Archive for July 24th, 2008

New York Calorie Count Begins

The new law in New York is in full effect now, with restaurants not obeying the new rule that the calories of any given product that is on a menu must be in the same size and font as the name of the dish being subject to a fine that’s pretty hefty.  The new rule has some restaurants hemming and hawing that it might hurt business and others, mostly chains, have already made the switch over since they tend to have the time and resources to get this kind of stuff done quicker and more efficiently.

It has left many people with shell shock about how their favorite foods are high in calories, a lot higher than they thought they were.  I know for me personally, once I find out that some of my favorite foods have lots of calories, it does make a difference in how much of that food I consume and how often, unless I happen to not give a care about calorie intake at all that particular day.

The hope by New York is that this will help with the obesity rates, and more specifically, the rate of diabetes the city has, by educating people and making them more aware of the food choices they are making by letting them know in a direct way, what percentage of their daily calorie intake they are opting to eat by purchasing a given food product, and hopefully diverting them to higher quality, lower calorie foods by putting it all right out there to see. 

In theory it sounds great, but time will tell whether this new rule actually makes an impact on the eating habits of New Yorkers, or if it just wears off after a little while.  And, who knows, if it takes off and makes serious changes in New York, we may see this type of rule being adopted in other major cities, or perhaps even passed state wide in some states.  Maybe they should start with the southern states, since they have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes.