Why are we still in 2018 looking at food as numbers and grams. Really NYTimes? It’s about WHAT the food IS. The chains mentioned are sell food that harms. If you want to nourish your body, avoid disease, live well then you avoid these foods. If communities want to support health then they shouldn’t support these chains. Public health will improve exponentially if we can avoid consuming garbage. Thinking of our health in terms of calories and grams is not working.We know that now. Don’t we? Can we please shift the conversation to improve quality of foods, remove garbage, improve food systems, access, etc? Normalizing eating in these places that are making us sick is making too many sick. And no. McDonald’s does not in any way ever resemble a healthy option.
1
On a recent trip to Cheesecake Factory I almost ordered my usual - the Chinese Chicken Salad, when I noticed the calorie content 1750 — for a salad?! So I got the Oriental Chicken tacos with lettuce wrap for 410 calories, off the lighter fare menu. And I skipped the cheesecake.
I can't stand the word "veggie". Aside from that, when did portions in restaurants get so huge, and why?
1
The graphic "Nutrition Facts" says Calories 750, not 2,710. But it also reads Saturated Fat 40g and Trans Fat 3g, yet the Total Fat only reads 30g. How can that be? Is it just a made-up graphic, for looks? Am I being too pedantic?
4
There is a Cheesecake Factory restaurant within walking distance of my house. I went there a few years ago, late at night for decaf and dessert with a friend after we'd seen a show. We ordered our desserts, and when mine came, apple crisp with ice cream, it was big enough to serve four people. I ate a quarter of it, paid and never went back.
5
Cynical me wonders if the calorie reductions were achieved by reducing portion or topping size rather than by switching to healthier or less calorific ingredients, thus saving $ for the restaurant while keeping prices constant.
1
@expat Quite possible, but the calorie count is still lowered, and that's the main thing. I've told restaurants to give me less food (for instance, two tacos instead of the entree's usual three), and that I'll pay the same regardless. Maybe we're being taken for a ride, but meal portions in U.S. restaurants are far too large.
4
Can’t argue these food options are way beyond calorie intake required but times should have highlighted other culprit , carbs.
There is growing school of thought that fat is good, that’s what Homo sapiens were eating before agriculture was a thing. Carbs in moderation are okay but most of food have either grain or sugar or both, and carbs end up being biggest contributor to calorie intake
1
People who care about their health, (and have something resembling taste and a working palate), don't go near these places. It is amazing that anyone would waste perfectly good calories on such revolting food.
4
Can we be sure the nutritional information provided by restaurants is accurate? I wonder if some of those astronomical numbers were even higher before the marketing department got its hands on the draft version of the data sheet.
1
How interesting...yet, not one mention of the carb counts of these metabolic demons? Salt? Saturated fat? These are the least of the worries when someone eats fast food. Excessive caloric intake is one thing, when that includes a healthy dose of empty calories in the form of fructose, sucrose and carbohydrate, it's takes the concern level to imperative proportions. This doesn't even incorporate the methods of food processing and the industrial seed oils that are slathered all over such food items.... The problem with demonizing nutrients like salt and saturated fat is two fold. Firstly, these are vital components of an any diet. They are essential to life and a functioning metabolism. Second, they obfuscate the real concerns with processed and fast food.
4
Now we know what the rich man eats in America when he is out eating!
Huge mounds of food produce human specimens so obesity is a natural corollary !
Y’all a bunch of judgemental snobs. Ever wondered that sometimes people eat cheap unhealthy food because they paid diddly-squat? Ever thought why a guy earning a tiny amount brings home a KFC bucket? Because it’s the biggest meal he can provide. A woman who works 18hrs a day for minimum wage may not want to look up a nice recipe on NYT Cooking and steam some mushrooms for an hour - there’s a drive-thru on the way home and it’s open at 11pm, done. Fact for you: cooking and preparing healthy meals takes time and costs more money - that is the problem here, so don’t judge and piously lecture people who might just want a quick, cheap meal because they’re so damn tired.
I thought you people were the supposed ‘good’ guys? Judgemental elites looking down at those yukky fat people who make your lovely neighbourhood look bad? Shame on you all. Shame.
12
@Mat As I was reading these comments, I thought "what a bunch of snobs". I was thinking about what I would say and
then I read your comment. I realized I didn't need to write anything.
@Mat
Be thankful that you do not have allergies. I have cookbooks, a stove, a fridge, and I use them. I don't eat at these chains by choice. When I go to the grocery, I feel sick when I see the processed junk piled high in shopping carts. No matter the income, you have a choice. If nothing else, you can walk to get exercise.
@Micky
Right with you both!!
Like other commenters, I would never choose fast food or a chain restaurant. But I look at the prices can give some insight into why some people do. It's certainly far cheaper to eat there, even often than cooking at home. Unfortunately, food is like many things in the USA, the lower income folks get screwed.
4
This article has it all wrong. Darwin wrote about the survival of the fattest.
1
I try not to eat at chain restaurants. I do not have the capacity or inclination to get that much food into my body. It looks like an addictive lifestyle, to eat that way regularly. And they promote alcohol now like candy. Marijuana dispenaries in Colorado feel pretty tame and abstemious compared with these gluttony-promoting chain restaurants.
4
Stop eating out and cook at home. Here's a couple of rules to live by: stick to food that needs to be eaten off a plate with a knife and fork. Avoid things that can be eaten with your hands from a paper bag.
That helps to cut out a lot of the bad stuff. And, it goes without saying, avoid fast food at all costs.
It doesn't take much more than that.
5
I certainly enjoy eating out, but I'll never choose some chain restaurant, and I think my last fast food purchase was over a decade ago. It's just not food, in my mind. No highfalutin moral or health nut reasons, I just don't enjoy it. If I'm caught on the road needing to grab a quick bite, I head into a grocery and pick up a fresh baked bread, a piece of fruit, maybe some cheese.
At the grocery store, if it comes in a prepared package, I don't want it. OK, pasta and such, a frozen pizza now and then, but that's about it. If I'm in the mood for something banana flavored, I eat a banana.
When I pack a lunch, there's little prep time needed. I've already boiled eggs for the week, and also poached or roasted chicken breast that I've put in the fridge. Add nuts, fresh fruit and veggies, it's almost all grab and go.
Dinner's the same, in that it's not fancy, but nutritious, and well rounded. Time's not a factor, if I'm rushed. Most people can spare 5 minutes for angel hair.
I was stunned when I learned how nutritious and low cost this way of eating was (I kept careful records because I was curious). 2000 calories, with the recommended balance of protein, carb, fat... and all the vitamins and minerals needed... came out to under $4 a day.
8
Just had a conversation about this very subject with my Pilates instructor this morning. Even when you think you are ordering a healthy meal in a restaurant you don’t really know for sure what the calorie/fat content is as they prepare the food to satisfy the American palate. I often feel there is too much salt and oil in even an order of grilled fish and steamed vegetables. We eat most meals at home where I cook lots of veggies, fish, and chicken. When we do eat out, my husband and I split an appetizer, entree and dessert, careful to select healthier options. We have the pleasure of a lovely meal out, eat a reasonable amount and keep our bill down!
3
Yes, these restaurants are egregious but the real culprits are our grocery stores. I was recently in a large chain grocery store and was amazed at the choices of calorie laden ready-to-eat foods found in the deli area and the aisle upon aisle of junk food and quick fix dinner options. This is the food that a lot of America buys and not so much at the Cheese Cake Factory and it’s kin.
4
What I can’t believe is these Big Gulps and other just gigantic cups for soda pop. At the hospital where I used to work, the smallest soft drink available was 16 oz. I would fill one halfway even for iced tea. Who wants to drink all that?
A patient in my resident clinic when I was in internal medicine training was morbidly obese. With some questioning, he mentioned that he was drinking multiple sugar-filled soft drinks daily. He gave that up and the weight just melted off.
7
One thing you notice traveling outside the US is the portion sizes almost everywhere else are about half that typically served in the US, both in homes and in restaurants. And the people are also usually about half the size. And they seem less hungry overall than Americans, not continually munching on things, but rather tending to eat actual meals. How have we come to find ourselves in so dysfunctional a relationship with something as basic as food?
14
Split a meal, or order fewer dishes. Difficult to do solo, but easy for a family or couple. Order the small fries at McDonald's. Its not that hard.
And I don't need an article to tell me that these portion sizes and dishes are meant to be shared.
4
It is very difficult to tell if Americans are being manipulated into self destruction or if they want it for themselves separate from any influence. However, the people who die young won't be receiving any social security or medicare, so that will leave more money in the government that can be used for whatever the politicians want. They won't use it to help the people, but they could give another tax cut to the wealthy. Americans who are alive still can then expect to be trickled upon.
1
When I eat at restaurants, I always assume the portion I receive will serve for two or three meals. I eat only a third or half and take the rest home. I never eat the whole thing. That's the only way to eat out at restaurants in the USA.
17
It’s true that chain restaurants serve mega calorie filled food. But many ‘hipster’ restaurants serve a lot of high calorie foods as well. A free range fried chicken with some ‘heirloom’ flour waffles is just as bad if one were to truly be honest (in terms of calorie counts).
10
Just one more example of how big business is the enemy of the people. The USDA offers advice on how many calories to eat -- the food pyramid, etc. It has no chance to compete for the hearts and minds of the kids who are targeted by the fast food chains by 1000 times more advertising than the advocates for good eating could ever manage.
Maybe we should all go back and watch Morgan Sprulock's Supersize Me once again. That was back in 2004, and for all Ms. Brody's hopefulness, it clearly failed to stop the fast food juggernaut.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/
4
@whaddoino Don't the kids have parents? Why are they not doing their job?
2
Latte-loving liberal here. Who in their right mind eats at a place with the name "Cheesecake Factory?" It's right up there with the "Meat Trough" or the "Macaroni Pit."
24
The same people who shop at malls.
1
@C. Holmes
It's amazingly delicious! Their avocado eggrolls and cajun shrimp w mango salsa and plantains is such a guilty pleasure. 2-3x a year max but still. Yum!
8
@C. Holmes Lots of people. It's good. But portions are big enough to eat only half and save the rest for later so this article is a bit of hype.
3
There is no shortage of corporate greed taking advantage of the ignorance and sloth of the American People. Is there an ETF for fast food and diabetes drugs?
4
I like it when I see American men with their big pot bellies sticking out from under their polo shirts. That’s nice.
11
I've been paying close attention to this slow motion train wreck for all my life. Those who blame the food industry are correct. When executives get together to create fill in meals for what they call "snacking opportunities" there's a name for it: Collusion. The ruining of our health is their profession.
And those who blame the consumer are also correct. Like the crowd around a sample counter at Trader Joe's gleefully wolfing down the day's offering: a sweet cracker, a swipe of Camembert cheese, and a spoonful of brown sugar. The looks I got when I expressed concern over this were near murderous: "Why don't you mind you own business,...if you don't like it, don't eat it...try it, it's delicious!"
There are a hundred reasons for either situation. Corporations are there to make money, not be our nannies. People need a treat now and then to feel good. Personal responsibility. But the phrase that sticks out in my mind from years of reading on these subjects is this one from a pharm exec: "It's simple. If you're not in insulin you're not in the game".
5
Yes, real food is a LOT of work. This weekend I worked a couple hours on the farm, got 4 bags of produce, spent hours, with some help from my teen, to clean and store them away and spent all afternoon making a large pot of marinara with a large bag of tomatoes. And yes, it takes experience, equipment and know how. But consider the alternatives- disease, bad quality of life and painful, slow death. I’d rather move around and work hard for the calories that go in me.
10
@JA
I'm not lucky enough to have a farm, so (for every pound of dried pasta) I have to put three crushed garlic cloves; a dash of salt; and a sprinkle each of black pepper, red pepper flakes and dried basil and/or oregano into about two tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan, heat it on medium for 30 seconds and then dump in a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes. I stir it for a minute, reduce the heat and, when the pasta is done over on the other burner, drain that and put it in the sauce. It's not farm-fresh but it's fast and costs about two dollars. And I think it's healthier than most restaurant food. Of course, it doesn't involve exercise (unless I have to walk over to the liquor store for the weekly bottle of $6.99 merlot).
PS Whoops, forgot to steam a head of broccoli. Give me five more minutes, willya?
8
@JA Trader Joe' has nice pasta sauces not loaded with sugar or salt for $2 a jar.
2
Every day I am struck, in fact horrified by the size of the people I see. There are 300 pound women, 350 and 400 pound men, often young men.
Their stupid indulgences cost the rest of us in health care premiums and costs.
One looks at a grossly obese person in the market or in a restaurant and asks, can't you see yourself? Don't you hate the way you look and feel? What is wrong with you?
It is, frankly, disgusting that at least one out of three people you pass in the street, at the market, in life anywhere and everywhere in this country is grossly overweight or disgustingly obese.
Those chain restaurants? Whenever you see a meal with a clearly invented name, combining recipes and ingredients from 4, 5 and 6 different cuisines beware because first it is not only preposterous as a food offering but second it is surely a killer.
Places like Ruby Tuesday, Applebees, Cheesecake Factory , TGI Friday and that dreadful buffet chain, Golden Corral, always advertising on TV are not restaurants. They are fast food sitting down with table service.
Stay out of them if you want to eat in a reasonable and reasonably healthy way.
As a nation we are eating ourselves to death.
22
A quote from Woody Allen's "Sleeper," when he wakes up 200 years in the future:
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
9
Hopefully the next POTUS will set a good example by eating healthy food and exercising.
7
Count carbs, not calories or fat.
7
@MDB
I lost 40 lbs in 2013 by counting calories and fat, not carbs.
