So now restaurants in New York have to post the calorie counts of the food they're selling. As of friday, if they don't post these counts, they face a $ 2,000.0 fine. While many folks cry foul on the part of the evil government interfering with private business, I personally think this is absolutely wonderful!
Why? Because as a consumer, you should have the RIGHT to know what you're getting, especially when you're consuming it. Food isn't some consumer bauble that you buy for kicks, you actually need it to survive and so you should be given pertinent information on just what exactly you're buying.
The whole article is here, which I highly recommend you take a read;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25464987/
Not surprisingly, many folks are utterly shocked at the calories packed into most restaurant food out there. In the article it states that many muffins and cookies at coffee shops contain upwards of 600 calories. That means if you were to eat 4 such cookies that'd be 2400 calories which is the average requirement for an adult in an entire day! Many consumers have remarked that it's no wonder obesity and overweight related issues and illnesses are so common in our society... because we're being overfed (and consequently) undernourished.
Further, it's not like we're asking the restaurant industry to dissect every detail about the food. We're not asking for sodium counts or cholesterol content, just plain old calories. The most basic yardstick a person can use to make an on the fly decision.
One thing I particularly enjoyed reading about was the shock many folks had when learning the calorie counts of many of the "healthy option" foods at restaurants.
The pecan-chicken salad at TGI Friday's packs more than 1300 calories, more than half of an adults entire daily requirements! And it's even more calories than their cheeseburger-and-fries option!
Other gems are many of the options at several franchise steakhouses, with some items going over 2,000 calories and desserts upwards of 1,500 calories. That's in a single serving. I suppose if you're only having one meal in the entire day you'd be good to go off of that, but that is not the case for most of us.
Every year nearly 300,000 people in America die of obesity and overweight related illnesses. Enacting a law that forces restaurants to inform their customers just exactly what they're putting into their bodies is indeed a step in the right direction!