In case you hadn't noticed, we have an obesity problem in this country. And while the responsibility for each person's body weight is ultimately up to that person, it certainly helps to have better information made available to consumers.
Obesity is basically about eating too much while not expending enough caloric energy. And one of the primary sources of hidden calories in the diet of Americans is fast food. A Big Mac has something like 1200 calories in it. Given that the average person only needs 2200
calories a day, that one Big Mac is a whopping serving of extra energy (which will, undoubtedly, end up hanging around poor Joe's waistline).
To their credit,
McDonalds publishes the caloric content of their foods. If you ask for it at any McDonalds restaurant, they'll hand you a
nutrition facts sheet. But a lot of
restaurants have no such policy, and they make no
nutritional information available to their customers.
Herein lies the problem: restaurant foods are typically loaded with calories in places you might not suspect. That's because they're prepared with far more oil and sugar than people would use if they baked the foods on their own. If you require basic nutritional
information on restaurant menus, such as grams of
fat and total calories, you'll empower
consumers with the information they need to make informed dietary choices.
That's good for consumers: especially people who are trying to lose
weight. If you're on a
diet, you simply have to know what you're
eating. And presently, that means avoiding restaurants altogether.
The National Restaurant Association, of course, hates the idea of adding nutritional information to
menus. It's not hard to imagine why: once people learn how many grams of fat and calories are actually contained in each menu item, they'll probably leave the restaurant in shock.
In addition, there's the added cost of reprinting all the menus and, inevitably, coming up with lighter menu items that calorie-conscious people can choose.
And that's the whole point, actually: by forcing restaurants to operate in plain sight, consumer demand will result in those restaurants altering their menus to sell more healthful items. It's a great system that relies on the free market and the free flow of information, not government mandates, to help people make healthier
food choices.
In the end, however, the restaurant industry isn't about
health. It's about profit. And informing customers about how fat they're going to get by eating a side order of eggrolls is simply not in the interests of restaurant owners. So they're going to fight this all the way.
But you can make a different, of course. Contact your representatives in Wsahington and let them know you support legislation requiring restaurants to list fat and calories on their menus.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder and CEO of a well known email mail merge software developer whose software, 'Email Marketing Director,' currently runs the NaturalNews email subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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