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I absolutely think restaurants should list nutrition values on their menus, and a few do. Like many, I didn't eat healthily until I realized the food I was eating was actually unhealthy. It's been a long process, but I am now able to look at a menu and make an educated guess about the content of each item. How much easier would life be if I could know for sure? We all know that grilled is better than fried, but many other menu options are much harder to decipher. Is "drizzled with butter" better for you than "soaked in olive oil?" Is American cheese better for you than cheddar?

There's a Weight Watchers commercial currently airing that promotes their system of learning to eat well rather than navigating between traditional diets and there's a very poignant question at the end that is sticking with me "What kind of relationship will our kids have with food?"

Parents flip between eating no fat or only fat or nothing but water and cayenne pepper, meanwhile, their kids are eating fast food burgers, fried potato chips and double-fudge-brownie-iced-coff ee-milkshakes at 2,000 calories each. I don't think anyone is still wondering why our country is so obese. Setting aside those who consciously make poor food choices, there are many who would eat right if they knew how. Children are smart and they can do math. If you tell them they need 2,000 calories a day and tell them how many calories are in each meal, they'll quickly learn how much they need. Kids being kids, they might not always follow the plan, but making food choices will become a skill for life.

I think the public would be shocked to learn the content of their dining-out meals. Massive portion sizes and our tendency to fry everything (T.G.I. Fridays Fried Mac-n-Cheese, anyone?) would make consumers aware that in a single meal, they could eating several day's worth of calories. It would hurt, but I also think nutrition values should apply to to the beverage sections of menus. Adding a couple daiquiris to a meal could send calorie counts astronomically high.

I think it's sad that some failure in basic education (by schools or parents) has led us to the point of even having to discuss this, but clearly, it is necessary, and something must be done. Would forcing restaurants to have a fat and calorie limit on their food work better, or at all? Putting nutrition values on everything we eat is overbearing and exhausting, but what we put in our bodies is the most essential part of maintaining them and I think it would be a real wake-up call to the American public to be truly aware of their options when dining out.

Learn more about this author, Caroline Reid.
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