Revisiting Nutrition Info on Menus and Menu Boards

New post: Revisiting Nutrition Info on Menus http://is.gd/mYT3

I am undecided on this issue. For the average overeater, a menu-calorie breakdown would obviously be helpful; However, I find this problematic for undereaters. Even though undereaters are in the minority, a restrictive-inducing caloric guilt trip like this would switch their restrictive mode to “on” and they would once again get underfed.

I also worry about the message a calorie menu sends. Instead of focusing on the way that healthy food makes us feel, we instead become hyper-conscious about calories and fat percentages. This in turn may lead to an unhealthy preoccupation with weight and body image.

The point of eating healthy is to increase health; guilt-trips, hyperconsciousness, and preoccupation with food does not fall into the “health” category.

@Reebok

Good take. Most people (myself included) forget about the “undereaters” out there. People that are hyper-conscious about food or struggle with eating disorders, etc. may find something like this hurts them rather than helps them.

Ideally, people would make better choices and focus on how healthy food makes them feel. Sadly, for most people, this hasn’t happened, and I believe this is at least an attempt to help people make better choices.

There are many sides to this issue, and thanks for reminding me about this one. I tend to think of this only from an overeater stand point.

It will be interesting to see if this bill passes… Thanks for the comment.

“Do you like laws like this or dislike them?”

I would hesitate to generalize about “laws like this,” as I think every law needs to be considered very carefully, but this particular law may be good and necessary as we try to rescue our collective national health from the brink of disaster.

It’s not just overeaters/overweight who need/want information about what is in the food they eat, but even people of normal eating habits and weight need to be aware of what fuel they are putting in their bodies.

Even naturally thin folks, who seem to “get away” with eating junk food/too many calories, are doing bad things to their interiors by eating this way.

They may not be motivated to educate themselves about healthy eating, and this could help them (and the children they raise), as well.

@Margaret Majors

Well said, thank you. Again, I think something like this would be beneficial for most people (whether they believe it or not). It would open some people’s eyes about what they are eating.

I have conflicting feelings on this, but knowledge is power, right? I think that my menu choices could be very different with the nutritional information staring me in the face.

Interesting post and interesting comments!

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@cathy

I think that’s what law-makers are getting at — the nutrition info staring people in the face to help them realize they can make better choices.

I think a lot of people have conflicting feelings on this. Thanks for sharing.

I’ve heard the same things you mentioned whenever I’ve posted something about requiring calories on menus. You make a good point about Big Brother – we are still free to choose. Personally, I want to see the calories and choose based on what I know.

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@FatFighterTV

Yup, no one is forcing us to eat specific things. We choose. Thanks for sharing your view.