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It’s already been shown in New York City that people who pay attention to calorie counts on menus choose meals with fewer calories — albeit a pretty paltry 50 or so fewer calories — than they might have otherwise chosen. But as menu labeling laws spread (once recently when into effect in California making nutritional information available and calling for counts on menu boards next year) another positive side effect may be that chains start offering healthier food.

The salad that dropped 880 calories

In fact, that’s already starting to happen in California, as some chains make healthy swaps that will be seen nationwide. Macaroni Grill, for instance, revamped a spinach and scallop salad that once contained 1,270 calories to a slimmer 390.

While we can’t exactly fathom how so many calories were packed into a salad (we assume lots of butter), whatever healthy changes were made, customers still like the dish. Particularly if you tell them it used to have almost 900 more calories, we imagine.

Further, most people who choose to eat salads do so because they think they’re a healthier choice than many entrees. Now, that will actually be the case, at least with this one choice (also the mozzarella alla caprese salad, which recently dropped 110 calories).

The menu changes seen in California are expected to spread nationwide by the end of August.

Healthier slams

Another chain that might have been influenced by coming menu labels is Denny’s, which has started a menu with healthier choices that’s going to be available nationwide, as well as offering more options for the famous Grand Slam breakfast.

The original version of this ever-popular menu item includes two eggs, two sausages, two strips of bacon and pancakes, as well as about 882 calories, depending on how crazy you go with the buttery topping and syrup.

The slimmest of the slim options will cut that to 546 calories and drop the fat by 70 percent. Diners can now choose turkey bacon and chicken sausage, as well as whole-wheat pancakes and egg whites instead of whole eggs.

For an extra charge they can add yogurt or other healthy options.

You can lead a diner to healthier foods, but . . .

Of course having such options on the menu doesn’t always mean that people will choose them. The original Grand Slam will still be there, as will tons of fatty pasta dishes at Macaroni Grill. And until we have a national system of menu labeling we won’t all know exactly what we’re getting.

And even when we do know, we don’t always make the best choices. Just seeing healthier options on a menu can make us feel like we deserve a treat, and there are any number of reasons we might still choose to indulge or simply not care about the calorie counts.

So while menu labels and healthier choices are great, it still takes individual action to eat a healthier diet.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 and is filed under Fast food and restaurants, Food miscellaneous, Labeling and disclosure. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.