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There is so much information out there about nutrition. One just has to turn on the news, pick up the latest newspaper or magazine, or even browse for a few minutes on the internet and they can find a wealth of information about calories, fat grams, carbohydrates and all that goes with it. There are weight management programs everywhere and many people are currently trying to lose weight. We know the facts, its the doing something about it that is the problem. It is common knowledge that the American diet is generally unbalanced and finding a truly healthy option while dining out can be quite the challenge. Some restaurants offer healthy menu choices, and a few even list Weight Watcher approved options, but most do not. They assume that the consumer can determine on their own whether or not a particular menu choice will be to their liking whether or not it will be part of someone's particular diet plan.

So why the push to have eateries add extra labeling to the food choices offered on a menu? Do we really need more warnings and labels in our life? Yes our eating habits are dreadful, and we can do better, but what purpose does pushing more labeling serve? Do the people pushing for such rulings think that the average consumer is so stupid that we cannot determine that the shrimp fettuccine with a side of butter dipped garlic bread we just ordered may not be the best healthy meal to choose? We already know that we are preparing to consume 10,000 in one setting, we just wanted some pasta, and will go back on our diet tomorrow, or so we tell ourselves. Having a label listing nutrition contents will not necessarily keep people from ordering that fat and calorie bowl of pasta anyway.

I think a better option would be to encourage restaurants to start serving smaller portions, hopefully without raising the prices. Portions in many restaurants are quite large, more then any one person should eat at one time. For some reason we expect gargantuan portions, thinking we are getting a bargain, but instead just adding pounds to our frames. That option with more choices such as fresh vegetables instead of potatoes for sides would serve a better purpose.

An even better option would be for people to determine for themselves what is healthy or not. We cannot force people to eat as they know they should, and adding yet another set of labels to food is not going to work very well at preventing people from making bad food choices. Continuing to educate and encourage people to eat healthy and see the benefits of simple foods and smaller portion sizes is still the best way to go.

Learn more about this author, Sylvie Galloway.
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