Fries anyone?

On reading about the recent furor regarding restaurants being required to publish calorie information on menus in New York city, I found myself thinking about nutrition information and how its availability influences our choices. Before I came to the US, I did not look at a single nutrition label, not a single one. Probably because there were none to look at. Thankfully for me, parents made sensible and healthy choices on my behalf (mostly). When I realized how much information was out there, and how easily accessible it all was, I dove right in.

I quickly learned a thing or two:

BAD - may be used, but only in moderation:
- processed foods (ready-made or pre-made anything)
- refined flours (white bread, regular pasta)
- excessive use of oil, butter, dairy, sugar

GOOD:
- vegetable and fruit
- lentils and beans
- tofu, soy products
- nuts and seeds (just watch the calories)
- whole wheat (ww bread, ww pasta)

I definitely enjoy the ice cream or cookie fix (the true reason for my running so much). But I realized that by habituating a lot more of the good things, I need to worry less about the occasional indulgence in the bad. It is really easy to spend the quick second scanning any nutrition label to check calorie, fat, sugar and fiber content. I also usually check the ingredient list for the usual suspects (high fructose corn syrup, processed or bleached flours, oil when none should be necessary etc.). It is worthwhile to spend the extra 10 minutes looking up a restaurant that I know I'm going to head to for that friend's birthday dinner to get an idea of the menu beforehand and check nutrition information. Now, that is not to say that you always order the salad and skip the dessert (oh, what would we BE without that tiramisu!), but more to make well-informed choices: maybe take half the entree to go if you are planning on getting the death-by-chocolate cake? Bottom line, eating mostly fresh food, getting some exercise and limiting the "treats" to special occasions is not that hard, and will keep you healthy and happy.

Having all this information (and not just about food and nutrition, but also about exercise and fitness) at my disposal makes me wonder about those that do NOT have access to it. The high rate of obesity among certain demographic groups is probably because they are more likely to not have access to such information, or even know that it exists. Given that, isn't it only fair that we make this information as accessible as possible to all?

And while we are at it, I do not know a single Indian restaurant that shares its nutrition information, do you?