Free Republic

Children and parents across the country are fed up with the restrictive new school meal regulations implemented by the Department of Agriculture under the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” which has long been touted by first lady Michelle Obama. The standards — which cap meal calories at 650 for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, at 700 calories for middle school students and 850 for high school students — also dictate the number of breads, proteins, vegetables and fruits children are allowed per meal. A spokeswoman for Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who earlier this month introduced legislation to...

McDonald's restaurants across the country will soon get a new menu addition: The number of calories in the chain's burgers and fries. The world's biggest hamburger chain said Wednesday that it will post calorie information on restaurant and drive-thru menus nationwide starting Monday. The move comes ahead of a regulation that could require major chains to post the information as early as next year. "We want to voluntarily do this," said Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA. "We believe it will help educate customers." In cities such as New York and Philadelphia where posting calorie information is already required, however,...

Odds are you sometimes think about calories. They are among the most often counted things in the universe. When the calorie was originally conceived it was in the context of human work. More calories meant more capacity for work, more chemical fire with which to get the job done, coal in the human stove. Fat, it has been estimated, has nine calories per gram, whereas carbohydrates and proteins have just four; fiber is sometimes counted separately and gets awarded a piddling two. Every box of every food you have ever bought is labeled based on these estimates; too bad then...

The freak show, haunted house, and Skull-Crushing Terror Drop of Impending Death—all child's play. Mere cheap thrills. If you want to see something truly frightening at your local amusement park, swing by the concession stand. On the menu: artery-clogging fatty foods and belt-busting confections...

How much time did you spend in your car last week? Ten hours? Fifteen maybe? Wow, that sounds like a lot. But it's still probably an underestimate: As it turns out, the average American now spends 21 hours per week stuck inside a mobile metal box.

FDA Sets Rules for Vending Machine Calorie Info By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today Published: April 01, 2011 Click here to provide feedback WASHINGTON -- Chain restaurants, vending machines, and convenience stores would all have to prominently display the calorie counts of their foods under two proposed rules released by the FDA Friday. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated that vending machines and food establishments with 20 or more locations -- which includes fast-food restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, and certain grocery and convenience stores -- display the calorie counts of their food items. The new rules would implement...

America’s first lady is hell bent on fighting the obesity epidemic. For now it is focused on the nation’s children. She has interfered in school lunch and snack programs, and has even gotten one of the largest companies in the world, Wal-Mart, to comply with her plea to sell foods with less sugar and salt. In a Daily Caller op-ed, Orit Sklar, spokeswoman for My food. My Choice! wrote, “Now, one of the largest companies in the world is the vehicle through which all American food and health policy will flow. As Wal-Mart begins to institute the five-year plan, aimed...

So much for first lady Michelle Obama’s healthy eating crusade. Sunday's Super Bowl menu at the White House includes bratwurst, kielbasa, cheeseburgers, deep-dish pizza, and buffalo wings. There will also be twice-baked potatoes, chips and dip, and ice cream. Green salad is available, but why bother when German potato salad is on the buffet?

When we published our first edition of Eat This, Not That: Worst Foods in America back in 2007, we made a lot of restaurant chains very unhappy. But we also made a lot of their attorneys really, really happy, as they soon began earning massive legal fees sending us saber-rattling correspondences on behalf of the food marketers they represented. As 2010 draws to a close, it's time for another walk down the Hall of Restaurant Shame...

Laws requiring U.S. restaurant chains to list calorie counts have not stopped them from offering unhealthy meals that pack in calories, fat and salt, a group that encourages healthy food said on Tuesday. A pancake breakfast providing 1,380 calories, a single-serve pizza that packs two days' worth of sodium and a pasta dish swimming in four day's worth of fat top a list published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The group, which "outs" the calorie, fat and sodium counts of America's favorite foods every year, said it looked for evidence that restaurants are trimming back...

It takes a while for human beings to read and report on 2500 pages of twisted legislative language so details of the brand new health care reform law are being reported on in bits and pieces. Today, as President Obama and his accomplices were congratulating themselves on the signing of this monstrosity, news reports are informing us that to comply with the law, more than 200,000 fast food and other chain restaurants will have to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and even drive-throughs.

USA Today reported the results of a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, published in the American Journal of Public Health. The Yale University study divided diners into three groups. • One was given menus with the calories listed for the dinner entrees. • Another group was given menus that cited the calories plus a reference number that showed the recommended daily caloric intake for the average adult: about 2,000. • A third group had menus with no calories listed.

Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns. The chief offender had 561 calories, others contained more than 450, and the majority had in excess of 200. It is the combination of sugar, full-fat milk and cream which appear to push some of the cool coffees into the upper echelons of the calorie scale. The World Cancer Research Fund, which identified the drinks' calories, noted healthier versions were available. The "venti" or largest version of Starbucks' Dark Berry Mocha Frappuchino - a limited offer for the summer...

Restaurants underestimating calories? View article...

I am heavily concerned about an expanding social phenomenon that is rolling across our country. We are faced with a national crisis that demands the focus and commitment of every citizen of our country. Trying to cover up the issue, or just ignoring it, will only inflate the problem. Although there have been countless studies, reports, and broadcast hours dedicated to the problem, I have finally been able to digest the issue and have just been able to get my arms around the solution. Lying awake late at night pondering this issue, I realized the answer. It came to me...

Two federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to require fast-food and other chain restaurants to post calories on menu boards and food display tags. The chains also would have to put information about calories, fats, carbohydrates and salt on printed menus. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) on Thursday introduced the Menu Education and Labeling Act, called the MEAL Act for short. They said it would help consumers make more informed choices about the nutritional content of the food they are ordering. The bill has the support of many consumer and health groups and emulates legislation signed by...

The West Michigan Whitecaps recently unveiled their new stadium menu and gloating at the top of it is the 4489 Calorie "Fifth Third Burger." This 1.66 pound piece of gastrointestinal wunder, named after team sponsor 5/3 Bank, costs $20 and feeds 1-4 people. If you eat it by yourself and finish it in one sitting, you get a free 5/3 tshirt. Said the team's marketing director, "It's something fun that people can understand."

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation making California the first state to require restaurant chains to reveal how many calories are in their standard menu items.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)-If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight....

New Yorkers have been in the throes of sticker shock since this spring when the Big Apple became the first city in the country to implement a law forcing chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food in the same size and font as the price. Restaurants have not exhausted their legal challenges, but the city will start fining violators up to $2,000 beginning Friday, say officials with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. While some sit-down chains and fast-food eateries are waiting until the last minute, coffee shops like Starbucks — home of the 470...