2
Thanks for the heads up. Can’t wait to try these dishes!
4
When my now 24 year-old got his license at 17, he was beyond excited to use his money to hit the drive-throughs. His favorite? Burger King and their Double Stacker. I noticed he wasn't eating well at dinners with the family and we talked about fast food. We all agreed (including he) that once you eat the high fat, high sodium food, real food tastes bland. He stopped hitting the drive-throughs and we saved the fast food for road trips. It is hard to break those junk food cycles. Forbidding doesn't usually work but if you're eating it daily, it really does sabotage your health and palate.
15
That's a good point you raise about the salt in fast food. I had to cut way back on sodium and I was surprised by how good unsalted meats and vegetables can taste. I think sugar and salt do lead to an increased tolerance and sense of need, as happens with addictive substances. Good for you to school your son to resist this dodgy business.
3
Why would anyone patronize a restaurant called "The Cheesecake Factory"? There isn't anything promising about that name after "The". I don't know why, but their breakfast burrito is one in a long line of disastrous breakfast choices American diners can make. Hardee's makes a heart-stopping breakfast platter including biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, cheese and flapjacks on the side. Bring your own Lipitor.
13
@Jeff M Reading your comment actually made me slightly nauseated!
2
Comparing one junk food entree to another is like choosing whether to die by hanging or the electric chair.
10
Restaurants posting calories and health info up front definitely helps with ordering something "healthier-ish".
6
Ok, if you really want to ask the question, "Who is to blame for fattening up Americans and killing their hearts?", and then try to rule out McDonalds, don't just look at a few items on the menu; consider that there are ~14,000 McDonalds locations vs ~195 Cheesecake Factory locations, and then that for the price of one entree at the latter you can feed a family at the former. Even if the only served the burrito, Cheesecake Factory is a drop in the bucket in comparison.
The rest of this comment is speculative, based on hunches and personal experience:
- People find cooking daunting. It may be cheaper to buy ingredients, but considering the learning curve of cooking, time that goes into prep, cooking & clean up, along with the fact that the end result doesn't taste nearly as good as restaurant fare, it's easy to see why people who can afford to eat out more often.
- I would guess [but have no backing statistics] that home ec is taught in fewer high schools and/or fewer people take it than used to be the case.
- People working longer hours are especially prone to going out. They also can't or don't have time to teach their children how to cook.
- I wasn't self-sufficient in the kitchen until my 30's, and after a diagnosis of celiac disease made going out difficult; variety is still a bit of a struggle, and it would be worse without an InstantPot [I do not work for them]
- Don't assume people can interpret nutrition info
- Misinformation from USDA [e.g. food pyramid]
6
So calorie counts and nutritional contents are breakthrough transformative information? How ignorant, or self-delusional, would a person have to be to receive a gigantic plate full of deep-fried meat, cheese, starch, and salt and not have some idea that it might be bad for their weight and health?
14
My granddaughters very sick obese 10 year old cousin was recently hospitalized for what was determined to be malnutrition. She ONLY eats McDonald's Mac N Cheese and chicken nuggets. Thankfully my side of the family only eats real whole food even the little kids. ITS WORK. We talk about it all the time. There are a few restaurants that offer healthy options that we frequent occasionally. But mostly we refer to restaurant food as “poisonous.”
7
What used to be called “home economics” was phased out of our school systems decades ago.
Hardly anyone cooks any more. I was asked by a check out person the other day, “what do you do with that?” As she scanned an eggplant!
And then there is portion size! And has anyone noticed? The dinner plates are 2 inches larger that 20 years ago.
8
I tried eating healthy food once, and it just tasted of sadness, self-loathing and tears, but for a few moments I considered myself superiors to all those little ants scurrying into McDonalds. I talked 24/7 about healthy food and how important it was, my studies went out the window and friends fell away because being healthy 24/7 means you must dispense with all emotional depth and just develop a thin superficial smear on he surface and do nothing but think of how many different things you can put Acorn Milk into.
Then I realised how utterly boring, intellectually vacuous, narcissistic, smug and self-satisfied I had become, ordered a big greasy Dominos and stuffed my face with it. It was beautiful. Since then life has been good.
Thanks for the tip - that burrito sounds delicious.
14
@Mat
Funny, but not true.
5
@Mat When I hesitate at the price of food at organic stores, my wife says to me: Pay for it now, or pay for it at the oncologist later. She's right.
3
That's funny -- all I can taste in my broccoli is broccoli. Are you sure your salt shaker was filled with salt?
My wonderful physician-spouse, truly my better half, told me to eat to my heart's delight, just cap it off at 1800 per day and walk a lot. Adios, ten pounds of blubber.
5
How much of the reduction in calories for the dishes sited is simply reducing portion size rather than reconstituting the recipe? And by the way, if you are speaking of food's positive benefit to those ingesting it, the proper word is "healthful", not healthy. Healthy food is food that is not sick. Healthful food is food that is good for you.
14
Seems that every time that there is an article about too many calories,and fat, the restaurants double size and add bacon and bacon and bacon. And people dive in and see how much the can consume. Portions seem to get bigger, saltier and sweeter. I love to eat our but having so much left on the plate. I do take home part of it when I can but somethings just do not reheat well. Would like restaurants to to offer a senior menu about the size of a child's plate but with more that chicken tenders and fries.
4
Not only restaurants are notorious for high calorie, fat, and sodium laden foods, but some of the refrigerated "fresh " foods available at supermarkets these days are just as bad, especially soups. The sodium content alone is enough to make one think twice about making these purchases.
6
I have given up completely on store-bought soup because of the salt, and also the corn syrup solids and the soy protein isolate.
1
@Patricia Plus it's so easy to make soup, and when you make it yourself, you know what goes into it!
1
Calories are the wrong measure. Precisely because 100 calories a day is the difference between gaining a pound a month and not doing so, it is not possible to regulate caloric intake accurately enough to maintain a steady weight. Every dieter has learned this---you can count calories to crash weight loss, but not to a sustainable diet.
A steady weight requires self-regulation of appetite. That comes from the kind of food consumed, not the quantity. If you avoid simple carbohydrates and eat mostly plants (as Pollan recommends), you will have a stable and healthy weight without counting calories. Your appetite will regulate itself to achieve this. Eat all the vegetables (plain, not soaked in sweet or salty sauces) you want---you won't want to eat too many.
7
Having grown up fathered by a food and drug lawyer with a specialty in food labeling, I didn't learn how to read one until I was 40. It took a new doctor, the first one I had younger than me, for that. He told me not to look at calories and cholesterol. He knew I was active, and created "good cholesterol." What he directed me to was the real danger: saturated fat (which is much harder to burn off) and (wait for it, because I sure did)...portion control. It opened up a door to a new world where I learned that coconut oil was not what I wanted in my battle with heart disease: sunflower oil was healtier. And when I read the serving size to hone in on the sodium intake via my favorite pickles, it was broken down into a serving size completely transparent, in tiny type face: "half a pickle." Eating healthy starts with our eyes: reading. But we also need to understand what it means for us on an individual basis. If you are burning 2000 calories running a half marathon, you are allowed to take that Xtreme Eating Award and hold it over your head at the finish line.
3
When Starbucks posted the calorie count for a slice of lemon cake, I was horrified. I'd been scarfing it down pretty regularly - now it's a rare treat. I'm very glad they did it.
16
Oh yeah, Starbucks’ calorie counts were an eye-opener. I love them.
3
Food like the Cheesecake Factory Breakfast Burrito are not designed to provide nutrition, but are designed to trigger opiate-like responses in your brain. This is not food to satisfy your hunger, but to trigger a hormonal response that emulates a drug like response. Whether the Cheesecake Factory is aware of this and doing this on purpose is question that needs to be answered.
The preponderance of factory food, driven by market share, ease of manufacturing and profit, are designed to make you addicted to these offerings. Nutrition is the last thing they worry about.
After becoming vegetarian, I have discovered that it is not necessary to consume 2,500 calories in a meal in order to become satisfied. When you start eating meals that are more naturally satisfying, you find the "craving" for such foods actually diminishes. You find that you can eat far less, feel better, have more energy, and in my case lower my blood sugar levels and loose weight.
That is something the food corporations do not want you to know.
15
As one who has recently discovered my own issues with insulin resistance, I’ve spent the past several weeks closely monitoring my diet, as well as the resulting blood sugar measurements and my overall energy, as well as mental clarity. The experience has only delineated just how dangerous these restaurants are, and the effects that their “foods” are having on our health as a community. As Dr. Brody states, it’s counterintuitive that McDonalds offers safer fare than the guilty chains mentioned, but the options (no bun, no sauce, no ketchup, so forth) are far greater. Establishments such as Cheesecake Factory have much to account for, between the suffering health of regular customers, and the healthcare costs that result.
6
I have learned to ask for a lettuce wrap in place of a bun.
As a frequent hotel guest, I sometimes observe folks at the breakfast buffet, this morning I noticed every plate I saw had eggs and of course pork sausage piled high. What really surprised me is the guest's were of all ages and many appeared to be from other cultures as well as locals. So, its good to know we American's aren't the only glutton's in the world. Happy Labor Day.
True the world is full of gluttons but when I worked as a chef in Cairns it was only American tour groups that we ever received specific warning about ie triple or quadruple the amount of food prepared for breakfast buffet.
It was an open kitchen and I was constantly horrified watching enormous people eat sometimes eight pastries, sevaral and massive serves of the cold buffet then invariably order steak with of course an egg white omelette to top it off. I could never understand how they ever enjoyed their holiday given they could only waddle.
12
It's definitely not just Americans. It takes a strong person of any nationality to control themselves at a breakfast buffet.
4
@Walter McCarthy maybe they are going to skip lunch. Maybe they are traveling. Maybe harsh judgments (glutton? really?) describing of your fellow travelers based on this morning's breakfast buffet tells us more about you than them.
4
Recipe for obesity and/or heart attack on a plate: two full-time wage earners needed to pay the rent. Additional time required to deal with household chores and child care (paid for, provided by relatives, or done by mom and dad working opposite shifts). Zero time left for cooking healthy meals at home. Add constant bombardment of TV ads for junk food and junk food restaurants. Stir. Serve.
19
Many of the high calorie offerings can be bettered by lowering sugar/sodium amounts and reducing portion size. Eating in Europe such a pleasure as they serve a reasonable portion. US restaurants make single portions that would serve 4-5 people! Thank you for forcing the labeling—I can still choose to overeat but can no longer fool myself that I’m not... ;-)
7
I do not think anyone is forced to eat the restaurant food offerings at gunpoint or under threat of their loved ones lives.
Stop beating restaurants over the head and consumers should accept the consequences of poor decision making on their part.
Not only could they eat healthier at home, it is money saving as well.
13
Hooray for common sense and personal responsibility.
6
Actually people can wind up basically roped into eating at these places. I'm a caregiver for someone who likes to go to the movies at the mall every week. There is nowhere healthy to eat at the mall. After a two hour blasting superhero movie, we need to eat, we are very hungry, and there is no alternative but to eat at one of those places. He lives somewhere where I can't cook, and I live 25 miles away. It's chain restaurant food or spend another hungry hour driving everyone home hungry.
I suspect it's like this for a lot of people. Once you get to the mall and do what you came to do, there is no other kind of place to eat.
2
Incredible the impact that dining out has had on people, their weight and health. 40 yrs ago eating out was viewed as a special occasion / treat. Now it is more the norm for so many people . . . so many who are just fat . . . easy to see why
14
Anyone who still thinks fast food, chain or casual dining restaurants serve healthy food or even only moderately bad for you food needs to wake up. The stuff (a substance, especially when you do not know or say exactly what it is) is poison. Buy real food. Cook at home. Learn about nutrition. Live healthier and longer.
6
@RamSter quit two of your three jobs. Skip having kids. Hire a housekeeper. Move out of that ghetto into the neighborhood with the Whole Foods. Win the lottery. There are reasons why people cannot simply buy real food and cook it. It's expensive and requires time and the ability to travel to a grocery store, things that too many working Americans simply do not have.
2
@Maureen Basedow
Rice and bean are expensive? No.
Time consuming to cook? No.
More healthful than many alternatives? No.
Peanut butter sandwiches are good, too.
2
Bottom line is if the dish is not rich and salty you won't order it. One commenter suggests sharing however I prefer eating half of it and taking the rest home for another meal.
5
@mlb4ever - the problem is that eating half of the order is still more than 1400 calories in one meal, which is still too much for most of us.
7
If you are eating at a place named "The Cheesecake Factory", you have issues beyond the burrito.
39
@Ingolf Stern
The Cheesecake Factory serves excellent salads,
2
Very easy solution to the *quantity* issue: carry a container that you can use to take 1/2 (or more) of the gluttonous portions home or back to the workplace with you.
There's a look-down-the-nose attitude toward this practice, and I don't understand why. OK, understood, no doggie bag or tupperware at Eleven Madison Park, but Cheesecake Factory? Get over the fear of someone smirking at you.
Overcoming the *quality* issue (fat, salt, etc.) requires simple discipline (not deprivation) to avoid certain types of restaurants or certain menu items, and either find alternatives or prepare healthy lunches at home.
Tain't hard. These things can be done with a sense of joy rather than denial or deficiency.
9
And you also have a significant portion of tomorrow's lunch or dinner already made (add a salad - I think that extra dark leafy greens or vegetables have rarely hurt anyone).
3
@Lindy
What is 11 Madison Park? A bench in the park?
@Lindy I've never had less than 3 complete meals from anything bought at Cheesecake Factory.
