FitSugar

Will Calorie Counts on Chain Menus Curb Obesity?

FitSugar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:00:00 -0800

Eating too many meals out can make our pants fit a bit more snugly, even when we're choosing what seem to be the healthiest menu items. Cities like New York and Philadelphia have mandated that chain restaurants print nutritional information on menu boards to increase awareness in terms of what we are feeding our bodies. Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made California the first to implement these efforts statewide.

According to Newsweek, there's a plan to reintroduce legislation in the next Congress that would require chains across the country to print nutritional information. Do you think the presence of calorie and fat content would motivate people to make smarter decisions, or would Americans continue to dine on the unhealthy food that contributes to obesity?

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NYC Dept. of Health Wants You to Read Before You Eat

FitSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:00:00 -0700

A new marketing campaign from the New York Department of Health has one message: “Read ’em before you eat ’em.” The Health Department is trying to help New Yorkers use the calorie posting rules to their advantage when it comes to making smart food decisions. The advertisements are being posted in 20 percent of the subway cars and I'd be interested to see if the ad campaign really has any effect on anyone. Though I do like that they picked food items that some folks consider healthy like a large apple bran muffin and the chicken burrito.

Do you think that seeing ads like these would stop you from ordering an item high in calories on a menu, or is it just another way for the government to try to control your eating habits?

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A Week In Review: FitSugar Roundup

FitSugar — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:00:00 -0700

In case you missed it, here's what we've been talking about...

I'm curious, have you ever broken a bone? Also, what is your biggest weight loss motivation? Also, where do you eat dinner. Finally, which food indulgence tempts you most?

Wear your sunglasses in the morning until the night, for your health, of course.

Workout at night? Here are some late night workout ideas.

Breasts are all over the news this week. So here is a great sports bra for us well endowed folks.

Running your first race? Check out my tips on how to make the most of it.

Here are a few funny things your gym may not be telling you.

Here are a few suggestions on how to store food properly.

My favorite show is back! Check out my Biggest Loser recap.

Feeling like you need to go strapless? Here's a great strapless heart monitor.

Brooke Shields graces the cover of Fitness Magazine and has some interesting health ideas to share, so check out the interview here.

While restaurants in NYC are not going to be required to post calorie counts, those in California are.

An easy diet tip: Skip the predinner cocktail.

Are these new Crocs cooler than the originals? What about these running sandals?

And after a long hard week: You did really great this week!!!

McDonald's: Not Posting Calorie Counts on NYC Menu Boards

FitSugar — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:15:00 -0700

July 1st, 2007 marks the day that restaurants in New York City are required to begin posting calorie counts on menus in type that is at least as large as the price. Some restaurants, however, are not having it.

Word has it that Burger King, McDonald’s and Wendy’s are among the chains planning to defy New York City’s new rule (Taco Bell and KFC aren’t commenting on the matter), while waiting on a lawsuit in federal court they hope will get the new regulation thrown out. The restaurants say that the new regulation makes for a massive eye sore on a menu board in their NYC eateries, but a healthy advocacy group says that the restaurants are just afraid that when people see these eye-popping calorie numbers, they might switch to a smaller size and lose revenue.

In the end the city won’t fine anyone for violating the rule until October 2007, so I think it's going to be an ugly battle until then.

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Do You Think All Fast Food and Chain Restaurants Should Post Calorie Counts?

FitSugar — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0700

It began in NYC and made its way to the West Coast, then skipped over the Atlantic and hit the UK.

I am talking about posting calorie counts in fast food and chain restaurants, be it on a menu board at McDonald's or a printed menu from the likes of Macaroni Grill or TGI Friday's. Many restaurants are resistant to the laws and voluntary programs too. What do you think . . .

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CA Evens the Playing Field

FitSugar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:00:00 -0700

While I was mourning over an overturned law that would require NYC restaurants to post calorie counts on menu boards, I nearly missed some good news on the same matter in my neck of the woods.

Here are the details:

By a vote of 42 to 31, the California Assembly [on 9/11/2007] made California the first state in the nation to pass statewide legislation requiring fast-food outlets and chain restaurants to provide nutrition information at the point of purchase – a move favored by 84 percent of Californians in a statewide poll last April. Commonly known as the menu-labeling law, Senate Bill 120 (Padilla/Migden) is seen as landmark legislation to help Californians make healthier choices.

Furthermore:

When signed by the Governor, SB 120 will make California the first state to require chain restaurants and fast-food outlets to provide nutritional information for standard menu items. Specifically, the bill requires the number of calories to be posted on menu boards. Printed menus would provide the amount of calories, grams of saturated fat, trans fats, sodium and carbohydrates.

How cool is that? Being a Californian, this makes me a lot more excited than the pesky NYC law. No word on a proposed date it would go into effect, but I'll keep you posted. Let's hope it passes!

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More Photoshop Issues: Wendy's Menu?

FitSugar — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:00:00 -0700

Photoshop gets a lot of people into trouble these days. Typically we see images being photoshopped in magazines like the Faith Hill cover of Redbook, however this is a photoshop problem of something different: A Wendy's menu.

The battle goes on whether New York City can force certain restaurants to post calorie content on their menu boards. In the midst of it all, it is being reported that the Center for Science in the Public Interest created a fake Wendy’s menu (above, click image to zoom) and sent it to the court to display that it is actually possible to include the caloric information without totally confusing the customer, which was Wendy's reasoning for not displaying the calorie info in the first place.

Personally, I think Wendy's has been being sneaky about the whole thing since the beginning. To Wendy's I say: Thanks for thinking we, the consumer, are so utterly clueless that we won't be able to decipher such a complicated menu that has prices and calories, but let me be the judge of what I can and can't handle. When people start asking if the regular burger is 280 dollars or calories, then you may have a valid case argument.

What do you guys think - Was the CSPI playing dirty or proving a good point? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Calorie Counts on Chocolate: Cool or Not?

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:30:00 -0700

The flip-flopping of whether NY eateries have to post calorie counts on their menu boards has got a lot of people thinking about where and when we want to see how many calories we're taking in.

A new concept has taken this idea literally by actually printing the calorie count right onto the chocolate bar, which means you'll see how many calories you're eating with each piece you break off. The idea is just that, an idea, and not yet available for purchase but it's still fascinating to think about. Me, I am not sure I'd want to know exactly how much each bite was costing me - seems to take the fun out of splurging on chocolate. Nonetheless, it's a cool idea. What do you guys think?

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Calorie Labeling Law Overturned

FitSugar — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:30:00 -0700

New York's fast food restaurants can now ignore a city law requiring fast food establishments to post calories counts on menu boards in restaurants as it has been overturned.

U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell ruled that the city had the power to require nutritional labeling, but the regulation at issue was pre-empted by a 1990 federal law that established nutritional labeling in the first place, which sets out guidelines for voluntary presentations of nutritional information, such as on tray papers or on Web sites.

Interesting turn of events and bravo to all those establishments that immediately complied. Personally, I was all for the calorie posting law. Sure in 1990, it was not mandatory, but was 30% of the country obese then?

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