Calorie count for restaurants

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I don't think that everybody should be super calorie conscious, but it's better to provide the extra nutritional information for those who do diet and watch their calorie intake. It can put people off unhealthier foods, and over time, it could even help fight obesity. Many people consume far more calories than they think, because many restaurants just don't provide the information. This sounds like a good idea to me.
 
I can see the benefit of it to a degree - sometimes it can be quite eye opening to see the calorie count of a particular dish you plan to order.

In saying that though, I think as adults we can all exercise a bit of common sense when it comes to eating, right? I mean - sometimes my head tells me that eating a whole pizza is a good idea, but then common sense prevails and I think hey - that's more than a day's worth of calories for my height and weight!

Both pros and cons to it I guess, like anything in life!
 
notyourcommodity said:
I can see the benefit of it to a degree - sometimes it can be quite eye opening to see the calorie count of a particular dish you plan to order.

In saying that though, I think as adults we can all exercise a bit of common sense when it comes to eating, right? I mean - sometimes my head tells me that eating a whole pizza is a good idea, but then common sense prevails and I think hey - that's more than a day's worth of calories for my height and weight!

Both pros and cons to it I guess, like anything in life!
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It's true - often the specific calorie amounts aren't required. Maybe we should be overall a little conscious when eating, and rather than having to see the number itself, we should be able to estimate what's over the number of calories we should be consuming. However, I think as a first step, it'll help many people if they see the number itself.
 
turtledove said:
It's true - often the specific calorie amounts aren't required. Maybe we should be overall a little conscious when eating, and rather than having to see the number itself, we should be able to estimate what's over the number of calories we should be consuming. However, I think as a first step, it'll help many people if they see the number itself.
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I agree about it being a first step and it could definitely help people think "okay, that number is pretty high, maybe I should reconsider and order something else!"

But I wonder for those people if they have any idea about how many calories a day they should be consuming anyway. I think overall, a lot of the population where I live just aren't aware of how many calories they should be eating, and there is a big culture of overweight/obese people being the norm, almost.

Fingers crossed it does the right thing for people's health!
 
notyourcommodity said:
I agree about it being a first step and it could definitely help people think "okay, that number is pretty high, maybe I should reconsider and order something else!"

But I wonder for those people if they have any idea about how many calories a day they should be consuming anyway. I think overall, a lot of the population where I live just aren't aware of how many calories they should be eating, and there is a big culture of overweight/obese people being the norm, almost.

Fingers crossed it does the right thing for people's health!
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That's true. Many people, even in this day and age, have no clue about how many calories they should be consuming, or are horribly misinformed about it. This should be common knowledge. Sadly it's not.
 
While I think the calorie count is a good idea for many chain restaurants, I don't think it is necessary at regular (non-chain restaurants). I actually hate going to places that have it because I always try to go for a food that is on the lower calorie side and usually don't like what I end up eating.
I find that many Americans disregard the calorie count especially at Chain restaurants.
 
I don't think it's necessary these days, but certain chains will use it as a marketing tool to encourage people to eat out. Many places will highlight the low calorie dishes, but calories are one thing, but the saturated fat content or carbohydrate content is another.

People have access to information these days, so if they want to know how many calories there are in a dish they can work it out. I personally don't take any notice, but if people want to eat out, then they know that most food will be high in calories.
 
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