Should Restaurants post Nutritional Information about their Food?

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Permalink Reply by myfitlife on June 14, 2008 at 11:58am

I agree with metroknow. It would be very helpful to know where the foods was sourced from and how the food was raised or grown. Is it organic and from local farmers? Were the animals grass fed and pasture raised? etc...

Knowing the ingredients to the recipes would be helpful as well.

However, eating at restaurants is usually reserved for "cheat" meals.
Most of your meals should be cooked or prepared at home, so you can be sure that the most healthful ingredients are included in them. It's good for you and it's good for your family.

Also, I never ever ever eat at fast food restaurants, such as McDonald's, Jack in the box, etc.
It doesn't matter if they serve something that is healthy or not. The majority of what they serve contributes to the current crisis of obesity and it's related diseases. I refuse to contribute 1 penny to these corporate monsters.
In this way, I am voting with my dollars and taking a stand for what I feel is the right thing to do.

Okay, I'll get off of my soap box now. :D

Have a wonderful day.

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Permalink Reply by Susana on June 14, 2008 at 12:11pm

I totally agree with you myfitlife! I don't enjoy going out to eat as much as I used to. I'm learning how to cook new healthy and enjoyable foods at home now.
Some people eat at McDonald's because food is good and cheap without thinking the damage they do to their bodies... an contributing to grow those corporation profits!

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Permalink Reply by The Daily Mel on June 14, 2008 at 1:09pm

Absolutely! As someone who is trying to eat more healthfully, I would love it if restaurants provided more nutritional information. Currently, it's extremely rare for me to eat at a restaurant that doesn't provide as least some sort of nutritional information, even if it's only for the healthy/light menu.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Foster on June 14, 2008 at 4:11pm

A resounding yes! And it would influence my choices, as it should for anyone looking for less fats or more fiber, etc. As for hurting restaurant owners: I feel it would encourage them to replace less healthy ingridients with healthier ones. I.E.: olive oil vs. butter.

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Permalink Reply by Alyssa on June 14, 2008 at 4:35pm

I think they should make it available, but not necessarily in our faces. As someone who has recovered from eating disorders and is now trying to make peace with food, seeing calorie counts and fat content just puts me right back into the diet/ED mentality. Posting allergen and ingredient information (whether the food has gluten, nuts, dairy, animal products, etc. in it) would be far more useful, IMHO.

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Permalink Reply by Gabrielle Shafer on June 14, 2008 at 4:36pm

I do think that restaurants should post the nutritional content/info. about their food. I think that it would be in the best interest of the consumer but not necessarily the restaurant, obviously depending upon the restaurant. I personally, almost never eat out strictly for health and financial reasons, I would rather spend big bucks at the grocery buying high quality ingredients and knowing what and how I prepare food for myself and my family. If restaurants posted their nutritional information it might create a healthier atmosphere for dining out when restaurants are being held acountable to list their nutritional content and more health conscious people might patronize particular restaurants more.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on June 14, 2008 at 7:27pm

I love all the great ideas, and by reading most of the comments, I think everyone is in favor of the idea of posting nutritional information. I'm not sure if any of your saw it, but I didn't provide a little more background information in my blog post today, Should restaurants post Nutritional Information about their food?.

The idea of posting the food source, feeding practices, etc is a good one, but being someone with a food background, I don't think it's practical, at least on a large scale. Oh, the smaller restaurants who are taking the organic/local route are foolish if they don't advertise the fact, but for the larger chain restaurants, some might get it local and it might even be organic. However, the bottom line is that they will probably get their food from the most reliable and cost effective source. That's just how it is.

I hope everyone is enjoying reading this discussion as much as I am.................:)

Who else hasn't chimed in? Or is there a current conversation you'd like to continue? Inquiring minds................

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Permalink Reply by workout mommy on June 14, 2008 at 8:07pm

I would definitely prefer that it was listed. Even though I know that many items are not the best choices, I sometimes "forget" this when ordering. If the calories/fat content was staring me in the face, I would be less likely to "forget"!

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Permalink Reply by Parimal on June 14, 2008 at 8:24pm

Actually they should.

No one knows what the nutrition value for a certain food.
Lots of people who diet they look for how much calorie a product a product have before they buy something. If they really want to eat restaurant food they need to know the how much calories its in the food.

If you compare Subway with Mcdonald's, who do you think provide nutritional information. Obviously, its subway.

Sometimes foods are so nice in the restaurant you won't care of nutritional information.

Check out this website for more nutritional and health information.
http://healthlifestyleforever.com/blog

Thanks,
Parimal

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Permalink Reply by Miguel Pineiro (Wickert) on June 14, 2008 at 10:58pm

Why not? it doesn't hurt... I am able to gauge the nutritional value of items on menus; especially if I'm already familiar with the food sections. I believe it may already be required in some states.

That might be a neat little research project for someone; find out which states require restaurants to list nutritional info for their customers.

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Permalink Reply by Alyssa on June 16, 2008 at 9:51am

I must respectfully disagree on the point that it wouldn't hurt. For people in recovery from disordered eating, or those just trying to get away from the diet mentality, seeing those stats could actually have a really negative effect. Again, I think the info should be easily available to anyone who wants it, but not right on the menu. Starbucks provides a pamphlet in their cafes, with all the nutritional info, and I think that's perfect.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on June 16, 2008 at 12:07pm

I agree. A portable pamphlet is perfect. It gives the diners who want the information total access, but for the ones who aren't interested, it also gives them the right to not have the information right in the face.

My only worry would be that the restaurants wouldn't stock the pamphlets, conveniently forgetting to order them. I know restaurant owners are sometimes so busy that reordering these could be a problem.

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