2
Millions of years of evolution makes us want to eat as much high calorie food as we can and business is happy to provide it for a profit. Good Luck!
7
When my partner(from India) and I visit the USA (quite often) we are always amazed by the portion size, but are often pleased with the quality of the food and the service. When we have gone to the Cheesecake Factory or similarly styled restaurants we always share an appetizer and share a main course. Last year we were in La Jolla and ate at Richard Walkers Pancake House. We loved it. We shared a breakfast and it was just perfect. Next time, I got greedy and ordered a full breakfast for myself. I left about 1/2 of it, it was just waaaaaaaay too much. So my message is, don't be shy to share.
15
@LorneB Exactly the strategy my wife and i are instigating, now that we're in our late 60's. It is still plenty of food! And we'd rather be slightly less full than way overly full.
13
The oft-referenced average ‘2,000 calories per person’ is where the trouble starts. Although true, it is highly misleading. Most people are not average and most people need to eat less than or more than that to maintain a healthy weight.
An online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) Calculator will quickly give you the information you need. At 2,000 calories per day, I would be losing more than a pound a week and my sister would be gaining more than a pound a week.
If we really want to solve the obesity problem, we need to start with decent information about nutrition, not useless generalities.
25
what's wrong with you losing a pound a week? sounds good to me you probably need it
1
@elizabeth
On what basis do you make your comment please?
Until people are shifted out of restaurants, especially family and near fine dining ones with spectacularly unhealthy food, obesity will continue to be a problem. A culture where there are no defined mealtimes and one that permits, indeed demands, that people eat everywhere, all the time, is toxic. No one who has mastered the basics of cooking and makes the time for it is going to eat in fast food and family restaurants because the quality and value isn't there, but today few have the requisite skills or time. Healthy eating demands an enormous, and likely impossible, change. How can we make eating a social activity organized to occur 3 or 4 regular times per day centred around properly prepared, nutritious foods? Most families can't get kids to bed at a reasonable, regular hour so how can they manage something much more complex such as an appropriate orientation to food? The huge and profitable food industry from growers to distributors to supermarkets and restaurants is not going to cede ground. Their interests run in entirely the opposite direction. And the disordered, chaotic and stressful lives we live conspire against us. Government regulation requiring calorie counts can, in light of the reality, make only the tiniest of dents in this complex problem -- a symbolic rather than substantive intervention.
8
@Cephalus
It doesn't take much skill to boil a pound of dried beans. They cost about $1.50, and provide four meals for a typical adult.
They're better if you first stir-fry an onion and some garlic. Then add the beans and two or three times their volume of water. Simmer for a few hours. Not difficult.
Steam some vegetables, fresh or frozen, too. Five minutes in a pot with a little boiling water on the bottom.
13
@CephalusIf we spent less time on social media we would find the time to prepare meals for ourselves.
1
@Cephalus
Cheap, easily-available calories and concoctions, McDonalds, Doritos, soda, frozen pizza rolls, these things are the seeds of obesity, not $75.00 steak-and-fries and a beer. It is WHAT folks are eating, chemical PSYOPS designed to fool the brain and belly, all made from Certain Death and designed for PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT......this is the problemo. It is profit uber alles that kills, every time. all we need to do is to KILL that one "value" and every single thing falls into place.
2
I'd rather eat one of those Breakfast Burritos once in a while and be very careful with my calorie intake for the rest of the time. A little food, preferably not processed, can go a long way.
5
@Richard Scott: What are you going to do about the sodium and fat in the Breakfast Burrito? Calories aren't the whole story.
2
Indulge. But don't do it often! And exercise regularly.
6
Restaurants understand that if you stop ordering "your favorite" because of high calorie count, your next new favorite meal just might be at another restaurant. Calorie listing have not only changed my menu selection but also my restaurant selection.
7
From a historical point of view we should all be asking ourselves this question: when looking at news footage from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, why is Everyone SO normal-thin?
White or Black, everyone is trim in their dresses, white button down shirts and dress slacks.
Were they starving? No! They simply didn’t eat processed food. They cooked from scratch.
So now we say: “that’s too much work” or “I just don’t have the time”. And so here we are, 2-4 times wider than people just 70 years ago. And we have played right into the hands of the processed food industry.
Look at those videos people! And do what’s right for yourselves and your family, without the excuses.
54
@Almost Can’t Take Anymore - except that most people in the 50s smoked.......
3
@Almost Can’t Take Anymore well the women were all wearing some pretty hardcore undergarments. A woman never went out without her girdle. Those 23-inch waists were not natural.
5
@Almost Can’t Take Anymore
They did not drive everywhere and sit in front of the TV or computer for hours.
1
What do these dishes have in common? Animal products. Leave meat and dairy off your plate... for both you and the animals.
11
Salt, fat and sugar, delivered frozen to chain restaurants in refrigerated trucks; fried or broiled by poorly paid line workers; sauced; delivered mouth-watering, piping hot to your arteries.
Salt, fat, sugar. That's where the money is.
There is an expression in the chain restaurant industry to explain the costly payroll required to prepare fresh, healthy, vegetable-based entrees: "chopping disease." Restaurants die of it.
16
@Taz Just Salad, Fresh and Co. and other salad chains have stopped allowing customers to have chopped salads to save on labor. Literal chopping disease.
4
wow, thank you for writing this. eye opener for me. since I pay too little attention. I enjoyed your writing style, like one friend talking to another.
6
Any visitor to the US from Europe is amazed by the portion-sizes that US eateries consider appropriate.
Is there a constant competition to put as much on a plate as is physically possible?
The US population seems to be in a competition (with itself) to kill themselves in as many different ways as possible.
16
I think part of the problem with enormous portion sizes is that there's this (sorry to generalize) American assumption that "you're not getting your money's worth" if you don't get a huge serving (which is kind of ironic, considering the cheap prices of many fast foods - chain restaurants are a little more, but not much). A previous commentator mentioned "2 chicken breasts" as integral to a chain entree - 2?! When did that become acceptable? That would have fed both my parents, with some left over, in one sitting at our table.
As a child, I was always goggle-eyed when we took roadtrips to the States and saw the huge portions served up as everyday fare in roadside restaurants and rest stops. On long trips we stocked a cooler and took a box of dry staples. Eating out was always a treat for us; we ate homecooked meals because we couldn't afford to dine out except for special occasions.
Now the reverse seems to be true: chain restaurants and their unhealthy food make it cheap and easy to feed people, especially when our society seems to overscheduled and overworked - it's a quick fix, and we pay the price with our health farther down the road.
I'm glad to see more people moving back to family/ group mealtimes, homecooked meals and food prep, plant-based nutrition, and support for local farmers and producers - I think this is the key to a healthy body, a community, and a healthy society.
15
Calorie shaming is to eating as Sabermetrics is to watching baseball. It take all the fun out of it, but in the long run, it's good for having a better understanding of the sport.
8
One of the problems is that food has become an "event." And in our never-satisfied culture, each event has to become bigger and better to keep up with the competition thus transforming a basic biological requirement into an act of gluttony. As many other commenters have suggested, we need to change our understanding of what food really is. Should it be a form of sustenance OR should it remain a means to fill the void in our increasingly commodified lives?
5
@John Blank This is silly. Food has always been an event. "Breaking bread" is a thing, and it's always been more than basic sustenance. You're identifying a feature of capitalism, that bigger is better, cheaper is better, and better still is both at once.
8
There is a health risk to posting calories. For those with eating disorders it can be triggering information. I remember standing at a Panera restaurant with my daughter and watching her begin to panic over what to eat as she was now faced with choosing something that was not just appealing but also didn’t break those internal rules of how many calories to eat that had destroyed her health and well being for more than a year. Recovery from an eating disorder is tenuous and full of challenges. What was supposed to be a nice lunch became torture.
Processed foods as described in this article are obviously unhealthy without the numbers being revealed. Whole, real food, minimally processed is what our bodies need. This is what we sought in choosing to eat at Panera. On the rare occasion I eat at Cheesecake Factory, I know what I am getting. An unhealthy meal. Period. But I hope it tastes good, and I don’t have to eat it all. I doubt many people eat their breakfast burrito in a single sitting.
I don’t see that the obsession with calories, fat or sodium has done much to improve Americans health. But it may help fuel eating disorders in those who are vulnerable.
5
I'm sorry about your family triggers but more info is better for the generalmpunlic. Educating consumers is a healthy trend.
You can look the other way if you notice calorie postings.
25
You may be highly attuned to what goes into these foods and therefore adjust your behavior accordingly, but I believe most people have no idea the level of overindulgence they partake in when they eat out.
There’s a big (HUGE!) difference between assuming something is just a treat m, perhaps a couple hundred extra calories, and knowing that it is, in fact, two whole days worth of calories and three days worth of fat. That fact is mind-boggling even to me, and I already basically knew the perils of restaurant “food.”
We cannot allow society to censor valuable information because some people are upset by facts. I respect your daughter’s difficult path to recovery; I also know that part of truly healing from an eating disorder (or any psychological trauma) requires *coping* with triggers, not bending over backward to avoid them (especially when one person’s “trigger” may be another person’s saving grace).
15
I get triggered by obese people everywhere. I lose my appetite and never want to order what they're eating - a form of eating disorder wouldn't you say?
3
We almost never eat at chains unless we are on a road trip and stuck with the dismal offerings at rest stops. So I really appreciate the calorie counts on the menus and use that information to make my choices. It isn't a perfect measure of what is good for me, but it's a start.
Someone said we should "eat to live and not eat to live." That strikes me as sad. Food is one of the great pleasures in life, especially when you make it yourself. It doesn't have to be bad for you! The planning is as fun as the eating, and with smart shopping and thinking ahead, easy to do (the anticipation of the finished product is a part of the pleasure). Kale sautéed until it's black in olive oil and a good anchovy is delicious and easy. Toss with some pasta and parmesan, and you have a meal. Add a tomato salad for color. If you use a kitchen scale to weigh your pasta, you can easily make the servings reasonable.
I am lucky in that we live in a rural place where the meat and most of the produce are local and excellent. But there are farmers markets in lots of places now. We are also lucky to have pretty good jobs so we can afford to shop locally. Rarely eating out helps with that, too. Neither of us is overweight, and my doctor is always lauding my "good" cholesterol. Using good ingredients helps.
If there is a spectrum of that eat to live/live to eat dichotomy, we are probably pretty far down the live to eat side and I'm very happy about that. It brings joy to my life.
7
Why don’t people see the parallels between the processed food industry of today and the tobacco industry through the 1970’s??
People’s health is sacrificed for corporate profits.
The only defense is to not buy their products! Because they certainly don’t care about your health.
And our taxes go right to Their bottom lines because we pay the healthcare costs of people who live on processed foods and/or use tobacco.
30
As a kid we seventh graders yearned for the day we were allowed off school grounds to go to the local cafe to get a Frito pie and a coke.
Not the best of lunches? No, maybe not, but the coke was 6 ounces and the Frito pie was made from a single serving size bag of fritos with a spoonful of chilli poured in. Cheese was extra.
People now often drink 64, that’s SIXTY-FOUR, ounces of soda, a half gallon, per day. I read this in an article somewhere a while back and I believe it.
One of the causes of our rich country’s collective health decline is the simple fact that we eat too much.
Food establishments of all kinds, especially those that are large, publicly-traded chains- must bring in X dollars of revenue because shareholders demand it and they try to deliver by making it almost impossible for millions of people to say no to the amounts of relatively cheap food mentioned in this article.
That we can know exactly what we are eating and what it might do to us and 6yet do it anyway says what about us?
8
Who can eat that monstrosity first thing in the morning and then remain awake at their invariably dull job? Or, maybe that's the point, these foods are really anti-anxiety medications in a different form. I'd be under my desk napping, unrousable by anything short of a manhole explosion next to my head. Hope none of these people are pilots.
28
Understood but also give them credit:
Next time get the skinny menu and order some lettuce tacos and get less than 500 cals
They have the choice so it’s our decision
6
Lettuce tacos? Oh, why bother? Just gnaw on a raw carrot for a few minutes and then call it a night.
3
Oh, but you’re fat shaming people, especially women! You are required to love all us obese people exactly as we are. How dare anyone ask us to eat healthily?!?! For shame!
\sarcasm
19
@W Smith--I think you missed the point of this article. It's talking about RESTAURANTS which are serving such outrageous unhealthy food. Why do you have to go there with the sarcasm about obese women? Don't you think these establishments also share some blame? Btw, that food is unhealthy for anyone, let alone those with weight problems.
8
@W Smith: Fat-shaming is criticizing individuals. She is criticizing restaurants. Not at all the same thing.
9
Ultimately we have to decide whether we eat to live, or live to eat. The former gives us the need and the discipline to eat less and live lomger, while the latter directs us to the buffet line and probably an earlier demise from this world.
5
(Not sure if this is on point, but here goes...) I guess I should consider myself fortunate that chain restaurants have played a minor role in feeding my family and because I was mostly a stay at home mom we had a home cooked meal most nights.
I am very sympathetic to those who need to eat on the go and like to tuck in to fast fare but eating out occasions with three kids didn't happen very often-I could not justify the expense when I could make something healthier at home for less money than the average McDonalds' bill for all of us. (and once you get your kids to read nutrition labels-a helpful revelation) I do think modelling portion control, the necessity of meal planning details when you survey what is in the house and what cooking requirements are needed are basic living skills that are beneficial. I see it now as our kids in their 20's know their way around a grocery store and in the kitchen.
Watching home made meals come together and the dance and science of food preparation is something we all need for our bodies and our souls! (and I used a lot of prepackaged fare- pizza dough, cut carrots, bagged salads and the like to get a meal on the table. I am not anti-convenience- just never had the means for eating out often as a family).
