Food Politics

Well? How DID they do that?

At any rate, what a pleasant outcome from industry for a change! As someone who has lost (and maintained) 45 lbs, I don’t eat away from home much and welcome this budding movement which might allow me more food options.

I think the social stigma of eating healthy needs to be removed. I’m tired of being embarrassed, or even chided, for checking calories at a restaurant or packing my own lunch to work rather than eating out. Why is it unmanly to avoid health issues? Why is it problematic for my coworkers or friends if I choose a salad over a burger? Why do people hate healthy eaters? I live in Northeast Ohio and I am not certain if this is a problem elsewhere, but here it is rampant. I recently graduated high school and so live at home and even my family, whom I expected to encourage a change in my diet, is antagonistic. So I don’t eat mom’s chocolate cake anymore, or I cook my own meals. Why is that offensive?

Sorry to double comment, but the price issue I understand with my parents. Healthy food costs more per calorie. That’s fact. Not per serving, but per calorie. I am eighteen, male, and quite active. I average 2,700 calories a day. A tub of butter for two dollars can get me all the calories I need for a day, if not all the nutrients I need. The same amount of calories via spinach would cost easily over a hundred dollars. It is a problem…. almost by definition healthful foods are low calorie, save for nuts, olive oil, or avocado. Am I supposed to live off of those three items?

Calorie labeling is fascinating to us California eaters. In the past week, I’ve been to two large chains – California Pizza Kitchen and Chilis and seen the new calorie charts. At CPK, the calories are listed on the menu itself below the description but above the price. As you mentioned, Marion, the salads have unbelievably high calorie counts (some over 1,000), which turns out to be higher than their pizza. They are also offering half salads which in my opinion are plenty large for an adult meal with counts around 500. Without seeing the calories listed, I may not have opted as I did for the half salad. I had a lovely and completely filling meal. Information is power.

At Chilis, slipped nearly out of sight in the drink menu is a Nutrition booklet with all the calories, fat, sodium, etc. listed. Apparently the calorie lists need only be on the table, not necessarily on the menu. Again, we were fascinated at how incredibly high both the calorie counts and sodium levels were. Ordering took several minutes longer than usual while we checked the calories of each possible menu choice. My daughters, both under 10 years old, also spent at least 15 minutes reading and comparing calorie counts and sodium levels, leading to a discussion of why salt would be placed on the table.

Knowing more about the calories and other nutrients in our restaurant food is a no-brainer. I’m looking forward to scanners and bar codes on menus with information about farms (industrial or sustainable? large or small?), location (China or in the region?), freshness (days, weeks or months?).

Corey: Your concern for your health reminds others that their own choices aren’t so good, which makes them feel uncomfortable. As a result, they take your healthy eating habits as a personal affront.

People have an instinctive need to see their behavior mirrored and reinforced by those around them. That’s why it’s so difficult to be a healthy eater when everyone around you is eating junk, and why statistics show having obese friends or family tends to make you obese, too.

The post quotes Applebees’ spokesman Patrick Lenow as saying: “There will be variation in the restaurant as there will be in the home.” But wait, aren’t consistency and homogeneity the pillars of the chain-food model? I sense someone getting a bit hot under the collar.

What I’d love to see is more funding and effort paid to redirecting the way Americans think about meals, to inspire more consumers to say “no thanks” to the world of chain food. While nutrition labels in chain restaurants do reveal more healthful options to the minority of consumers who read them, they also build a false pretense that chain food is a viable source for a healthy meal. That token 400 calorie chicken sandwich doesn’t make Applebees any better a place to eat.

I think its sad that we rely so much on eating out that restaurants have to make their food low-calorie. What happened to eating out being at treat once in awhile? I would love to treat myself to high quality food at restaurants (grass fed beef, organic produce) but I don’t want to have to plan to fit it regularly into my diet by making it low calorie.

[...] For the record: calorie labeling is a positive thing. As with many things (including sex — see above), ignorance can be [...]

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