Feds Again War on Americans' Fundamental Rights!

[Ralph]

FDA: Restaurants on front lines in obesity fight

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Those heaping portions at restaurants -- and doggie bags for the leftovers -- may be a thing of the past, if health officials get their way.

The government is trying to enlist the help of the nation's eateries in fighting obesity. One of the first things on their list: cutting portion sizes.

With burgers, fries and pizza the Top 3 eating-out favorites in this country, restaurants are in a prime position to help improve people's diets and combat obesity. At least that's what is recommended in a government-commissioned report released Friday.

The report, requested and funded by the Food and Drug Administration, lays out ways to help people manage their intake of calories from the growing number of meals prepared away from home, including at the nation's nearly 900,000 restaurants and other establishments that serve food.

"We must take a serious look at the impact these foods are having on our waistlines," said Penelope Slade Royall, director of the health promotion office at the Department of Health and Human Services.

The 136-page report prepared by The Keystone Center, an education and public group based in Keystone, Colorado, said Americans now consume fully one-third of their daily intake of calories outside the home. And as of 2000, the average American took in 300 more calories a day than was the case 15 years earlier, according to Agriculture Department statistics cited in the report.

Today, 64 percent of Americans are overweight, including the 30 percent who are obese, according to the report. It pegs the annual medical cost of the problem at nearly $93 billion.

Consumer advocates increasingly have heaped some of the blame on restaurant chains like McDonald's, which bristles at the criticism while offering more salads and fruit. The report does not explicitly link dining out with the rising tide of obesity, but does cite numerous studies that suggest there is a connection.

The National Restaurant Association said the report, which it helped prepare but does not support, unfairly targeted its industry.

The report encourages restaurants to shift the emphasis of their marketing to lower-calorie choices, and include more such options on menus. In addition, restaurants could jigger portion sizes and the variety of foods available in mixed dishes to cut calories.

Bundling meals with more fruits and vegetables also could help. And letting consumers know how many calories are contained in a meal also could guide the choices they make, according to the report.

Simeon Holston, 33, called more disclosure an excellent idea as he lunched on a sausage-and-pepperoni pizza at a downtown Washington food court.

"OK, I am going to eat junk food regardless, but let me eat the junk food that's going to cause me less damage," said Holston, an accountant. "A lot of times, presented with information, you will make a better choice."

Just over half of the nation's 287 largest restaurant chains now make at least some nutrition information available, said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"If companies don't tell them, people have no way of knowing how many calories they are being served at restaurants. And chances are, they are being served a lot more than they realize," said Wootan, adding that Congress should give the FDA the authority to require such disclosure.

Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the agency's acting head, said the only place where he has seen calorie information listed on a menu was at an upscale restaurant in California. Still, the agency will not seek the authority to force others to follow suit, he said.

"At this point in time, it's not a matter of more authority, it's using the authority we have," von Eschenbach said.

The report notes that the laboratory work needed to calculate the calorie content of a menu item can cost $100, or anywhere from $11,500 to $46,000 to analyze an entire menu.

That cost makes it unfeasible for restaurants, especially when menus can change daily, said Sheila Cohn, director of nutrition policy for the National Restaurant Association.

Instead, restaurants increasingly are offering varied portion sizes, foods made with whole grains, more diet drinks and entree salads to fit the dietary needs of customers, Cohn said. Still, they can't make people eat what they won't order, she added.

When Americans dined out in 2005, the leading menu choices remained hamburgers, french fries and pizza, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm. The presumably healthier option of a side salad was the No. 4 choice for women, but No. 5 for men, according to the eating pattern study.

[Corlyss_D]

FDA: Restaurants on front lines in obesity fight

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Those heaping portions at restaurants -- and doggie bags for the leftovers -- may be a thing of the past, if health officials get their way.

I'm skeptical. Food cheap; larger portions= higher prices. If they have to charge $10 for a White Castle sized burger, nobody will buy it.

[Barry]

I've felt for a while that the size of burgers has been getting out of hand. At sit-down restaurants, the norm, at least in Philly, has become a half-pounder, and in some places it's even bigger (I've seen them as big as a pound and 10 ounces isn't that rare). To me, 5-6 ounces is an ideal size for a burger, although I also don't mind a double with two smaller patties.

[Ralph]

I've felt for a while that the size of burgers has been getting out of hand. At sit-down restaurants, the norm, at least in Philly, has become a half-pounder, and in some places it's even bigger (I've seen them as big as a pound and 10 ounces isn't that rare). To me, 5-6 ounces is an ideal size for a burger, although I also don't mind a double with two smaller patties.

*****

Beware, Barry. The Feds will be after 22 oz. milkshakes next!

[Barry]

I've felt for a while that the size of burgers has been getting out of hand. At sit-down restaurants, the norm, at least in Philly, has become a half-pounder, and in some places it's even bigger (I've seen them as big as a pound and 10 ounces isn't that rare). To me, 5-6 ounces is an ideal size for a burger, although I also don't mind a double with two smaller patties.

*****

Beware, Barry. The Feds will be after 22 oz. milkshakes next!

They'll have to kill me first . I'm thinking of making one with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and peanut butter later tonight or tomorrow on the new machine.

[Corlyss_D]

They'll have to kill me first .

No, no! The phrase is "From my cold dead hands!" The image of you raising a milkshake maker over your head and shaking it in defiance is posterworthy!

[Ralph]

I've felt for a while that the size of burgers has been getting out of hand. At sit-down restaurants, the norm, at least in Philly, has become a half-pounder, and in some places it's even bigger (I've seen them as big as a pound and 10 ounces isn't that rare). To me, 5-6 ounces is an ideal size for a burger, although I also don't mind a double with two smaller patties.

*****

Beware, Barry. The Feds will be after 22 oz. milkshakes next!

