Calories on the menu - just why?

[Figmentofmyimagination]

Visited pizza express last night to catch up with a girlfriend - first visit since pre pandemic. Ordered my favourite fiorentina pizza with spinach and egg but my enjoyment was somewhat diminished by reading the 950 calorie count on the menu. I understand that this is the law now. Who decided that this is a good idea? Absolutely crazy.

As the parent of a nearly adult DD who grapples with an eating disorder, I really wish this had never been mandated.

@user1471447924 I completely agree

It helps me choose healthier choices

It would've been helpful for me when I had an ED to know what I was eating. I'd just overestimate otherwise, avoid eating out socially at all, or just espresso and excuses.

Calorie counting isn't the key to being holistically healthy, and thus at a healthy weight. So it's very profitable, so it's prolific.

I'm really hoping it will make restaurants consider ways to offer lower calorie options. Personally I like knowing the calories I'm eating and I feel more in control that way. I am trying to lose weight and like tracking what I'm eating on apps.

Restaurant food is really unhealthy so I'm hoping it will make the people designing the menus more considerate of people who prefer to eat less.

I like it as I keep an eye on what I eat even when I’m eating out. It helps me to make an informed choice.

I prefer knowing personally so I can make informed decisions. I’m in the process of losing weight atm and it’s really helpful to know, also eye opening tbh.

I think it’s I think it’s useful - I am very overweight and it certainly stopped me having a pudding the other day.

What we really need is carb content - my youngest child is type 1 and guess the carbs when out and about is very hit and miss,

You can ask for a menu without the calories on it. (The manager of one of my local restaurants told me this.)

Put it on supermarket ready meals - great idea - I get that - people need to see how many calories, sugar, salt etc are packed into their M&S spaghetti carbonara etc and other everyday food, and hopefully it will encourage more people to cook from scratch, but when you go to a restaurant, surely you are there as an adult, to have a relaxed time, not to be policed like a child. If you really want to know the calorie count of your pizza, you can just look it up on your phone.

@DaisyStPatience

I understand the concern for people with restrictive eating disorders but there are a huge number of overweight and obese people in this country who also have eating disorders and evidently something needs to be done on that front.

The reality for people with alcohol and gambling addiction is that they're constantly confronted by triggers too, the same goes for many other traumas, it just isn't possible to avoid.

The “something needs to be done” about those who live in larger bodies and also have eating disorders does not = telling them to restrict calories.

It’s about why people overeat emotionally and psychologically
It’s about poverty and unaffordable healthy food - prices skyrocketing
It’s about poor nutrition education, the education system neglects life skills over passing tests.
It’s about the food industry and an obesogenic environment making it easier for people to turn to food for psychological reasons rather than hunger. Also, a poor diet over a long time can cause you to be out of touch with your body’s hunger and satiety cues, making intuitive eating impossible.
It’s about “hustle culture” which makes it the norm to suppress and ignore bodily needs to serve the consumer machine. Long work hours, lack of sleep (which also impacts appetite control) and lack of leisure time or time/energy to cook healthy meals. Turning to quick and easy food rewards - takeout or ready meals because you can’t do anything else due to exhaustion.
It can be about unidentified health issues including neurological ones such as ADHD - huge link between undiagnosed ADHD and binge eating disorder and bulimia, so we should be screening people with EDs and addiction issues as standard practice.

Calories on menus are bollocks. We need systemic change.

I also think it’s a good thing generally as it will make people pause and think about what they’re putting away…we are an overweight nation that loves junk food. It’s not great.

fortifiedwithtea if you don't mind me asking, did you order what you were going to or have something else?

I hate it. I don't need to lose weight but I want to relax and chill when I go out to eat, not be told how many calories I'm eating. That makes me potentially not enjoy it and eat less, something I shouldn't be doing. I'm much more concerned about saturated fat and sugar. An avocado is high in calories but still a healthy food

I agree - it's so off putting. We went for a pub meal on Saturday and all the dishes were so calorific. It really put me off my meal. I'd rather not know and enjoy myself. I guess that's the point. But I am not overweight and obviously eating a big meal like that is not an everyday thing.

Too many people are overweight and most are pretty rubbish at working out calorie intake. We have an obesity epidemic and need to get to grips with it.

@AmandaHoldensLips

You can ask for a menu without the calories on it. (The manager of one of my local restaurants told me this.)

Ah see if that's the case everywhere then I'm all for that. A detailed and non detailed menu that you can choose from.

That or everywhere could make their portions sensible sizes

I find it useful and am pleased it's been introduced.

Yes hopefully they will have to provide healthier options.

I do agree with you pineapple - everything you said.
But in the meantime I still like to know how many calories are in a dish.

Fat person and gastronome here. I think it has benefits for me to see precisely what I am choosing because I can so easily turn a blind eye in the spirit of 'you only live once'.

I do understand the impact on people with ED and have huge sympathy. I guess pathological over-eating is also an ED though and it's causing so many long term issues given the numbers of people involved. As with many things it's a balancing exercise but I probably can't argue with the balance being in favour of trying to reduce the obesity epidemic. It's unlikely to be successful alone of course but it's a start.

I am very overweight and this will help me make good choices, it has already worked as when I ate out recently I saw someone eating something at the next table and thought “that looks good I’ll have that” until I saw on the menu it was 1200 calories so I chose something else. I do think it must be hard for people with ED though, so you should be able to request non-calorie menus. I hope that restaurants introduce more lower calorie options on the back of this.

@Notreallyhappy

Some loon decided that this will fight the obesity problem in the country. It would be helpful if they stop telling us that women can have 2000kcals per day and men 2500kcal.. 20% more than really needed.

Your pizza sounds fab!

Speak for yourself.

1600 calories is definitely not enough for me. Particularly on strenuous physical days.

Individuals have different needs.

I, personally, found the calorie information helpful last time I ate out. But then I don't have any guilt around food, or have disordered eating, or am obsessive about anything. I can see that it might be problematic for a minority, however I think it is useful for the majority.

I recovered from an ED myself many years ago (although it never completely leaves you, like being an alcoholic...at least ime).

However I still think calories on menus are a good idea. Over half of men and women are overweight or obese in this country. That's way more than have EDs.

When I was in recovery I had to put on weight to get back to normal. I actually found it helpful to look at calories so I could try to eat high calorie things that weren't too filling and weren't going to make me nauseous. I still have to concentrate some days to make sure I'm eating enough if I'm busy or stressed. So for me, I like the calorie menus.