As many of you know, the Metro Health Department is considering a measure that would force restaurants in Nashville to start posting calories on their menus. Am I the only one who thinks this idea is a total bust? Last week the muckety-mucks down at the health department released a study that revealed “Most Nashvillians are in favor of this.” Who are these people? I think we need to start an on-line registry containing the names of people who WANT to go to a restaurant and see a “fat meter” staring them down as they try to make a dinner selection. That’s like drinking a coke with no carbonation, or getting into a hot air balloon that’s tethered to the ground. The whole experience will be devoid of any fun.
I’m sure a lot of you health nuts are furrowing your brown right now, thinking how “irresponsible” I am for not wanting to whip out a calculator every time I put a morsel of food in my mouth. I realize there are a lot of people are on diets, and they’re trying to make healthy choices. I get that. Print five menus, and have it available for those people. Don’t punish the rest of us who want to go out and enjoy dinner without a side of zero calorie guilt. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty. For all I know, you actually DO burn fat while on a guilt trip. I know it’s a lot of work!
Here’s the biggest problem I see. For most of us, eating isn’t just a means of sustenance. If it were, we’d all be choking down steamed broccoli and fresh fruit three times a day. I go out to a restaurant because… I ENJOY it. Its fun eating mashed potatoes without knowing there’s a stick of butter in every batch. I know it’s there, but I don’t have to battle my conscience every time I take a bite. I don’t think I have to tell you that, going to a nice restaurant is going to lose some of its appeal if we have to spend the whole meal thinking about what it’s going to look like in our bathing suits this summer.
I know the folks at the health department mean well. It’s kind of like what happened in the mid 80’s when everyone kept wrecking their cars and flying out the window. Some scientist at the National Transportation Safety Board said, “I’ve got it! We’ll make these people strap themselves to their seats,” and the seatbelt law was born. That was different. It worked! I’m not so sure these nagging menus are going to have the same effect.
I’ll never forget how depressed I was the day I decided to read the nutritional chart at Starbucks. I nearly spit out my triple venti white mocha when I realized it had 620 Calories… PER CUP. Who knew? Better yet… who wanted to? Isn’t that what the website is for? Don’t just hit me over the head with that kind of information while I’m milling around the store… waiting on a slow barista. I’m permanently scarred by the experience, but guess what? I still go to Starbucks. Now I just have to see a therapist once a month to cope with it.
Please understand… I’m not against healthy living. I’m probably one of the healthiest people you’ll ever meet, but it’s not because I walk around obsessively counting calories and fat grams. If I started monitoring my food intake this meticulously I’d probably gain 100 pounds because food would, in effect, become the focal point of my life causing me to eating around the clock. How do I know this? Because every time I’ve ever gone on a diet I gain five pounds. It’s some kind of mental thing. I eat things I don’t even LIKE when I’m on a “diet”. Get out and walk! You would be shocked at how much weight will fall off of you just taking a brisk walk around the block four days a week.
So… I say all of this to say… Let’s not go hog wild with this thing. Let’s start out with a few menus with the calorie count posted on them. If it turns out that everyone actually WANTS to do long form math over dinner, then we’ll make a change. We’ll give everyone plenty of notice like the feds did with this digital transition. Maybe restaurants could even offer “converter” menus for people like me who can’t stomach all the specifics. This way restaurants don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars in an economic crunch getting new menus printed, and those of us who don’t want to know… don’t have to look. Just a thought.
I disagree with the idea that having fat and calorie counts listed on restaurant menus is some how going to turn us all into calorie counting lunatics and frankly if it did, would it be such a bad thing? Have you seen the obesity statistics on adults and children in the U.S.? How about the state of Tennessee? Having this information listed on menus will give everyone (not just those who have the time and access to check online) the tools necessary to be informed citizens who, now, will not blindly order a falsely described “healthy” salad only come to find out the salad has a higher fat content then the steak dinner. This information may be punishing YOU in the short run, but just look at as serving the greater good, and hey you might even learn to appreciate it someday.
I understand your argument that “ignorance is bliss” but when you think about, this attitude is the reason why over half the population is overweight. And maybe having calorie and fat contents listed on menus will push restaurants to improve the nutritional value of their meals, because customers generally don’t want to see those high numbers do they?
Look, I know some people are not going to make better choices based on what they read on the menu’s nutritional information, but I know that some people will and imagine what a difference that would make? A drop in the overweight population will have profound effects on this society, starting with healthcare costs and could eventually lead to dramatic cultural changes which could improve the food and products we consume. If we don’t eat the junk, they won’t make it!
Putting fat and calorie content on restaurant menus is just mall step, yes, but it’s a step in the right direction. Don’t use your platform to stifle this progress.
P.S. And honestly you can’t be one of the healthiest people around and still be ordering a venti white chocolate mocha? I mean seriously, even after reading how much unnecessary SATURATED fat and calories you are ingesting? I mean 620 calories in one drink? That’s just bad judgement, and I can say with complete certainty its not good for your health.
I think it is just great that you don’t worry about what you eat. Really. However, the majority of us actually WANT to know how many fat grams and calories we are putting in our bodies. After all, not all of us are blessed with perfect bodies.
I’m very sorry if you feel guilty for seeing the nutritional content of the food you consume at restaurants. My advice to you: don’t look if you don’t care to know. Also, you might be better off concentrating on finding better topics to write about, because your opinions on this matter are ridiculously shallow, uneducated, and obviously (for lack of a better word,) snobbish.
Just a short and sweet comment…..
I think more importantly, restaurants should focus on food allergies and making more menus that can accommodate
Wow! I didn’t realize this would touch a nerve with so many of you, but I love a healthy debate. You guys are pretty convincing.
In no way is this blog a “lobbying mechanism.” I’m pretty sure no one at the health department reads it, and I’m surely not arrogant enough to think my opinion would really shape public policy one way or another.
At the end of the day, if the majority of the public agrees this is a good idea, it will happen.
One thing we do need to think about is this… who’s going to ensure that these numbers are actually correct? Last week the network did a piece on those “healthy” meals you see on the menu at certain restaurants which shall remain nameless. They ordered the meals to go and had them tested at a private lab. The results showed that the meals often had twice as many calories and fat as the menu suggested. We’re not going to be doing people any favors if the information isn’t completely accurate. Just a thought.
And by the way, I don’t drink the triple venti white mocha EVERY day!
Hi there,
Interesting blog, I just found it and I’m already a subscriber
I recently went down 30 pounds in 30 days, and I want to share my weight loss success
with everyone. I wrote up my experience
on my blog, and I would appreciate your feedback!
If I can lose that much weight then anyone else can too. Whatever you do, never give up and you WILL
achieve all your weight loss goals!
with kind regards,
Joan
Latest blog post: high protein lean diet
Wow, Liz. Tone down your anger monkeys a bit. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, right?
I do think though, that restaurants should be required to HONESTLY report the fat and calories on their menus. I’m not the healthiest person around, but would rather not consume a 2,000-calorie dinner simply because I didn’t have the information about the meal’s calorie count.