13
@DH
Some people do, indeed, "need" to eat on the go; but often times it's a choice and a matter of prioritization. Being "too busy" with over scheduled lives is a choice for most people - if, for example, a family decides that eating most dinners at home together as a family, then THAT can be a choice, a healthier one that is better for the kids and parents. Would other things need to change? Of course, but no one is forced to engage in many of the outside activities that some act as if they have no choice in.
6
@George S you must be very privileged to believe that no one is forced to lead an over-scheduled life. The families of my students work 2-3 poorly paid, exhausting jobs -- many of my high school students work at least two. And at the end of the month, those on food stamps or WIC (they earn so little they still qualify!) are out of what food they bought to prepare at home and those 99 cent meals at McDonalds are what they can afford, all they can afford, really. For a good 1/2 of all families with children in this country, there is no choice.
5
In Cheesecake Factory's defense, they offer a wonderful "skinny" menu, carefully delicious, friendly to calorie, fat, sodium, sugar conscious diners, me among them. And I take more than half home.
11
The Affordable Health Care Act's call for posting calories is certainly a step in the right direction but hardly a panacea. Despite these postings, Americans' waistlines continue to expand. Our obsession and addiction with food is amazing in this country. We have books about it, TV shows, celebrities, contests, and tons of digital content about what to eat and what not to eat and yet we collectively continue to eat and drink ourselves to obesity.
To me, this signals that lack of information is not the problem and that for many food needs to be handled as an 'addiction' just as powerful as drugs or alcohol. Food has become proxy for something else very powerfully missing from our lives in this country. You can't eat your way to happiness but many still are trying.
14
Anybody who cares about their health never steps into one of these joints. Labels don't stop people from eating junk food any more than they stop people smoking tobacco.
20
Informative article, thank you.
Also, if you’re 30 or older, you can probably relate to the ever-increasing size of the foods offered — everyone knows about “super sizing,” right?
McD’s original burger and fries and 8-ounce Coke have become 3x larger, as each company engaged in an arm’s race to lure away diners most of whom will consume everything on the plate “because I paid for it” or because they recall their parents telling them: “there are starving children in (file in the blank, India or Africa).
As the author suggest, maybe the arm’s race can be reversed, and the firms compete to bring meals in lower in calories, sodium, fat.
6
This article is somewhat misleading (albeit also helpful). I don't know anyone who would eat these mega-calories dishes on a daily basis. For most people they would be treats, eaten once or twice a year at most, and the caloric damage would be non-existent.
11
@R. Vasquez
If they were treats eaten once or twice a year the places serving these foods would not be in or stay in business; and they are all owned by public corporations for whom more calories go not to the waistline but to the bottom line, so no this is not an occasional treat but a way of life for vast millions among us. You don't have to guess which ones, just look at the grossly fat and obese people you see everywhere, every day.
10
At the Cheesecake Factory do people eat the entire entree? I’ve eaten there twice; once out of curiosity and once during a job interview. At both occasions I was amazed at the portion sizes. I remember ordering a salad with chicken and it came with 2 chicken breasts! Do people eat there because they get a ton of food and can take some home and eat it as leftovers? How do people save any room for the cheesecake with these portion sizes?
12
@B There's always room for cheesecake. Believe me.
4
Ask for a to-go container when the food arrives, and immediately put half away.
12
@Robert Dahl Better still, put yourself in a to-go container and immediately go elsewhere for a nutritional meal!
1
The technical mistake made is to count calories at all, rather than net carbohydrates, from which fiber has been subtracted.
It's certainly obscene either way, but no one talks about aisle after aisle of carbohydrates for the sugar-addicted at groceries, Dollar Generals, and more.
Speak to the real problem: sugar/starch addiction.
20
There's a real easy way to cut calories in restaurant fare: Reduce the portions. The amount of food you get on your plate is at least 30% more than anywhere else in the world.
On our last US vacation, my family and I made a habit of ordering 3 meals and sharing it among the 5 of us. We never managed to finish it all.
24
Exactly. These dishes will never be "healthy," but if you take home your leftovers and turn them into, say, the four meals they really should be, you get a little closer to sanity.
13
@Hans Yep...and you save a ton of money too!
1
I appreciate restaurants that post cal counts. It makes a difference to me. It makes me more mindful of what I'm eating. I wish more places would do it.
27
I have to ask the question: Who eats at these restaurants on a regular basis? I can believe Americans consume a third of their calories in restaurant food. For me though, I've never once set foot inside a Cheesecake Factory. I only eat McDonald's under extreme duress. I haven't seen a Red Lobster since I was old enough to walk away from one. Starbucks is only good for the bathroom. Who has ever heard of a Ruby Tuesday?
The meals are overpriced, the service is poor, and the atmosphere is obnoxious. These are the type of restaurants you frequent when no one else will seat a party of twelve. At least in my book, the occasion only happens about once a year and I'm more likely to break out the paper plates when it does. Compostable of course.
I therefore left to wonder: Who are these people and why does it matter? I'm much more likely to eat at the local dinner or local bagel shop or local Italian place or local sushi place or whatever. I have no idea what the calories are in any of these dishes and neither do they. If I asked them, they'd scratch their heads. Most chefs in the Food Incubator can't even speak English yet. You expect them to do caloric analysis?
Most intelligent adults know when they're eating unhealthy. Nearly all restaurant food can be generally categorized as unhealthy. The focus shouldn't be about quantifying the unhealthy. We should instead focus on people who can't avoid eating in restaurants regularly. I'd start with cafeteria lunches.
10
@Andy: You are so right about the cafeteria lunches. On the other hand, calculating calories doesn't require English skill, and isn't usually done by the chef in any case.
3
@Chelmian
I understand what you mean but do you really expect the food truck guy to hire someone to measure calories? I'm not talking about the chef's capability specifically; I'm talking about small businesses in general. Labeling requirements are a severe burden on small start ups and mom and pop style restaurants. I don't see why we would want to advantage chain restaurants. As I said, I mostly avoid them anyway.
2
@Andy, you can measure calories by looking up the ingredients on the internet, adjusting for amount per dish, and totaling them. It's basically all been done for you. There's nothing to it.
But if I'm feeling really hungry, I should pick the menu item with the most calories, right?
You can always teach someone a lesson; you can never decide what lesson they are going to learn.
4
i used to eat mac d's large french fries a couple of times a week as a i'm-hungry-i-need-something-right-now mid afternoon snack, when i saw they were 500 calories , i cut back to once a month or less. I am so very glad that calorie counts are posted.
22
A point to consider when comparing Cheesecake Factory vs McDonald's is that many people visit McDonald's a few times per week, probably not the case with Cheesecake Factory. I have gotten two meals out of a lunch portion from Cheesecake Factory, and many fo not devour the entire portion in one sitting.
4
Wishing all Trumpsters - bob appetit. Oh, and add a little maple syrup for good measure.
30
McDonald’s highest per capita presence is in liberal CA. And, I think you mean “bon”.
3
@Dave rideout: only Trump voters eat at Cheesecake Factory?
I believe I could prove you are wrong!
1
These extreme meals are just that, extreme. (I truly hope the average person doesn't eat like this every day!) Portion size is probably a much greater issue for obesity, as it applies to what people consume on a daily basis. Why is a 16 oz beverage considered a small? That's a lot of pop to drink, even as a "treat". Same with desserts. A lot of people think large portions are good value for the money, but it results in even the healthiest among us overeating.
14
@B. Robinson @B. Robinson it's mostly ice actually. Try it. Order a 16 oz. drink and pour out the drink part into a measuring cup.
2
I don’t understand how this can be. Our country’s healthcare expert, Atul Gawande, has concluded that we should administer healthcare like The Cheesecake Factory.
2
I love to eat and I eat more than I should. But when I went to a Cheesecake Factory for the first time, I was disgusted by the size of the portions. I’d rather have portions that are half the size for 2/3 the price.
One thing that can make people eat too much is a nutritional deficiency. If I don’t take my vitamin supplements, I am hungrier and eat more. Ditto with drinking enough water.
10
@D Green
At the beginning of the meal ask for a takeaway container to save for next day.
3
@hs This isn't a great solution though. First it is horrible for the environment - the disposable containers, the excess food, the food waste. Second, it distorts people's sense of what a meal size is. Yes - many say they take the meal home and spread it out, but it gives this sense that a regular meal size is a massive load on the plate that is too big to eat.
2
I know that there will be many comments along the lines of "avoid these places" along with comments on how their sensible life style has keep them thin. Well, good for them, but I think they are missing a bigger point. The problem is bigger than just individual actions. Why do we have to be constantly on guard against our own society? Why does just about everything in our modern world work against us and not for us? How much time and energy do we have to spend on this sort of thing? Living healthy is becoming a full time job.
144
@sjs The answer is consumer capitalism in which the role of the individual is to be constantly convinced be consume more, more more.
12
Well said. The idea of a ‘common good’ for all gets lost in the oh-so-American rhetoric of ‘individuality’. Other countries founded on a ‘community’ ethos understand that government, at its most basic, exists and is necessary to serve the common good. It doesn’t get twisted into language like ‘nanny state’ or ‘personal choice’.
If our neighbors are dropping dead because of a ‘personal choice’ to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, it affects all of us in our insurance rates; hospital costs; and life insurance.
8
@sjs
Becoming?
What about the sugar - for example multiple refills of soda to down that burrito and something sweet afterwards?
Processed sugar and corn syrup - which are now everywhere - mess up the body's system of feeling satiated and cause lot more damage than diabetes and obesity.
It might be safe to say that processed sugar and corn syrup consumption in USA support at least half of US medical industry.
33
Two thousand calories a day is just a baseline number for caloric intake. It's also important to take age, gender, height, body mass, overall health, type and level of athletic activities, type and nutritional density of foods consumed, etc, etc into account. To simply insist that the two thousand calorie mark fits every human in every situation is deceptive and a bit reductionist. Which seems to me the opposite of how you should be if you're trying to bring the truth to light. Also, our understanding of nutrition science is evolving rapidly along with our understanding of the biological mechanisms involved. Along with that, our understanding of what is a "healthy" amount of various minerals, such as sodium, is also evolving rapidly. In other words, the science is not settled yet by any means.
10
And then there are your own eyes, observing that the lion’s share of American children and adults are overweight. That much indeed is settled.
4
Just another example why regulations are necessary. Businesses simply cannot be trusted to regulate themselves.
40
@gailhbrown
How about, instead, we advocate for personal responsibility rather than have bureaucrats decide how much and where we should eat?
NO ONE is forced to eat at any of these restaurants, or to order any particular dishes or drinks - no one!
9
@gailhbrown
Why not take the next step, and regulate what individual people choose to eat? Seems like they too can't be trusted.
3
@George S an informed person can decide. Unfortunately, most companies don't want us to make informed choices. Hence the need for regulation.
Just post the nutritional values on the item at the deli in the grocers or have a printed ready reference for the customer.
The bit of just ask, considering all the inconvenience it causes. For the customer, the other customers, and the server while they look it up keeps me from asking. It also keeps me from making purchases. Do I think this way of doing business is nefarious, of course it is.
2
All makes sense. A group of high school grads that I keep in touch with and meet once a year always remark while we’re old graduating in 1956 we cannot recall one fat school chum in either grade school or high school, even college.
31
Thank you for highlighting this info! I fought hard against the food industry to get calorie counts on menus in Portland and we’re still waiting. It’s disgusting that we let industry poison us this way and aren’t even given the tools to fight back! Honestly when will their shameless abuse of our biology finally be held accountable? Isn’t it past time that we establish regulations dictating when the caloric density of a given food or meal can no longer provide any nutritionally sound benefit?
5
When people go to restaurants, most of them don't care about the nutrition or calorie count of their food. Restaurants advertise themselves as a place to go pig out and most people happily take up the invitation.
10
It is not just chains. Most restaurant food has more sugar, salt and saturated fat than is healthy to consume. That's why it tastes so much better than what you make at home. The key is not to get your taste-buds accustomed to it in the first place. It's better for your waistline and your wallet to eat unprocessed foods that are prepared at home.
27
I recently read a restaurant review where the diner said, "The food isn't really all that good but at least the portions are large."
I think that says it all.
39
These restaurants offer these kinds of foods because people eat them in spite of nutrition disclosures. Many people do not care how unhealthy the food is. For the rest of us, we just need to make the choice not to eat at restaurants like these and make careful choices about what we eat. We could go on with the domino theory of higher health care costs later in life for those who made poor food choices, but we’ve chosen to live in the land of the free.
2
I sometimes take my four-year-old grandson to McD’s. He’s mostly interested in the playground and Happy Meal toy and rarely eats all of his food. I enjoy the Southwest crispy chicken salad while he plays, cutting the calorie and sodium count by removing the tortilla chips and using only half the dressing.
7
One thing to keep in mind: the 2K calorie figure is for active people. Most people who spend a lot of time sitting will not burn that many. Best way to know how many calories you really burn a day and therefore need to consume is an activity tracker.
13
I usually save at least half, or more depending on the quantity, of most restaurant meals to eat another day.
11
I'm happy that restaurants are required to post the bloated calorie content of their meals. When are we going to require doctors and hospitals to post the bloated prices they charge?
80
Stop selling the myth that fat is the culprit. What about the carbs? The food facilities load up dishes with cheaper products like potatoes, tortillas, bread, etc. - there’s your calories. How many carbs in the dishes? Not sure how this article helps educate people if you are shorts on the facts.
30
Just switch to a vegan diet and eat pretty much whatever you want. It's not hard it just takes a bit of educating AND food tastes WAY better.
