An Attempt to Limit the Calories of Cheap Foods

News out today reporting that 19 chain restaurants have joined with the Healthy Dining group and the National Restaurant Association to participate in an initiative titled, Kids LiveWell.
The restaurants agree to certain nutritional criteria for a percentage of their kids meals and side dishes.  They are then able to get promoted on the Healthy Dining group's website.  
I am not that thrilled with the criteria.  It is in some ways connected to the latest nutritional guidelines (DGA 2010), but does not  go as far as the proposed rule for the National School Lunch Program.  For instance the meal can have up to 600 calories and that seems high since the children who would be young enough for the kids menu need (roughly speaking) no more and usually much less than 1800 calories a day.  (recall most kids menus are up to age 10 or 12).  I see that the 600 calories includes one side item and a beverage - so that is better.  
One of the restaurants that signed up is Cracker Barrel and that is what caught my attention when I heard the news story. I went to their website just now and I do not see anything as of yet.  Today was to be the kick off.  By the way, check out their kids menu as it stands now (the link just above)- CRAZY high in fat...  check out the other links I have included in this post to learn more.


The criteria in the Kids LiveWell program is higher than is recommended for calories, total fat, trans fats and sugars - just so you know.

Phases and Rule Making (informed eating initiatives)

It seems that the deeper I get into my paper, the one I am writing for no real reason except that I think that it will help me accomplish some of my goals - oh that is a good reason, isn't it?  Well, I am nearing the end, but realize that I need to become more familiar with one of the reports that has been released regarding front of pack labeling in this country. 

I did want to tell you these two things so that you know where "we" are with regard to menu/vending labeling and package front signposting, or FOP labeling.

I may have said this already, but in regards to menu and vending machine calorie content disclosure mandated by the Affordable Care Act, the FDA will continue to take comments and expects to have a final rule for the establishments/operators by the end of this year.  Once they have the final rule(guidance) in place, the restaurants will have six months to comply.  The vending machine companies will have one year.  The rule will say, among other things, what has to be on the signs; just calories, or other nutrient info as well.

The front of pack initiative is being driven by a congressional directive as well.  At this time, the Institute of Medicine is completing Phase II of their two phase task.  The report from Phase I has been published.  That is the report I need to spend more time reviewing as it does come with a number of "conclusions."  Those conclusions regard whether it makes sense to have a FOP standard, what should be included in the symbol, who the label should be for, and such.  In Phase II the different types of sign posts and the working criteria the IOM has in place will be tested with consumers.  Part of the initiative involves consumer ease of use, preference and comprehension of the new labeling .  In fact, the letter that the director of  Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements sent to food providers is available here. 
I called the IOM this week and they assured me that NO one was going to be privy to early results or leanings on which symbol they'd recommend (i.e. the multiple traffic light), but that the report on this research and recommendations to go forward should come out this fall.

Today I had a very productive meeting with the university vending machine contract director (head honcho) and we are a go for some type of machine initiative on campus that is related to informed eating.  I am very jazzed about this :)

Menu Math - Choose Your Numbers

Today I would like to teach you a little bit about reading the nutrition info from a restaurant's website and making that information work for you. Remember, this blog is intended to empower YOU, the reader, to make decisions and choices based on the most current information and tools available - so that you have the best chance for an active, long life.

So we are going to use the chart featured here. I realize it may be hard to see. You can go straight to the source and view this, however, it will not have my highlights there.

So let me explain. This is the nutrition information that Panera Bread offers for its Mediterranean Salmon Salad. (we just talked about the Mediterranean Diet so this was a good example! It is also what I am having for lunch tomorrow)

Most health experts now recommend that we eat small, but frequent meals, as many as six a day - according to the Cleveland Clinic. I will let you see what they have to say as well, click here. Note their words - small, frequent meals mean JUST THAT. The USA Today Weight Loss challenge notes that most of the dieters are consuming 1500 to 1800 cals a day, so divide that number by six and if all the meals were even, all would be UNDER that 480 calorie Salmon Salad. There is no hard and fast rule about that however. Breakfast might be 200-400 calories with plenty of fiber and some meals may instead be 100 calorie snacks, but the best thing about the chart printed here is that you can use it to see which of the calories are BENEFICIAl and which bring along things you could do without - like extra sodium. Hence, my highlights.

Let me explain - as by the time I was done picking my choices, I had a 180 calorie salad!

Things to look for in a food label, good and bad, are fats (saturated, trans and unsaturated), protein, sodium, fiber, sugar and maybe cholesterol, but that is usually not as important as saturated and trans fats.

In this entree we can see that protein is good overall. Sodium is too high and for that reason I would leave out those poor olives, only 35 calories but almost 600 mg of sodium. Salmon does have some sodium naturally, but not this much - they must glaze the fillet. Saturated fat is only concerning for the cheese, but if you are watching saturated fat, that might be something to leave off. Notice that the almonds and salmon are high in poly or monounsaturated fats - (subtract the saturated fat from the total fat and that is how you know) . The remaining are the fats that give us the health promoting Omega 3s! There is too much sugar in this salad. A total of 19 grams. A food is considered a healthy choice if it has less than 8 g of added sugar. Now some of the sugar comes from oranges but a lot comes from the dressing. The dressing by the way is high in calories as well. I am going to use my own dressing.

I like that this chart has caffeine content included. There is none in this meal. I like that the meal does not have any TFAs! I am looking forward to my lunch tomorrow.

If you have the opportunity to look at a food this thoroughly you can certainly order your meal without items that don't meet your best health needs. Of course, a recent review of online and restaurant menus showed some significant under reporting in calorie content, so this is all to be taken as a "more or less" figure.

Bon Appetit!