1500 cal 97g fat
1520cal 111g fat
2900cal 182g fat (wtf!!)
In reality, I don't believe that any health concious person on the planet would touch these monstrosities with a ten foot pole but the scary thing is there are people out there who would. It leads me to beg the question, why in a world where waistlines are exanding at an alarming rate, where over 1 billion people worldwide are overweight and 300 million of them are considered clinically obese (WHO website), where heart dsiease kills countless people per year, do restaurants serve these dishes?
I guess the better question is, should restaurants care? Is it their responsibility to protect the health and well-being of their customer? Should they remove them from the menu or in a society of supply and demand do they have every right to provide what the people want?
In my opinion I think that restaurants should offer healthy meals but that there is no obligation to remove unhealthy fare either. That said, I do think that these same restaurants should make the calorie, fat and sodium content of the items available both on their websites and in their menu. Sure, if you are already ordering a Grilled Cheese Burger Melt you might not care about the 97g of fat (we haven't even added a side of fries yet either!) but then again you just might. And even if one person opts out of the sandwich (or changes their side to a salad) then putting the stats there was worth it to me.
Ultimately I believe that health is personal. The onus isn't on a restaurant or fast-food chain to keep you healthy but they should buy into the social responsibility of providing good options. (Hey McDonalds. a salad with 23g of fat still doesn't count as far as I am concerned!)
And that my friends, is what I think about that! Happy Saturday!
So tell me, do you think that restaurants should share in the responsibilty of keeping people healthy? Do you believe menus should include nutritional information?
I do think it's really helpful when you can find nutritional info on menus or online. However, I believe it's more the person's responsibility to educate themselves. Seriously, just looking at those items, you KNOW they're not healthy!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, it is the restaurant's business and the personal choice of the individual but I think that if the nutritional info was available right on the menu more people would stop and think. Those numbers are scary.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you - it is a personal choice but they should post the nutritional info for sure. I can't believe people could touch those either. The worst part? I bet stuff like that you get a picture put on the wall for eating (and you know how guys like contests). Gross.
ReplyDeleteNo I don't think it's restaurants responsibility at all. However, they should NOT be allowed to engage in deceptive marketing that makes consumers think their products are healthy when they aren't. McDonalds' new fruit smoothies are loaded with added sugar and are just as bad as their milkshakes, but all the fruit pictures in the advertisements are going to make consumers think they are healthy. They aren't lying per se, but it is deceptive. It's certainly complicated but I just don't think they should be allowed the "made with real fruit" tagline without "and loads of corn syrup" too. They have to give people a chance at making a healthy decision and a lot of people just don't know how to make discerning choices when being made to believe something is good that isn't.
ReplyDeleteI agree with landanimal 100%. Unless you spend time researching healthy food like most of us do, you are going to think that Diet Coke, 100 calorie packs, and fast food Caesar salads are healthy. I can't point fingers though - I used to be one of them. Its very deceiving and consumers should not be taken advantage of. That being said, nutrition IS a personal thing. Just as I wouldn't tell a vegan to eat meat, I wouldn't never preach to a fast food junkie to eat a vegetable. That's their choice. Now if they wanted advice though... :)
ReplyDeleteI agree...it is personal choice, but shouldn't they be encouraging the right choice? Or at least making sure they offer a good choice instead of just a bunch of bad ones? They should be posting the nutritional info on the menus, rather than just the internet...It's kind of a downer that I can't really eat out because everything is doused in grease/fat and loaded with extra sugar...ugh! :)
ReplyDeleteRestaurants are simply consumer-driven businesses. It it up to the diner to choose their meal wisely. I don't feel that unhealthy menu items should be removed; however, I feel that portion sizes could be significantly reduced. We already have such waste in the world, but the cycle continues! Regardless of the nutritional stats, serve a single portion!
ReplyDeleteYou know, 2 years ago I would've said that it's the company's right to serve what they want without hesitation. These days though, I'm not so sure...
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm believer in capitalism and businesses serving based on demand, but I'm also a firm believer in doing the right thing. Is serving a plate of fries with cheese, gravy and bacon with 182g of fat the right thing? You could argue both ways, but I would not be able to sleep at night if I were part of a chain that served that kind of meal.
Even though it's a personal choice, we tend to forget that many other factors go into these decisions that can make it MORE than personal choice. Income is a major factor. These days fast food comes so cheap that it's hard to argue that lower-income families can go elsewhere. If you can get a cheeseburger for under a dollar, that's not something you can ignore when you're short on funds.
Education is also extremely important. You can only make as good a choice as the information you have in front of you, so if you're unaware of the health ramifications then you're not even aware that you're making a poor health decision.
Nutrition labeling has been shown to not improve consumers' decisions when making food choices. If that's truly the case, then what's the solution? Why is having the information in your face not helping? Is it that we are so addicted to certain food that we don't care? Is it because we simply don't know how to read these labels properly?
Government is too slow, and when it comes to innovations regarding quality of life it's been businesses and the private sector that have been at the forefront. Therefore, I'm beginning to see things in a different light - I think companies SHOULD be conscious about what they serve their customers. That being said, profits are why companies are created, so unless there is gold at the end of the health-rainbow, then no one is going to invest.
How do we meet both demands? Well, it's a tough one - either shareholder values change regarding corporate social responsibility (in that it becomes more important to them), or we find cheap, healthy ways to get food into the public's hands.
Sorry for the length. It was a really interesting post/question :)
I completely agree with everything you said. I don't understand how people can eat those types of things on a regular basis. It's disgusting.
ReplyDeleteCalories on menus are not enough. All nutrition facts should be available.
I agree with you here. Adults get to make our own decisions and live with them, including what we put into our body. That said, I feel like we deserve (and should demand) the information necessary to make these decisions on a rational basis. If someone wants that ridiculous 2900 calorie dish, go for - but I bet most of the people who order that have no idea that they're consuming quite so much!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see more restaurants post nutritional info. While I agree that it's the publics responsibility to education ourselves about what we order and eat, sometimes it's not that easy. I have a good understanding of what foods are heathy and which ones are not, sometimes it's dificult to determine when you don't know exactly how it's prepared.
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