A problem I foresee is illustrated by one woman's comment in the original article: "...[she] discovered that the Friday’s pecan-crusted chicken salad, served with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and celery, has 1,360 calories...'It’s like false advertising. You think it’s better than the burger and the fries. It’s misleading.' (The cheeseburger served with fries is, indeed, 1,290 calories.)".
Sure, the salad option is misleading, which is a problem. However, choosing a cheeseburger and fries RATHER THAN the salad because the salad has 70 more calories is not a healthy option, either. There is more to "nutrition" than calorie counting, and in this example, it's obvious: the salad has leaner protein, fruits and veggies; nothing fried like it's "lesser calorie" counterpart.
As the previous post says, "knowledge is power" and I hope we don't just look at the calories as the only judge of what is healthy or not. Calories are NOT inherently bad...they give us fuel, so I hope they are put into context as one of many nutrition tools.
I do hope this will provide restaurants more incentive to provide smaller portions (this will help their calorie-count numbers go down!), as well as to provide some actual healthy options.
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I agree that this is a good start.
A problem I foresee is illustrated by one woman's comment in the original article: "...[she] discovered that the Friday’s pecan-crusted chicken salad, served with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and celery, has 1,360 calories...'It’s like false advertising. You think it’s better than the burger and the fries. It’s misleading.' (The cheeseburger served with fries is, indeed, 1,290 calories.)".
Sure, the salad option is misleading, which is a problem. However, choosing a cheeseburger and fries RATHER THAN the salad because the salad has 70 more calories is not a healthy option, either. There is more to "nutrition" than calorie counting, and in this example, it's obvious: the salad has leaner protein, fruits and veggies; nothing fried like it's "lesser calorie" counterpart.
As the previous post says, "knowledge is power" and I hope we don't just look at the calories as the only judge of what is healthy or not. Calories are NOT inherently bad...they give us fuel, so I hope they are put into context as one of many nutrition tools.
I do hope this will provide restaurants more incentive to provide smaller portions (this will help their calorie-count numbers go down!), as well as to provide some actual healthy options.
July 17, 2008 - 2:33pmThis Comment
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