Restaurant Nutrition Draws Focus of First Lady

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — After wrapping her arms around the retail giant Wal-Mart and trying to cajole food makers into producing nutrition labels that are easier to understand, Michelle Obama, a healthy-eating advocate, has her sights set on a new target: the nation’s restaurants.

A team of advisers to Mrs. Obama has been holding private talks over the past year with the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, in a bid to get restaurants to adopt her goals of smaller portions and children’s meals that include healthy offerings like carrots, apple slices and milk instead of French fries and soda, according to White House and industry officials.

The discussions are preliminary, and participants say they are nowhere near an agreement like the one Mrs. Obama announced recently with Wal-Mart to lower prices on fruits and vegetables and to reduce the amount of fat, sugar and salt in its foods. But they reveal how assertively she is working to prod the industry to sign on to her agenda.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Obama will begin a three-day publicity blitz to spotlight “Let’s Move!,” her campaign to reduce childhood obesity, which was announced one year ago this week.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/us/politics/07michelle.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

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In right-wing speak: "Dis bimbo wanna take away yar frahd cheekun!"

But I really do appreciate Mrs. Obama's pro-nutrition efforts!

[pepperbear]

1. what's sad is that the RW will play this as if it's a government plot to

control what restaurants can serve, when it is merely an urge to take action and offer alternatives. Plus, it would be fiscally sound to offer healthier options, but you won't hear anything but crickets chirping from conservatives over that concept.

[woo me with science]

2. I'm sure restaurants will be happy to oblige with smaller portions.

The grocery stores are already doing that!

[rpannier]

3. Smaller portions

and higher prices

[DJ13]

8. This provides a perfect cover for doing exactly that

[pipoman]

4. Restaurants sell and serve what people want to buy

there are, have been and are increasingly more healthy restaurants and menu options. If people aren't inclined to eat them they disappear from menus, if people eat them more similar choices will appear.

[bhikkhu]

5. I beg to differ

I can't tolerate the grease and salt of restaurant food myself; whether its chinese, italian, or generic american. We don't have a huge variety in the community where I live, but none of them serve palatable food. At home I have a big garden and I "cook from fresh" as much as I can, and its so much nicer and healthier.

I don't know exactly how long it takes to develop a gut acclimated to the crap that is served in restaurants, but I can't do it myself. The only place I don't dread going out to eat is Subway, where you can at least see and choose what's you're going to eat.

[pipoman]

11. Pretty broad brush there..

some of the best quality foods and best ingredients are served in restaurants. If you are looking at a subset of fast food chain outlets and truck stop diners, maybe you don't have the options most of the country has. Subway is a sham in that the meats are barely meats, high sodium, mechanically textured and pressed, low food value...barely meat products. I like fast food once in a while, but a made from scratch with fresh ingredients restaurant can't be compared to Burger King. I am a chef and manager of such a restaurant. I go to the farmers market 3 times a week in season, buy fresh vegetables based on availability, buy non-Asian produced seafood products, Creekstone Beef, and by buying selectively and adjusting my menu daily or weekly we can serve both completely scratch made food and keep our prices affordable.

[Scottybeamer70]

15. I want to eat

where Pipoman works!! Sounds great to me.

[bhikkhu]

16. Ok, there is one here, and probably many elsewhere like you describe

One restaurant here runs a big garden and grows a large amount of their own produce, and probably buys the best and freshest stuff to keep the kitchen supplied. I can't afford to eat there.

The rest of them pretty much serve crap, and there isn't a big difference between the fast food joints and the rest of them, as far as how things taste and nutritional value. I don't live in a big city, of course, and all the regular things that coincide with poor eating habits are evident here: obesity, depression, joblessness, addictions, poverty, etc.

[ChazII]

23. Wish your restaurant

was here in Phoenix.

[Psephos]

6. White House Superbowl party menu:

"Bratwurst, kielbasa, cheeseburgers, deep-dish pizza and Buffalo wings with sides of German potato salad, twice-baked potatoes and assorted chips and dips. ... Yuengling Lager and Light, brewed in Pennsylvania, and Hinterland Pale Ale and Amber Ale, from Wisconsin. Independents can pour down some White House Honey Ale if they like."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110206/ap_on_sp_ot/us_obama_super_bowl_menu

There are plenty of celebs and politicians who feel compelled to lecture us about better habits; fewer of them feel compelled to lead by example.

[Odin2005]

7. Splurging on junk every once in a while makes one a hypocrite now?

:eyes:

[Psephos]

9. Yes

If you use Google, you'll find that it isn't every once in a while, either.

Putting together a healthy but completely delicious party menu isn't exactly hard, you know. Nothing undermines a message more than the hypocrisy of ignoring your own advice.

[No Elephants]

14. Does anyone in the First Family seem unhealthy or overweight?

[hugo_from_TN]

22. Besides Michelle?

[Scout]

24. "completely delicious"

that's a pretty subjective standard

[woo me with science]

10. Well, what about splurging on boobs during the Superbowl?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x363747#363757

:rofl:

[pipoman]

12. Yet, apparently not a single healthier option on the menu

after all, the intent is not to outlaw french fries, only to offer healthier alternatives, right?

[Retrograde]

17. Sounds good to me

I like Yuengling when I'm back east, and I applaud the serving of local beers. Heck, I had wings (braised, with a green salad as a side) today, and I didn't even watch the game.

There is a difference between occasional splurges, which I hope this is, and everyday meals.

[LanternWaste]

18. I imagine there's a relevant difference

I imagine there's a relevant difference between one splurging due to a celebration and one's standard dietary habits.

Although I do recognize that ideological dogmas prevent many people from realizing that.

[snooper2]

20. Fail

try again...

[No Elephants]

13. Since when is getting Wal-Mart to LOWER PRICES on fruits and veggies while others are raising them

"wrapping her arms around the retail giant Wal-Mart?" Seems more like a huge victory by the First Lady over retail giant Wal-Mart than an embrace by her. .

I remember when NYT was a fair and ethical paper.

[ensho]

19. kick

nt

[Lifelong Protester]

21. Please, smaller portions in restaurants (we DO ask for them)

and those healthier choices, which I also scout out.

I try to patronize places that make both small plates and from scratch cooking available. I want to give props to the restaurants who do these things.

And we all, myself included, need to continue to give more thought to what we put into our mouths.

And I wasn't impressed by the WH menu either.