On Monday February 26, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) held a press conference that put the spotlight upon several chain restaurants which offer single-course menu items each loaded with 2,000 calories or more. In their March issue of the Nutrition Action Healthletter, the article titled X-treme Eating: Increasingly Indulgent Menus Entice Diners to Pig Out detailed the caloric and fat content of these dishes. Many contained over a day’s requirement of calories and more than two days worth of fat. CSPI Executive Director Michael Jacobson is pushing for city, state, and federal laws requiring nutrition information on chain restaurant menus.

In response to this report, Philadelphia City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown (pictured at left) proposed a measure requiring chain restaurants that operate within the city to provide nutrition information for their menu items. Required information includes caloric content, fat, carbohydrate and sodium. The proposition has been praised by CSPI as well as by Sara Solomon of Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education. “Knowledge, if not power, is at least progress,” stated Solomon, in regards to fighting the obesity epidemic.

Says Councilwoman Brown, “Consumers want to know.” And by all indications, she’s absolutely right. Customers who were interviewed on the street by Philly’s ABC news affiliate WPVI seemed to whole-heartedly support her new proposal. As they exited chain restaurants, they were asked if knowing the caloric content of the dishes would affect how they order. One young woman from Ridley Park said, ” If I knew what was in [the food items], and the calorie intake, would I change my mind? Absolutely.”

A WPVI reporter placed calls to members of the Philadelphia’s restaurant industry. He received no response. (I imagine that the restauranteurs are all busy getting in contact with the NRA — no, not the gun people… The National Restaurant Association — to learn what their collective answer should be. I also imagine that their answer will have much more to do with the well-being of their restaurants’ profits than with the health and well-being of their customers.)

What do you think? Would you support a menu labelling proposal if your city representative suggested it?

Today I ate lunch with my mom at Mad Greens, one of my new favorite restaurants.

I was all excited to come tell you about it… until I discovered that Mad Greens is a new restaurant that only exists in Colorado. Ah, well. It’s another reason to love Colorado. And I’m going to tell you about the restaurant anyway. :-)

To make an analogy, Mad Greens is to salad what Chipotle is to burritos. (By the way, Chipotle was also started in Colorado.)

You walk in, select your salad (or design one of your own), and watch them make it right before your very eyes. It’s high quality fast-food salad.

You can order a small or large salad. Most small salads cost $4.50 and most large salads cost $6.00. Fairly reasonable when you consider the salads are made to order with a variety of fresh ingredients.

I plan to take my wife to Mad Greens soon so she can experience it too.

On a side note, during the time I went (noon), the place was packed. But that’s not the strange part. The strange part is this… I was only one of three men in the restaurant. And I was surrounded by about 25 women! I couldn’t believe it. Clearly, women are way more interested in eating healthy than men are. ;-)

If you happen to be a single guy who lives in Colorado and would like to meet a health-conscious woman, I’ve got a great restaurant for you to visit…

The American Medical Association (AMA) has recommended that the FDA revoke the “generally recognized as safe” status of salt. According to this recent AMA press release:

“Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer of Americans. People who reduce dietary sodium intake are taking an important step in preventing future health problems,” said AMA Board Member and practicing cardiologist J. James Rohack, MD. “We hope these recommendations will encourage food manufacturers and restaurants to modify their current practices of adding unhealthy amounts of sodium to their products.”

The FDA is also called upon to impose new limits on sodium in both processed and restaurant food. The AMA is recommending a 50% reduction in allowable sodium, as well as a program to help educate the public about the health benefits of long-term sodium reduction.

Last year the consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), filed a lawsuit with similar demands. But the FDA has been dragging its feet, citing technological barriers and poor sales as the causes. For more information, check out the CSPI’s report, “Salt: The Forgotten Killer [pdf].”

On Wednesday of last week, my wife and I got a rare night out, away from the kids.

We wound up at Bennigan’s for dinner because of their $3.99 burgers on Wednesday nights.

As we waited for our food, we flipped through the alcohol and dessert menu… and were confronted with a barrage of messages designed to break our will to eat healthy.

Here’s a sampling of what we found:

“Resolutions are for quitters.”
“Giving in has it’s perks.”
“Try again next year.”
“You can always start tomorrow.”
“Forget your resolutions and just go for it.”
“The only way to overcome temptation is with a spoon.”

On the one hand, I had to laugh. These “health busters” paired with photos of professionally photographed desserts were highly effective.

On the other hand, I thought anybody trying to improve their diet would have to conjure up an enormous amount of willpower not to order “Death by Chocolate.”

FYI: If you’re trying to eat healthier, Bennigan’s is definitely not the place to go.