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Many weight loss plans depend on adding up how many calories you consume in a day, and that’s generally easy with the help of calorie labels on food packaging, but can become different when eating out. Now, new government suggestions seem set to place calorie counts, along with other nutritional information, on British menus in an effort to help restaurant patrons to make healthier food choices.

Set the date

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has urged restaurants to print nutritional information on their menus, and he’d like to see them setting a date by which they’ll do so. The move will have to be a voluntary one, but Lansley has suggested that restaurants can help their diners in improving their health by taking part in the change.

Leading the way

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reported that the process of adding nutritional information to menus has gone smoothly for the large companies who have already gone through the process. These companies include coffee chain Costa and Pizza Hut, who have also made changes to make their menus healthier and now offer smaller portion sizes.

A healthy lifestyle

Rather than weight loss, Lansley has emphasised the need for a healthier way of living rather than just a decrease in the consumption of fat. ‘Our aim is to give people the help and advice they need to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and I want to make it as easy as possible for them to do that,’ he said. With or without nutritional information, restaurant food remains unlikely to be the healthiest choice, so keep restaurant outings for treats and special occasions – learn to love home cooking, and eat as much fresh food as possible.

Tags: eating healthily, home cooking, losing weight