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.

But I don't see anyone campaigning to remove calorie counts from food in shops and surely that's just as triggering for people with disorders? We can't demand the whole population goes in ignorance of what they are eating to help people with mental illness ignore reality.

I had Anorexia from age 19- 30 .I've been recovered years now. My weight is a healthy BMI , I eat what I want and I exercise most days. However I still hate to see the calories on meals in restaurant. I'm going there for a treat - I know it will be more calorific than my meals at home - part of the reason is that the portions are twice the size and i often take home leftovers that i dont finish. I celebrate that I enjoy a meal out rather than stress about it as I would have done when I was Anorexic but the calorie count will affect that.
I'm not sure who is ignoring reality here. The food labelling in supermarkets has been around years yet hasn't helped obesity so why will labelling calories in restaurants be different? Presumably some of the people is designed to help ignore it in the same way they could ignore it on a restaurant menu. I hate seeing for example seeing big calorie labels on sandwiches but I mainly make my own . Likewise I cook from scratch so i avoid a lot of the supermarket labelling.
If it has to be the law to have calories on menus I support the idea of having non calorie menu available as well. Otherwise I might be taking a marker pen with me....

To those who say it makes a problem for those with eating disorders, so does any food/nutrition information.

But I don't see anyone campaigning to remove calorie counts from food in shops and surely that's just as triggering for people with disorders?

It clearly isn’t “just as triggering” because people with eating disorders and organisations providing help aren’t advice to them aren’t campaigning for that change. They are campaigning against this one.
Alcoholics deal with wine/beer on the same menu as food.
That’s usually a totally different menu/section of the menu that you can ignore if you need to. The calories will be listed right next to the food all over the menu. It’s not a fair comparison.

I'm not sure who is ignoring reality here. The food labelling in supermarkets has been around years yet hasn't helped obesity so why will labelling calories in restaurants be different?

If I'm getting a meal deal I always look at the calorie and fat content to help me choose a healthier option.

I really like it. I am on a diet and this makes it much easier for me to go out and choose. If you don't know you are much more likely to just think fuck it I will have what I want. It is also easier to check in advance. I think it just makes it easier. If you are not bothered then just don't pay it any attention. If I was slim and healthy I wouldn't give it a second look.

I’m baffled by those who think low calorie or low fat is necessarily the healthier option. This obsession with looking at calories and fat content is very odd.

@Blimecory

Agreed.

It's dreadful isn't it. Trying to force eating disorders onto people rather than teaching them to eat healthy and instinctively - there's nothing wrong with a generous meal as part of a healthy balanced lifestyle but now it's all tut tut look how many calories are in that.

@2manycats

I find it helpful. The other night we went for an Italian meal with family at a small independent restaurant. I knew what I was going to be having but I couldn't let myself eat the rest of the day. Pizza tasted amazing, but the anxiety and feeling of loss of control beforehand was awful - and I still couldn't eat normally the following day and did extra exercise. If we had gone to Pizza Express, I'd have been able to find out how many calories were in whatever I was going to choose beforehand and avoided all of that stress, and maybe had some leftover space to eat other food before we went.

This is not a healthy way to be. Calories on menus is not the issue here. Can you try to get some support in real life for this?

@Blimecory

I’m baffled by those who think low calorie or low fat is necessarily the healthier option. This obsession with looking at calories and fat content is very odd.

Why is it odd?

Maybe not healthier but to keep your weight on track. So you are saying My Fitness Pal is a load of crap? I lost a stone for my wedding following that. I also eat a lot of veg.

The calorie tally in a NT cafe today put me off buying a slice. 860 cals. I felt quite annoyed really: why sell cakes 3 layers deep, slathered in buttercream in massive slices? A piece two thirds smaller would have been perfectly good.

I think that's a perfect example of why the new law is so helpful. It's so ingrained in us that you have a tea and a slice of cake as a snack when you have a day out, that you wouldn't even consider it as part of your intake for the day. And yet that 'snack' is worth almost half your daily calories. You might not have even thought about it before, but seeing the numbers made you change your behaviour. I think it's great.

