Melanie Sabol – Copy Editor
Between the late night take out orders and the runs to any fast food restaurant; our calorie intake as college students is not the best that it can be. Yet, it is hard for us with everything going on in our daily lives to just tack on another thing to keep track of – calories. For those who keep track with applications on phones such as Calorie Counter and My Fitness Pal there is at least an attempt to stay informed with your calorie intake.
Starting off any new diet or fitness can start with great intentions, yet there is always something that happens that defers us from our goal. However, restaurants can help us with keeping track of such things as calories by putting the calories on the menu next to the item we want.
Now the question is, will the calorie count on the menus help or hurt us? Being more aware about what is going into your body is always good. The downfall of this is being so aware that you don’t eat the foods that you love. For example, late night runs to McDonald’s may not happen as often when you realize that there are 940 calories in their 20 piece chicken nuggets. Sometimes value menu isn’t always what you bargain for.
Shannon Wu, a senior here at Southern Connecticut State University, believes it would be a good idea for restaurants to put calorie counts on menus for their customers. “I think unhealthy eating is a problem in America,” says Wu, “The portion sizes are for more than one person and people are eating the entire potion themselves in one sitting. They are not realizing what they are doing since there is no serving size for them to see.”
We need to be more aware of what we are putting into our bodies. “I think it would be wise for restaurants to have it on the menu, especially fast food restaurants,” says Wu. However, Wu would be turned off if more restaurants were to put up the calorie count because she would realize how unhealthy it is every time she went to buy it. “I would still eat at places such as McDonald’s but just not as often,” says Wu.
Dylan Steinberg, junior at Southern Connecticut State University, also agrees with Wu that restaurants should have a calorie count on menus. “It would be a good idea because it would make people more conscious about what they are eating throughout the day,” says Steinberg.
“This would then help them realize what they are eating and why they are gaining weight. I think that the calorie counts should be on all franchise menus,” says Steinberg. Steinberg is right, with the Affordable Care Act that takes effect in 2014, restaurants with more than 20 locations will be required to have a calorie count intake on their menus.
“If I saw how many calories were on a Big Mac from McDonald’s it would defer me from eating there because I would see how much my calorie intake is,” says Steinberg.
As a consumer myself I do think that it is a good idea to have restaurants put the calorie count on the menu. Allowing the consumer to have more knowledge about what is being put into their bodies will only allow them to be more informed and won’t hurt.
Once the consumer knows more about the products they are buying they can then make informed purchases. For example, I think that the McDonald’s chicken nugget calorie count is extremely high and may not buy them as often. However, this won’t defer me from buying from McDonalds. As a consumer, I will just be more conscious about my late night treats.
