by Helen Gray

Created on: February 16, 2009

Standing in line at a Starbucks in New York I had an epiphany. According to the calorie count on the menu board I was about to drink 400 calories worth of mocha almost a quarter of a healthy calorie intake for an entire day!

As a nation, America has really let itself go. In 2007 obesity rates were over 25% in 30 American states and over 30% in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Obesity enormously increases health related risks including heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The epidemic is getting worse and the fallout will become more apparent in coming years as obesity related diseases further strain the health care system the government, and in the end, the tax-payers that support that system.

Ignorance might be bliss but it is slowly killing us and it has become obvious that we can no longer be trusted to take care of ourselves. Whether you blame poverty, bad parenting, food retailers or the advertising industry it is clear that it is time for an intervention on a grand scale. American restaurant menus already carry warnings about the mercury content in seafood and the effects of eating undercooked meat.

Why shouldn't we receive the same warning about how fattening the food is when the health impact is just as great? The information absolves the restaurant of any potential liability and provides customers the freedom to make their own choices.

New York City's calorie count law, introduced in April 2008, requires chain restaurants with more than 15 locations nation-wide to post calorie counts with their menus. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the law is already having an effect: people are switching to lower calorie items restaurants are running out of low calories options much earlier in the day.

I've had some introspective moments of my own since that day in the Starbucks and am making an effort to modify my eating habits. The problem is, without carrying around a calorie guide or memorizing the Weight Watchers hand book, I have no idea how much I really eat in a day. In the back of my head I know that when I eat at a place like the Cheese Cake Factory, where the "diet" salads include lashings of creamy dressing and blue cheese, I'm probably getting a week's worth of fat, salt and sugar. And that's why eating there is still a treat.

I started the new year with an experimental calorie count. According to the packaging, my breakfast and morning snack (orange juice, toast and jam, mini low-fat yogurt and plain latte) added up to over 900 calories. That was half

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