What The Palm Desert is talking about this week ...
... or maybe I should rephrase that, as it is more like what I am talking about this week while wrapping up my third annual Easter holidays/spring break trip to California [Palm Sundays in the Palm Desert!] (with a flight home late tomorrow and a return to work on Wednesday after an extra day of rest -- and since you're not supposed to make your travel plans public on the internet, I guess I'm really saying that time is running out to raid my place -- although, warning, attack cats are on premises).
... California is leading the nation with requiring that restaurants list calorie counts on its menus. I have to admit that I'm of the "ignorance is bliss" mindset (are there calories in bacon and cheese, my toppings of choice until I have that first heart attack?), but to the extent that there are those who now can more easily practice a personal caloric accountability, I guess it is a good idea. And, even more fitting, the restaurants themselves have taken to adapting their menus to make sure that there are lower count items and/or reconfigured recipes to lower the overall total of its popular offerings.
Unless the Supreme Court says otherwise, and let's face it, it's not a question of IF but more of HOW MUCH they say otherwise, the FDA may use Cali's law as an example for the nation as big government gets involved in rolling out this concept as a new regulation later this summer (it's part of Obamacare). It probably goes without saying, but whether you think said government oversight is a good or a bad thing is a matter of personal taste (and since I'm typing this while in California, I should mention that said taste contains 0 calories -- although depending on how vigorously you defend the side on which you fall, you may end burning some calories whilst thinking about it ...)
CA LED THE WAY (WITH A BASE OF 240 FOR AVOCADOS WHICH ARE ON EVERYTHING):
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/22/business/la-fi-calorie-count-20110622
FDA REGS NOW ACCEPTING COMMENTS (AKA TAKE A LOOK AT ALL THE LOOPHOLES):
http://www.foodpolitics.com/2011/04/menu-labeling/
STOP THE PRESSES: MAYBE NYC LED THE WAY (SEE MIXED STUDY RESULTS):
http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/146784/Healthcare+Food+Drugs+Law/Proposed+FDA+Regulations+To+Require+Chain+Restaurants+To+Post+Nutrition+Information
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