Posting Calories On Menus Makes People Eat More

Since 2008, fast food restaurants in New York have been required to post calorie counts next to items on their menus in an effort to get consumers to take more care over what they're eating. Great idea, and one I'm generally in favour of. Being more transparent about what people are shoving into their mouths, especially at fast food restaurants, should, logically, encourage people to consume less calories.

But, according to two research papers by NYU and Yale, consumers actually ended up consuming more calories after the changes were made. So much for transparency. I can think of a number of reasons why this might fail, but two spring to mind:

1. If you're ordering a super-sized anything at a fast food restaurant, worring about calories probably ain't at the top of your list of things you're worrying about.

2. I'm sure your brain is probably going - "wow, if I order the slightly larger one, my cost per calorie just fell. Score!".

Eat Right In Hong Kong

So there was a recent copy of The List kicking around our aparment, and as I'm leafing through it I come across an ad for a restaurant in Soho called Eat Right. I've walked passed the restaurant plenty of times but have never eaten there - but what caught my eye in the ad was a service they're promoting called the "Eat Right Food Programme".

Apart from the fact that "Food Programme" makes it sound like a U.N. aid initiative, I'm intruiged by the idea that this service is available in Hong Kong. I duly checked out their website, but was a little disappointed to find next to no information that wasn't already in the ad.

• no info on the nutritionist
• no info on pricing options
• no basic info on what it means to eat healthily

What it does say is that:

• it's a monthly subscription
• you get meals delivered twice a day

And that's about it. I emailed Eat Right to ask for more information, but they didn't bother to reply.

I think services like this are a great starting point for people who want to learn more about what constitutes healthy eating by helping to understand a) what portion sizes really look like and b) what types of food are OK to eat . I say a starting point though, because long term, this is not a sustainable change to your lifestyle.

For starters, having meals delivered to you twice a day is not very flexible. You still need to be able to socialize with friends and in business settings, so that means over a longer period of time you're going to have to be able to make better decisions on your own.

Variety is another factor. While I'm sure there is variety within the menu itself - food delivered from the same kitchen is probably going to be limited to ingredients that don't stray too far from their main wholesale buying requirements. This also says nothing of eating food that you're in the mood for. Having a better overall understanding of how to eat healthily allows you to make decisions that fit your mood, schedule and tastes without being locked into a menu being prepared by someone else.

At some point I'll posts some more thoughts about what and how to eat for a healthier lifestyle, but for now here's a couple of ideas to get you thinking:

• Eat food that looks like food. Obvious, but important. A Dorito does not look like anything you'd find in nature - so you're best option is to stay away.
• Eat little and often. Studies show that people who follow this method of food intake don't suffer from big energy swings (feel like napping after lunch?). This makes you more productive, able to focus longer and importantly reduces the likelyhood you'll overeat when you do sit down to a meal.
• Sit down to a meal.  If you eat all your meals in front of the TV, your chances over eating are significantly increased. This is because your brain is distracted by all the pretty pictures and is less likely to signal that you're full. Sitting at a table keeps you focussed on the task at hand and is far more sociable.
• Limit alcohol. That's not no alchol, but limit it. Everyone knows that alcohol has empty calories in it, but I think most people underestimate it. Consider this: 5 pints of Heineken = 1,100 calories (approx.) which would take more than 1 hour running to burn off. Do your liver and your waistline a favour and limit your alcohol intake and you'll be well on the way.

So, Eat Right's food programme might be a great place to start and hopefully anyone who does it will learn something along the way about making better food choices instead of abdicating that responsibility (and then complaining that it doesn't work later on), but in the long run, by arming yourself with better overall food knowledge, you'll be in much better shape.