In Japan I am quite used to seeing calorie counts, right there on the menu at not just fast food places, but chain sit-down restaurants of even respectable quality. I don’t know the regulatory structure in place, but most places here that are corporate run have calorie counts (even karaoke parlors often list the calorie count of their cocktails!)

I find the calorie count helps draw my attention before buying something I would not necessarily have otherwised noticed seems to contain tons of low-grade oil calories.

Which would you buy? “$2.99 Gourmet Burger 900 kcal, 1ug pesticide” or “$5.99 Burger 500kcal No pesticide”

I think if the government thinks it’s important to have calories published, it should foot the bill.

My feeling is that the benefit that would come from such a regulation would not justify its costs for some of the same reasons mentioned above (high cost, won’t affect behavior much, etc.).

Years ago, I wanted a Haagen Dazs chocolate almond ice cream bar. I knew it wasn’t health food, but at that moment, I didn’t care. I walked over the the 7-11, I picked it up, I flipped it over, I saw that it contained 28 grams of fat, I put it back, and I’ve never eaten another.

Will everyone behave this way when confronted with the actual calories in the food they’re about to eat? No. But if even a small percentage of people do, we’ve gained something.

Displaying calorie information prominently won’t create a financial hardship for the likes of McDonalds, a company that regularly changes its signage. The likes of McDonalds doesn’t want people to really know just how bad their food is.

I care greatly about my health, Mike. And some days, I’m just crunched and don’t have anything in the house. So I go for the occasional McDonald’s grilled Asian salad. The best choice in the world? No. But hardly a Big Mac. So places like McDonald’s do have a place in society. It’s just time they’re held more accountable.

People whine about the cost of healthcare in ths country, yet when the goverment tries to do something simple on a broad scale to help curb the obesity epidemic, they say it’s a fool’s errand? I say it couldn’t hurt. It’s not the only solution, to be sure, but every little bit helps, just like cutting a few calories here and there adds up to a pound lost.

You have to start somewhere. Why not start with one of the biggest industries in the country, which also happens to be one of the biggest contributors to the problem?

If consumers really wanted this information, they would demand it. But, again, no one thinks a Big Mac is healthy. Yet millions are eaten anyway.

People, as a rule, won’t do anything hard to improve their long-term health. Anyone who has worked as a trainer or dieting consultant can attest to that.

I have seen NO hard scientific evidence that even a small share of obese people will change 1) what they eat for a single meal, or 2) their long-run eating habits, when presented with clear nutritional information while ordering, buying, or preparing food.

In fact, just yesterday I was in an all-day meeting that provided me an anecdote indicating just how ridiculous this fast food calorie policy is. Half the folks at the meeting were significantly overweight. They were all college educated folks with sedentary jobs; all were in their 40s or 50s.

Box lunches were brought in. Each contained a moderately healthy sandwich or wrap, a bag of apple slices, a 200 calorie bag of potato chips, and a large factory-sealed cookie.

One woman noted that each cookie had 300 calories. Wow! Then a man noted that each cookie was actually two servings, for a total of 600 calories!

Everyone had a good laugh, but that made me pay attention: would you believe that the woman still ate the cookie, and so did 1/2 – 3/4 of the people there?! These people know damn well they shouldn’t be eating a 600 calorie cookie, even made a joke out of it, yet a majority of them ate it.

Heck, I had put my uneaten chips and cookie next to the unopened box lunches. Somebody took both!

So go ahead, nannies, make obese people look at calorie information at McDonalds. Hopefully, if it makes you feel better about yourself, because it likely won’t do anything for them.

Gal