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.

[quote intwrferingma]@Strangeways19 good to hear about your son. I'd always viewed EDs as an addiction - you'd be forever in recovery rather than recovered. Great that your son got help x[/quote]
Thank you, but he didn't get help unfortunately he had to help himself! He did this by starting a vent blog that got a lot of following & then became a recovery blog- he essentially connected with people in the same position & then began to see food and his obsession with calories & being skinny for what it was.
He then got some support which was via a private dietician & counselling specific which he still receives but I think his main recovery took place by linking online with other people in his position. This is the same sort of model as AA use. So in many ways you are right, it holds the character of addiction. He's been a good weight for over 2 years & he still struggles sometimes nowhere near as much as he did.

But he was never in any sort of mental recovery in the 12 years he was ill so I will never believe the stats that say that if you are ill for 5 years with an ED you will never recover. This is untrue & quite harmful.
You are right ed's have all of the hallmarks of addiction

shreakin not for everyone. I love eating out as an occasional treat and don't want to know how many calories are in my food. I don't actually need to know but it ruins the enjoyment for me.

I was replying to a pp who implied that only cheap eateries serve unhealthy calorific food!

@Girliefriendlikespuppies please don't give up, you are bang on with your thoughts I agree, please read my posts about my son, your dd can recover my son was right there in the throes of anorexia in& out of edu's etc for over 12 years & he's in recovery over 2 years now - he still has his anxieties but don't believe that after so long they're stuck with it, it's not true & quite harmful to say - he's now 29 & living a healthy life free of obsessing about being underweight. He still has anxieties but has a full life

@NotTheOW

I find it helpful. I can see why those with eating disorders may not.

I can see why those with eating disorders WILL find it helpful

@Strangeways19 sounds like my DD's trajectory. 24 now and a healthy weight (tho uncomfortable with it). Recovery began when she admitted the problem and put it 'out there' on social media. No NHS help (think you need to be on your last legs to get that). Private coaching and therapy. Possibly for decades as far as I can see. And that sounds depressing. But when I think how far she's come, it's nothing short of a miracle!

But back to the subject - she would only eat out where there were clear calories on the menu. So pizza express basically! This move will widen her choices. But that's her. I think every person with an ED is subtly different.

@Girliefriendlikespuppies

“I also dispute that it's the minority in the ED community that have taken issue with this. The charity Beat and ED advocates Hope Virgo and Tabitha Farrah have all been trying to raise awareness on this issue and are asking for it to be mandatory for restaurants to provide calorie free menus.”

I said it is a minority of society not a minority ED community.

I also am not saying there isn’t an issue with it. I’m saying the mandatory non calorie menus should absolutely be an option and available upon request.

It's a tiny minority of people who have Ed. Perhaps someone they are with could tell them what's on the menu so they don't have to look at it. I think putting calories on menus is a good idea.

Or @orangeisthenewpuce restaurants could be mandated to have both menus available

We could always ask them to do this

@Mickarooni firstly your thoughts on edu's having calories on menus - do you realise that edu's don't actually work for people with eating disorders? They just weight restore they don't actually deal with underlying issues which is why people are revolving door patients so often. I can honestly say that my sons ed was actually made more entrenched by going in & out of these units.

Secondly, yes I do think calories are a man made theory. It's another way of big corporations making money from people who want to have the ideal body.

And finally you don't burn calories you burn energy from the food you eat.

And finally you don't burn calories you burn energy from the food you eat.

A calorie is a unit of energy. It’s a perfectly acceptable phrase.

@Mickarooni
Some food for thought, just a snapshot of the thinking behind what I'm saying:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-reveals-why-calorie-counts-are-all-wrong/

Personally having researched calorie theory I don't buy into it at all, having dealt with my son having anorexia nervosa for so many years I think I've pretty much earned the right to question the validity of calorie counting.

Personal opinion only of course.

@PurpleDaisies only if you buy into the theory which frankly I don't.
Food burns at different rates depending on what it is. There are other theories that don't agree in the "science" behind calorie counting, it's widely debated as to whether it's a useful tool.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-reveals-why-calorie-counts-are-all-wrong/

@myrtleWilson

Or *@orangeisthenewpuce* restaurants could be mandated to have both menus available

But why should restaurants have to go to the expense of having 2 sets of menus for a very small minority of people. That's daft.

Some will go to any lengths to try and make themselves feel better about calories being worthless.

Which they are not.

It isn’t daft Anorexia kills.

www.change.org/p/remove-calories-on-menus?redirect=false

There are other petitions out there but she sums it up so well.

Some posters are so callous. Families living with this have life put on hold. It’s catastrophic, increasing, costs £££ to treat and impacts all those who who surround sufferers.

Thinking of them is far from daft.

But why should restaurants have to go to the expense of having 2 sets of menus for a very small minority of people. That's daft.

They cater for all sorts of other small minorities of people. Why is making their meals accessible for those who struggle with disordered eating “daft”?

I'll be eating at Cote going forward

I think it would be very easy to have two versions of the menu. There's already a main menu, drinks menu, kids' menu in a lot of places. You'd only be deleting a few things off a pdf. It's not the olden days!

Well good for Cote - give people a choice.

[quote Strangeways19]@Mickarooni firstly your thoughts on edu's having calories on menus - do you realise that edu's don't actually work for people with eating disorders? They just weight restore they don't actually deal with underlying issues which is why people are revolving door patients so often. I can honestly say that my sons ed was actually made more entrenched by going in & out of these units.

Secondly, yes I do think calories are a man made theory. It's another way of big corporations making money from people who want to have the ideal body.

And finally you don't burn calories you burn energy from the food you eat.[/quote]
EDUs “work” only in the sense that they refeed people so they don’t die (quite important!) and to restore cognitive function. You cannot even begin to address underlying psychological and psychosocial issues with a chronically malnourished, dangerously underweight individuals. Services need improving but calories are used to guide people in weight gain, and weight loss, of course.

@Alm0nd1

www.change.org/p/remove-calories-on-menus?redirect=false

There are other petitions out there but she sums it up so well.

Some posters are so callous. Families living with this have life put on hold. It’s catastrophic, increasing, costs £££ to treat and impacts all those who who surround sufferers.

Thinking of them is far from daft.

I find your ‘one size fits all’ approach a bit callous. Your mind only seems to work in one way. They do not need removing for a small sector of society. Much like people who are vegan or gluten intolerant, there can - and should - be a menu without calories.

Testing