I agree. Who’d bother eating a mere slice of cake if they knew it had the best part of 1000 calories? It’s certainly make me think it’s just not worth it.

@nosyupnorth

It's dreadful isn't it. Trying to force eating disorders onto people rather than teaching them to eat healthy and instinctively - there's nothing wrong with a generous meal as part of a healthy balanced lifestyle but now it's all tut tut look how many calories are in that.

Oh don't be silly. Eating disorders are a mental illness. Nobody is trying to force one on anybody.

"How can it be justified? Yes these people might be in the minority but so what? It has the potential to kill"

As does obesity and yes, I'm sorry, but the fact that it is useful for the majority is important. Your wishes cannot trump everyone else's.

[quote Alm0nd1]And this

www.huffpost.com/entry/counting-calories-pointless_l_5e18c0e2c5b6da971d1579dd/amp[/quote]
Both those links are from the point of view of people with eating disorders and totally biased.

"2019 stats, but UK obesity is 29 percent for women and 27 percent of men."

Add to that overweight people and people of a healthy weight who want to remain so and you have a vast majority of people for whom this is useful.

@BrightOrangeOrange

I'm not sure who is ignoring reality here. The food labelling in supermarkets has been around years yet hasn't helped obesity so why will labelling calories in restaurants be different?

If I'm getting a meal deal I always look at the calorie and fat content to help me choose a healthier option.

I also always look at the calorie content when choosing a ready meal. I'm sure plenty of people do. It's helpful, as are the traffic lights system they have in some shops.

Pizza Express used to do (maybe do still) a coffee with small tasting portions of their desserts. Perhaps the National Trust should take a leaf out of their book. It would be better, as a previous poster said to provide smaller portions rather than 800 cal pieces of cake!

I'm in two minds about the calorie count thing. I would have found it helpful when I was healthy eating in 2020 but I found it kind of annoying when I went out for Sunday lunch last week.

Maybe there should be a right to request a calorie counted menu, like there's a right to ask for tap water.

@Blimecory

I’m baffled by those who think low calorie or low fat is necessarily the healthier option. This obsession with looking at calories and fat content is very odd.

It's not the only thing that matters, but if you want to keep to a healthy weight calories is a big part of it and it's how many of us regulate our weight. If you're not interested, don't look and campaign for macros to be displayed or whatever interests you. It's not the only thing that helps me choose a meal. I know that salmon and avocado are healthy, for example, but I would also want to avoid eating all my calories in one sitting if possible.

@clopper

My DD has an eating disorder and she has told me what a nightmare this is for her.

But most I know with eating disorders are very aware of what calories are in what food anyway.

I imagine that if I was an overweight teenage girl (or who perceived herself to be overweight), out for a meal with my friends, my evening would be spoiled by this. Teenage girls can be very mean and it doesn’t take much in the way of empathy to imagine the discomfort of trying to make a choice in a restaurant like this and feeling everyone is judging you.

I prefer the existing idea which a lot of restaurants have which is to have a 700 cals or under section - show the calories of the least calorific few dishes so if someone is particularly watching what they eat they can chose one of those dishes .

I thought that chain restaurants had full nutritional information on their website anyway for people who are interested.

Yes, I'm sorry to mention Pizza Express again but they used to do that - the pizza with the middle cut out and salad in it.

It would be helpful if pubs and restaurants put calorie counts/ingredients routinely on their websites. Then one could discreetly check.

the suggestions here that people are goinrg to be rigourouslly using menu calorie counts as part of a rigid calorie count diet seem a bit bonkers!
Presumably someone on that type of diet won't be dropping in to the nearest Pizza express etc every day?
For most people, eating out in a restaurant is a treat - will differ on whether that might be weekly/monthly or less often - but surely the calorie count will just nudge people into the pizza is 900 calories, I really don't need to have dough balls and a slice of cheesecake as well mode.
Must be a nightmare for restaurants though.