Thats exactly how I feel!  My grandmother is always telling me how many calories is in everything shes eating.  I just want to tell her I don't care!  I know whats good and I know whats not.  I don't look at calories at all anymore.  Obviously if you're eating cake from Starbucks its not going to be good for you or a low calorie food. 

I didn't read many replies, just the first post, but had to comment.

I personally think its a very very bad idea for people to be putting this where its avaliable for everyone to see whether they want to or not. I believe the information should be avaliable, if you want to know, but not broadcasted for the whole world. What about people recovering from eating disorders? How do you think it would effect them? I can see the lawsuits not.. "Recovering anorexic dies, parents blame it on calorie stickers". It may seem over the top, but my aunt is a recovering anorexic and I know these would effect her SO much if she was constantly reminded of how much calories she was intaking. The obese should be concious of their bodies and if they ARE trying to loose, their doctor should be telling them what they should cut back on.

Just my 2 cents.

My mom is 5'2" and probably close to 200 pounds now, yet her doctor says she's healthy!  Doctors aren't always the brightest crayons in the box and they don't always say/do what's best for the patient.

Totally makes sense.  But I think a BIG issue is people order the salad  or the fruit cup or frozen yogurt or whatever thinking they are getting a low calorie food when they aren't.  And sometimes by the time they add the dressing and nuts and cheese and whatever, they are getting close to the calories and fat of a burger and fries.   Yes, it is still probably a healthier choice, but it should be an informed choice.  Especially for people who are tracking their calories and are trying to estimate - hidden fats and starches in a lot of foods make them higher calorie than you would expect based on teh obvious ingredients.

And on a lot of things, I think people know they aren't good, but sometimes don't really realize just how bad they really are.  Just like people totally dismissing their liquid calories.

And I know from my time with WW and other programs, trying to figure out the nutritional information for food on the fly can be very difficult.  Many times I've asked for nutritional info at a fast food place and gotten a blank stare, or "we're out of those", or "hmm, I think the manager has those in his office, let me go find them", or some other barrier to getting the info.  And just plain forget it at a sit-down restaurant.

Calories aren't the whole picture, but they are a big part of it.  Now they just need to give calories a frame of reference -- that it will take 90 minutes of jogging 4 mph to burn off that 1000 calorie cheeseburger.

Oh yeah, she can't even lean all the way back on the sofa, it looks like she's sitting forward.  I was a bit shocked when I went home and saw her at Christmas.  It's been gradual over the years, but now it's just ... out of control.  The 'funny thing' is, dad has lost weight.  He's been eating a lot of fruits and veggies over the last several years.  Mom knows she should, but just doesn't.  It's not like it's not staring her in the face.  The berries are right up front in the fridge, and the fruit bowl is on their counter.  She makes her choices.

tonivan, I TOTALLY agree about bringing PE back into the schools. I was required to have PE all 4 years of high school.   I'm shocked at how little is required these days.  My kids' high school required one year. 

Are they doing this all over, or just in NY?

I guess it would be nicer if the all or at least more of the nutritional info, not just calories, was easy to find, not just online, but in the store. I just putting calories by the food is a step forward though!

I enjoy getting a blueberry muffin or coffee cake at Starbucks, but only a few times a month. I don't think "bad" foods need to be done away with, people just need to learn some self control!

My dad has trouble with portion control, especially when it comes to sweets. I've tried everything from throwing out the ice cream and putting smoothie ingredients in the container (frozen fruit and instructions on how to make one) to just putting a serving size measuring cup in the container, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. He eats what he wants, or just comes back for more.

I, on the other hand, am happy to buy the small containers of ice cream, but get a flavor that I really enjoy, and eat a spoonful or two every once in a while as a treat. It's easier to enjoy a small bowl of ice cream, rather then a mountain sized one, at least for me, because I'm not just stuffing my face, but actually savoring each bite.

When I go out to eat, even at for example, the vegetarian restaurant here, I usually get my favorite dish and bring half or more home to eat later. It would be nice if portions were smaller, because it feels like you "need" to eat it all, even if you're full.

As a side note, I don't think having kids take 4 years of PE in high school would make a difference. At least in my PE class, the thin kids stayed thin, and the over weight kids stayed over weight. Maybe it's just that we didn't do enough sports where you're constantly moving, or that the kids who wanted to win worked hard enough to make the other kids not need to do anything, but I honestly don't think it made a speck of difference in the health of the kids. What really needs to change is school lunches! They need to stop having a plate of french fries be considered a meal, stop having pizza every day, and make the "healthy" line actually healthy foods. It was hard enough to find a vegetarian meal (even the yogurt wasn't vegetarian, it had gelatin), but harder still to find one that was healthy. If I didn't just bring my own lunch, I was usually "stuck" eating a PB and J (the school made ones on wheat bread, but sometimes the only option where the nasty Uncrustables) and a bag of chips. I practically was -teased- for my "healthy" lunches, when they weren't even healthy!

yes, it would be lovely to have all the gory details.  But there is a very practical limitation of space on the actual menu boards and how much information would make the menu unreadable for most people. If they have to pick a single piece of information to put next to the price, I think total calories is the most practical in terms of actually giving the customer the most usable single piece of information possible.  Any other item is completely useless on its own.  It's pretty useless to tell people something has 10g of protein and nothing else.  Or 20g of carbs and nothing else.  But if you tell them something has 1000 calories, they can pretty quickly ascertain that may be more than they want for this meal, no matter what's in those calories. 

