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Restaurant nutrition information

plantagenet

Well-Known Member
Messages
318
Location
Berkshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I eat out on a regular basis and find that most restaurants don't provide any information on the nutritional contents of their menus. Loch fine is one notable exception that I have found, the information on every item on their menu can be downloaded from their website. I am sure there are others I have not visited, including Jamie's Italian that provide this information.

I find it extremely difficult to assess my nutritional intake and although some sites such as Fat Secret and Myfitnesspal provide some details it is rather sporadic.

To get to the point, I have embarked on a campaign of writing to restaurants that I visit asking them to assist people with Diabetes in providing the nutritional information per serving of the dishes on their menus, such that we get gm/serving of carbs, cals, fat, sat fat, fibre, protein and salt much in the same way package food provides the information.

Maybe, if enough of us contact the Head Offices of restaurants such as Prezzo, Carluccio's, GBK, etc as well as smaller local ones we can get them to provide more information. Most have started providing Gluten free and allergen advice on the menus.
 
I was in a Morrison's cafe the other day and noticed that they do include some nutritional info now but it just mainly gave the calorific content not carbs but it did say on their web site that they would be giving more information soon.

Was a little shocked that a plain milky coffee had 109 calories in it which was more than that in a latte.
 
Sounds like a great idea @plantagenet

Times are changing and some of the larger restaurant chains do provide the nutritional content of their food where as years before it was unheard of, but a little nudge won't do any harm to get them all up to speed. Good luck.
 
I dont eat out much but when i do I tend to order stuff that is easy to judge, ie a piece of chicken and a salad (no dressing ) and avoid stuff that is hard to judge ............

But would be nice if they had the basic details on hand...........
 
Thanks for your responses. If I get enough interest I'll compile a standard letter to send out. It would be good to get a reasonable number so I can add that in and get it on their radar at least.
 
I would join up to sending letters. Don't eat out much and its less now but I did find a brilliant hotel restaurant in Newport Pagnell that deserves a mention....the Swan Revived presented me with a fantastic special meal for my hubbies 50th. I had to have soft food for my stomach and they catered for me superbly. Everything they served me wasn't on the menu... Especially made to what I could eat. They intentionally went out of their way to make me feel normal.... It meant so much to us. I had been so ill my hubby had suggested cancelling it.... But I emailed them and asked if they could cope with my special eating. They were fantastic.

Some places are superb but some are dire...
 
Hello all! I'm brand new here! I found you by trying to search a way to easily calculate the overall glycemic loads for my meals. I currently run a small cottage bakery and am trying to raise funds to open a restaurant that is celiac friendly, heart healthy and diabetic friendly! One of my goals is to provide ALL nutritional information, including glycemic load, for each and every menu item! I didn't realize how rare this was until reading your posts! So if you could help me out I would greatly appreciate it! I'm a little stumped on how to find the overall total glycemic load of a recipe. For example, I make paleo banana bread muffins...I have all the weights of my ingredients and I have figured out the glycemic loads for each portion of each ingredient...but how do I find out what the overall load is of my batter??? Do I just add up the different GL's and divide by the weight of each muffin??? I feel like there is an easy calculation but I can't find a straight answer I want my calculations to be as perfect as possible for my customers so any help you can give would great! Thanks!!!

PS- I'm also looking at starting a blog that is cut and dry. Only facts, research findings and recipes with full nutritional info
 

GL varies depending on the mix.
So it would be difficult, as for instance fat slows down any carbs, so adding a non GL food dramatically affects the GL of other food.
Whereas protein causes a slow rise later.

Experience helps, I've got to the stage where I can make a good guess when I eat, of what's in the food, (sugar in sauces in always a hit and miss though), and what the effect will be on me, but that varies enormously on what I'm been doing beforehand, what I drink with the meal, and what I do after.
 
It might be worth contacting someone who already does it to see if they would let you have the formula(e) that they use. If you explain your plan as you have here so they see you're not going to be a competitor they may be more amenable. You could try Loch Fyne or Jamie Oliver, both of whom provide full nutritional information for all the dishes on their menus. Good luck, it sounds exciting.
 
Just after I responded I came across this site on t'interweb. It might be worth a look. https://www.alacalc.co.uk/
 

Just had a look at Loch Fyne online nutritional information. It seems to be an average carbs/fats/ proteins, no GI or GL information?
 
Fluffy, I personally don't go by GI or GL. But I do go by carbs proteins and fats. Also o glance at fiber, sat fat and sodium so I would think just the basis would be awesome. Everyone has their own special diets that they look for.. I think what you're doing is great. Now if you could open one in my neighborhood too that would be perfect!
 
SunnyExpat said:
Just had a look at Loch Fyne online nutritional information. It seems to be an average carbs/fats/ proteins, no GI or GL information?
Click to expand...
We seem to be getting off the subject here. I am looking to get the same information in a restaurant relative to the menu as you get on a packet of frozen peas -
(providing the nutritional information per serving of the dishes on their menus, such that we get gm/serving of carbs, cals, fat, sat fat, fibre, protein and salt much in the same way package food provides the information.) I would prefer that if you want to discuss GI or GL you start a new thread.
 
It's the same concept.....this is about sharing your ideas with restaurants to let them know that including nutrition facts on their menus would make you more inclined to eat there.

From the restaurant's perspective, it's the same issue: how is this going to be accomplished and how will it be paid for? The problem is, this isn't scalable.

Chain restaurants have the resources to do this and most chains offer the same food throughout their different locations which means this more cost effective for them.

A small chain or individual restaurant would have to pay similar costs , but would obviously lack the resources of major corporations.

I think it's a wonderful idea and we're each entitled to share our opinions and feedback however we'd like, but if this is about FORCING companies to do this, that's something I don't support.
 
Excuse me, but where did the word FORCING come into this? I said that it is my intention to write to restaurants asking them to assist people with Diabetes in providing the nutritional information per serving of the dishes on their menus, such that we get gm/serving of carbs, cals, fat, sat fat, fibre, protein and salt much in the same way package food provides the information. Some restaurants already do it and it's a great help in monitoring nutritional intake.
 

Fair enough.
Good luck with your campaign, I won't be joining in though.
 
I didn't assume either way which is why I posed both situations. I wanted to make sure it was clear what the goal of this thread was.

No need to get yourself worked up, it wasn't an accusation.
 
Send me the recipes and I will work out the carb content for you!!
 

Whatever you do, ensure you carry an indemnity warning, along the lines that calculations are completed for batch cooking or whatever and each potion many vary. You may be able to find some useful stuff on t'web on this.

That's a definite advantage of using an independent verification, although they can only validate the batch the test, not every batch, every time it is prepared.
 
Absolutely needed....I did this for a lovely independent cafe where I used to live.
The council there wanted to introduce diabetic and vegetarian friendly signage for restaurants and eating places it they never did in the end.
 
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