…if you knew it contained half of your daily allowance of calories?

In an attempt to promote positive eating behaviour, a range of restaurants – as well as one of the biggest fast food suppliers – have agreed to print the calorie count on their menus, and therefore provide the energy content of their food.

With fast-food chains claiming higher profits year-by-year and obesity levels on the rise, I agree that information and education both play a key role in changing someone’s eating behaviour for the better. Unless you are on a calorie restricted diet (which I hope you’re not), you probably don’t have a clue how many calories you eat when tucking into your sandwich, curry or burger. Would it make a difference if you did?

Surely when you go into a fast food chain, you know what you are getting yourself into. Probably not so much when you just go to your local Indian or coffee shop down the road. But is this the right approach? Or is it more shock therapy? Will consumers choke on their burger the next time they glance over the calorie count? Worse, will they leave the fast-food chain or restaurant without buying anything? Surely that’s not the goal of the food manufacturer, so they will find a way of offering less calorie-rich foods to keep everyone happy.

In New York, this scheme has shown some positive behavioural changes, with 15% of the consumers who followed the calorie count opting for less calorie rich foods. I don’t think that’s a bad start.

I am not a big fan of counting calories and never encourage my clients to do, mainly because you are not paying any attention to the nutrient content of your food. You can easily stick to your 2,000 kcal per day diet by living on chocolate and crisps without getting any nutritional value.

But 15% is better than nothing. It’s a starting point, and this might make people more interested in finding out what’s actually in their food. I’m interested to hear your thoughts. Will this change your food choices, or are you still going to tuck into your burger without the guilt trip?

Lisa Wulf  – BA (hons), Dipl CNM, MBANT

Lisa is a Nutrition Mission nutritional therapist. If you would like to find out more about Lisa then click here.