FDA proposes calorie counts on menus

The Associated Press ^ | April 2, 2011 | Mary Clare Jalonick

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It could get harder to indulge in a double cheeseburger and fries without feeling guilty.

Menu labeling requirements proposed Friday by the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants with 20 or more locations, along with bakeries, grocery stores, convenience stores and coffee chains, to clearly post the calorie count for each item on their menus.

"We've got a huge obesity problem in this country and it's due in part to excess calorie consumption outside the home," says Mike Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods. "Consumers generally when you ask them say they would prefer to have that information."

The new rules will apply to menus, both in restaurants and drive-through lanes. They will also apply to vending machines if calorie information isn't already visible on the package.

The calorie counts will apply to an estimated 280,000 establishments and could be on menus by 2012. Required as part of health overhaul legislation signed into law last year, they are designed to give restaurant diners information that has long been available on packaged goods cooked at home. The FDA estimates that a third of calories are consumed by eating out.

But don't expect calorie shock when ordering at the movie theater, where a tub of popcorn can contain well north of a thousand calories - movie theaters are exempt, along with airplanes, bowling alleys and other businesses whose primary business is not to sell food, according to the FDA. Movie theaters pushed to be left out after guidelines published last year included them.

Alcohol will also be exempted, according to the agency. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, says that could be misleading to consumers.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Can I just eat my waffle?"

[Yaelle]

[expletive deleted]!

The FDA is so far behind health news. It’s not calories that are making Americans fat. It’s starches; it’s grains. It’s sugar. It’s cheap vegetable oils. It’s all the nonfoods out there.

Sigh. It’s so frustrating.

[Gabz]

Obamao continues on with his destruction of the country...

NO doubt about that, but it is also within the purview of Congress to rein in these out of control alphabet Fed agencies. It's got to start somewhere.

[Yaelle]

Also, homosexual anal sex is far less healthy than eating like Moochelle Obama, anyway. Why doesn’t the FDA get involved in banning this behavior??? What? It’s done by an Official Protected Minority??? Oh. Never mind.

They are such hypocrites.

[Gabz]

Nutritionals take all the creativity out of cooking - just belly up to the table for your soylent green portions.

Tell me about it.

I love to cook and I love to experiment with my cooking. I try to plan healthy, well balanced meals, but I'm not anal about it. I love a big mess of fish and chips, or fried chicken, and I make killer cream sauces --- but it is all a matter of balance and moderation. Heck I've got chicken marinating in coconut milk right now :)

[Cicero]

Yes. And I’ve also read that after a certain point HFCS can make permanent changes in the metabolism, making it harder for the body to convert fat into sugar. So the damage will continue even if you stop consuming it.

[Gabz]

A thin person that doesn’t move but eats very little is no healthier than a 250 pound manual laborer.

Actually, I would venture that the laborer is the more healthy of the 2. I am thin by nature and as long as I"m active I can eat anything and everything I want and feel great. When I'm not so active, I tend to eat much less and feel sluggish.

[jjsheridan5]

The only way to loose weight is to practice portion control, eat more lean proteins, fruits and veggies AND increase activity/exercise.

That may be a way of losing weight, in some cases, but it is most certainly not the only way. Portion control is not necessary in all cases. Fruits can be a serious problem for people losing weight, as can vegetables, to a lesser extent. Healthy fats are an integral part of muscle gain, which is crucial for long-term weight loss. And increasing activity can be counterproductive, depending on starting point (once again, increasing activity can limit muscle gain, and can, in some cases lead to muscle loss). The best fat burner is muscle. A person who has solid musculature will generally have a fairly easy time losing fat (unless they are trying to bring their fat levels below a natural amount).

The most successful, repeatable approach is to eat as much meat and fresh leafy vegetables as your appetite allows, don't avoid natural dietary fat as long as you don't overdo it, consume fruits and nuts, but in moderation, embark on a sustained muscle building program (at a minimum, just to counteract natural muscle loss), avoid any processed food, eat your calories as opposed to drinking them, and limit or eliminate grains, especially gluten bearing grains. Oh, and don't count calories. Your body is a much better judge of the proper amount of food than your calculator is.

[The Great RJ]

I can’t imagine going to a 4 or 5 star restaurant and seeing in the menu written in elegant scripted letters the calorie count for my pate foi. If this is to be the law of the land then at every White House meal the calorie count better be listed in big letters and Obama should disclose how many calories he eats every day. Ditto for all meals in the Senate dining room.

[Slambat]

Sorry, I thought I detected a little Weight Watchers
snobbery there. Still, take as in eat a pill? How many
calories are in a chill pill?
Here let me correct it for you,
“I implied that it is up to the individual to embrace or not, a change in their eating and activity habits.”
It’s still their choice whether to be a butterball or not.
No one has the right to tell someone what to eat or how
much to weigh.

[Graybeard58]

No, I’d say that the major cause of the obesity problem is high fructose corn syrup, which is forced on us by the gubbermint.

Would you likewise say, that gun violence is brought on by guns?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

But he plays basketball. He don’ have to count no calories.

[Cicero]

I’m afraid I don’t see your point.

The government taxes sugar heavily, and subsidizes high fructose corn syrup. As a result, most sodas and many other foods use HFCS instead of sugar. A lot of people eat or drink the stuff without being aware of the consequences.

No, you don’t have to drink soft drinks or other prepared foods. But the government makes it hard to avoid.

[free me]

What makes you think there’s an obesity problem?

[Nachum]

The list, ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/

[dalebert]

have they nothing better to do ..this is just another scam to grow goverment.

[dforest]

We have as many or more people with fat heads. All fat, no brains.

People don’t go out to eat to count calories.

It is easy, don’t eat so much and move more.

[ExTexasRedhead]

The abuse of calories start at the White House. Take a look at Moochelle.

[GailA]

For us going out to eat is a treat, so when we go out to eat, we won’t be looking at how many calories it has, but what looks good, and will taste good.

We can diet at home.

Sticking tongue out at BIG NANNY Gov’t!

[CSM]

“....it’s due in part to excess calorie consumption outside the home,” says Mike Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods”

Well, in that case we should ban all food consumption outside of the home.