Recently McDonald’s announced that they would begin posting calorie counts on their restaurant and drive-thru menus, nation-wide. Now while McDonald’s has been posting calories in cities with a municipal law requiring them, such as New York City and Philadelphia, the news that this would become normal at all locations around the country still didn’t strike a chord with me. Why you ask? Well, because I don’t really pay attention to the calorie counts anyway.
No I’m not a glutton who wants to kill herself slowly with saturated fats, grease and ‘secret sauce,’ actually nothing could be further from the truth. Though I could stand to hit the gym more than I do now, I’m not really a fast food person.
I grew up on home cooked meals as a child and now as an adult I make sure to cook the majority of my meals at home. The only time I don’t cook are the weekends, and those days (Friday & Saturday) are the only days I allow myself to truly indulge in take out (Ok I might have shrimp & broccoli one day during the week for lunch. It’s still healthy!).
So come Friday night my bad tastebuds might have a craving for Popeye’s, maybe Boston Market or some Dominican food, so that’s what I grab to eat. I may glance at the calories while I’m on line and have a ‘Damn!’ moment, but since I’m not in these places everyday, or even every week, like a lot of Americans, I don’t worry too much if this 4-piece I’m getting (which I eat in two sittings) is full of calories.
It may be naive of me to think that way, but for me getting healthy doesn’t mean starve and it doesn’t mean that I can never ever have anything even slightly unhealthy ever again. To me it means moderation. It means eating Popeye’s maybe once or twice a month if I’m craving it, or having one bowl of ice cream instead of two. Now if I ate fast food a few nights a week like some people I know, then maybe I would pay more attention.
I agree that regardless of how little I eat take out I should know the calorie count, especially since I’ll need to burn it off doing over time at the gym.
But on my cheat days I really don’t want to think about all that, I just want to focus on a buttery biscuit and for now, I’m okay with that.
I mean, if I’m already at McDonalds, I’m not going to be paying attention to that calorie count.
I’m paying attention to restaurants calorie counts because I’ve pretty much given the restaurant the trust already to prepare the food the way they want.
I pay attention to calorie counts because I like a large volume of food, and so going light on calories helps me eat enough food so I can stay sated.