Counting Calories? Curtailing Salt? So Are Restaurant Chains

It won’t be long now.  Time flies when you’re dreading something.  Chain restaurants are probably dreading government regulations about the amount of calories and salt in their food.  But they’re also planning a strategy to cope with what’s coming.  Before federal regulations force them to, some have decreased sugar and fat in their recipes; some are leaving popular items alone but adding other menu offerings that are significantly lower in calories; some are doing both.  Furthermore, because there’s a widespread belief that high salt content will be the next  ingredient to come under government attack, many restaurant chains are working on salt reduction as well. Two articles in July, 2011 issues of the Chicago Tribune tell about specific restaurant responses.

Cooking with Fewer Calories

What’s the impetus for all this reworking of recipes and menus in order to cut calories? By January, 2012, the FDA is expected to announce new rules requiring restaurant chains with 20 or more locations to post calorie counts for every item on the menu.  Some areas of the U.S.--including California, New York City and Philadelphia—have already required posted calorie counts.

Is this, one might ask, unreasonable government interference—intrusion into the restaurant business and the personal choices of consumers. Why did the government deem this necessary?  Let’s look at the number of calories some major restaurant chains are (or were) dishing out:

California Pizza Kitchen’s plate of pasta: 1,100 calories

IHOP bacon and eggs breakfast: 1,160 calories (Their new turkey-and-bacon with egg whites has only 350 calories.)

P.F. Chang’s orange chicken: 1,000 calories

And these are just a few examples.  Perhaps you wish restaurants wouldn’t give you such unappetizing statistics, but remember the famous quotation from Francis Bacon: “Knowledge is power.”  The menu gives you the power.  Then all you need is will power.

Some chain restaurants are already trying to keep their customers coming by offering help in cutting calories. Here are some examples:

Panera has cut its breakfast sandwich from 650 to 350 calories.  It’s also offering half-sandwiches, and some have only 250 calories.

DineEquity (owners of IHOP and Applebee’s) has developed new lower-calorie items.  Furthermore, the IHOP menu now offers calorie-cutting tips such as skipping butter and using sugar-free syrup.

Carl’s Jr. recently added a turkey burger to its menu.

You’ll probably find more changes like these adapted by other chains as we get closer to the New Year.

Let’s face facts: extra sugar and fat make food taste better.  Despite that fact, do a significant number of people switch to menu items with reduced sugar and fat?  So far, some studies say no, but it’s probably too early to label this initiative a failure.  According to the Chicago Tribune, after being confronted with calorie counts, Starbucks customers in NYC reduced their consumption by about 6%. The same article quotes nutritionist Margo Wooton as follows:”The obesity epidemic is probably explained by about 100 calories per person per day.” Small changes can make a sizable difference.

Cooking with Less Sodium

The average American consumes about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day. The FDA recommends reducing that 2,300; the American Heart Association: says cut it to 1,500.   Why?  We’ve all heard from public health representatives and perhaps our own doctors that excessive consumption of salt leads to high pressure which leads to heart attacks and strokes which leads to an earlier death than would occur on a low-salt diet. The Chicago Tribune reports that last year the National Academy of Sciences called on regulators to require restaurants and manufacturers of packaged goods to reduce the amount of sodium in their products.

How excessive is the salt in restaurant food? Here’s what the Chicago Tribune has to say: “A restaurant meal can have as many as 5,000 milligrams of sodium, experts say.  An angus bacon and cheese burger from McDonald’s for example, has about 2,000 milligrams, about a teaspoon’s worth.  A single serving of salsa at Chipotle has 510 milligrams.”

Widespread criticism of their high-sodium foods and fear of government regulation has led some manufacturers and restaurateurs to take the initiative and decide themselves to cut down on salt.  Among these are Heinz, Hostess Cakes, Subway, and the Yard House restaurant chain. 

Now here’s something ironic as well as funny:  you’d think consumers would be happy to learn that the food they’re dining on in their favorite restaurant is now being prepared with less salt.  However, the general opinion among those in the food industry is that this is not the case. It’s widely claimed that, if you tell customers they’re going to be served a lower-sodium dish, the expectation will be that it will taste bland, and the conclusion after eating the dish may be same.  So the plan is to cut the salt to please the regulators, but keep the change a secret from the public.  (What we at Shelf Life Advice wonder is this:  why wouldn’t the reaction be the same for lower calorie foods? Perhaps because calories show up around one’s waist and salt doesn’t.)

Because of high blood pressure, your Shelf Life Advice editor has cut down on salt. I never cook with it at home.  I never eat salted peanuts or pretzels.  I’ve been cautious about consuming salt for several years.  One unexpected result is that now restaurant food often tastes too salty and really terrible to me.  The good news for you if you plan to cut down: a person can actually get to like low-salt or no-salt food.  Spices and herbs can add plenty of flavor.

But wait.  There’s something else that must be said about a low-salt diet.  Not every doctor or researcher agrees that less salt leads to more healthy years and more years of life.  Some say that people who don’t have high blood pressure, diabetes, and some other chronic conditions, will not benefit from a low-sodium diet.  To read more about this argument, click here.  Read this article and the online sources listed at the end of the article.  Then, of course, discuss the matter with your own doctor.  If you’re overweight and hypertensive, your doctor may tell you that cutting down on calories is another (maybe even more effective) way to get your blood pressure under control. Whatever your doctor tells you, it will probably include the message that you cannot eat whatever you want all the time.  But cheer up. There are still plenty of low-calorie, low-salt foods to enjoy.  And, when given a special diet, one can always cheat a little.

Source(s):

Chicago Tribune “Restaurants taking healthy look at menus” by Sharon Bernstein, Business Section (2), July 6, 2011.

Chicago Tribune “Shaking Off Salt” ” by Sharon Bernstein, Business Section (2) July 26, 2011. 

ShelfLifeAdvice.com “New Research on Coffee, Salt, and Grilled Chicken

http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/new-research-coffee-salt-and-grilled-chicken