

Here’s some menu help…



When I look at the calories on some restaurant menus I want to cry. Partly because I can’t eat the foods I crave but mostly because I think of all the calories I ate in the past without knowing it. Ignorance may have been bliss but it didn’t do much for my weight or health. Well, it’s a new age and the calories are posted for us to see and we have to face it- we need to make better choices. Fortunately, there’s help….

The New York State DOH campaign called iChoose 600 helps us take advantage of the calorie information that’s posted on menus.  The general idea is to stick with choices under 600 calories. Go to their site (here) to find out what it’s all about and how it can help you and your family. There’s even an iChoose600 facebook page that you can join!

Here’s their pitch from the website:

Whether you eat out as a necessity or eat out as a treat, eating out at fast food restaurants is part of our culture. Many restaurant meals have more calories than what you would fix at home. Until recently, it’s been challenging to figure out how many calories those meals actually have. In some parts of New York State, fast food and chain restaurants are now required to list the calories for each item on menu boards and on printed menus. Other restaurants are voluntarily providing this information to their customers. As calorie posting becomes the norm in fast food restaurants, mothers across the state are choosing meals based on calorie information posted on menu boards. They are choosing to eat less and are setting healthier eating examples for their kids.

Looking for calorie postings in fast food restaurants and choosing fast food meals under 600 calories can help you lose or maintain your weight and help you to stay healthy by reducing your risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Keep in mind that even meals under 600 calories at fast food restaurants are not necessarily healthy. They are better choices than higher calorie options, but they are generally still high in sodium (salt) and low in whole grains and healthy fruits and vegetables (French fries have so much fat that they don’t really count as a healthy vegetable choice). The best way to stay healthy is to eat less fast food, have more healthy meals at home and get some physical activity every day.

The next time you eat out at a fast food restaurant, what will you choose?

Professor Nina Marinello

2 Responses

  1. lizzee says:

    We don’t do fast food places but we did go to the local Carrabas b/c we were given gift certificates for Christmas. Their menu has the listing for regular and smaller portion meals and it was an eye opener. It is one thing to read a recipe in a cookbook and estimate the caloric values but when you are hungry and want to order your favorite chicken parm and you read the caloric count…well! I ordered the smaller grilled chicken,asked for a larger salad rather than the offered vegetable and passed on the bread. I was satisfied with the portion(not so with the taste of the chicken-too greasy with liquid smoke-ugh!). This new system could drastically have an affect on how and where we eat but that night,at that place,no one around us was reading the calorie counts or if they were,certainly weren’t paying much attention to them!

  2. CMG says:

    I’m glad they posted calories on menus! It has changed some of the choices I have made when ordering out!