They'll have to kill me first . I'm thinking of making one with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and peanut butter later tonight or tomorrow on the new machine.

*****

Peanut butter?

[Corlyss_D]

Peanut butter?

I know. I shuddered too. {{{{{Yuck!}}}}}

[Barry]

My stepfather is from Trinidad. A popular drink there is peanut punch, made mostly with milk and peanut butter. He added ice cream and I absolutely loved it, but then again, peanut butter is one of my favorite things. I'm wondering how it would taste with chocolate syrup added to the equation. And actually, a restaurant-soda fountain that I went to last night did have the same shake I described, but with the addition of peanut butter cups. I don't like solid things like that in my milk shakes.

[Richard]

I guess the only answer is a junk food tax. But how would they do it?

Detroit and all of Michigan was considering a 2% tax on all junk food. I don't know if they have instigated it, as yet.

But what is junk food? Maybe the hot mocha at Starbucks should be taxed..contains lots of calories, sugar, and caffeine (bad for hypertensives).

Some think a junk food tax should be based on calories, not a flat out tax. I guess it's called a "sin tax", a term usually used to justify a tax on things like cigarets and liquor. I always thought a paradox. If alcohol and tocacco are so evil, why don't they ban these items altogether? Probably because (a) a black market would just be created, and (b) the revenue from cigaret and liquor tax would dry up. Seems to me to be quite typical.. one hand of the government wants to discourage tobacco and alcohol use, but the other hand encourages the consumption to maintain tax revenue. I'll bet the same thing would happen to junk food.

Also, would a junk food tax be applied just to McDonalds and Burger King? What about other restaurants who serve high calorie food. What about the up-scale restaurant? If you order some broccoli or brussels sprouts, with a big slab of melted butter on them, do the broccoli or brussels sprouts become junk food?

[Corlyss_D]

Eat It!
Al Yankovick

How come you're always such a fussy young man?
Don't want no Captain Crunch, don't want no Raisin Bran
Well, don't you know that other kids are starving in Japan
So eat it, just eat it (prrr)

Don't wanna argue, I don't wanna debate
Don't want to hear about what kind of food you hate ooh
You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate
So eat it

Don't you tell me you're full
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it
Have some more chicken, have some more pie
It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it
Just eat it, eat it, just eat it, eat it, ooh

Your table manners are some cryin' shame
You're playin' with your food, this ain't some kind of game
Now, if you starve to death, you'll just have yourself to blame
So eat it, just eat it (prr)(burp)

You better listen, better do what you're told ooh
You haven't even touched your tuna casserole ooh
You better chow down or it's gonna get cold
So eat it

I don't care if you're full
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Open up your mouth and feed it
Have some more yogurt, have some more spam
It doesn't matter if it's fresh or canned
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

Eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
If it's gettin' cold, reheat it
Have a big dinner, have a light snack
If you don't like it you can't send it back
Just eat it, eat it, (woohoo) eat it, eat it
Get yourself an egg and beat it (oh lord)
Have some more chicken,(woohoo) have some more pie (woohoo)
It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it
Don't you make me repeat it (oh no)
Have a banana,(woohoo) have a whole bunch
It doesn't matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it

[Ralph]

I guess the only answer is a junk food tax. But how would they do it?

Detroit and all of Michigan was considering a 2% tax on all junk food. I don't know if they have instigated it, as yet.

But what is junk food? Maybe the hot mocha at Starbucks should be taxed..contains lots of calories, sugar, and caffeine (bad for hypertensives).

Some think a junk food tax should be based on calories, not a flat out tax. I guess it's called a "sin tax", a term usually used to justify a tax on things like cigarets and liquor. I always thought a paradox. If alcohol and tocacco are so evil, why don't they ban these items altogether? Probably because (a) a black market would just be created, and (b) the revenue from cigaret and liquor tax would dry up. Seems to me to be quite typical.. one hand of the government wants to discourage tobacco and alcohol use, but the other hand encourages the consumption to maintain tax revenue. I'll bet the same thing would happen to junk food.

Also, would a junk food tax be applied just to McDonalds and Burger King? What about other restaurants who serve high calorie food. What about the up-scale restaurant? If you order some broccoli or brussels sprouts, with a big slab of melted butter on them, do the broccoli or brussels sprouts become junk food?

*****

New York's Mayor Bloomberg floated the junk food tax idea not long ago. It's going nowhere. it would have serious constitutional issues and, anyway, the public outcry would make the immigration issue look like a minor squabble.

[BWV 1080]

Yes, his cigarette tax was such a resounding success.

[Ralph]

Yes, his cigarette tax was such a resounding success.

*****

That generates a lot of revenue and I know people who can't afford it and cut back or quit.

[BWV 1080]

Yes, his cigarette tax was such a resounding success.

*****

That generates a lot of revenue and I know people who can't afford it and cut back or quit.

Actually last I saw revenue had not increased due to people buying their cigarettes outside the city or on the black market.

[jbuck919]

My stepfather is from Trinidad. A popular drink there is peanut punch, made mostly with milk and peanut butter. He added ice cream and I absolutely loved it, but then again, peanut butter is one of my favorite things. I'm wondering how it would taste with chocolate syrup added to the equation. And actually, a restaurant-soda fountain that I went to last night did have the same shake I described, but with the addition of peanut butter cups. I don't like solid things like that in my milk shakes.

Stop, please, while I still like you.

Why is this forum so much fun at what for me is premature awakening on a Saturday morning? The Pub has gotten so congested with interesting posts that I can't keep up.

[Ralph]

Look Barry, do what you want but don't feed that kind of concoction to Maura.

[Barry]

Look Barry, do what you want but don't feed that kind of concoction to Maura.

Too late. And she liked it as much as I did .