(GRE): How I apparently feel about restaurants displaying nutritional information

Eating healthy is becoming an increasing challenge in today's society. Aside from going to backyard markets, it is almost impossible to find even the purest food: vegetables, that have not been enhanced as GMOs. Although we necessarily go to restaurants expecting the healthiest food, as a population, we should continue to make ourselves aware of what we are putting into our bodies. Restaurants can help to educate the public by including nutritional information on their menus. This will not only help the food corporations keep themselves in check, but it will help us to make good nutritional choices for ourselves on a daily basis.

Corporations rely on advertising to reach consumers. By advertising food in a way that makes it seem fresh and appealing, corporations are able to attract a group of consumers that might otherwise never reach out and try their products. In the '90s, McDonalds presented McDonalds Salad Shakers. Salad in a cup, covered in dressing seemed like a refreshing and healthy snack on the go. Compared to their other products like frozen chemically enhanced meat and starch products, Salad Shakers were presented as the healthy choice. While this may have been true, the dressing and croutons made this seemingly fresh and healthy choice worse than other non-McDonald's options however, it's convenience and presentation in advertising made it the perfect excuse for a salad. Had consumers been aware of the nutritional information of the dressing, and the types of vegetables in Salad Shakers, they might have realized that it was not only not half as healthy as they may have believed at first, but that it was also not worth the money they were paying compared to a potentially healthier snack from a different restaurant. If restaurants are forced to list nutritional information, it will help to educate the public and eliminate the impact of questionable and false advertising.

Being educated about our food choices is the best thing that we can do for ourselves nutritionally. Knowledge is power and it is vital that we take the power of food back from large corporations such as Kraft and Nestle. If we are able to visually observe the nutritional value of what we are putting into our bodies, we will also eventually learn positive and negative correlations with the outcomes of healthier and less healthy foods. Although it may take time, eventually, we will be able to see the physical manifestation of positive eating habits versus negative eating habits. By making ourselves aware of what we are putting in our bodies, it will give us the opportunity to make our own choices and decide our own fate.

It is imperative to our bodies that we are made aware of what we are eating on a daily basis. Although some may say that people don't go to restaurants to eat healthy, every meal counts and we should at least be given the option to be aware of what we are eating. Several food chains have successfully begun to advertise the calorie counts of their products and it has created an empowered new generation of eaters and consumers. People are beginning to return to the basics of food, shopping solely at healthy food markets and using less processed products. The struggle between corporations and those who wish to eat healthy will continue until the consumer can decide to take the power back into his own hands and demanding nutritional information is a step in the right direction to take back our food and our bodies.