Food fight over calorie posting

We need to attack a number of fronts in order to wage a war on obesity. That means we need to agree to exercise, change how we run our kitchens and pantries on the homefront, add PE to school and especially re-think how we eat outside the home. To start that process we have to recognize that a large percentage of the selections are high sodium, high fat, high sugar, and served in portions that are too large. One way to get a handle on outside eating is to have the facts clearly displayed. That means per serving nutritional breakdowns available to our perusal - before we open our mouths..

Currently the legislation that has been passed or is going to be passed in certain states only involves requiring restaurant chains that 20 or more "restaurants of the same name" to follow tis legislation. So smaller chains and individual restaurants basically get a by on this. So do large food companies that have many different small chains, Like the Patina Group, which owns 60 plus restaurants. Statistics show that only 25% of more than a million restuarants fall under this legislation. Sure, it's a start, but we need to do better. And maybe the government needs to help smaller businesses with the science costs of analyzing their food. Because to battle obesity, we need some food transparency.

The reality however is that we will probably, even in the face of this new legislation, continue to battle way-to-high levels of obesity. Why? To quote DeWayne Wickham of USA Today, "We are a country overrun with people who think life is a spectator sport." I would take it one step further and add that we have forgotten that eating food is supposed to be tasty experience that fuels our body and not an American pasttime. And when we gain weight, our response should not be the next trendiest diet but a solid lifestyle makeover that can withstand the test of time. That may mean getting help from health professionals- nutritionists or dieticians, personal trainers, doctors, psychologists, even cooking experts. Otherwise cheap accessible food that is high fat, high calorie, high in sodium and typically processed will continue to be our go to food-in large portions - and we'll eat it while we sit in front of the TV or computer.