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.

oh, well, I'm just off to a nice hotel for afternoon tea

Surely if someone is shocked to find a whole pizza in restaurant is 900 odd calories, that shows it’s quite useful information. It wouldn’t put me off my pizza as it’s a treat and I’m under no illusion about how many calories a pizza has.

@Alm0nd1

RedHelenB Not in a meal they haven’t prepared as it will have many components.

Well I think calories of KFC etc have been available online for quite some time and those with eating disorders are the very ones that would have looked them up.

@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!

Indeed - if I ate that many calories on a regular basis I'd be the size of a house.

It really works for most people - it reins you in. As indicated above, I've had to watch what I eat all my adult life - and the calorie counts I've seen on restaurant menus recently shocked even someone as experienced as me!

[quote LuckySantangelo35]@saraclara

Why would it suck out the enjoyment? You must know that when you go out and eat whatever you fancy that the calorie content could be high. It’s not a problem for you though as you eat healthy the rest of the time. Would seeing the calories really make any odds to you? As I say you must have a rough idea anyway of what’s calorific and what isn’t but it’s fine cos it’s an occasional treat, having calories printed on the menu makes no odds to that[/quote]
Seeing a vast number of calories next to the item that you were looking forward to having, is basically a reproach. The whole point of this strategy is to prevent people eating high calorie foods. That's the entire psychology of it. So how can you not understand that, yes, it puts me off my treat, even though at my weight it wouldn't be any real issue.

Either the psychology works (puts me off eating stuff) or it doesn't (in which case, why do it?).

Yes, I know what foods are high in calories, but having it spelled out in bold figures next to the item, is basically saying "are you sure you want to do this?" That's the whole point. And I really don't want to be guilted by a menu on an evening out.

@Madein1995

It's unhelpful, it isn't going to help obesity and is going to cause massive problems. My friend has an ED and we're going for food on Wednesday. She's recently been diagnosed anorexic and it is really dangerous for her to calorie count. Incidentally, ED causes more immediate harm to people than obesity which happens over longer time. My friend has.slready started experiencing heart and blood pressure problems.

Take her for a meal at an independent restaurant, it's only the larger ones that have to display the calories on the menu.

All those saying a meal out is an occasional treat for many it isn’t. We are out of step as we don’t often eat out and rarely have takeaway but my daughter says friends have a takeaway each week, pizza express meal if they go shopping, Starbucks just if they are passing etc. Eating out is generally far more prevalent than the once a year I grew up with.

Tbh, I'm overweight and the calories on a menu when I go out to eat will make zero difference to my choices I do look at ones on ready-made sandwiches, ready meals and the like but that's about it.

I feel like I’m in a parallel universe. I don’t know anyone who calorie-counts.

@Blimecory

I feel like I’m in a parallel universe. I don’t know anyone who calorie-counts.

You don’t know anyone who tells you they calorie count. I bet some do.

Tbh, I'm overweight and the calories on a menu when I go out to eat will make zero difference to my choices I do look at ones on ready-made sandwiches, ready meals and the like but that's about it.

It makes zero difference to my choices out or at home. Everyone knows eating an apple instead of a bar of chocolate, or having no cake, or a small piece of cake instead of a big one, or choosing the vegetable chilli instead of the cheeseburger and chips is going to be the better weight loss choice.

You don't need calorie counts to eat healthily. Better to focus on choosing foods you know perfectly well are healthy without needing to read nutritional info - i.e. natural and minimally processed, home-cooked food. And give yourself a free pass when you eat out (as long as it's not too often!).

There are claims that no sugar fizzy drinks make you more hungry, but it doesn't seem to be completely proven.

Well they certainly don’t make me more hungry - they just give me awful diarrhoea! I’d always go for the full sugar drink and the low cal meal personally.

"Well they certainly don’t make me more hungry - they just give me awful diarrhoea!"

Which sweetener does this? I've heard of this for sorbitol, but not for aspartame, which is what you have in diet coke, for example.

"Everyone knows eating an apple instead of a bar of chocolate, or having no cake, or a small piece of cake instead of a big one, or choosing the vegetable chilli instead of the cheeseburger and chips is going to be the better weight loss choice."

But not everybody knows that a glass of fruit juice, while being a good source of vitamins, is high in sugar and calories, that dried fruit are also high in sugar and calories and can damage your teeth if you eat too many of them. That a bowl of muesli can be 600 calories.
A poster above said she was shocked that a panini was 500 calories.
Your point about the cake isn't right either is it? A small portion of something like a brownie might have more calories than a big portion of another cake. That's why this information is useful.

