Member-only story
Do You Want Calorie Counting in Your Face?
Like it or not, it’s coming for you
From this month forward, organisations that employ more than 250 people (so all restaurant chains plus workplace canteens at big companies) in the UK, will, by law, have to display calorie amounts on their menus.
You’ll have the choice to request a calorie information free menu, but in reality, from this day on, calorie counting will become a part of everyone’s lives in the UK, whether they like it or not.
Is this a good thing?
The arguments for it seem undeniable. Around 30% of the UK population are obese, with even more overweight. Around 65% of people living in my home country are above a “normal” weight.
I’m one of them.
Judging by BMI — which has been shown to be deeply flawed but maintains its relevance by its ease of calculation — in all my adult life (apart from around 6 months) I have been either overweight or obese.
Yet my friends and family would read that and think I’m mad. “You don’t look fat, you’re just you, you look normal”.
And when I did — through dieting and vast amounts of exercise — get down to a healthy weight (and was still well above the mid-point in the healthy weight range for my height and age and gender)… I…