I recently watched a CBC marketplace episode called calorie confidential which aired in 2007 that listed some pretty interesting information.
I’m going to break my own rule a bit and talk about myself *gasp!*. See, this show was meaningful for me because at the beginning of this year, or rather the end of 2012, I noticed that I was tipping the scales at the end of the healthy weight for my height and body type and edging into overweight territory. I had joined the spark people website two years prior, but only to use its mass calculator. So, I decided as of Dec 27th, I was going to start keeping track of my calories, which the website advised I would need to keep between 1200-1550 if I wanted to lose about 2 pounds a week and be at my target weight by April. I was hugely disappointed when I realized that the food choices I was making were waaaay over what was recommended daily.
So, being the hardcore 1 type personality I am, I started charting absolutely everything on my own and only eating it if it fit my calorie needs for the day. If I ate a piece of cake for 575 calories, I’d budget the rest of the day to make sure I was still within my limits. It took a while to get my list of foods up to a comfortable variety, but when I started wanting to add restaurants into my meal plan I was in for a shock. Many things you would think that would be low calorie in a nice sit down restaurant were up to ¾ of the calories I could have in a day! Sometimes more! There were restaurants where my favorite meals would be more then I would be allowed to eat, and that was just one meal! Everyone thinks its fast food that was bad for you.
Now, enter calorie confidential by CBC. This short show gives you a bit more of the scoop about what restaurants are feeding you, but the kicker is that there was an MP who lobbied to get calories on menus and the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association lobbied hard against it and got it shut down. With obesity rates rising and the information hidden in websites that no one visits, this film makes a great point that the Canadian people, and all people, have the right to make informed choices. I was able to find this on YouTube, so take a peek and see how many calories are hiding in the closet.
And, if you do want to make a difference, e-mail your concerns to your MP. You can also contact your MLA or the prime minister himself.
Lives In Stone 