There’s something novel about eating at a restaurant.  You’re handed a menu with so many different dishes – appetizers, entrees, desserts… It’s easy to get caught up in just reading through the options that thinking about what the healthy, simple choice might be hardly seems enjoyable. 

“I’m eating out, enjoying my night,”  you might tell yourself, “and this is my splurge.”

Okay, well what if someone else did the dirty work for you?

This past week, the Ontario Medical Association announced it wants restaurants and cafeterias to post calorie counts beside each available food.  The article went on to explain that:

By revealing the amount of calories in foods, adults, teens and kids would be better equipped to make healthier choices, the doctors’ group said yesterday.

It’s an interesting read – the article also looks at the legislation and enforcement angle and the importance of educating children about making healthy choices.  I’m putting those aspects aside to look at the bigger issues this article raises: assuming that knowing this information is better than not knowing, and emphasizing calories over any other food quality measure, in hopes of encouraging healthier consumers.

The saying “ignorance is bliss” is a saying for a reason – there is some truth behind the statement.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want to know how many calories are in my chicken dinner if I know I’m making healthy choices most of the time.  Can’t a girl eat a quarter chicken in peace?  But yes, hold the dipping sauce.

Part of this puzzle then, is deciding if splashing a number next to a menu option will encourage people to make a healthier choice, or if this is going to shift too far in the other direction, making already health-conscious consumers too aware of their weekly supper out.  We often think about the sub-population that struggles with weight and is unfamiliar with healthy eating, but we forget about another vulnerable group … those who already think too much about what, when, and why they eat, and how posting calorie counts could affect these people.  Granted, one could argue that its obesity that’s an epidemic, not self-starvation or bulemia, or a host of other eating disorders, but let’s not forget that these other people sit in restaurants with their friends, too, and already struggle with the menu as-is.  I don’t think posting calorie counts is doing them any favours.

Back to the calorie count thing.  The popular motto, calories in, calories out, is true in many regards.  If you eat excessively more calories than you burn off, your body will gain weight.  However, a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie.  Some will argue that getting 150 calories from a cookie is the equivalent to getting 150 calories from an apple with a smear of almond butter.  It ain’t true!  Sure, the caloric count is the same, but what about the vitamins?  Minerals?  Processed food versus unprocessed food?  Fibre?  Grams of protein?  All calories are not created equal.

In the article, an Ottawa doctor is quoted, saying:

"We know that the currency of weight is indeed calories, it’s not fat or carbohydrates or so forth," Freedhoff said.

"With calories it’s important to consider them when making dietary choices, just like we consider prices when making monetary choices."

I understand that it’s unrealistic to ask restaurants to provide a complete nutritional breakdown of the food it offers in the menu (in fact, if you haven’t caught on yet, I’m still on the fence as to whether posting calorie counts at all is a good idea).  Posting calories is easy and requires little space on a menu – start listing the vitamins in every entree and you’ll be adding an appendix.  It concerns me though that this plays into the mentality of all calories as equal.  It would be nice if it were that simple, but it isn’t, and consumers shouldn’t be mislead into thinking otherwise.

I’m all for restaurants having nutritional information readily available.  I think it’s great when you can check a menu online ahead of time to see what choices are available (it’s also great if you have food allergies, etc., to see the detailed menu).  However, I think it is up to the consumer to access that information at their own will.

Healthy, simple living is about making healthy, simple choices.  Adding calorie counts to menus isn’t going to solve an “obesity epidemic”.  Knowledge is power, sure, but I don’t always want to know the calorie count on my chicken spinach salad.