. I just wish my state was doing the same 0
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pretty sure the average restaurant doesnt have to time or the money to get food items calorically tested like mass produced products are... just gives them greater liability and false advertising to get sued... food chains like mcdonalds,subway, and dennys sure.. but not some average breakfast place
Seriously this - how do you think you're little local mom&pop restaurant is going to get all that done? And be accurate. As nice as it would be it just isn't practical for anyone but the bigger chains. It seem like it would be easy enough, but really I believe there's a lot of stuff they actually have to do to get that done - stuff that costs money that smaller places might not be able to budget for.
http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/display_article.php?id=6633520 -
I agree with elly. They just recently made it mandatory where I live. What surprised me most was that a lot of times going by the old standby of ordering a grilled chicken item didn't necessarily mean it was the healthiest item. Now I know what I order is a healthy item without guessing.0
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If i go out to out to eat I already have it in my head what I may want so I just look up the nutritional values online and take the best guess. Honestly it not the restaurant responsibility anyway. And if i go out spur of the moment i just eat part and take home the rest
I pretty much try to do that, sometimes it's rather difficult when they don't list all ingredients or quantities though.0 -
*shrugs*
You know what is good for you and what isnt. If you think McDonalds is "healthy" then clearly there is something weird going on with you to begin with.
Fast food never made anyone fat. The overuse of it did. Fast Food IMO, does not have any obligation to put nutritional labels on anything. Enjoy in moderation. Period.
Very well said.
It only takes common sense to do this.
Pretty sure people were just fine 100's of years ago without nutritional information. (Please don't say food was healthier back then because it wasn't.)0 -
*shrugs*
You know what is good for you and what isnt. If you think McDonalds is "healthy" then clearly there is something weird going on with you to begin with.
Fast food never made anyone fat. The overuse of it did. Fast Food IMO, does not have any obligation to put nutritional labels on anything. Enjoy in moderation. Period.
Very well said.
It only takes common sense to do this.
Pretty sure people were just fine 100's of years ago without nutritional information. (Please don't say food was healthier back then because it wasn't.)
Food isn't healthier currently either. Its our lifestyle that is unhealthy.0 -
I just look up the highest cal version and just go with that. Life to short to worry about every little cal and macro when I go out to eat.If i go out to out to eat I already have it in my head what I may want so I just look up the nutritional values online and take the best guess. Honestly it not the restaurant responsibility anyway. And if i go out spur of the moment i just eat part and take home the rest
I pretty much try to do that, sometimes it's rather difficult when they don't list all ingredients or quantities though.0 -
I think a large fact is that it's very hard to get the information accurate. All the portion sizes aren't going to be identical, no 2 steaks are going to be the same, if the chef puts one spoon or an extra dribble of sauce on something that's going to change to values too.
I think it's fair enough to expect a reasonable description of what's in something (cream, butter etc), but the buck does stop with you the end-consumer in working out what you are eating.0 -
Honestly, though, how hard WOULD it be?
Most restaurants SHOULD have some sort of portioning system in place anyway. You'd just have to measure out the portions once to know what the calorie count/macros are for each dish assuming that your restaurant employees follow the proper portion sizes when cooking the meals.0 -
In the time of smart phones - you can use the MFP database to get at least a good estimate on the nutrition content of the food before you order it. Wished I had a smart phone to look up nutrition information before ordering the french onion soup at the restaurant tonight - it blew my sodium out of the water.0
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Honestly, though, how hard WOULD it be?
Most restaurants SHOULD have some sort of portioning system in place anyway. You'd just have to measure out the portions once to know what the calorie count/macros are for each dish assuming that your restaurant employees follow the proper portion sizes when cooking the meals.
That is a very good question. However, from your comment I will assume you haven't worked in service industry. The answer is, that it would be extremely hard.
1) You need to be very specific. Something that is hard for most smaller restaurants
2) Most non-chain restaurant menus constantly change. Most on daily bases. It would be a nightmare for them
3) Many restaurants offer their customers the option to customize the orders. Once again, a huge problem there.
4) Many small restaurants aren't really picky about portion size. I know most of the good restaurants I frequent usually give way more than what they consider a typical serving.
Theres a few other reasons but you get the idea. It isn't really easy for smaller businesses0 -
I'm still for nutrition labels. It CAN be (not always) the difference between me choosing to eat there or not. I simply like to know (to the best of my ability) what I am putting into my body. With so many deceiving menu items and possible hidden calories, it's the only way I feel confident. Smaller restaurants would see a LOT more of my $$$ if they helped with giving me that confidence. I don't necessarily CARE what the values are (IIFYM) but I need the tool to arrange the rest of my day (or week). Help me splurge responsibly.0
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*shrugs*
You know what is good for you and what isnt. If you think McDonalds is "healthy" then clearly there is something weird going on with you to begin with.
Fast food never made anyone fat. The overuse of it did. Fast Food IMO, does not have any obligation to put nutritional labels on anything. Enjoy in moderation. Period.
Very well said.
It only takes common sense to do this.
