New Laws Requiring Calorie Info on Menus

There has been a lot of discussion about the new laws on the east and west coasts of the USA  that require chain restaurants to list calorie information on the menu. The hope is that people will use this information to make healthier choices. This is specifically true for lower income families that tend to frequent fast food joints, because the food is cheap and plentiful. Now the research has been done and it doesn't look good! When given the caloric information on the menu, the average meal contained more calories than before the information was put on the menu. This doesn't bode well for those of us who would love to see the calorie counts on menus in the future! For me, it would really simplify eating out. Sometimes, I don't plan ahead and don't have time to do the online research only to find the place I'm eating doesn't have any nutritional information brochures.

I have a new plan for reducing the waistlines of Americans...instead of putting the calorie info on the menu, let's charge by the calorie! One cent per calorie would work fine! When faced with the choice of a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger with 440 calories ($4.40) or a Premium Bacon Ranch Grilled Chicken Salad with 260 calories ($2.60) which would you choose on a budget? How about the Burger King Double Whopper with cheese for $11.50 or the Veggie Whopper for $3.30? I think if charged by the calorie Americans would make healthier choices!