Some 'kids' meals' are rated XXX

Fast foods are bad for you and your kids. Check out today's USA Today! Many of the "kids' meals" should be rated XXX, for way too big and too many calories. One meal has nearly a day's worth of calories.

If you have children you need to read this report.

USATODAY.com reports

"The first comprehensive report on kids' meals at popular fast-food and chain restaurants finds the servings are far too high in calories for a single meal.

In fact, some of meals contain more 1,000 calories, which is almost as many calories as some elementary-school children need for the entire day, according to the analysis from Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group.

Overall, the findings reveal that 93% of the kids' meals at McDonald's and Wendy's contain more than 430 calories, the average number of calories that children ages 4 to 8 should get at a single meal. The comparable numbers are 92% at Burger King; 89% at Dairy Queen; 69% at Arby's; 60% at Denny's. The latter's kids' meals don't include drinks."

Dunkin' dumps donuts

Not!

But Dunkin' Donuts knows it has to add healthier menu items if it wants to survive in the new century.

USATODAY.com reports:

Looking to entice those hungry for a healthier option, Dunkin' Donuts will begin offering a new slate of better-for-you offerings in August.

The menu, which will debut Aug. 6, will feature two flatbread sandwiches made with egg whites. Customers will be able to choose either a turkey sausage egg-white sandwich or a vegetable one. Both will be fewer than 300 calories with 9 grams of fat or less, the company said.

'We just felt it was important to provide some choice in our menu,' said Will Kussell, president and chief brand officer.

The new menu will be called DDSmart and will include all current and new items that either have 25% fewer calories, sugar, fat or sodium than comparable products or contain ingredients that are 'nutritionally beneficial,' the company said.

The Worst Food in America -- 2008

My new favorite magazine, Men's Health, and its companion website has named the worst food in America.

And I would have to agree. Drum roll please, here's the worst food in America:

Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing

Check out all of the foods you should never eat.

Men's Health - Eat This, Not That - 20 Worst Foods - 1. The Worst Food in America

Bottom of the food chain

One day you are on top and the next day you're on the bottom of the food chain.

Just ask Clay Dover of Bennigan's and Pondersa restaurants. Just this year, the President and CEO of Metromedia Restaurants, accepted the Cheers Magazine Award for Beverage Excellence and the title of Best Chain Spirits Program for Bennigan's.

Last week he resigned.

This week the company faces bankruptcy.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting Metromedia, the owner of national casual-dining chains Bennigan's, Ponderosa and Steak and Ale, is in talks with its major lender GE Capital Solutions in an effort to stave off a possible bankruptcy filing.

Why? A failed business model? A failing economy? A failed nutritional menu at all of these restaurants?

Is all of the above the correct answer?

The WSJ reports life has become difficult for casual-dining chains as consumers cut back on discretionary spending. And at the same time food prices for everything from corn to steak are on the rise. (Too many years of prices held down by government subsidies.)

Other chains struggling with unhealthy P&Ls are Outback Steakhouse and Rudy Tuesday.

In-depth look at childhood obesity

I urge everyone in America to read the Washington Post series on childhood obesity.

[About this series: We are all responsible for the childhood obesity epidemic: parents, government, schools, communities, companies, the health system. This five-day series searches for solutions.]

For a quick summary see: CalorieLab Calorie Counter News.

Guilty Food: Restaurants Fudge the Truth

It appears that George Bush is not the only person in America not telling the truth.

DiabetesInControl.com reports that independent testing by eight TV stations showed far more calories than advertised in many meals.

I have been advocating for quite a while for restaurants to display the calories of each meal. I didn't know I had to advocate for "truthful" calorie counting.

So it's very clear that restaurants realize if they actually presented the truth about the nutritional value of their food, we would not buy it. And everyday they come up with new ways to make sure you don't get that information, by fighting regulations and by shading the truth when they finally do present the information.

