Will calorie counts affect what Ontarians eat?
The menu at Boston Pizza shows calorie counts on each serving of food they sell. Photo by Selena Steele-Clough, QNet News.
BELLEVILLE – Have you seen something different when you’ve gone out to get fast food or checked a menu recently?
Since the start of the year, Ontario has required all food-service providers with 20 or more locations in the province to post calorie counts on their menus. The law, the first in Canada, is intended to make it easier for people to make healthier choices about what they eat.
The law applies to restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores, grocery stores and movie theatres.
Most health practitioners would agree that any public health intervention that helps to increase informed eating is a good thing, said Breanne Drury, a registered dietitian at Peterborough Nutrition.
Despite that belief, Drury told QNet News in an email that “I tend to agree that consumers don’t need calorie counts to eat healthy and most of them already have a good knowledge on what goes in their body.”
Drury said that she truly believes that Ontarian’s can achieve a healthy diet when food is enjoyed not only for its taste, but also for its health benefits.
Michelle Meilleur, a nutritionist and health coach from Belleville said that she thinks having calories on menus will not effect businesses.
“I do think that restaurants have to change a little bit to cater to what people want in terms of food,” said Meilleur. “This has already been happening so having calories on menus won’t make such a difference to people when they eat out.”
Even Jeff Bechervaise, the general manager at Boston Pizza told QNet News that the restaurant always had nutritional information on hand to anyone that wanted it.
“I think that people make choices that are important to them, so when you see calories right on the menu it’s going to have an impact,” said Bechervaise.
He added that overall he has not seen any changes or had discussions with any of his guests about the calories on the menus.
“Just like before, people will just use this as more information to make their own decisions,” he said.
For students like Emily Ventura who tries to always keep a healthy diet, calories have always made her make more wise decisions on what she eats.
“I agree that restaurants and fast food places should always have calories because it’s helping to make a healthier world,” said Ventura.
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