@Dixiechickonhols

All those saying a meal out is an occasional treat for many it isn’t. We are out of step as we don’t often eat out and rarely have takeaway but my daughter says friends have a takeaway each week, pizza express meal if they go shopping, Starbucks just if they are passing etc. Eating out is generally far more prevalent than the once a year I grew up with.

I've said it many times, but for people who have a work canteen it can be every day.

"
Either the psychology works (puts me off eating stuff) or it doesn't (in which case, why do it?)."

It's not just about avoiding a particular high calorie food. It's also about being aware of how many calories you're taking in eg if you have a high calorie meal at lunchtime, you can have a lower calorie one for dinner.

I was in a pub the other week and there was a pudding called Chocolate Caramel Bombe or some such.

I was planning to have it and then saw it was 1245 calories!!! That is a crazy amount of calories. It isn't listed as a "sharing" pudding.

I didn't have it specifically because of the calorie count on it.

Perhaps it will make restaurants serve puddings in realistic portion sizes?

But not everybody knows that a glass of fruit juice, while being a good source of vitamins, is high in sugar and calories, that dried fruit are also high in sugar and calories and can damage your teeth if you eat too many of them. That a bowl of muesli can be 600 calories.
A poster above said she was shocked that a panini was 500 calories.
Your point about the cake isn't right either is it? A small portion of something like a brownie might have more calories than a big portion of another cake. That's why this information is useful.

I was obciously referring to eating different sized pieces of the same cake! Anyway this information is imo not as useful as the simple principle of just eating more veg, fish, unprocessed meat and eggs, avoiding highly processed foods and drinking mostly water. Counting calories all the time is a pain and people can't be arsed. And counting calories when out for a meal is joy-sucking and makes you feel like saying 'Sod it!' and abandoning the whole idea of bothering with weight loss at all!

I am a veteran of calorie counting and have lost a lot of weight this way (and put it back on but hey). I thought I knew my way around a menu.

Out to pub for lunch. My mum had moules and frites - I would assume the mussels weren't too bad a choice without the fries and the Mac and cheese awful. Turns out twice as many calories in the mussels and the Mac and cheese was one of the more reasonable choices calorie wise.

Mac and cheese portion was actually fairly small but plenty filling - I'd have eaten more if it was there but I actually didn't need to, I was full. Mussels was huge! My mum ate half with barely any chips - this is why she is a healthy moderate weight and I am not!

What I did like was that there was definitely a nod to being able to reduce calories or have lighter versions if you wanted to. I didn't today as it was a treat meal but I could have managed something reasonable and filling around 500 cals if I had fancied. Not sure if this is a change in menu but if so I appreciated the flexibility

Teen dds didn't notice the cals thankfully

It needs to be optional purely because of those with eating disorders. Can you imagine trying to recover by ordering food as part of therapy only to be met with a menu of fucking calories?

Can't see a problem with it. I went to PE last Saturday and didn't take any notice of it. But if you want to make a lower calorie choice it's handy to know

I am in recovery for bulimia and I find it helps incredibly. I panic when I don’t know how many calories are in a meal and it’s often put me off eating anything unless I know the calories or I’ve made it myself.

I went to Mac Donald’s today. The calories really helped me pick something I could eat. I took the kids and had planned to just have a coffee. But could have a wrap which was actually quite nice and less than 500 calories

This is a disaster for my 16yo dd, she is trying to recover from an ED and having the calorie information everywhere is triggering and damaging for her.

At the very least I think restaurants should have calorie free menus that you can ask for if you want to.

We were in Frankie and Bennys Wednesday night and I asked for a calorie free menu for dd and they looked at me like I was crazy. It completely spoilt the meal and dd was plagued by guilt afterwards.

I'm so angry about it, as if caring for a child with anorexia isn't hard enough.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Well they certainly don’t make me more hungry - they just give me awful diarrhoea!"

Which sweetener does this? I've heard of this for sorbitol, but not for aspartame, which is what you have in diet coke, for example.

Yep even aspartame! I have IBS (amongst other things) and the dietician was very quick to tell me to avoid all artificial sweeteners. That made me put two and two together and realise why I was so often very ill on the nights out where I wasn’t drinking alcohol! The introduction of the sugar tax has made drinking outside of home a nightmare!