Remember, the dog you love is emotionally that same as the cow you eat.
18
@ZigZag
French fries, potato chips, oreos -- all vegan.
36
I’m sure zigzag means a whole food plant based vegan diet, not processed high calorie vegan foods!
7
@Itsnotrocketscience--No, I'm taking ZigZag at their word--they feel meat is the real culprit in the war on fat. So load up on those grains, sugars, and (non-animal) fats!
3
Anymore portion sizes are obscene. The amount of food many people eat at one sitting is ridiculous.
Observe the people who line up at the all you can eat buffets. Out here it’s all about quantity not quality.
As long as there is an endless supply of ranch dip, ketchup and cheese whiz, diners are happy. It’s not until it becomes a health issue that there is any concern or discipline in habits. Or better yet, get barriatric surgery. I don’t understand why some people refuse to attempt to have a healthy lifestyle.
10
@M.
I know it's not what you're talking about exactly but when it comes to getting filled up on green salad and vegetables, I need about a gallon, by volume. That's why I like buffets. A regular order will be way too small for me.
3
Jane Brody was one of the leaders of the high-carb movement in the 1980's. Her theories have been totally disproved. We know that fat does not make you fat. Yet 35 years later, she is still writing articles for the NY Times.
27
She is also wrong on milkfat consumption, and incorrectly advises no fat milk.
11
Her main argument in this article is that TOO MUCH fat and sodium are ruining people's health. All types of fat are healthy in moderation when eating a balanced diet. As for the NYT still publishing her articles after 35 years: Like most other media outlets, it seems that the NYT has a list of favored iconic authority figures across all issues and uses them as go to sources when it needs filler material. @Erik
7
I think Jane Brody is saying that too much of everything is a bad idea and is pointing out how it is easy to overdo it in restaurants, in particular in chain restaurants. She takes aim at all the elements.
6
It's almost all about portion sizes. This is the thing you immediately notice upon visiting almost any other country in the world. Food isn't necessarily any "healthier" on a per ounce basis, but there's a lot fewer ounces on the plate, and that makes all the difference.
People are a lot more like dogs and cats than we admit. Just like your dog or cat, most people will eat however much food is put in the front of them, even if it's much more than they need. And just like with your dog and cat, the most effective way to control weight is to put out less food to begin with.
24
@A
Good point.
And most people try to keep their pets fit and healthy because they love them and want them to live as long as possible.
1
Please remember that if you are contemplating having an elective surgery in the near future like a hip or knee replacement or back fusion, that one of the very best ways to assure a good outcome and one in which you are more likely to get the help from the hospital staff and rehab department you deserve, is (if you are already overweight) ask your MD if it is safe for you to loose a few lbs before you go into the hospital to have the procedure.
Not only does loosing a few extra lbs help your cardio-vascular system to work more effectively, which helps your body return to normal after the anesthesia and the surgery, but your muscles in the non-surgical areas of your body operate better, and you will more than likely be able to move better (which also helps you recover faster). Also, truth be told- The level of care and rehab staff will try harder to work with you if your weight or level of dependency does not threaten to injure them in the process.
So, please if you want the best outcome from an elective surgery, begin the process of recovery weeks or months in advance of the contemplated surgery-And that means start by skipping that Big Mac or double cheese pizza in favor of a salad, chicken breast and a vegetable. Good Luck!
23
Achieving as close to normal weight as possible can obviate the need for many surgeries. Knees were not designed for such large bodies without concomitant muscular strength.
16
@CB--I knew people who had hip replacements in their 40s and 50s. All were amateur (but serious) athletes, at least very active joggers, tennis players, etc.. Oh, and all were normal weight. Body parts wear out, some sooner, some later. Thin people need surgery also.
7
We go out to dinner once a month to Samurai Sushi in Rancho Cordova. A sushi roll has about 500 calories depending on what is in it. But we break dopwn occasionally and have Chili Relleno which has about 400 calories, it is the refried beans and taco chips that raise the count.
Can't stand the taste of MacDonald's burgers.
1
@David Underwood
Good to know, Dave.
13
@David Underwood Refried beans are an excellent source of fiber, protein and complex carbs. The problem isn’t the beans, it’s the cheese, salt and other additives.
Eat more beans, not less. Just don’t junk them up.
7
Thanks for confirming how important it is to read the nutuional facts when eating out. When I have to grab a fast food lunch to get me thru a day on the run I’ve learned “less is more.” Home cooking helps balance the temptations of high calorie meals at restaurants.
5
The 2018 Little League World Series provided some of the best baseball I have seen since, well, the 2017 LLWS!
The Kofax elegance of Bruno (NY), the inexhaustible teamwork of Georgia, the intelligent and cat like defense of a glasses wearing kid(S.Korea), the precision and grace of the Japanese players, and the Championship love and big league game of Hawaii.
I was struck, however, by the images obesity in the crowd.
One of the primary sponsors is a well-known fast food chain (thanks for your support of baseball) and nearly every broadcast I watched (21)had the television crew espousing the greatness of the culinary sponsor’s product. I get it. It’s summer, it’s a baseball game, and we are celebrating. It would appear, however, that LL baseball fans, coaches, umpires and families have been “celebrating summer” for a long time.
As I watched these kings of baseball, I couldn’t help but wonder, who will be coaching them to “confront the reality of what they are putting into their bodies?”
Swing and a miss,
Julie Willis
Alta, Utah
9
I’ve seen people dunk pizza slices into Ranch dressing. Oh, my mistake, it was low cal Ranch dressing...
34
@CVA
I have seen that too. It is revolting.
12
At what point do those of us who eat healthy stop worrying about the majority who don't care what they eat? Let the fools eat Big Macs. Lay around all day stuffing their faces with Hostess Cream Pies. Most of them are really trying to improve their diet: Large Diet Coke is McDonald's best selling drink!
6
We are all in this together because our medical and insurance systems are for-profit and 80% of health problems are lifestyle related.
72
Very true but relying on education/propaganda obviously is not working. Why not try something sensible like sharp discounts or FREE health care for people who eat right, exercise, don't smoke, etc. When I was young several decades ago my car insurance was very expensive because I chose to drive a very fast car. It makes no sense whatsoever to penalize those of us who try to live healthy for the glaring carelessness of the thoughtless majority. @CB
6
We may all be in this together, but until there are painful disincentives for obesity and unhealthy behavior like insurance surcharges, there will be no changes in behavior. Most people will continue to stuff themselves and continue not to exercise. Then they will lament that they just cannot lose weight. Restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory wouldn't sell these products unless they were popular and polished off with a slice or two of cheesecake.
4
Here's the difference between the 2k calories at the Cheesecake Factory and the 700 calories at McDonald's: The Cheesecake Factory is an occasional visit for the rich, and McDonald's is a daily meal for some in the working class. The people who can afford organic food, gym memberships and excellent healthcare may get the 2k calorie meal at Cheesecake Factory once every few weeks, therefore not adding too much to their waistlines. The person who can't afford healthy foods, is stuck on food stamps, and can't afford a gym or nutritionist is getting a heart-damaging meal everyday, and it's definitely going to have a bigger health impact.
74
@Colleen Absolutely agree with this! This is a social justice issue more than anything!
8
@Colleen
I just read an old story that said McDonald's was in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and, as a result, they planned to set global limits for calories, sodium, saturated fat and added sugar in Happy Meals. That was earlier this year and, according to their timetable, by June of 2018 the restaurants in the US were to be in compliance.
Specifically, it means Happy Meals will be 600 calories or less, 10% from saturated fat, 10% from added sugar, and no more than 650 mg sodium. Soda had been eliminated in 2013, although customers can still request it.
[https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/cheeseburgers-happy-meals-mcd...]
1
@Colleen There is no gun to the head of food stamp recipients insisting that they consume McDonalds day in and day out. Actual research shows that the most frequent customer of the Golden Arches isn't the poor, but the middle class. Same as Cheesecake Factory.
6
Enough with blaming the supplier of the goods that people choose to buy. This is about choice and personal responsibility. Rich or poor, no one makes you buy soda and drink it or order the burger instead of a simple salad. These products wouldn't be offered unless there were folks happy to purchase them - they are not the enemy because they do. They do however make an easy target for those that would choose to pretend that if they didn't offer it, a determined eater would not find another way to get their caloric fix.
7
@dvab But the main point of the piece is that making sure consumers have all the information about what they want DOES cause them to make better/alternate choices, and therefore also pressures the supplier to create healthier meals that are still tasty in order to compete. You are promoting hiding information from the consumer so that they are unable to make an informed decision for themselves.
7
I didn't read anything from dvab about hiding info. He was just suggesting that people were choosing to eat a certain way, and suppliers were responding. Jane Brody was saying that posting information might encourage consumers and suppliers to make different choices. All true. What the article did not mention was that our sedentary lifestyles, sitting at desks, brain work vs body work, is making us very sick.
7
Didn't the City of New York find out that calorie counts on menus didn't improve eating habits?
1
Chain food restaurants aren't the only culprits here. There are many, many individual restaurants that serve enormous plates piled high with food, often enough for one or two additional meals, and no, it's not always practical to ask for the leftovers to be cartoned up in a doggie bag.
There's the option of sharing a meal among two (or more) people.
2
My family splits meals when we do go out but now some places charge for splitting. I would be happy with places that offer half or "senior" or kid portions for adults even if they charge slightly more than 50% of the original plate price.
12
Order the total volume of food and then split yourself. Bread plates come in handy.
5
Interesting comparisons. I'm not as concern about chain restaurants (i.e. Cheesecake Factory) as I am about smaller chain fast food places (McDonalds). Most of us don't eat at the larger chain restaurants everyday. Also they have huge menus which offer a variety of much lighter fare that you would actually WANT to eat. However, I know people who will eat McDonalds and KFC every day or several times a week. And they aren't ordering the salads. (Which may be a good thing according to the stats in your article).
3
@Crystal: salads are not automatically "lower calorie" if chockfull of cheese, nuts, meats, eggs, rich dressings, croutons.
Also, McDonalds is probably 100 times larger than the Cheesecake Factory chain.
McD is fast food -- Cheesecake Factory is a regular "sit down" restaurant with waitresses and menus.
McD has not been cheap (and Cheesecake Factory is actually fairly expensive!) for years -- no more "change back from your dollar!!!"
Why people eat there is complex. Many have second jobs, and stressful hours -- no time to cook (if they even knew how!) -- and fast food is available around the clock, no prep or cooking and NO CLEANING UP!!!
I am amazed that restaurants are required to make this sort of information available in Trump's America. Especially under the auspices of "Obamacare"! Surely this sort of government interference in the lives of ordinary people should be stopped immediately. Think of the savings to social security and Medicare when all those obese, coal breathing, lead water drinking citizens expire a decade or more than they otherwise would have done. Health risks? Sounds like more fake news to me.
16
Spend more money for better quality restaurant food, OR spend more time cooking at Home, with better ingredients.
If you think you’re saving money by eating cheap fast-food, just wait. You’ll will eventually have to spend much more for Doctors, medications, and other care related to overeating and obesity. NOT fat shaming, as I’m 30 lbs. overweight myself. Just be aware of what’s happening, slow down and think. Please.
19
If fast food is your budget, you can skirt around the menus and make it lighter. Ditch the bread, eat salad, eat half the fries. Drink unsweetened ice tea instead of soda, or water. I ask for lettuce buns all the time for my keto diet.
4
I feel lucky to work in Chicago, where there are many chains--Freshhi, Protein Bar, Pret a Manger, WowBao, SweetGreen, HoneyGrow--that serve healthy, tasty meals under 500 calories.
13
@Jan Parr
Never heard of these, thanks for sharing.
2
My niece and I went to The French Press in Aurora, CO that served others (not us) burritos as big as half a person's fore arm. A worker there understood the portion absurdity and poor economics but insisted the boss wanted it that way.
7
My wife and I can happily split most restaurant meals and no one goes home hungry. Additionally, it's not against the law to walk away, leaving food on your plate. If you skip alcohol and desserts, you can cut the cost of a dining experience in half. Healthier eating and cost effective...this a no-brainer. We are now, in our late 60's, at high school weight.
17
@Economy Biscuits Or do as we do, and take the rest home for a meal(s) there.
6
The problem with most restaurants besides the ridiculous number of calories in the food is the portion sizes. You don’t need to eat a pound of pasta at one sitting. Nor do you need a half gallon of soda. Anyone who eats like this knows it’s not healthy, they just don’t care enough to modify their behavior. The problem is the rest of the country is footing the bill for all of the chronic health problems that result.
The restaurants need to reduce portion sizes and modify their recipes and Americans need to be more conscious of their own health and that of society as a whole. Otherwise, we’ll all end up paying a steep price either with our lives or our pocketbooks.
23
To all those who say calories in and calories out and imply that all food consumption is a choice, shame on you. Obesity is a complex social, cultural and psychological phenomenon, period. We will never reverse course on the epidemic until we accept this and change virtually every aspect of the way we eat in this country. There is massive amounts of misinformation and our own government guidelines are way out of step with current and comprehensive research. Kids, in particular, are not able to combat the massive advertising machine that is trying to turn them into life-long sugar addicts and most are not learning healthy habits at home and don’t eat dinner with their families at the dinner table. Poor-quality food is often less expensive than healthy food...I could go on and on. The point is that obesity is complex and simple solutions don’t and won’t work. The chain restaurants featured in this article are just one part of the obesity puzzle.
