Mandatory Bold Calorie Counts Promote Eating Disorders

Recently passed laws have mandated bold display of calorie counts on restaurant menus, in display cases, and bold displays on product packaging. These counts may cause unintended harm, placing people at risk of disordered eating and especially harming people who are in the process of recovering from eating disorders.
Sources:
Calorie counting is disordered eating:
www.washington...
www.elitedaily...
Calorie counting harms people at risk of eating disorders:
www.bustle.com...
Why calorie counting is often even ineffective for losing weight:
www.zwivel.com...
www.health.com...

[@n.c.435]

Yes this!!!! i've struggled with disordered eating for so many years and it's really frustrating to have to see the numbers even bigger then they were when what i really want is a goddamn soda without worrying about calories. it's so frustrating :/

[@AlexZorach]

Aww, yeah. Thank you for sharing your experience though, I think it really helps to hear from people who have directly struggled with these things. I have never really all-out struggled with an eating disorder, even if I have struggled a few times with some disordered eating habits and a not-great-relationship to food...I think it helps to hear from people who this is most relevant to, so thanks again for speaking up!

[@erikmartin2]

I read the articles you shared, but I do not agree that counting calories is disordered eating. For me, *not* counting calories leads to disordered eating, as without intentional awareness of exactly how much nutrients I'm eating, I will invariably eat more than is healthy for me. I started counting calories when I became borderline obese, and I lost 50 pounds of the course of 2 years, which also moved my cholesterol from a very unhealthy level to a normal level. I have to continue counting calories to remain healthy. Counting calories also forces me to eat healthier types of food, low in sugar and higher in fat and protein, because if I consume the calorie allotment I give myself in empty calories, I will end up having to either go to bed hungry or overshoot my allotment. The only way I could have reclaimed my health is through the easy availability of calorie information (fat/protein/carb information also being very important). I naturally get less strict in the counting the closer I am to an ideal weight, but I can't count the times when predominantly displayed calorie information has mad me aware that something I was considering ordering had a much different nutrient level than what I was intending on eating. So it's been very helpful for me.

[@AlexZorach]

This is interesting, thanks for sharing your perspective and story! I think this highlights that this sort of stuff is complex, and there is no one-size-fits all solution for optimal health or achieving a healthier relationship to food. What I'm reacting to in this video, and primarily talking about, is when calorie counts are forcibly presenting, i.e. in large, bold type on nutritional labels, and on restaurant menus and in bakery display cases and other places like that, in such a way that people who don't want to see them, cannot avoid them. It seems non-consensual. I think because some people do want to read calorie counts, it makes sense to make them easily available. I just don't want to take away people's choice or control over whether or not they see them, for the reasons given in the video. I think there can be a win-win in which people with experiences like yours can benefit from seeing the calorie counts, while other people who may be harmed by seeing them can choose not to look at them, because they're placed somewhere like on the back of a menu or box, or in a separate pamphlet or on a free app or company website. This seems like a win-win solution.