Calorie Counts on NYC Menus: Love or Hate 'Em?

Walking into a Starbucks here in NYC, you are greeted by a dazzling display of calorie numbers for each and every baked good in the display case. Even at a Le Pain Quotidien you can see very clearly that your Blueberry muffin will cost you 400 calories, and why is the buttery croissant only 230? And that nice fruit salad is only 110.

At places like Le Pain Quotidien, I love comparing the Tartine sandwiches and realizing that one is actually 500 calories less than another that is equally as yummy! 500 calories?! That's a whole blueberry muffin and small fruit salad I could add to my day!

I love the calorie counts on the menus. They are even at Chipotle and Dunkin Doughnuts as many people have 'complained'.

I started a YELP conversation asking Yelpers to weigh in on the situation. I asked: "Calorie Counts on NYC menus: Love 'em or hate 'em????"

Click here to read the discussion on Yelp.

Click forward to read a few of my fave responses....

YELP CALORIE COUNTS CONVERSATION

My response:

Calorie Counts on Menus...love em or hate em?
I love them-full disclosure is my best friend. But what does the YELP community think?
Should restaurants have calorie counts on all their food items? Do you like knowing that, say, the lemon loaf at Starbucks has 500 calories in it....

Others I liked:

I've walked out of McDonalds because of the calorie numbers. 750 for fries. Screw that.

If you are an educated consumer, you know that a muffin is like eating cake or anything fried is not good for you. Having calories on the menu would not sway me either way. If I want to eat something and I am dining out. I will eat it.

Could care less but it would keep me away from this one,http://www.menshealth.com/20worst/worstfood.html

I love it because it only applies to chain restaurants. Anything to make people stay away from mass-produced sound good to me.

I think its a great thing, people should be aware of what they are eating, even if you dont care it still bothers you when the simple meal you are eating is 1400 calories, way over half of what you're supposed to be eating in one FULL day.

As far as fast food goes, I think it makes sense. The amount of calories, fat and sugar that many processed foods have is sometimes astounding, and more than many think. I knew that Burger King (for example) wasn't a healthy think to eat, but I didn't realize that one of their burgers can be over half a day's calorie intake until I saw it in print. Processed food can be sneakily laden with unexpected calories.
When we're talking real food made from real ingredients (instead of processed crap) things are more obvious, so I think calorie counts are silly, bordering on Nanny State kind of nonsense. We all know that animal fats (butter, cheese, cream, rich meats) are loaded with calories, so foods heavy with such aren't much of a surprise. I'm not shocked to discover that an alfredo sauce or a cassoulet is loaded with calories, and I don't need to be told that.

Love 'em. Like Tina, I know when to put the fork down. And to that end, I also tend to eat pretty healthy 90% of the time. But, I still like having that information out there.

Read the complete conversation here.