54
@Juliet Starrett
" Poor-quality food is often less expensive than healthy food..." People say this a lot, but I don't think it is entirely true: Oatmeal, black beans, tuna, carrots, apples, eggs, brown rice, potatoes, peanut butter, bananas are all examples of healthful and reasonably-priced foods. (yes, I know a lot of them contain carbs, the imagined evils of which are exaggerated, IMHO). You can also get a good deal on other fruits and vegetables when they are in season.
23
@Charley horse
I'd agree with you 100%. I might also add to your list frozen steamable veg which Shoprite has been doing for $1 a bag for a while, canned veg, such as chic peas, string beans, peas & carrots, if one gets the house brand, can be as low as 40 cents a can, and, then, there's whole grains, like bulgur, lentils, quinoa, which can be had for pennies per serving. I'm on a small budget but use all this stuff.
Outside, I noticed on my last car trip, that a slice of pizza was going for over $3 but a piece of fruit was only $1.09. I know it's not the same type of eating but money-wise it was better to go healthy.
6
In the end, it's personal choice. Every time you put something in your mouth, you're making a decision about what's important to you. If you choose to eat high calorie, low nutrition foods, you make the choice that immediate gratification is what matters more at that moment than health or independence. If you cannot delay immediate gratification for longer term goals of health, then you will be obese, maybe morbidly so. Where obesity is concerned, you end up with the body that you choose to have.
1
Four of us spent a month in Thailand, and thought at first that the portions in restaurants were skimpy. After a while, we realized we were getting enough to eat, and recalled that restaurants at home had similar portion sizes decades ago.
We stopped in Maui on the way back home. Our first meal was a Hawaiian plate lunch (yum). We broke out laughing when the waitress put our lunches on our table. Each plate was a hemispherical mound of food we could have split four ways to match the Thai portion sizes.
184
I used to love eating at Panera - until the nutrition signs showed how unhealthy most of their food actually is, so now I rarely go there
24
You can still go to Panera but eat a small portion and check the sugar and carb counts on the food. I used to eat an entire bagel, now it’s a quarter if I really want a taste!
5
Yes, I like Panera too but their calorie count is unreal! Esp. the baked goods compared to my local bakery. The cookies locally are made with high-quality chocolate and cocoa (which actually is not fattening) so you get a lot of flavor with less sugar. Most baked goods in US bakeries are way too sweet.
2
@faith
And in Canada, their portion sizes for the healthier stuff like salads, are miniscule.
And just watch the stuff coming out of Starbucks and its ilk - cream, syrup, sugar - and unlike years ago when coffee drinks were not sickeningly sweet and loaded with calories & fats, many of the people carrying those whipped cream topped drinks out of the store are teenagers or younger. Calories consumed through a straw are just as problematic as the ones shoveled in with a fork only the latter has at least some hope of bringing some nutrition into the bargain.
73
@Anne-Marie Hislop
Coffee black, thank you.
12
@Anne-Marie Hislop
I’ve come to view Starbuck’s as today’s version of the 1950’s malt shop!
10
@Anne-Marie Hislop--There is some evidence that calories consumed "through a straw"--drunk--are an even bigger problem than those chewed and eaten.
12
Funny that you mention Starbucks. In the summer, I would regularly treat myself to a light frappucino which were a reasonable calorie count. Unfortunately Starbucks has discontinued the light version, apparently because not enough people were buying them. I've seen suggestions to ask for non-fat milk and reduce the number of pumps of the regular frapp base but you're still getting a ton of sugar and the calorie count is not nearly as low as in the light version. So they've lost my business.
23
Over the years visiting Germany I’ve seen that society change with more eating out, American fast food, less walking and using public transport. They have big refrigerators not those small ones, don’t have to shop as often, food not as fresh. Same thing that happened to America. Both the food and autos are addictive. All that salt and sugar makes people round the world fast food addicts. They laugh at obese Americans but they need to look in the mirror. What is to be done?
9
Not sure autos are as addictive as necessary in most of the U.S. When communities are built around the automobile, and smog and traffic and distances make walking and biking impractical; with housing and stores and workplaces separated but connected by highways, it’s impossible to get around without a car. Public transportation is often minimal or non-existant.
The German diet shares commonality with the U.S. in terms of richness and calories. Probably more sedentary jobs now, too.
1
Anyone that needs calories, saturated fat, and salt content listed on the menu before they realize that ordering a breakfast burrito containing 2700 calories, 2 days worth of the USRDA amount of salt, and 3 days worth of saturated fat clearly has much bigger issues on their supersized plate.
Nothing's changed folks. Calories in minus calories burned off. If the sum is positive you gain weight. If it's negative you lose weight. 3500 calories per pound of body weight. Water loss is a separate issue as calories (body weight) accrue water.
It's obvious that eating such super-sized meals is horrible. But this article lobs all the insults at saturated fats and salt. Many health professionals opine that excess calories from sugar may be just as bad, or worse, than saturated fat. In fact it appears there was a conspiracy by Big Sugar to implicate excess fat consumption as the cause of Americans' dietary woes.
Michael Pollan had it right. And despite all the PC types, this is nothing more than common sense. Fat people don't become so overnight, and there's no mystery as to how they got there. With the soaring rates of obesity and its attendant illnesses in this country, it's long past the point where insurance companies and others take measures to hold people accountable for their personal choices like we did for tobacco.
4
Of course we know that a 2700-calorie breakfast burrito will lead to weight gain. But how are we to know how many calories this breakfast burrito contains if that information is not available. Not sure I understand why anyone (other than someone with a monetary interest in withholding that information from the public) would object to thus measure.
28
Reading the ingredients in these dishes was 'Xtreme'ly distasteful to the point of disgusting. Why anyone would want to eat such meals is beyond me, unless you're a lumberjack finished with a morning's work.
Why do these food troughs think it's necessary to offer such dishes rather than decent tasty meals? Oh yes: cheap food = low overhead = more profit.
There should be an anti-Extremity award given to chains that follow more healthful practices!
8
@Ann
It's driven by the market. The restaurant exists to make a profit. It's a competitive industry. The restaurant with the tastiest food (lots of salt and sugar) and the largest portions will attract the most customers. That's an easily proven fact--stop by the Cheesecake Factory sometime. Again the goal of American businesses is to make a profit, not to make us healthier. In fact, the less healthy we are, the better the profits of the health industry. It's the American way.
2
I really don't understand how you can create a burrito with that many calories. Even at your standard Mexican restaurant which hardly skimps on cheese, etc. there is no way it would be 2,700 calories. This screams of fake processed food...
5
I hate to say this: but it's time to get the government involved and get the CEOs of these fast food chains to appear before Congress and "grilled" on what they are serving the public and the effects it's having on their health.
8
@The Shekster Oh, please! The government is already involved with the requirement to post calorie information, not to mention FDA, USDA, and other oversight agencies monitoring foods of all types. Nobody puts a gun to the heads of those who eat breakfast burritos or anything else they want. If people choose to eat this stuff it's their choice and their right, and Congress has no business holding CEOs to account for any of the choices of their customers or their willingness to serve those customers what they freely choose to eat.
4
@Eddie Well, we are starting to hold manufacturers of pain medications responsible for all the junkies and all the problems and high costs they create, so it would seem reasonable to hold food purveyors to some standards, too.
3
I have little kids and I'm busy and I cook at home from whole ingredients like we're all supposed to, but sometimes you can't. Jane Brody sometimes strikes a much preachier, self-righteous, condescending tone. But I though this article was really spot-on. Over our summer road-tripping, I learned that an Egg McMuffin (with or without the ham) and a coffee with milk from McDonalds is a quick, not disgusting, and totally ubiquitous breakfast with protein and caffeine at under 400 calories. Applebees can give you grilled salmon, steamed broccoli, and green beans with garlic butter while feeding your kids the same broccoli and green beans, plus macaroni and cheese, $40 for a family of five, and they pack it up in to-go containers that you can bring back to your roadside motel. Thanks to the calorie counts on the menu, we all ate that exact dinner three nights in a row, leaving so much more time and money to dedicate to our vacation. Nobody is even paying me to write this comment! I'm just an urban East Coast elitist who loves the calorie counts and will now drop more of my money at chain restaurants because of them.
58
It's a choice you want to eat junk at these restaurants and inflame your body triggering heart disease and cancer or be an adult and say no. If you're obese it's your fault nobody else's. I have no sympathy for people who are digging their own grave by gorging on junk food.
5
This is what Cheesecake Factory is all about. Nothing newsworthy.
17
Exactly the place is called “Cheesecake” “Factory,” think about it! It’s not like it’s claiming to be healthy.
9
@cedros
And always has been, as I recall - giant cheesecake, not quality cheesecake.
1
It gets worse. These chains are opening all over the world introducing obesity as a correlation to affluence so people who used to live on
A subsistence diet and eat healthy food they often grew in their garden can now afford unhealthy, overpriced junk food. What progress.
6
starbucks is horrible. replaced basic turkey/havarti on plain wheat with higher fat and sodium, lower protein concoctions. despite being labeled “ protein “. what a sham. practically everything this side of a cappuccino has pork. their incessant marketing on fat and sodium laden products play into the typically ignorant customer. and make for higher profits. even the oatmeal is fat fat fat. impossible to buy reasonably healthy food product at starbucks.
6
@cass county
Except Starbucks black coffee drinkers live longer.
2
@ring0--Starbucks coffee (plain, black) tastes horrible. It's the worst coffee I've ever tasted. It's all about their "mixed" drinks. McDonald's coffee is much better, even black. Cheaper too.
2
The Center for Blah, Blah, Blah is not a good source for health news. It’s run by biased so-called scientists who blame fat for everything. So wrong.
6
There is simply no excuse for that much sodium. Put a salt shaker on the table or some salt packets in the take out bag. People really adapt to less sodium as a flavor agent very quickly.
13
Very informative Jane but you should be a more forceful advocate of the solution to this problem - which may even be government regulation of sodium and sugar content in portions. Lack of education on the part of an individual is an issue but
a bigger concern is all levels of government allowing corporations like these fast food chains to contribute to the excessive costs in health care as a result of their unbridled actions.
2
@Keevin. They use a lot of sodium (not just some table salt) because it is a preservative and keeps the food from spoiling....so much for fresh.
4
A prominent fast food chain replaced most of its sugar in milkshakes with salt. Cheaper and not noticed among the long list of faux food ingredients.
There is a growing disconnect between what the medical establishment recommends for eating and what Americans consume. Until we make it a moral imperative to take responsibility for our own health and not ask others to bear the cost of our bad choices, nothing will change. Personally, although I wear a small woman's size clothes, I am at the upper range of the "normal" BMI - what does that say about other women?
8
You probably have more lean muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat ( in the same package).
2
In my 20's and early 30's I have eaten everything under the Sun! Now am 70 and 99% vegetarian eating only whole foods cooked at home. My point is that we have choices and we are masters of our own life.
Education and incentives for good eating and good health is the key to obesity in a free society.
So please stop blaming fast foods for our own follies.
14
The posting of calories is helpful. Actually, it has made me change my orders at places.
I suspect that many independent restaurants also cook with massive amounts of fat and salt, and are as bad or worse than your examples. Well, It's hard to get worse: what genius designed that Cheesecake Factory nightmare? The CEO of the chain ought to be force fed those Burritos for a month as apt punishment.
27
In my mind, this inexcusable excess of chains offering these artery clogging, sodium exploding entrees speaks volumes about just how poorly our public education system has performed, going on forty years now, in teaching our children, who now are the 'adults', not only what good nutrition is, but also what happens to our anatomy if we don't take better care of ourselves, over time.
Of course, you can also add in the fact that these 'restaurants' are bending over backwards to capture our dollars and it doesn't matter a hoot to them how they get them. Until we change in how we educate our citizens to have a healthier relationship with food and also understand how that relationship relates to our future experience paying for high dollar medical care in a system that is bankrupting too many people, no real change will happen.
12
@RLC
Parents should do some things. Schools should do school things like reading etc. however when people eat at the same trough we all help pay their excess health costs. But people are free to make as many bad choices as they want,
5
@F Varricchio except very few pay their healthcare bills. most of us use combination of insurance,government ( tax dollars). far too many dependent on some form of social services... or, go to emergency rooms and pay nothing. diabetes is epidemic. asthma rampaging thru black communities mired in pollution. my medicare premiums increasing, co-pays way up. i make huge effort to forego salt,carbohydrates and do exercise. but i am educated, raised by responsible parents and , finally, have a good doctor ( miracle). many people simply do not know any better...you see them giving infants gallons of juice, soft drinks, stuffing chips and cookies down as fast as possible. incessant ads across all platforms pushing solid fat. adults and children. diabetes kills and maims and it effects all of us. i watch young women, already with rolls of fat, with their fat fingers grasping extra large whipped cream topped starbucks “ drinks “ and find it sickening. children taken to starbucks for breakfast and after-school snacks in affluent area of austin, of all places. i do think schools have a place in educating children about healthy eating. there is no excuse for eating fast food but many people simply do not know how to cook simple nutritious meals. schools can help teach them young and stop repeated cycles of nutrition ignorance.
5
@F Varricchio Here in St. Louis, there are many hospitals that don't hire smokers. So people can go on making all their bad "choices", but they are also choosing to be disqualified from many employment opportunities. I am a nurse new to the midwest. Virtually the entire staff where I work is either obese, a smoker, or both.
3
Chain food restaurants are the cigarettes of eating.
162
@D Priest- Have to disagree, cigs. will eventually kill many people, probably the biggest cause of death but excess calories do not (not morbidly obese). Overweight people live about the same lifespan as average weight people. It is just that they have greater problems, ie back, knee, feet problems, feel and look terrible etc. etc.
