Government to consult if Calories should be published on restaurant menus

[Hairydavid]

Hi,
I see from Tuesday's Diabetes.co.uk newsletter that members of the public are going to be asked whether they want calories to be published in restaurant menus, the government has announced, as part of measures to control obesity.

I think this would be a good idea (Tesco already does this for their in-store cafes) but what would be truly wonderful would be if they also published CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT.

The trouble with eating out (and why I rarely do) is that when you order from a menu you never know what the portion size will be, the combinations of the various ingredients/accompaniments, the sugar content of sauces etc.

So I tend to make a wild estimate of the carb content, have a small Novarapid injection just before the meal is served (to avoid potential hypos), wait to see what it has done to my BG, then adjust later. Not very satisfactory at all.

Given that, for any one outlet, serving sizes tend to be standard and menus do not change on a daily basis, if restaurants and cafes and takeaways could also publish the Carb content of a standard serving of each dish it would assist all diabetics (type 1's, type 2's etc.) with BG control, irrespective of whether they are on a LCHF eating pattern.

Clearly, the above could only apply to outlets with standard serving sizes. The 'Eat as much as you like' buffet type outlets would still be 'let the buyer beware'.

What do you think? Is anybody aware of anywhere where this is already being done?

 

[SueJB]

Hi,
I see from Tuesday's Diabetes.co.uk newsletter that members of the public are going to be asked whether they want calories to be published in restaurant menus, the government has announced, as part of measures to control obesity.

I think this would be a good idea (Tesco already does this for their in-store cafes) but what would be truly wonderful would be if they also published CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT.

The trouble with eating out (and why I rarely do) is that when you order from a menu you never know what the portion size will be, the combinations of the various ingredients/accompaniments, the sugar content of sauces etc.

So I tend to make a wild estimate of the carb content, have a small Novarapid injection just before the meal is served (to avoid potential hypos), wait to see what it has done to my BG, then adjust later. Not very satisfactory at all.

Given that, for any one outlet, serving sizes tend to be standard and menus do not change on a daily basis, if restaurants and cafes and takeaways could also publish the Carb content of a standard serving of each dish it would assist all diabetics (type 1's, type 2's etc.) with BG control, irrespective of whether they are on a LCHF eating pattern.

Clearly, the above could only apply to outlets with standard serving sizes. The 'Eat as much as you like' buffet type outlets would still be 'let the buyer beware'.

What do you think? Is anybody aware of anywhere where this is already being done?

@Hairydavid I agree, cals and carbs needed. The chain of brilliant Vietnamese restaurants, Phu had both on their online menus but not in situ. I choose before I go

 

[Deleted Account]

I am not aware of this anywhere else.

Whilst, in theory, this sounds like a good idea, I have some concerns:
- particularly for small independent cafes and restaurants who frequently (sometimes daily) change their menus according to what is in season/available from local suppliers (who I would like to encourage), this would put a significant overhead on menu preparation time and assumes same size plates with no variation. For example, today, if they ran out of, say courgettes, I wouldn't mind if they replaced these with carrots but this would not be possible if they have to maintain a fixed calorie and carb count. I suspect it would work great with large soulless chain restaurants but not the small independent places.
- pre-bolusing is preferential. However, it only works when you know what you are going to eat. Sure, I may order a particular dish but what if, when it turns up, it is not what I expected and I can't eat it all. For example, if a dish tuned up with too much spice, I may not be able to complete it but, as I had already dosed for it, I may need to top up with dextrose or something.

I eat out regularly and follow a similar approach to you - small pre-bolus followed by a top up and keeping a close eye on BG levels.
This is easier with a pump and Libre or CGM... and practice.

 

[Antje77]

Whatever they do, please don't stop cooks from being creative!

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

I think this would be a good idea (Tesco already does this for their in-store cafes) but what would be truly wonderful would be if they also published CARBOHYDRATE CONTENT.

Sounds great, I wonder if people would take any more notice of what was on the menu as they do what's on the stuff they buy in Tesco. I'd also be concerned about the accuracy.

 

[Rachox]

With regard to carb values being on menus, they aren’t often if at all on the physical menus on the table but I’ve found some places that have carb counts on line. Here’s some, Costa, Maccy D’s, Wetherspoons, Subway, Jamie’s Italian, Nèros, Harvester, Beefeater. I just type the name of the stablishment into google followed by “nutritional info”.
However the winner for carb counts is Prèt A Manger in my view, they have nutritional info, including carb count on the shelf edge labels

 

[Daibell]

We don't need calories listed at all (no purpose) but carbs are essential. McD used to have carbs on their burger, fries packs etc but stopped doing that. When I asked they said they were now following EU guidance which places calories on the packs but not carbs which is pretty stupid. They do have full info on the tray sheets which I use.

 

[Energize]

I agree that carb count would be useful in restaurants/cafes etc

In answer to the question above, yes, calories are listed on the wall menu in my local Sainsburys cafe - not that it helps me much

 

[lovinglife]

As a chef in a past life and having family and friends with independent restaurants and eateries I have to say I totally disagree with it, it would be pointless anyway as in every independent place I know nothing is weighed and it's all done "by eye" - the reason the big chains can do it is it's often pre packaged or pre portioned and I agree with @Antje77 it would totally stifle creativity and be so time consuming it would probably affect food on offer.

I do see it would help T1s but it's very easy to ask your server what's in something and to check for hidden ingredients and make a choice to have it

 

[kitedoc]

If you consider the interaction of insulin with carbs and conversion rates of protein to glucose as well as low carb diets, calorie counts are pretty useless.
And I agree with @helensaramay, unless you eat standard food like at MacDonalds all the time, the carb, protein and fat content will vary.
An 'average' content might be placed on the menu against each dish and perhaps a fruit platter or similar supplied instead of ice-cream/sugary syrup etc desserts. That way the person with diabetes can calculate the carb content from the obvious ingredients.
And is not supplying a list of ingredients so that those allergic to say, nuts or sensitive to say, gluten, can chose safely, a far greater 'sin'?

 

[Brunneria]

It would be great to have the carbs listed on EVERYTHING
But it would be simply impossible for somewhere like a small privately run tea room. Especially if different people make their recipes on different days of the week, and plate up meals. When I worked in a cafe it was a joke that there was one 'generous' cook and one 'mean' one. Trouble was, the 'mean' one was the boss with his mind on the bottom line, and the 'generous' one was his wife who actually wanted return customers! haha!

Needless to say, whatever appeared on the plates, and the carbs/cals printed on the menu, would NOT have matched. Probably very different in a bigger chain of restaurants, where they standardise things to death and all creativity is crushed out of staff during Induction Training.

 

[Pinkorchid]

As a chef in a past life and having family and friends with independent restaurants and eateries I have to say I totally disagree with it, it would be pointless anyway as in every independent place I know nothing is weighed and it's all done "by eye" - the reason the big chains can do it is it's often pre packaged or pre portioned and I agree with @Antje77 it would totally stifle creativity and be so time consuming it would probably affect food on offer.

I do see it would help T1s but it's very easy to ask your server what's in something and to check for hidden ingredients and make a choice to have it

I agree with you if it became compulsory to list carbs and cals then it would finish small independent restaurants. Most have different daily specials on their menu daily and you say chefs go by eye. Having to work out all the calories and carbs every day would not be cost effective for them. Anyway who apart from diabetics would bother to read it unless they were on a strict diet. People go to enjoy a meal not read the cals and carbs contents list of the dish they order