Cathal BarryHealthy Living with Cathal Barry
The last instalment of this column dealt with Ireland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol and the steps the Government are taking to reduce consumption, with restrictions on the sale of cheap drink and warning labels on bottles and cans among key elements of the plan.
Since then, proposals to require restaurants, takeaways and all food service outlets to post calorie details of all meals on menus have been given the nod by the Government’s head honchos.
The laws will require restaurants, takeaways and food service outlets to post the information alongside the price for all items offered on menus, at the point where the food is ordered, whether at tables or counters.
Aside from looking a little vulgar on menus, the proposals, in my opinion, are completely unworkable.
Health Minister Leo Varadkar has admitted he is “very concerned” about the levels obesity in Ireland. “Latest figures indicate that nearly two out of every three adults, and one in four children, are overweight or obese. This presents real risks for health and wellbeing and causes a high percentage of many of the chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes,” the minister said.
Nobody would disagree with him there, but is forcing restaurants to publish calorie details on menus the solution to the problem? I’m sceptical to say the least.
Firstly, while the theory behind the idea may seem sound, in practice it just doesn’t work.
Yes, food options can be deceptive. Some salads contain more calories than a burger meal and published calorie details would expose that to everybody. But, even for restaurants that have minimal menu diversity from day to day, accurate calorie counting is next to impossible to achieve.
Sure, fast-food joints rarely ever change their menus, but there are regularly discrepancies between the sizes of the burgers, the dollop of sauce and the number of fries on the side these restaurants dish out to customers on a daily basis.
Chefs in more up-market restaurants may use several ingredients in one dish alone, making it virtually impossible to calculate the calories unless each ingredient is weighed out individually.
Not to mention many restaurants change their menus daily, sometimes even several times throughout the day.
In all of these cases accuracy goes out the window, just like the Government’s plans should!
Ultimately, my criticism lies with the Government’s misguided approach to what they perceive to be a healthy relationship with food. While their intentions may be good, they should be aware of the need to promote healthier foods rather than encouraging calorically restrictive diet regimes which are notoriously difficult to maintain.
If the Government want to proceed with a more transparent menu approach, then perhaps publishing symbols for the likes of wheat-free, dairy-free and organic produce would be a better option.
This would be a lot less taxing on restaurant staff and would encourage people to choose the healthy option over the heavily processed one which just happens to be low in calories.
Some of the healthiest foods we can eat, like avocados and nuts, are calorific. But we shouldn’t be turned off eating them just because the menu tells us so.
It’s time we started eating real, whole foods, and not just the ‘low-cal’ ones.