The "type" of calories is really only significant if you're comparing 2 items with similar calorie counts, but substantially different nutrition profiles.  And with the salad example -- yes, that salad may be "better" for you, but if I'm going to splurge on a 1200 calorie meal, I may very well want to choose the burger and fries that I actually LIKE more than the salad.  What I don't want is to get the damn salad that I didn't even really want and then find out that it was nearly as bad calorie-wise as what I actually would have enjoyed eating.  Sure, it may have been a healthier choice because of the veggies, but if I'm choosing it just for the veggies and not the calories, I want to know that.

I do think restaurants should be required to make all the details readily available, even if it's a poster near the door or a brochure or something.  Having to wait in line to ask for it or wait while they go beg the only copy off the manager, or have to look it up online from someplace else, or have the only copy taped to the front counter is all less than helpful.

I'm not saying that calories should be the only element of determining if something is healthy.  What I'm saying is if you have to pick 1 single factoid to give people to help them make a choice, calories seems to make the most sense.  And the information on the menu board is not supposed to provide 100% guidance in what you should or should not eat.  It's just a piece of information so that people can't keep their heads buried in the sand about what they're eating.  People may think twice about the Blooming Onion when they realize it's 2000 calories!!!  In that case, how much fat or carbs it has is really immaterial.  People certainly appreciate that something like that is totally indulgent, but probably most have no idea just HOW bad it really is unless they've looked.  I think on a lot of things, people certainly realize they are indulging, but I think often they are oblivious to how substantial that indulgence is.   And I think that's the value in putting that bottom-line number on the menu.

And lets get real -- virtually ANY weight management program that works is about limiting calories.  They just have different approaches to doing so.  The bottom line of WW points system is to limit calories.  The bottom line of Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem is to limit calories.  Very few typical, sedentary people will maintain a healthy weight eating 4000 calories a day, no matter what those 4000 calories are.  And you'd be hard-pressed to get 4000 calories out of 25 points on WW.  You'd have to eat a bushel of free veggies to do it.  Those plans also include guidelines that encourage a balanced diet with healthy foods, but the core rules are about limiting calories. You can use all of your points on bagels if you want and you'll likely lose weight if all you eat is 25 points worth of bagels, 2 servings of milk, and then the free veggies. You won't be healthy and you'll probably be miserable, but you'll be following the fundamental rules and losing weight. 

ANd it is pitiful how little activity kids get, at school and at home.  My kids get PE 2 days in a 6 day cycle.  In junior high, they get no recess at all except at lunch.  And for whatever reason, our school has modified its schedule so the kids have recess BEFORE lunch.  Something about improving nutrition and learning.  I don't completely buy that, but whatever.  Most kids no longer walk to school for whatever reasons.  And I'm guilty of that -- for years I drove my kids the 1/4 mile to school every day.  Now some of that was a practicality due to my son's behavior issues -- no way was I going to put that responsibility on his big brother or take the chance that he simply wouldn't make it to school.  But for most kids, I think it's just that it's never occurred to them or their parents to not drive, especially those that have always lived in a sprawling city where you simply drive everywhere.  And some parents are incredibly over-protective and paranoid that some pervert is going to snatch their kid.

I'll bet half these "shocked" people are relatively slim and healthy. There's no reason to stop eating the occasional corn muffin because it has 500 calories. If you weren't fat before the labeling started, you're not going to get fat suddenly because you can read the numbers.

I totally understand where you're coming from.  After a certain point, PE needs to be about establishing a habit of activity and less about learning specific sports skills.  To that end, it is certainly worthwhile to expose all kids to certain recreational sports that they may be able to continue as adults for fun and fitness.  PE as it has traditionally existed does not serve all students well.  There is a point where more volleyball and wrestling and baseball is just stupid.  But maybe that's where things like a simple circuit gym with some simple cardio equipment, or even just having PE be 30-minutes of walking around the track or gym with an mp3 player could fill that gap.  Make it less about competition and more about individual accomplishment.  Something like a freestyle fitness type class where the thing is "you're going to do SOMETHING for 30 minutes" and allow various choices -- Wii Fit, DDR, exercise video, walking, circuit training, treadmill, whatever.  The challenge would be for the teacher to keep track of people and make sure they aren't just sitting on their butts.