Posted by Gillius | Posted in Government, Restaurants | Posted on 07-01-2009
Now that it is 2009, chain restaurants with 15 or more locations have to post calories, saturated fat, carbohydrates, and sodium on their menus.
In this post (rant) I will tell you why this is a bad idea and not what should be happening!
Let’s start with calories. As some know a calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. Calories are energy and we need them.
Saturated fat is another thing we need.
In addition to being two things we need, there is another characteristic they both share. THEY AREN’T MAKING EVERYONE FAT!!!
Obesity is caused by:
-Trans Fat
-High fructose corn syrup
-Monosodium Glutamate
-Sugar
-Complex carbohydrates
-Fatty and processed meats
-Lack of adequate exercise
Our bodies are designed to handle calories and saturated fat. They are NOT designed to handle the other things on the list.
All the time people try to lose weight by following these low calorie and low fat diets. They typically don’t work, and are very miserable.
A processed frozen pot pie loaded with artificial ingredients but that only has a few grams of fat and is low in calories is not healthy!
An avocado has about 325 calories in it, and is also quite high in fat. Does this mean it is less healthful than a 100 calorie snack pack? Absolutely not!
This new labeling law leaves out the most important piece of nutritional information available. The ingredients list. If everything in there is real, then the amount of calories doesn’t matter because you are eating real food.
McDonald’s is not an unhealthy dangerous “food” establishment because their food is high in calories. It is a horrible and dangerous place because all their food has tons of trans fat and other artificial ingredients in it. If McDonald’s kept the amount of calories but changed all their food to 100% organic, people would stop dying from it!
Who goes to McDonald’s and doesn’t order something because it is too high in calories anyways? When people start to count calories, it greatly increases the risk of an eating disorder. Knowing that the salad you are about to eat still has quite a few calories might very well scare people off from eating it. They may even go order some french fries instead after seeing it is near the same amount of calories. Calories also sets an automatic signal of disapproval and makes eating less enjoyable.
When you are eating the world’s healthiest foods (lean grass-fed meats, all natural free ranged chicken, fish, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts) the amount of calories is completely not important.
King County, if you are going to do something, please let it be telling us what is in what we are eating, not how much energy is packed in it! Unfortunately that is not what they are doing, so this site will hopefully help people.
…..and i love your site. Thanks for all your research!
learn how to eat healthier…
Many people have this idea that they need to starve themselves in order to lose weight, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. All you need is to stick to a healthy eating plan and even minimal exercise you could start losing weight within days…
Thank you for that incredible Post!!! i wanted to say the same things but i wouldnt ever be able to write it better than you did … well done!!! lets hope the people can realize how important it is to eat healthy and not just to count calories.
food labeling is importatnt for those who are unaware of exactly what they are eating. Not labeling food is just a cover up of what the food industries don’t want us to know. They are poisioning us…using ammonia to kill bactirea, adding hormones to make the livestock more “plump” and “tastey”….it’s just a cover up for the “real truth, the UGLY truth, the UGLY US!”
@Estan
Yes food labeling is important but with this set of food labeling legislations that sort of thing wouldn’t be listed in a nutrition facts panel. That is why a detailed ingredient list is much more important.
Thanks! I’m glad I’m not the only one!
Why not have all of the info available for customers including calorie count and what type of ingredients are in the food? Wouldn’t this allow the consumer to make the most educated decision? People in the industrial food industry don’t want people to know because they know that their products are not only high in calories but also in all of those GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) that are so harmful to our body. They try to blame obesity on irresponsible customers. They pass the blame to consumers stating that its their own job to educate themselves on health and wellness. But the fact of the matter is the average consumer is not going to educate themselves and since the big businesses that run the food industry also have former employees, lawyers, and lobbyists in positions of power in the FDA and USDA (the government agencies in charge of regulating how food is processed and the safety of our food) it is extremely unlikely that even if a consumer did seek out viable information from a “reliable” source, they would get lies that are as big and fat as the average American. For example, that food pyramid we thought was the answer to all of our diet related health problems (heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc) was mostly put together by a committee of BUSINESS OWNERS INVOLVED IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY and not nutritionists (people with actual knowledge and degrees and all that jazz). They hide behind this veil of security such as government agencies like the FDA, USDA, and the EPA. People expect their government to provide them with honest and safe food so when we see something in the supermarket that is being sold we figure there must have been some sort of regulatory process that allowed this food to be sold to us. If the government and big businesses really have nothing to hide, then why not put the messages on the label. It’s time for the food industry in America, which is protected by some of the most ridiculous laws you could ever dream of (look up the Veggie Liable Laws), to be brought to its knees like the tobacco industry was before. I mean, could you even imagine the days anymore where students in schools aren’t taught that smoking is bad? Or can you imagine not seeing a surgeon general warning on the side of a pack of cigarettes warning you that smoking may be hazardous to your health? The government has a responsibility to step in and bring reform to an industry that has gotten out of control. People need to know what they are ingesting, and then if they wanna get fat and get diabetes and get heart disease, then at least the government can say, “We did everything we could to warn them.” Isn’t that what the government did with the tobacco industry? Help support labels on your food. You have a right to know.