When you walk into one of your favorite restaurants to order your usual salad, you probably feel like you’re making a reasonable and healthy choice. However, you might be surprised to discover that the salad you love so much has been costing you more than 1,000 calories a pop.
This lack of transparency between restaurants and their customers has led many people to be deceived about what exactly their eating and how its affecting their bodies, said University of Maryland professor Robert T. Jackson, who works in the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department.
The Obama administration attempted to solve this issue by ordering chain restaurants with 20 or more locations nationwide to list calorie and nutrition information on their menus in March of last year as part of Obama’s health care legislation. But with this, the question comes: How effective is this tactic in making people actually choose healthier food options?
UMD professor Kurt Gray, who works in the psychology department, thinks that while having the nutrition facts gives people the knowledge about what they’re eating, the real issue is that most people don’t want to change their eating habits.
“Most people already know certain things are unhealthy,” Gray said. “But people are motivated to protect their self esteem so they have mechanisms to justify eating unhealthy.”
However, Alison Levine, a sophomore student at UMD, feels a little differently. “When you see such a high number for calories in plain sight, it forces many people to come to terms with the reality of what they’re about to eat,” Levine said. She noted that when she sees such high numbers in the calorie or fat columns, she just can’t rationalize eating those items.
Levine recalled a time she headed to one of her regular eating spots, California Pizza Kitchen, when she noticed the addition of nutrition facts on the menus. “I was shocked when I saw that the Waldorf Chicken Salad, which I’ve eaten several times, was over 1200 calories!”
Despite seeing the alarming numbers, Gray also brought up the point that people eat for different reasons, especially when dealing with emotional issues, leading them to choose “comfort foods.” “When your boyfriend breaks up with you, are you more likely to choose a pack of carrots or a nice pint of Ben & Jerry’s?” Gray said.
Gray’s comment touches on the point that the effectiveness of restaurants displaying nutrition facts depends greatly on each person’s commitment to eating healthily. “The usefulness of the nutrition facts depends on how much we know or are concerned with making healthy choices,” Jackson said.
Levine, however, pointed out that for people who have never thought to look up nutrition facts, seeing them displayed would be an eye-opening experience. Despite different viewpoints, all parties agreed that the addition of nutrition facts is a step in the right direction for creating a healthy U.S. “It should help improve some people’s understanding of what exactly they’re eating and which food options are bad,” Jackson said.
Jackson recalled that on his recent trip to Chipotle, he was surprised to see the new addition of nutrition facts on the menus. “I liked how they also made customers aware that choosing to add sour cream or guacamole would add calories to their meals,” Jackson said. While it might seem obvious that these items pack on the calories, sometimes it’s necessary to have these facts out in the open, Jackson added.
Levine added to this feeling. “Even if people know in their mind that something’s unhealthy, when the nutrition facts aren’t right there in front of them, its kind of like the whole ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing.” All agreed that while the nutrition facts on menus won’t steer everyone away from unhealthy choices, it will definitely have an affect on some people’s eating habits.
Jackson said that the way to really motivate people to eat healthier is for restaurants to actually diversify their menu and offer healthier options. Some restaurants, such McDonald’s, have tried to do this by recommending more salad options or offering skim or 1 percent milk instead of whole, Levine pointed out.
“This is a step in the right direction, but restaurants, especially ones that have locations around the country, need to improve the quality of their food to really combat the issue of obesity in America,” Jackson said.