Do you want to know what you're eating?
Well today was one of those days where I changed my opinion while writing a post. Originally, I was going to say I was against fast-food restaurants posting their nutritional information on the menu, but after looking into it a bit more, I’m going to go ahead and say it’s a good idea. (I guess blogs are good for the writers too:)
Last night, while catching up on my online news I came across an interesting article related to nutrition trends in L.A.
However, unlike my last post about L.A.’s city council banning fast-food restaurants from opening in the area, this one deals with a proposal to force fast-food joints in Los Angeles County to post their calories and nutritional information right on the menu.
The point is to try and fight obesity in both children and adults. In theory, like many things, sure it sounds like a great idea, and I encourage it, but I can still see some major holes in the outcome too.
First off, I highly doubt many people even know how many calories, fat, carbs, etc., they should even have in a day. For one, it’s not set in stone at 2,000 calories a day, like many still believe, but rather a number determined by a person’s height, weight, gender and level of activity. So basically, the information might be there, but people still won’t know what it means.
Secondly, just because there’s information out there, doesn’t mean people are going to suddenly change their eating preferences. Personally, I think it’s kind of like smoking. Sure, everyone knows it causes cancer, it even warns of its dangers right on the box, but does that stop people from lighting up, no.
I remember when McDonald’s first started printing their nutrition information on the wrapper. At the time, the husband was eating burgers and fries almost every day, and when the info started getting printed, sure he was shocked, but it didn’t stop him from eating it. (update: he eats healthier now).
However, from looking around I found out a few others cities have given this posting information on the menu idea a go. Specifically I focused on New York City, and out of all the articles talking about how shocked New Yorkers were to find the Starbuck’s fat-free chocolate chip banana bread weighs in at 360 calories, or how non-healthy a salad can really be, I haven’t seen one article stating people are actually losing weight.
However, it did say their lighter options were going faster, so that does prove some people care, however, I bet Friday’s still sold plenty of burgers too.
I think making the information more readily available could only help, and not hinder. And at least, if people continue to eat unhealthy, they will have absolutely no one to blame but themselves (which I personally think they should have been doing all the time and not trying to sue fast-food restaurants).
But, for people to really get healthier, there needs to be more education on fitness and what the body needs. Just handing out numbers won’t do the trick.
Not that this labeling has been proposed here in Minnesota, but I’m wondering what people think. Would you rather know what your eating or not?
