Posting Calories Isn't Enough, But Still Do It!

Listening to a talk radio show early one morning, I was aghast when all three radio hosts were in agreement that food services, from restaurants to vending machines, shouldn't have to post each item's calorie content. The reasoning one host gave was "if I'm having a hotdog at the ball game with a milkshake, I don't want to be made to feel guilty for that 2,000 calorie splurge."

Okay, first, to get all psycho-babbly on you, you can't be MADE by an external entity to feel any emotion. Your emotional reactions to anything are indicative to internal filters, issues, and prejudices that you carry around. Therefore, your guilt has more to do with your broken relationship with food than the calorie count number.

Second, that calorie count doesn't even really mean that much.

Yes, I do think that calories matter, in that too many can put weight on us, and too few and keep us from functioning properly. But I think that the window for a healthy calorie intake is larger than people know, and the first thing that matters is what KIND of calories are you taking in.

2,000 calories of ice cream is going to be a problem.

2,000 calories of steak is going to make me a happy athlete.

In a conversation with one of my clients who tries to eat low carb the other day, he mentioned "We don't eat out much, because we found that Indian and Thai food have far more hidden sugars in them that aren't listed in the ingredients."

That, on top of my musings about posted calorie counts, got me thinking that calorie counts on menues STILL won't tell me or many people I interact with what is so-called "safe" to eat and what isn't. I don't think these calorie count rules go far enough.

I want menues to post protein, fat, and most of all, CARB counts on their menus. I don't care if it's grams of each, or calores from each, either way it gives me insight to the macronutrient breakdown.

That will never happen.

Regardless, ignorance is unacceptable. We're dealing with an epidemic. And if calorie counts can get a person to think twice and make a better food decision a few times a week, we'll be getting somewhere.