You wrote "The bill is a 1990 page whopper".

BEST. PUN. EVER.

Totally disagree with you on this one. If Outback, for instance, is required to state that entree X contains some astronomical amount of calories, it does affect behavior, at least if the customer values that information. You are right, that many customers do not, but David Kessler's book outlines the specific ways in which dinner house chains purposely jack up caloric density in order to stimulate taste. It's not a normal cooking process if that is the case, and the customer has a right to know. In any event, there is no reasonable defense on the part of the big chains, who have standardized their dishes with NASA like specificity. They probably already know all of these numbers, or could get them very easily. Besides, I am tired of them marketing COke products on their coloring books they hand out to my kids.

I appreciate it... don't see how more information could be a bad thing. For example, I'm dieting right now, and while I know not to eat at McDonald's, I don't really know how many calories is in the salmon and spinach salad with vinegarette and feta cheese I ordered at lunch. It's just a guess that it's a fairly low calorie food, but depending on the amount of cheese, I could be eating a lot more calories than I think I am... and I'm one of the more educated people on the subject of diet and nutrition... those of us on the internet, especially news content sites, are not reflective of most Americans. We have a health crisis in America. One of the most important factors in health is what we put into our bodies on a daily basis. I think this is good news.

The "Nanny State" is back! Woot!! Good ol' Libertarian values comin' back strong! :-)

Okay-Living in NYC-I personally LOVE it when restaurants have calorie counts on their menus. My sister and I once went to a T.G.I.Friday's and there was not ONE THING under 1,200 calories. We left.

Information is power. The government is not saying don't eat there, just hey, you might want to think twice!!

The more notes I see on this bill, the more I realize it's from Mars. I don't worry about it's implications because it will not be passed. Not enough politicians with Un-American ideals to do that.

I've lost 70 pounds, would like to keep them off. The Big Macs, as you note, are not a problem. Yes, I know enough not to eat them. It's the other stuff--the many, many food items that *seem* to be okay but when I dig through the company's website are loaded with hidden calories--that undermine me.

Customers are nothing but prey animals in a capitalist society. You can label providing information "nanny state" stuff, but I welcome the fact I would no longer have to root around to find this information that, at this point, is being withheld from me by major corporations. Not having the information clearly posted on the menu is to put my health in the hands of corporate America. That sucks.

Having said all this, however, I fail to see why this sort of thing is included in a bill that's highly controversial and complicated already and the point of which needs to be providing HEALTH CARE to all US citizens. We can do this sort of fine tuning later and in another venue. Can we please just get some health care going here first???

The argument isn't with restaurants providing calorie info, it's with the idea that government has any business *forcing* them to do so. Consumers who care about calorie counts are perfectly capable of either asking for them or patronizing only restaurants which provide that information voluntarily.

When it is a good business practice to provide calorie counts- because that is what the consumers are demanding- businesses will do so of their own accord, as many do already. When it is not good business, forcing them to do it anyway only costs the businesses, and hence the consumers, more money.

That's ridiculous, calorie counts. Who says calories are the best measurement of "healthy" food? What if McDonald's starts making its buns out of locally grown sprouted buckwheat bread? It will have more calories than processed white buns, but be healthier.



And how will all the big food industries respond? By cutting calories in their food to appeal to their customers! That means more fillers, more artificial sweeteners, and less real food. Guys, we cannot afford to encourage the major food industries to find more ways of serving us crap.