Americans choose to be ignorant about nutrition. These fast food restaurants are in business for the money not your health. We rarely eat out except for special occasions. Restaurants use too much salt and fat and are not concerned about our health. People choose to be obese or not and I choose the latter. Obesity leads to stroke, heart attacks, diabetes and in general an earlier death. The choice is yours.
6
@Jan I wish it was as simple as that. While I agree that restaurants (fast food or otherwise) are not in the business to make us healthier - not all people have the luxury of home cooked meals or the financial resources to be too picky about what they eat.
We can all do better, but to be obese or not to be obese is not the only question.
12
You are way off the mark with comment: "this country’s obesity epidemic can be explained by a mere 100 extra calories a day for each person." It's not the number of calories, it's the quality. 100 soda calories vs 100 broccoli calories can mean the difference between fatty liver/metabolic syndrome vs. being slim and healthy. This misinformation is not helpful.
104
@jo strack
Not a great comparison, as nobody could eat much more 100 calories-worth of broccoli (excluding calorific additions).
The real problem is the soda pop and other calorie-laden beverages, many loaded up with sugar.
For many years, I have been saying that the obesity crisis has largely been fueled by eating in restaurants. Now that we know the calories in the foods at chain restaurants, I think there is some evidence that I've been at least partially correct.
People no longer have any idea what a normal portion size is for an adult, and that eventually leads to obesity.
17
I am astonished at the sodium counts.Thank you for spotlighting this. It seems to me that sodium in that amount is so clearly dangerous that there should be regulations. But, oh, we are in a deregulation mode.
I took my grandson to the zoo recently. Everyone goes, lots of families and all ages. The number of people who were 100 pounds or more overweight was concerning. And I am in my 60's and no longer slender. So I am not fat shaming. These people have been so large for so long that they seemed to be getting along fine even in the heat. They've adapted but early disability looms. And it has begun to seem normal outside of the glamour cities. And there was nothing healthy to eat at the zoo-cotton candy, pizza, fried chicken, dipping dots ice cream-salt and fat surrounds us.
76
Or, alternatively you can tuck in at one of America’s ubiquitous “all u can eat” buffets and put everything included in any one of the dishes mentioned in the ”Xtreme Eating Awards” on your plate(s) and keep going back for more - literally ad nauseum.
8
Going out to eat is SUPPOSED to be indulgent. No sane person eats like this on a daily basis.
So why ruin it for us if we chose to?
11
Whatever happened to cooking and preparing your own food at home? I work full time, but bake my own bread (sourdough, with home milled flour) for toast for breakfast, topped with homemade hummus. With a small bowl of fruit with plain yogurt, a piece of cheese, two or three walnuts, and 100 ml of homemade, unsweetened applesauce, I have a filling and tasty breakfast with not too many calories. Lunch is a salad with fresh ingredients, and I skip dinner.
By making your own food, you control how much salt and sugar go into it, and can be sure that you have healthy, organic ingredients. Yes, it takes time, but with only a little bit of organization, it can be done. And, you save a ton of money.
86
“Whatever happened to home cooked meals?” I’ll tell you what happened. Fast food chains proliferated, Americans got lazy, drive throughs became ubiquitous, and cooking your own food is (allegedly) for people with time and money. We cook most of our meals from scratch, such as pizza, pasta and bread, grow our own herbs and some vegetables and pick our own tomatoes at the local farm for canning when they have it, such as this past Saturday. 25 pint jars and counting. Yes, that’s how I spent my Labor Day weekend, processing tomatoes.
Dear Ms. Brody,
I would like to let you know that I've been reading your columns since forever and really appreciate your often practical advice and insights, like this article on fast food calories.
Most recently I pressed my doctor to give me the new shingles shot--they said it was hard to get from the manufacturer--but lo and behold when I was in her office last week they found a dose which I accepted without hesitation. It was because of your article about Shingrix that I even knew about it!
Many thanks for the fine work you do writing this column.
Best regards,
Janet
59
Luckily I am too old and too slim to even think of eating a single meal of this garbage--it would take me 4 days.
Look at this link to article, even worse "food porn".
Actually I can feel my mouth reacting to salt load!
Weirdly enough, Denny's now has smaller, lower calories etc for AARP members even if not fully senior, the food is good and I appreciate it.
7
Thanks for the column. My daily calorie intake to maintain my weight is somewhere around 1600 calories a day. I'm not lying around all day - I walk 4-5 miles most days, sometimes more. I really like that chains are posting calories, and realize that how individual chefs cook, these postings are estimates, not gospel. I don't eat out much these days.
10
I do weekend nanny sometimes, a grandma comes to visit her grandson in Manhattan every month. They have “thing” together and one of it is having launch at Macdonald and sometimes snacks too! I couldn’t believe it. Aren’t we supposed to be an educated consumers ? And this family is a well to do in UWS!
4
@Bibylava.
It seems sad to go to Manhattan and eat at McDonald's.
1
@Bibylava: with the vast array of choices in Manhattan, and some of the finest restaurants in the world...it seems odd to pick McD.
However, you say "grandson" but not how old! is he 5 or 6? then the idea of McD and a Happy Meal may be the lure. My grandkids (now teens) used to ADORE the little plastic toys. The appeal was really NOT the food.
Eating at McD once a month could hardly be a problem for any healthy adult or child.
I want to commend the fabulous Panera Bread restauants for their founders' goal to bring sensible, healthful, simpler options to the table. if every block in New York City had to Panera's Bread, I think we would see the general population's food-related profile improve markedly!
8
@fiona, I agree. You can certainly overindulge on the bakery side, but it's also possible to get a very tasty fresh salad, sandwich, or breakfast sandwich for under 400 calories. They have also explicitly labeled sugar and "sweetness profile" on all of their drinks.
4
@fiona True but watch the sodium.
3
@fiona Surprisingly few options if a vegetarian. And too many cream soups. Like so many chains they start out well intentioned then sold which is when the changes start in ingredients and menu options. Gotta increase profitablity.
3
It would be difficult to build a 2700 calorie burrito at home.
How many people would think to throw all that stuff into a tortilla, that would take planning.
Fast food consumers get a lot of calories per dollar, and it fills them up....... that's the problem.
12
@Robert
I am wondering about the actual ingredients in this thing too. I'm pretty sure I could make a similar burrito at home for less than half of the calories! What are they doing, pouring melted butter all over it?
I've only eaten at Cheesecake Factory 2x in my life...I went into it knowing it was going to be a total calorie fest and laughed it off. But I know people who eat there all the time! Crazy!
9
Why aren‘t there more healthy fast food places like in Japan? They eat tasty foods that are low in calories - like lots of fish, taro seaweed, vegetables, eggs,etc. And restaurant portions are normal, not the ridiculously huge amounts US restaurants serve. No wonder Americans are so overweight.
33
I heard this from an English chef , he said Macdonalds in Europe serve better food because European customers want and demand better food quality! Here’s the bigger the better ! USA!USA!
78
@sylvia
Everything in America is over the top, X-larger than life and outrageous in every way compared to many countries in the world. It's also the marketing of these products. Profits before health. The next three generations of Americans will be the biggest and heaviest ever. Along with that comes health issues at a younger age.
7
@Mazava Not true. McDonalds does alter menu in individual countries but the few I’ve tried aren’t better.
2
It's not just chain restaurants serving up heaping portions of garbage they call food. Here in the northeast the ubiquitous Dunkin Donuts now hawk something called donut fries That product ought to be called DO NOT fries:)
21
Admittedly I haven't eaten any 'food' from a fast-food restaurant since 1973. So I suppose I have no business weighing in, so to speak. Or perhaps, having lost 75 lbs of obesity due in part to my avoiding this stuff, I have some perspective that distance allows.
I developed a taste for very simple recipes (partly just to simplify the chore of cooking, though I came quickly to appreciate the taste of food minimally messed around with). So I can't help but notice that all these calorie bombs have something in common besides going heavy on frying, fat, carbs: they all have so, so many ingredients and heavy spicing. How can you savour any one particular taste when there are so many elements clamouring for your taste buds' attention? How did they come up with the 'breakfast burrito' recipe - just empty the entire refrigerator and pantry into a pan? Is there anything that *isn't* in it? I suspect very spicy, complicated recipes are an attempt to distract from and disguise inferior-quality ingredients. And, sadly, to add back some flavour to bland, homogeneous Big Ag factory-farmed foods. It could be cardboard and library paste, but add enough grease and breadcrumbs and garlic and sriracha and chipotle and for all I know battery acid, how could you tell?
165
@ACW
Over sweetened sweets also do not allow to discern flavors, such as fruit and such. Reducing % sugar in cakes, cookies, candy bars, yoghurts etc. would help to accomplish much better flavor and (most likely) reduce the incidence of diabetes.
5
I agree with you somewhat but spice is not what adds to the calories; in fact, fresher, more, and complex spices make things more flavorful without adding much calories. I know this as a cook.
What gets me is how or why restaurant and bought foods so often tip the scales calories wise when the same or similar recipe cooked at home or even at some places can be tastier and healthier. At my favorite local bakery, the cookies, while not a health food, are often 30-50% less caloric than Panera.
1
Spices, sriracha and garlic are what I use to make my healthy roasted vegetables and grilled chicken or salmon taste better. There is nothing wrong w spices per se but the oil/butter/grease/cream/cheese in many restaurant dishes.
2
I can understand why people like fast food- it can be so tasty and convenient- but I think portion control is the key! If an entire family (of 4 or 5, let's say) were to share one of the monster dishes mentioned in the article, that may be a more reasonable meal. Or else, go to KFC, order one piece of chicken, kids fries, and a corn sans butter, or salad sans dressing, and you should be fine. It does not have to be all or nothing. And of course, when it comes to this kind of dining, frequency matters, as well. But as Jane Brody points out, the first step is awareness of what we are consuming and what this may mean for our health and wellness.
27
@Rachel I lust for KFC extra crispy chicken breasts. Luckily, I live on an island with no fast food places allowed by law. I leave the island about once a month and I always stop by KFC and order one breast and a diet coke. That holds me for a month. But if I lived near a KFC, I am not sure I would be as disciplined!
3
@Rachel: whether you like or hate the Cheesecake Factory....I do not think it can be considered "fast food" by any stretch of the imagination.
It's a pretty regular "sit down" restaurant with waitresses and a menu.
But, in their defense -- and I really, really hate to defend the just about indefensible -- the USDA works with processed food producers and chain restaurants to add MORE of excess agricultural products to their products/entrees. This agency serves two conflicting interests: they both promote agricultural product consumption, including excess products, and they ostensibly promote dietary health through guidelines, education, and information. A cheese surplus resulted in the appearance all kinds of excess cheese (triple cheese pizzas with cheese in the crust??). And once these items are out there, there seems to be no going back. The USDA guidelines, education, and information are heavily influenced by the meat, dairy and egg industry -- but hardly at all by Big Broccoli. So, I don't think they actually serve their mandate to encourage healthy eating in this country. Just the opposite, in fact. I wish Ms. Brody would address this issue.
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@Dr. J
In my opinion, dietary health guidelines should fall under the guise of the CDC, not the USDA.
16
This should be a once-a-week thing, not an everyday experience.
1
@Ed
More like a once-a-year thing, if one is really concerned about health.
15
@Ed This should be a once-in-one-lifetime thing, if that. How can anyone eat that burrito and not rupture himself? Ye gods and little fishes, just reading the ingredients list nauseates me.
44
Hoorah for bringing this to our attention Jane!
8
OMG!! I don't eat at chain restaurants -- there are few to no options on the menu for a Plant Based Whole Foods eater. Moreover, I knew they were bad -- but this is terrible!!
The calorie reductions noted in the article are laughable. The amount of fat, sugar, and sodium in these meals is obscene. And switching to McDonald's or KFC is no solution.
I think that the folks who eat at these places don't care. (And it shows: we've seen customers entering and leaving a Cheesecake Factory near us.) If they did, they would be cooking at home from healthy ingredients.
17
@Dr. J And we the people who do practice healthful, mindful eating (while still enjoying our food) are paying for the illnesses of those who are cramming their faces with this crud. Our 'health care' system combines the worst of both worlds: coercive participation in paying the bills, plus zero personal responsibility required of those running up the bills.
16
@Dr. J
Some years ago we had a novel new restaurant open up that offered 500 calorie entrees and small, sensible desserts. The food was delicious, the ingredients fresh.
They were located across the street from a Cheesecake Factory.
The healthy restaurant is long gone, and the Factory's parking lot is routinely packed. They even offer valet parking for those customers who are challenged or inconvenienced by a short walk.
147
@Dr. J Yes and driving cross country I would stare at menus forever to try to cobble together a meal--never fast food, only go to Mom & Pops.
Strangely enough, the major truck stop chains have better salads and fruit selections albeit no wine with dinner.
3
I can't believe that people are eating this junk. In contrast, a mixed salad with goat cheese (1 oz), tuna steak (4 oz.), and balsamic/olive oil dressing, full-fat vanilla yogurt for dessert, totals 582 calories, 38g carbs, 25g of fat, 379 mg of sodium and 19g sugars, and provides 17g protein.
So says My Fitness Pal, and I say that, after the lunch above, I'm no longer hungry.
Please avoid the fast food! Bring your lunch to work!
18
@RCT
Sounds like a nice meal! Only, the protein count is off. Just the tuna alone is over 30g, then add in the yogurt and cheese.
2
@RCT
That's a LOT of sugar, friend. Otherwise, wise advice.
2
@jojo The sugars must come from the vanilla yogurt. I used to buy vanilla and recently switched to plain, because I compared the labels. Stonyfield Vanilla has 22 grams of sugar per cup, but their plain has only 11 grams. I only use yogurt as a vehicle for fruit or smoothies, so I can't even taste the difference.
