Sensei Talks  

Do you ever think about how many calories are in your fast food meals? I bet you’d be surprised at how far off your guess can be...and most people grossly UNDERESTIMATE.

I watched a 60 Minutes report recently on this very topic. A nutrition professor from Cornell University asked consumers in a food court to estimate how many calories they thought were in a Subway meal he showed them. Guesses were as low as 300…it was actually almost 1400 calories!

There’s an argument afoot…one camp says that fast food chains should display calorie information in a clear and easy to see format in their restaurants. The other camp (mostly in the restaurant industry) say that having the nutrition information available on their website should be good enough.

The problem with this? How many of you know which fast food restaurant you’re going to stop at when you leave your house for the day? Doesn’t it sort of defeat the purpose of ‘fast & convenient’ if you have to go home and check the website so you know what to order?

I think the critics in the food industry are banking on subliminal seduction. Entice consumers with big, glossy, beautiful pictures of food…appeal to their sense of hunger…don’t think about the calories…think about how good this is going to taste…and don’t even get me started on the commercials that show all those thin, happy people enjoying meals with twice the calories they really eat in a day. A little sneaky as far as I’m concerned.

Not all that’s fast is bad though. Almost every fast food restaurant has something on the menu that is lower in calories and fat. Sometimes it’s as simple as changing the sauce or removing the cheese. But sometimes it’s almost as if they don’t want you to know.

So what do you think? Would you order differently if you knew the fat and calories BEFORE you ordered?