Did you hear about the customer who walked into Marge and Tina’s local diner for lunch? Instead of his usual order of fried chicken, the customer ordered a chef’s salad.
Puzzled by the change in his menu choice, Marge, the waiter, and Tina, the cook, asked what was up. The customer explained that his doctor told him to lose 50 pounds, so he was on a diet.
“Oh,” Marge and Tina replied. “Now we understand. How can we help?
The customer responded, “Don’t fry for me, Marge and Tina.”
I know, I know. Bad joke. But it emphasizes the point that fried foods—especially those served in fast-food restaurants—can add extra calories that bulk up our waistlines.
In an effort to help New Yorkers monitor their fast-food consumption, the City recently enacted regulations requiring chain restaurants to post the caloric content of their food. I wrote about this innovative development in an article titled “New York City Posting Calorie Counts to Prevent Obesity” that appeared on basilandspice.com on July 24, 2008. Go here for the full article.
Will the regulation make any difference? Critics of the posting requirement claim that customers don’t care about calories when they patronize a fast-food chain.
New York officials, however, predict that the regulation will prevent 150,000 individuals from becoming obese and 30,000 individuals from developing diabetes over the next five years.
Unlike New York food chains, Marge and Tina won’t face a $2,000 fine if they don’t post the caloric content of their food. But the program’s results will be monitored closely, and if the program significantly reduces obesity and diabetes among customers, it may start a national trend. If the trend catches on, we won’t cry for Marge and Tina.
"It is no good to try and stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge." Enrico Fermi
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