Pretty sure people were just fine 100's of years ago without nutritional information. (Please don't say food was healthier back then because it wasn't.)
Food isn't healthier currently either. Its our lifestyle that is unhealthy.
Agreed. That's what it is.0 -
I'm still for nutrition labels. It CAN be (not always) the difference between me choosing to eat there or not. I simply like to know (to the best of my ability) what I am putting into my body. With so many deceiving menu items and possible hidden calories, it's the only way I feel confident. Smaller restaurants would see a LOT more of my $$$ if they helped with giving me that confidence. I don't necessarily CARE what the values are (IIFYM) but I need the tool to arrange the rest of my day (or week). Help me splurge responsibly.
Like what was point out before, that stuff takes time and money which usually small resturaunts usually dont have.0 -
Honestly, though, how hard WOULD it be?
Most restaurants SHOULD have some sort of portioning system in place anyway. You'd just have to measure out the portions once to know what the calorie count/macros are for each dish assuming that your restaurant employees follow the proper portion sizes when cooking the meals.
That is a very good question. However, from your comment I will assume you haven't worked in service industry. The answer is, that it would be extremely hard.
1) You need to be very specific. Something that is hard for most smaller restaurants
2) Most non-chain restaurant menus constantly change. Most on daily bases. It would be a nightmare for them
3) Many restaurants offer their customers the option to customize the orders. Once again, a huge problem there.
4) Many small restaurants aren't really picky about portion size. I know most of the good restaurants I frequent usually give way more than what they consider a typical serving.
Theres a few other reasons but you get the idea. It isn't really easy for smaller businesses
Actually, I worked in the service industry from when I was 15 until I was 22 as both a server and a cook lol. I also currently work at a fitness facility and we also portion out all of our meals (rice bowls, wraps and salads) so every one receives the same size meal. When I was cook at (one of) the other restaurants I worked at, we had specific portion sizes for everything we put into our meals (from cheese on nachoes to how many ounces of chicken, etc). We pre-portioned all of our fried foods (like french fries, chicken fingers, pasta) by weight so each person was receiving the same amount of food per meal (i.e., 6 oz of french fries). It really wasn't that hard and didn't involve that much prep work. There is a lot of down time the restaurant during slower hours and the waitresses used to help pre-portion food when it was slow. All a restaurant would need is a weigh scale which costs just a few dollars.
You would only need to calculate the calories in each dish once to know how much was in each meal if everything was pre-portioned the way it should be - a feat that even the smallest of restaurants would be able to do during the training phase of opening their business (when all of the cooks/wait staff are getting trained on how to cook all the meals properly, etc).
And, of course, if you have an overzealous cook who squirts too much sauce on a salad, the nutritional info might be skewed but isn't it the same in restaurants that already do have nutritional info available to their customers (i.e., McDonald's, Applebees, etc)?0 -
Yeah, that's fine, but those who don't care don't have to read it, I just want a CHOICE.
I agree
and if people really don't want to look at calorie numbers and restaurants are afraid it will put people off or whatever excuse they have, they can have two menus, one with calorie counts and one without. when you go in, you ask for the menu with the calorie and macro counts if you want it. if you don't ask, you're given the one without it.
simple. I don't know why restaurants don't do this already.0 -
Agreeing with ChantelleFowl about how it should be easy. If the menu is relatively the same, how hard is it to manage to put nutrition info on there? You do it once and it's done, you stick to your portion sizes and you won't have a problem (and what kind of restaurant doesn't stick to portion sizes when you're serving food? I'd be super annoyed if my friend got a larger bowl of pasta than me lol). I live in a capital city, I've also lived in a small country town, I'm sure there's inexpensive ways to advertise the information.
What about people with allergies? Surely that would save them a few potential law suits as well?0 -
I feel your pain! I'd say at least list the ingredients they use then? I don't mind doing the calculations myself!0
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I'm still for nutrition labels. It CAN be (not always) the difference between me choosing to eat there or not. I simply like to know (to the best of my ability) what I am putting into my body. With so many deceiving menu items and possible hidden calories, it's the only way I feel confident. Smaller restaurants would see a LOT more of my $$$ if they helped with giving me that confidence. I don't necessarily CARE what the values are (IIFYM) but I need the tool to arrange the rest of my day (or week). Help me splurge responsibly.
Like what was point out before, that stuff takes time and money which usually small resturaunts usually dont have.
I happen to oversee a small restaurant, on the side of my full time job. Part of bring a SUCCESSFUL restaurant is knowing the food cost-OF EVERYTHING we offer. It's not difficult to assess the caloric values at that time at all.0 -
I find it highly hypocritical that some are saying it's not necessary to track calories and macros when we're on a website where the primary purpose is to do exactly that.
But really now, how hard is it to estimate? It doesn't take much practise to get within 10-15% accuracy which is close enough when you're only eating out every now and then. If you're trying to lose weight, and tracking your macros, then that is just how it is. You're not going to take scales to your friend's house and weigh individual parts of the food that they made for you (although I have done this, and she didn't like it
) So you just have to accept some inaccuracy and do your best. Overestimate to be safe. 0
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