Tracking calories can be a marvellous way to understand your eating habits and control your weight. But simplifying every food down to a numeric value going to destroy your relationship with nutrition, fact.
It’s a plain fact that most of the general public have no conceptualisation of what a calorie is, or how many they should eat, or how many is a normal number. If I told my mam ‘this meal is 450 calories’, she would look at me blank. She has no clue if that is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ (not that high calories mean ‘bad’ at all, but this is often the view that is adopted). Putting a bunch of numbers next to foods with no context is like giving someone a stick of butter and telling them to make a cake. Its so much more of a bigger picture.
We cannot push the narrative that lower calorie = healthier because it is simply not true. There would almost definitely be less calories in a pot noodle than there would be in a nutritious, satisfying salad, filled with healthy-fat avocados, protein-heavy grilled chicken, soft cheese and tasty dressing, with all your fresh crunchy veg too. And even if the higher calorie choice is ‘unhealthier’, so what? Variety in your diet is so important and balance is essential to be actually satisfied with your eating patterns and get a satiable amount of every food group. What is life without the foods we love?
Do you know who do spend a great deal of mental energy thinking about the calorie counts of meals? People with eating disorders. This motion is a slap in the face to all ED sufferers in the UK and is only going to push more impressionable people down the same path.
I understand it is frustrating when you are tracking your calories for fitness, and you have to guesstimate your meal out’s nutritional values. But realistically, this is a niche struggle. The general wellbeing of the public is a lot more important than you being 100 cals out on Tuesday of your MyFitnessPal program.
Not only this but a real greivance of mine comes from labels that also mention a ‘daily recommended calorie intake’. This is normally somewhere around 2,000kcal. This is a really low gestation for anyone, but just further pushes this narrative of caloric intake being a blanket sheet of black and white. The amount of calories you need in a day is affected by your age, weight, sex, whether you menstruate, how much exercise you do, your thyroid, any medical conditions, and a whole boat load of other things. There is no one size fits all.
I am no dietician or nutritional expert, but I am a regular gym goer, and someone who has both lost and gained weight, both in my personal life and to make weight for sports. You don’t have to be a professional to see when something is harmful.
However, the government are notorious for not listening, so since there is no stopping this, here are some things you can do to make this a bit easier.
- this mandation is only necessary in businesses with more than 250 employees… so lets shop small and local!
- getting a friend or family member to read you the menu
- asking for a calorie free menu
- asking what the specials are
- any other ideas please comment, this is a positive thread!
Reese On Record 
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