On Friday, April 1st, according to the New York Times, the federal government proposed rules to chain restaurants and other businesses that serve food to post calorie counts on their menus and menu boards. However, after fighting back against the new proposal, the government has given a pass to movie theaters, allowing them to keep their calorie counts for the extra large bucket of buttery popcorn secret. They have also exempted alcoholic drinks from the caloric revelation.
The FDA is taking comments from food chains and restaurateurs before they finish up their rules. They are expecting the new calorie rules to go into effect some time in 2012. Michael R. Taylor, the deputy commissioner for foods of the FDA, believes that this is a positive step towards helping the obesity epidemic by giving people the tools to choose a healthy diet.
In order to exclude movie theaters from the rules, the FDA has decided their rules will apply to those companies who's primary goal is to sell food, or where 50% of the flooring is dedicated to selling foods. Some, however, are not happy about the exemptions. Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says, "it doesn't matter whether you happen to be watching a movie while you're eating. Those calories still count." The CSPI has also released reports telling us that a large tub of butter popcorn can contain as much as 1,500 calories and a large pop contains about 500. Considering the average person is only supposed to consume 2,000 calories a day, these facts may be very important to let consumers know!
Exercise: Last day of no working out… For those of you who are, get a good swim workout in this morning and follow it up with an hour yoga session to make you nice and stretched out.
Eat: How much bread should we eat? According to the USDA, the number of grains you should and need to eat are dependant on a few factors; including age, gender, and level of physical activity. However, most adults and children need about 5 to 8 servings of grains per day. Of these, at least half of all the grains you eat on a daily basis should be whole grains.
Relax: With my family, I sat down tonight and enjoyed watching an episode of Desperate Housewives. I also had some extra time so I baked up a batch of ginger snaps. If you are ever looking for a good recipe for ginger snaps, just look on the back of your molasses jar!
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