Just kidding-there's no promise. Darn. You've got to do the work yourself, but it's helpful to know that local chain establishments are giving us the information we need to make healthy choices. Let's face it, kids like to eat at places like McDonalds, for example (and listen to their Kidz Bop CD's- you moms know what I"m talkin' bout!). So I end up sitting next to a plastic indoor slide snitching french fries from a 4 year old a little more often than I like to admit.
As of Jan 1, King County requires chain food establishments with over $1M in rev, 15 or more locations, and standardized menus to post their calories/carb/fat/sodium content on their menu board or other clear and visible spot at the point of ordering. In Kirkland, this means places like McDonalds, Wendy's, Starbucks, Subway, Domino's, Olive Garden, Tully's, Taco Del Mar and more. This is quite the eye-opener. Bring your glasses, cause the menu gets a bit crowded with all the numbers. But the fact of the matter is, that Southwest Salad with the corn and black beans that I always thought sounded like the healthiest one turns out to be the worst, so I'll be switching to the grilled chicken caesar next time we're at "Ole McDonald's." If you have a typical 2000 calorie a day diet, you could be blowing more than half of that if you ordered a big milkshake. Yikes! It's kinda fun taking the quiz on King County's Public Health site. Let me know how you do! Armed with this kind of information, I think we should all be able to squeeze into our bathing suits this summer. ~j
It's nice if eating establishments post that info, but another regulation to require them to post calorie/fat/carb content is a bit ridiculous. What ever happened to common sense? Even with this information posted there will still be plenty of people making wrong choices in the food they purchase so is that going to be regulated? Or is the next step to tell restaurants they can't serve anything they choose? When will we put the responsibility back on the consumer to make smarter choices? They can search the internet if they really want to know what foods are healthy and what aren't. Check this out:
http://www.fastfood.com/Nutrition/mcdonalds.html or even better try this one:
http://calorielab.com/restaurants/mcdonalds/1
So shame on King County for a useless regulation. On the other side, this article is useful in getting folks thinking and really looking into the their menu choices. My personal experience has been though, that if someone wants to go to McDonalds they usually want a burger, fries, and so on. It's what they're craving. How do you stop that?
Posted by: Sheryl Parsons | May 27, 2009 at 09:53 AM
The fact of the matter is that the public is not educated when it comes to making food decisions. When was the last time you took a nutrition class? Maybe 9th grade?
I eat right and work out with a trainer so I would consider myself more aware about what I eat. I'm often disgusted by how resturants make their food...the calories, fat and carbs listed are way to high.
We should be aware of what we eat and what's in it. If that means labeling the menu then that's fine with me. The food we purchase in a grocery store is labeled then why not label the food that is served in a resturant? There should be no mystery about what you are eating.
I have made better food decisions based on this new regulation so it's working for me.
New York City has the same regulation for god sake so why not King Co?
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Posted by: penis size | October 27, 2009 at 10:39 AM
I know we all love this fast food chains, but the truth is we all know that if ever we enter on those fastfoods, we are eating a high calorie and fatty foods. It is our own choice so we cannot blame those people who just do their own business and start making one of yourself.
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