Lower calorie foods – it’s just good business

 

 

Lower calorie foods – it’s just good business

In this landmark study, researchers examined NPD restaurant servings and traffic data, and Nation’s Restaurant News sales trends, to analyze whether or not growing sales of lower-calorie menu items in 21 national restaurant chains, accounting for half of the top 100 chain sales, resulted in superior business performance.

The study concluded that quick-service and sit-down restaurant chains that grew their lower-calorie servings delivered better business results. In short, sound strategic planning with a commitment to growing lower-calorie items is just good business.

The findings of this study clearly demonstrate that between 2006 and 2011 lower-calorie foods and beverages were the key growth engine for the restaurants studied. Restaurant chains growing their servings of lower-calorie foods and beverages demonstrated superior:

• Same-store sales (SSS) growth
• Increases in restaurant customer traffic • Gains in overall restaurant servings

Increasing lower-calorie menu portfolios can help quick-service and sit-down restaurant chains improve the key performance metrics demanded by their shareholders and Wall Street, while at the same time providing lower-calorie foods and beverages for families and children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• Restaurant Chains Still Not Meeting Nutritional Expectations (medicaldaily.com)
• Nevada Assembly Oks Restaurant Menu Calorie Bill (tomdarby.me)
• 97% of Restaurant Kids’ Meals Are Unhealthy, Consumer Group Says (livescience.com)
• Most kids’ meals at chain restaurants offer poor nutrition, as fried chicken fingers, burgers, fries, and soda reign (boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com)
• Measuring meals by exercise, not calories helps consumers eat healthy: study (globalnews.ca)
• Exercise Time and not Calorie Count may Reduce Your Calorie Intake: New Study (medindia.net)
• Toronto would consider enacting bylaw requiring restaurants to post calories on menus if province fails to act (news.nationalpost.com)

 

Some Good News?

Reblogged from FOOD, FACTS and FADS:

At last, some progress may be occurring when it comes to calories in restaurant foods.  If it catches on and continues (and it might due to some new regulations from the government) we just might see some help occurring with the obesity epidemic.

Also, reducing portion sizes is even more good news.  When compared to the 1970's, it's astounding how many portion sizes have increased since then. 

Read more… 136 more words

 

Related articles

• Staying slim with portion control (pix11.com)
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• Super-Sized Americans Need the Choice of Fewer Fries - Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)

The Real Price of Quinoa?

Reblogged from HealthCetera - CHMP's Blog:

May May Leung, PhD, RD is an assistant professor at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College.  Her research expertise includes the development and evaluation of innovative health communication and community-based interventions to prevent childhood obesity.

 Many of us are familiar with the golden grain with a funny spelling, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).   This grain, which is considered one of the most complete…

Read more… 241 more words

 

Something Fishy

Reblogged from FOOD, FACTS and FADS:

Genetically modified food labeling is not the only labeling issue in the food supply.  Now we have another problem.

How can you be sure that grouper or tuna  you bought yesterday was really what it was promised to be?  According to the labs at Oceana.org  you can't really trust the labeling of many common types of fish.  And so far, there's appears to be nothing we can do about it unless the consumer complains enough. 

Read more… 52 more words

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Only in America?

Reblogged from FOOD, FACTS and FADS:

It appears that many of the major food companies have a double standard - one for exports and one for us.  They seem to think that Americans do not deserve the better quality products with less additives and chemicals sold to our European neighbors.

Is this one unbelievable?????  I would like to know why, wouldn't you?  Maybe it's time for us, the consumers, to inquire about this. 

Read more… 22 more words

   

Curb Your Appetite

Reblogged from FOOD, FACTS and FADS:

Here's some good advice on how to keep from getting hungry throughout the day with the subsequent overeating that may follow.  Ironically, some of our breakfast staples are loaded with carbs and without adequate protein may add to later day hunger.

CLICK HERE.

Read more… 33 more words

Related articles

• Once-a-week jab that curbs your appetite could help solve the obesity crisis (dailymail.co.uk)
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Sugar Shock?

Reblogged from FOOD, FACTS and FADS:

Sugar can be hidden in a lot of processed food products that make health claims.  Yogurt is one of them.

When I see the yogurt aisle in the supermarket, I am amazed at all the different types available now.  This slideshow gives us some guidance on the various types to choose.  Here's where label reading is a necessity.  Some people think that yogurt is healthy and most are, but notice the grams of sugar (some can be quite high) and the grams of protein (which often differ considerably).

