Do you know what you are eating?

Re: Mandatory Calorie Counts On Menus?, debate between Jesse Kline and Jonathan Kay.

Jesse Kline and Jonathan Kay can’t agree on whether restaurant menus should list calorie and salt content. I agree with both; continued education on healthy diet choices is needed, but labels such as those proposed are not going to change how and what people order. To say that a particular burger has 1,370 mg of sodium is meaningless, as most people do not know how much sodium is needed or acceptable per day. So that information will be ignored.

I propose an icon system to give diners additional information. For example, a tomato beside the menu description means vegetarian, while a chili pepper indicates something spicy (and three chili peppers for really spicy).

If an icon system were designed called the “boatload of salt” system, then a picture of a canoe would mean “lots of salt,” a small sailboat would mean “more than lots,” a schooner would mean “tonnes” and a cruise ship would mean “more than tonnes.”

We know there is a boatload of salt in pretty much everything — it’s just a question of how big the boat is. Since this debate was limited to a restaurant’s disclosure of sugar, salt and fat content, Mr. Kline narrowly wins. The occasional 750-calorie hamburger will not kill you whether you know the caloric and sodium content or not. Chefs and food manufacturers are not the culprit. We are.

Fat, sugar and sodium content labelling of products allows for informed choices. Knowing the calorie count or sodium content whether dining out or in a supermarket has little bearing on our health unless and until we each make the decision to bring balance to our entire lives including food, physical activity and adequate sleep. In other words, we need to “go to extremes in moderation.” On the diet and calorie issue, Jesse Kline’s take is close to my view that a surplus of information is eventually self-defeating. There is no one diet suitable for all people everywhere. Jonathan Kay’s view that education should be forced on people strikes me as illiberal. What next — food intake police?

If one wants diet simplification, a bathroom scale and adherence to the policy of moderation in all things will do wonders. According to Jessie Kline, McDonald’s Angus Texan Burger “doesn’t sound too healthy at all” because it contains 760 calories and 1,370 mg. of sodium. Health Canada recommends calorie consumption of 2,300 to 2,900 calories per day, so (assuming one eats three meals daily) one meal of 29% of your daily calorie requirement is slightly below the recommendations. Also, while 1,370 mg. of sodium seems a lot considering the daily recommendation of 1,500mg, as Mr. Kline states, the Japanese vastly exceed this sodium level and they have the longest lifespans. I can only conclude that Health Canada should be urging us all to eat at McDonald’s.