There was an OP-ED article in the Friday Nov. 13 edition of NY Times by Julie Downs, George Loewenstein and Jessica Wisdom from Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Social and Decision Sciences. The title of the article was 'Eating by the Numbers'. You don't need to go read it, I will summerize it for you although NY Times is in my opinion the best place to get your news. In the health reform bill passed by the House is a section requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus. However research by this group and others suggests that this information is unlikely to have much effect on eating patterns and obesity. In one study in 2009 customers were asked if they had noticed the calorie postings and 56 percenct said yes, but only a quarter of this 56 percent used the information in their decision to order food. This group then only makes 15 percent of the total and their decision only caused a mere 106 fewer calories in food consumption! Isn't sad that even with this kind of information given to us we still go ahead and order the big burger, king size french fries and the soda loaded with sugar?
We don't need the calorie postings to tell us that the double cheese burger is not as healthy for us as a dish of steamed veggies with grilled chicken on top and glass of water! We know, we just tend to ignore it.
2 comments:
i love this post! i hate going to those buffet restaurants where you move through the line like cattle!!! we are thinkers and we should eat like thinkers and less like animals who have a whole field in their path...trying to tackle it all in a day!
You are absolutely right Kimberly! Buffets in general are not good for your mind and your body. How many people do you know who make only one (just one) trip to the buffet? After all we need to get our money's worth out of the buffet. Thanks for your comment.
Post a Comment