Read more… 34 more words

Sugar can be hidden in a lot of processed food products that make health claims.  Yogurt is one of them. When I see the yogurt aisle in the supermarket, I am amazed at all the different types available now.  This slideshow gives us some guidance on the various types to choose.  Here’s where label reading is a necessity.  Some people think that yogurt is healthy and most are, but notice the grams of sugar (some can be quite high) and the grams of protein (which often differ considerably). This is a start on some different choices if you want to choose yogurt as a dairy alternative protein source. CLICK HERE.

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Vitamin D Fraud: Lack of Truth in Labeling

Vitamin Packaging (Photo credit: colindunn)

 

From the 14 March post at Mind the Science Gap

 

….All told, the vitamin D content of “off-the-shelf” and compounded vitamins was highly variable

 

                            “ . . . potency ranged from 9% to 146%.”…

 

…. Why aren’t dietary supplements regulated like drugs or food additives?

 

….

 

 

 

 

 

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Eat to Dream: Study Shows Dietary Nutrients Associated With Certain Sleep Patterns

From the 6 February 2013 article at Science Daily

You are what you eat,” the saying goes, but is what you eat playing a role in how much you sleep? Sleep, like nutrition and physical activity, is a critical determinant of health and well-being. With the increasing prevalence of obesity and its consequences, sleep researchers have begun to explore the factors that predispose individuals to weight gain and ultimately obesity. Now, a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods — an indicator of an overall healthy diet — had the healthiest sleep patterns.

..

The authors found that total caloric intake varied across groups. Short sleepers consumed the most calories, followed by normal sleepers, followed by very short sleepers, followed by long sleepers. Food variety was highest in normal sleepers, and lowest in very short sleepers. Differences across groups were found for many types of nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

In a statistical analysis, the research team found that there were a number of dietary differences, but these were largely driven by a few key nutrients. They found that very short sleep was associated with less intake of tap water, lycopene (found in red- and orange-colored foods), and total carbohydrates, short sleep was associated with less vitamin C, tap water, selenium (found in nuts, meat and shellfish), and more lutein/zeaxanthin (found in green, leafy vegetables), and long sleep was associated with less intake of theobromine (found in chocolate and tea), dodecanoic acid (a saturated fat) choline (found in eggs and fatty meats), total carbohydrates, and more alcohol.

“Overall, people who sleep 7 — 8 hours each night differ in terms of their diet, compared to people who sleep less or more. We also found that short and long sleep are associated with lower food variety,” said Dr. Grandner. “What we still don’t know is if people altered their diets, would they be able to change their overall sleep pattern? This will be an important area to explore going forward as we know that short sleep duration is associated with weight gain and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Likewise, we know that people who sleep too long also experience negative health consequences. If we can pinpoint the ideal mix of nutrients and calories to promote healthy sleep, the healthcare community has the potential to make a major dent in obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors.”

 

Read the entire article here

 

Related articles

• Does your diet influence how well you sleep? (cnn.com)
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• Want to Limit Overeating? Get More Sleep (psychologytoday.com)

 

Behind the fetish of vitamin B12 shots

From the 3 February 2013 post at KevinMD.com

…

The treatment of B12 deficiency, as has been established from studies done in the 1960s, is ORAL B12. That’s right. Pills. Injections of B12 are not necessary—oral supplements work well, even in pernicious anemia. They’re cheap and they work. I suppose a very rare patient, say one who has surgically lost most of their gut, could require injections. But the vast majority of people with genuine B12 deficiency can get all of the B12 they need through eating foods or swallowing supplements. No needles needed.

So why this fetish with injections? From the patient’s point of view, shots feel more like something important is going on. Placebos need rituals—with acupuncture, for instance, the elaborate ritual creates an illusion of effectiveness. And from the doctor’s point of view, injections reinforce dependence on the physician, creating visits and cash flow.

So: people seem to think they feel better with injections, and the doctor makes a little cash, and everyone’s happy. So what’s the harm in that?

I think it’s wrong to knowingly dispense placebos, even harmless ones. We doctors like to criticize the chiropractors and homeopaths. We point fingers. They’re the quacks. We’d better take a close look at what we’re doing, first. Our placebos are sometimes far more dangerous than theirs.

More importantly, people should be able to expect more from physicians…

 

Read the entire article here