If you look carefully you can see all the calorie counts on the right hand side. Actually at our Panera they were on the left (and easier to read too) but I was pretty excited to see it! Now maybe I shouldn't have been so excited by something so seemingly minor but I think it's such a great thing.
Now I am not so naive as to think that going out to eat is good for you. I am not saying that you can't eat well when you dine out but we all know that it's difficult. You can only guess at how bad it is in relation to everything else and cut out the obviously bad stuff. Truth is many of us "don't care" when we eat out since it's not a common occurrence. Also many don't know that that salad your eating could be just as bad, or worse, for you than a hamburger. You might also be less tempted to get that dessert if you know your meal has just cost you 1,000+ calories.
Having calorie counts right on the menus will make it next to impossible to ignore and while you may not choose differently, at least you are informed and aware. It was pretty eye opening to see that almost all of Panera's salads had just as many calories as the sandwiches. In that case you myswell just get that sandwich!
I know I remember hearing about them doing this, or wanting to do this, some time ago (probably in March!) but I don't remember the specifics. I know it was tucked into the nations health care bill, this Washington Times article sums it up pretty well, and was put into effect on March 23rd. The FDA came out with this Q & A document and has stated that final guidelines should be available in December.
I have spent some time reading some comments on the matter and some are just down right ridiculous and negative. I think this is a very positive change and may enable more people to be able to make smarter choices, even if they know little about nutrition. Most of us understand at least the calorie and know that eating too many is bad. Also the fact that it is posted right where you order your food from makes it impossible to ignore. Some people comment that we shouldn't need to post calorie info because you should be able to know how to eat well, others turn this into a political debate and get nasty about other peoples views. I have a hard time seeing where any of this warrants a negative response. I think a very good thing is being done and I believe it will be helpful for many people. Sure it's not going to cover everyone but then again what does??
PS - I was in Chipotle today and noticed they had them as well. They should start becoming a common sighting in the near future!
No comments:
Post a Comment