5
About three years ago, as my husband and I began on a journey that has led us to lose a combined 200 pounds (140 for me, 60 for him), I mentioned that a skinny mocha frappucino would save him about half the calories (roughly 300 for the regular and 150 for the skinny.) He didn't believe me until he looked up the counts on Starbucks site. But has since come to understand that its the little things that you swap so you can still enjoy - e.g. skim versus whole milk. Stevia vs. sugar in coffee. We are both much more conscious now about calorie counts when dining out and almost always wind up taking food home for a second meal because the portions are out of control.
44
@Knitter215 Yes, it's the portion size that really does everyone who eats out in.
7
@Knitter215 Yes I would rather have small serving of high quality food than a ton of cheap bad food--I do not have appetite or stomach space for latter.
12
@Knitter215 Congratulations on making healthy changes that work for you!
1
Maybe the "restaurants" should have to post the level of activity required to burn off 2500 calories--like, if you weigh 150 lbs, walking at 3.5 mph for over 10 hrs. I guess the good news is if you weigh 300 lbs, you'd burn off these calories in 6.5 hrs. Assuming you could walk that rate that long!
9
@maqroll The only issue is that it could take two people with the same weight and age very different amounts of time to burn those calories according to their metabolism. A very active woman in her 50s should by most standards be able to maintain weight at 2200 calories a day. I exercise 2 hours a day training for a sport and am in my mid 50s, but my base metabolic rate to avoid gain without any exercise is 1,000 calories - half the "recommended". So while it might take x hours of walking for person A, it might take 6X hours for someone else with the same age, weight and body build. There is so much we don't understand about how the body functions in these ways which is in part why we have such an obesity problem. If I ate 2200 calories a day, I'd gain back the 140 pounds I lost in no time at all.
21
@Knitter215, activity levels to burn off calories consumed are rough guidelines or estimates, to make a person stop and think about what they're eating. And that in many cases, it's highly unlikely that excessive calorie consumption such as is described in this article can realistically be "burned off." I think it's a great idea.
3
@maqroll et al. And even if you could get an accurate estimate of the amount of exercise you'd need to 'burn off' those calories, wouldn't it take all the joy out of every bite to know the grueling ordeal you'll have to endure to 'pay for' it? I've found I'd rather forgo the gluttony, and I enjoy that occasional, moderately sized helping of vegan 'ice cream' or that bakery bread far more knowing I don't have to suffer for my pleasure.
2
At some point when does the average American begin talking responsibility for his/her health? I eat a very healthy diet and exercise every day. That being said I do indulge, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone deserves a treat every now and then. But when you see your weight balloon, and the doctor prescribes more and more medications to alleviate what is a lifestyle issue shouldn't you be just a bit concerned. As one poster pointed out nobody eats the meals mentioned in this article on a regular basis. However the lack of exercise the processed foods that we consume daily should be a cause for alarm. But based on the latest figures it does not appear so.
23
So that's why I felt ill for two days after eating at the Cheesecake Factory a couple of years ago. If your system is not used to eating this kind of mega-calorie, fat and salt filled food, it really is a kind of food poisoning. At 70 years old, my normal diet, basically Mediterranean, is the complete opposite to the CF's Breakfast Burrito.
87
Sure, those meals are kind of over-the-top. But I think it's misleading to focus on that kind of thing as a major cause of obesity and health problems. Almost no one eats that stuff every day. Obesity and heart disease rates are highest among the rural poor, who I can assure you are not going to the Cheesecake Factory and Red Lobster regularly. Better to focus on the ubiquity of cheap packaged snack foods, soda, inactivity, and the decline of home cooking in favor of all-day grazing on non-nutritive junk. (Also, the idea that "100 extra calories per day" will eventually lead to obesity is untrue. In a person who is metabolically healthy, the basal metabolism increases to burn extra calories when intake is higher.)
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@TT
That’s the real question isn’t- what is causing our metabolism to go bonkers...So many theories, no real clue.
5
@TT You really ought to read more carefully. Jane Brody neither said nor implied that anyone "eats that stuff every day." She did quite reasonably point out that "a third or more of the calories Americans now consume come from foods eaten in or purchased from restaurants." As you say, it's important to know about the foods bought by the rural poor, but why is it "better to focus on" one thing rather than the other? Let's focus on both.
3
@TT: actually unless you eat Twinkies or Oreos -- factory foods that can be reliably measured for caloric content -- you have NO IDEA how many calories you are eating.
An apple could have 100 calories....or 300....depending on the variety, how big the apple is or what time of year it was picked....because an apple is a natural product.
Once you take a food and put it in the kitchen, and "process it" yourself with heat, fats, oils, seasonings...you are altering it chemically and in caloric content. Unless you have access to a lab...you have NO IDEA how many calories are in a portion.
Most dieters are making wild guesses and assumptions, which are often very wrong. Most calorie counts on packaged foods (*unless factory processed as my example above) are at most guesses.
This among the 10,000 reasons that DIETS DO NOT WORK...not for most people, not for permanent weight reduction.
Thanks for the hilarious article for breakfast. I think I'll stick with my whole grains and peanut butter for now.
31
A big problem is that people don't get enough exercise. It's hard to get proper nutrition in only 2,000 calories. The mentioned offerings are obscene, but if you burn an additional 400-500 calories a day through exercise, it's less of problem.
8
@fred No, it's not that hard (depending on your body type and needs,of course). Admittedly I'm small, but I don't eat anywhere near 2000 calories and I get everything I need and then some.
12
@fred
I burn between 3500-3200 on any given day. If I consume more than around 2000 calories in a day I gain weight. That is because I used to be about 45 lbs heavier. I find it pretty easy to get all of the nutrition I need in 1700-2000 calories.
3
@Still Waiting for a NBA Title - You aren't making any sense!
5
State and local governments do not care about the type of food being consumed in restaurants and takeouts as long as they get their piece of the action in meals taxes.
2
Why not just make reasonably-sized portions the norm? Restaurants have increased meal size so much that now people care much more about "value" in terms of food quantity than quality. The thinking seems to go, Who cares about nutritional value and quality of ingredients when I can get five times the food volume if they just deep fry some stuff? This is what needs to change. Most restaurants are simply giving people what they want: outsized fat-, salt-, and sugar-laden calorie bombs for cheap. I guess that makes it a chicken-and-egg problem: should restaurants change their menus so they stop killing their customers, or should customers take responsibility for what they put in their own bodies?
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@Joanne, my husband and I share a meal when we go out to eat (places that offer healthy vegan options, or as healthy as we can find) -- and even that is frequently too much food for us. Saves money, though -- and apparently calories, fat, and sodium, too.
8
@Joanne
Why not take food home instead of over eating until you are stuffed? When I go out to eat I simply order what I want, and then take large portions of my meal home with me. Sometimes I have enough for two more dinners or at least meals.
And the left overs can be served on a bed of salad greens, further diluting calories and upping nutritional content.
14
@Joanne
I would say that most restaurants are giving customers what the restaurants want.
Fries and other fatty carbs are cheap.
It costs a lot more to produce meals consisting of good-quality, well-prepared meats/fish, loaded up with plenty of fresh veg.
1
Has no one heard of the Doggy Bag? If you listen to your body, you can simply stop eating when you’re full and enjoy that meal the next day.
There are hormones, however, that must be functioning properly in order to get the signal to stop eating. High sugar, low fiber diets prevent these hormones from protecting our drive to eat.
I know that food choices are also driven by emotions. But cutting down on sugars and eating more fiber can allow the body to self regulate. The rest will take care of itself.
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@Louisa Glasson Also, eat more slowly. It takes about 20 minutes for your body to register fullness. And don't consume liquid calories. You can drink 2000 calories of sugary soda or noncarbonated juice in a few minutes; the latter, without even burping.
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Louisa: What a surprise! Hope Martín is treating you well. :-)
1
@Louisa Glasson: there is no evidence of much added sugar in a egg and cheese BURRITO.
The problem is almost certainly that it is HUGE -- covers the plate and has 5 eggs and half a pound of CHEESE melted on it.
None of those things -- burritos, tortillos, eggs, cheese -- are inherently bad for you, in normal quantities.
Also, you are alleging that eating sugar causes the hormones ghrelin and leptin to cease functioning in your gut. This is not factually true.
I'm not a fan of most of these chain restaurants, but a 2,000 calorie is not a problem if it contains sufficient nutrients and keeps us feeling full for most of the day.
It's not the calories, it's the nutritional quality, and subsequent effects on hunger/satiety later in the day.
25
@The Pooch
This is a good point. I do intermittent fasting and many times eat just once a day as I prefer working out fasted. 2,000 or more calorie meal is common for me. Of course if you do this style of eating, need to focus on grass-fed steak, butter, pastured eggs, offal, bacon(!), etc, not Olive Garden's all-you-can-eat pasta.
13
Many of us have metabolisms that make us hungry at meal times. If I eat a 2,000 calorie breakfast, I'll be hungry before dinner time. If I eat a 3,000 calorie dinner, I'll be hungry for breakfast by 11 am the next day.
If I eat a 200 calorie breakfast, three 50 calorie snacks or a 150 calorie lunch, I'll feel satisfied with a 800 to 1,000 calorie dinner. Fewer calories, more satisfying. Further, the only way to keep those calories that low is to load up on fruits and veggies and skip the butter and cheese.
8
“It’s not the calories.” Amen. Unfortunately with our overweight, calorie obsessed country, the idea of less calories = healthier, smaller body is both self-defeating and clearly not working, but scientifically inaccurate.
6
As a person with celiac disease I applaud the fact that most chain restaurants now either post gluten free options on their regular menus or provide special diet menus on request but it's pretty clear that the sodium and saturated fat content of most of these places offerings is way over the top--a fact that's usually totally lost on the innocent diner.
I like the idea of requiring them to post calorie, carb, saturated fat and sodium contents so that the customer can make an educated decision about what or what not to eat. Yes, many, maybe most people will ignore it, but just having the information out there kind of puts it in your face.
If enough people start saying "forget the super breakfast burrito, I'll just have a veggie omelet with fruit on the side, easy on the salt and the cheese please (egg whites only if you're feeling particularly virtuous) these corporations might get the message.
13
@Brooklyncowgirl
If the restaurant takes the lead and offers options with reasonable calorie counts, I'm certain more people like me will start eating at restaurants. I avoid restaurant food because of the high or unknown calories. The occasional Subway sandwich or veggie burger is a good option for me when eating out.
7
@Brooklyncowgirl Yes and Denny's offers this out west at least, and I had free breakfast coupons from Best Western hotel I was in next door--and discount for dinner--their menu is edible now!
And I know it sounds scary, but the fish with brown rice side and salad was great too.
1
I appreciate that Panera Bread posts the calorie content on its menu. On a cold January afternoon a few years ago, my daughter asked for a hot chocolate while driving to swimming lesson. We stopped at Panera but when I saw that the hot chocolate had whooping 520 kcal, we ordered an unsweetened peppermint tea instead. We do drink milk-based hot chocolate at home but use baking cacao (unsweetened) and just add a hint of sugar (< 1 teaspoon to a 8 oz. cup).
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@Someone
Honey is great in hot chocolate or cocoa if you want to avoid sugar.
Honey is a form of sugar.
6
@Someone: I'll bet most of that 520 calories is the WHIPPED CREAM on the top! (which is delicious, BTW).
Because it's just a packet of cocoa mix and hot water or hot milk....and I believe the calorie count for that is about 110 calories (for the mix).
You can make most hot cocoa mixes with just water, or low fat/skim milk and even half milk/half water -- to lower the calorie count.
They also make varieties with artificial sweetener, though many parents do not wish to give that to small kids.
Who is to blame for fattening up Americans and killing their hearts?
I'd say the US Dietary Guidelines and all the subsequent "expert" nutrition advice. How often does someone eat a Cheesecake Factory breakfast burrito? Meanwhile, the advice of "experts" is a daily influence of negative effects: promoting grains and soy over meat; vegetable/seed oils over animal fats and tropical oils; demonizing saturated fat and salt; recommending carbo-loaded diets and horrible diet plans like Mediterranean and vegans diets while shunning much better ancestral/primal/paleo and ketogenic diets.
Look at a chart depicting obesity levels over time and it skyrockets right after the original guidelines were released in 1980.
42
@GD Do you really believe the general public follows any kind of food guidelines? I don't think you can lay the blame for the obesity epidemic on the US Dietary Guidelines. Also, obesity is a world-wide problem, not just in the US.
Personally, I gained a lot of weight after having children. I've managed to lose it (30 pounds) by counting calories and exercising. I try to make the calories I do eat healthy ones.
24
@GD
I think nobody pays attention to those Guidelines and most nutrition "experts." Taste is the most important element of eating, and these chains offer tasty dishes at low prices. Part of the obesity blame should be on the media which has "normalized" being overweight. For some reason our culture paints husky people as healthy. I've been slim my entire life and many (who have since passed) have told me to gain weight.
9
@Liz
I think the guidelines have a far bigger reach than you think. If you interviewed random people you'd find the conventional wisdom is quite ingrained in people for topics that have long been debunked. Ask the average person if they think red meat, saturated fat, and eggs are healthy.
It leads people to eat Honey Nut Cheerios with whole wheat toast with margarine and orange juice thinking this is all "heart healthy". They will use canola oil instead of butter or coconut oil to cook because it's ingrained that polyunsaturated fats are healthier than saturated.
Other countries that have obesity problems adopted fairly similar guidelines.
12