Comments on OBESITY PANACEA: Fast food lunches contain RIDICULOUS amounts of ca...

"How do you think we can reduce the averag...

2010-03-20T01:02:35.814-04:00
"How do you think we can reduce the average number of calories purchases in fast food restaurants?"

An official "Name & Shame" campaign, perhaps? If some official gov agency or so regularly publishes data on the top 15 Worst and top 15 Best lunch places health-wise (I imagine that after the initial assessment a specific restaurant/place would have to request an investigation for potential re-ranking, rather than the agency periodically checking all the places, to save taxpayer money or something) then that would probably put enough pressure on the companies, without banning anything or using too crude law/tax tools.

One technique that works if you're stuck at a ...

2009-09-11T13:41:46.926-04:00
One technique that works if you're stuck at a fast food restaurant for some reason is to order a kid's meal. The portions are much more reasonable (and sometimes, you get a toy!).

Fast food places don't care if you order off the kid's menu for yourself.

I had friends that would drag me to Cracker Barrel all the time. Cracker Barrel has "southern" food. Everything - even the vegetables!! - glistening with butter. The good thing is that they allow adults to order from the kid's menu, so I'd just get the kid's breakfast platter.

Not the perfect solution, but it's fewer calories at least.

Yes. I agree. Good grief. I think this issue has b...

2009-09-11T12:35:21.780-04:00
Yes. I agree. Good grief. I think this issue has been argued to death. Lunches at mid-priced chains contain RIDICULOUS amounts of calories (if you want to point fingers) and lunches at high-end restaurants are likely to have even more. Eating out can be bad for your diet. No question. And that is the truth just about wherever type of restaurant you go to (ever see the calories counts in some salads?). But YOU CAN make good choices wherever you go - if you so choose.

I am glad that fast food restaurants post their calorie counts because at least there, it makes my job of deciding what to eat easier. To be honest, the calorie count of my typical meal at Taco Bell is 590. And I don't go there all that often so I don't think it's all that harmful to my diet. So it's all about choices. It's just that most of us don't care to make good choices.

Great question Jason. They did not quantify the n...

2009-09-09T18:53:13.938-04:00
Great question Jason. They did not quantify the number of calories that people actually consumed, but I agree with the Anonymous poster who suggested that the more food that is provided, the more that people will eat.

Jason made a very good point as this assumes that ...

2009-09-09T14:52:39.157-04:00
Jason made a very good point as this assumes that the person finished their entire meal, but the point was to see what food was made available to these consumers. Most studies have shown that the more food available to a person at any given time, the more they will consume.

I normally agree that calories are important to have on menus, but if the average calories at Subway are over 700 I think I will need to change my position. All Subways I have been to have printed menus with the nutritional informaion as well as the listing of low calorie sandwiches right where you order your food. Obviously this information didn't help as the amount of calories is still exceptionally high.

Until more nutritious and satisfying food is as inexpensive and as readily accessible as fast food, I don't see this trend slowing down.

Thanks for the information. Very interesting. I...

2009-09-09T14:12:18.121-04:00
Thanks for the information. Very interesting. I'm coming out with a new health and lifestyle book and have advised people to pass on the fast food. Of course, any and all restaurants are danger zones.

Keep up the good work,

Ken Leebow

Do they take into account the food that was not fi...

2009-09-09T13:26:33.122-04:00
Do they take into account the food that was not finished? Assuming that people eat everything they ordered seems unlikely.

Oh, good grief. It's as though they are actua...

2009-09-09T12:58:04.289-04:00
Oh, good grief. It's as though they are actually conspiring to kill their customers.

We like Chipotle, but there is nothing there I can really order and eat by myself. The portions are so huge, on the rare occasions we go there, I always split a burrito with my husband, but even that is too high calorie to be reasonable.

And when they do offer something 'healthier' the chains put no effort into making it palatable - witness the awful grilled chicken that some of them serve up.

Many fast food chains don't supply "small...

2009-09-09T12:53:11.716-04:00
Many fast food chains don't supply "small" sizes anymore, or have simply increased the sizes of all of their portions. In my relatively limited experience with fast food, when I order a "small fries" for example, the cashier often upgrades it to a medium (which looks suspiciously like a large used to a few years ago...)because that's what comes with the combo and he or she is "trying to save me money." The cashier often looks confused when I insist on the small size. Likewise, when I eat at the cafeteria where I work, I often ask for only 1/2 or 3/4 portions, much to the confusion of the staff there.

It seems like there is some kind of weird emphasis on "value" instead of sensible portion sizes. I'd rather waste money than throw away food, or worse yet, eat food that I don't need to and make myself feel unwell.

I think that publishing calorie counts on fast food menus is a great idea, because there is no visual context anymore whereby we can judge a normal portion size or even a normal PERSON size! Everything is just too large now, but numbers don't lie! If all restaurants had to do it, no one would be unfairly penalized...