Eight TV stations owned by Scripps tested a small sample of diet menu dishes (one sample of 23 different items) from popular chain restaurants including Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Applebee's and the Cheesecake Factory.

Reporters ordered off the low-calorie, low-fat menu. The food was then tested by lab technicians, who weighed each sample, extracted the fat and then figured out the calories in each meal.

Of the 23 items tested, 78 percent exceeded the fat limit listed on the menu and almost 69 percent of the samples went over the calorie count listed.

The guiltless grilled salmon at Chili's promises a dish that's 480 calories and 14 grams of fat. But the tests revealed the dish was actually 664 calories and 35 grams of fat. In fact, every "guiltless" item tested from Chili's contained more fat and calories than what was listed on the menu.

Chicken fajitas from On the Border Mexican Grill's "border smart" menu are listed as containing 570 calories and nine grams of fat. The serving tested weighed in at 654 calories and 26.5 grams of fat. And the dish came with a free "sample" of queso dip, salsa and chips that would add an additional 2,067 calories and 117 grams of fat.

The skinny chicken at the Macaroni Grill is supposed to be 500 calories and six grams of fat. Not bad at all, but if you eat the huge piece of bread they include, you get twice the calories and eight times the fat.

10 facts about childhood obesity

10 Facts You Should Know about childhood obesity from the Washingtonpost.com:

The average 10-year-old girl weighed 77 pounds in 1963; today, 88. The 10-year-old boy weighed 74; today, 85.

25 percent of all vegetables eaten in the United States are french fries or chips.

more...

Remember when...you weren't fat

Everything from coffee to sandwiches to plate size have expanded in the last few years.

Divine Caroline.com visually takes us down memory lane to the days when a cup of coffee was a cup of coffee, and not a grande latte, and when a couple of slices of pizza was a small lunch and not a broadsheet newspaper.

Check out the analysis of just eating pizza today. Two slices are 350 calories more today than yesterday. That adds up to 40 pounds over two decades.

Go to Divine Caroline.com...

And the winner is...a loser!

To track how restaurants keep us fat I subscribe to the PR releases of restaurants. Day in and day out it is one new release after another of more fat, more calories, more beef and more bull.

Sometimes it's all wrapped up in a charity bun still dripping in saturated satire and spinkled with happy salt.

This week it's the Chili's Smokehouse Bacon Burger Showdown.

Amazingly, at Chili's the Bacon Burger won(?) the challenge.

Now think about this for one minute. The bacon burger that won has 1,530 calories without the ranch dressing. Add the dressing and fries and this meal has more than 2,100 calories. A normal male adult should have less than 2,000 calories for the entire day.

Nobody wins with that burger!

DALLAS, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- "He's at the 10, the five ... he could go all the way!" Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints scored in the Chili's Grill & Bar(R) Smokehouse Bacon Burger Showdown, earning him $10,000 for his charity, The Drew Brees Foundation.

"It was such an honor to work with Chili's on this great campaign," said Brees. "I am excited that my burger, the mouth-watering Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger won this contest, and am extremely grateful for the opportunity Chili's has provided me to give back to my Foundation."

The campaign, which began in late January, allowed guests to go online to Chili's Web site to vote on their favorite Smokehouse Bacon Burger. Additionally, guests could enter to win an all-expense-paid trip for two to any 2008 regular season pro or college football game and team helmets autographed by Brees, Minnesota Vikings' running back Adrian Peterson and Philadelphia Eagles' running back Brian Westbrook.

Brees' winning burger, the Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger, was up against Peterson's Jalapeno Smokehouse Bacon Burger and Westbrook's Triple-the-Cheese Bacon Burger, respectively. Each player was vying for a chance to donate to their charity of choice. The Drew Brees Foundation provides care, education and opportunities for children facing adversity.

"Chili's greatly appreciates the participation of these world-class athletes that helped promote our popular mouth-watering Smokehouse Bacon Burgers," said Todd Diener, president of Chili's Grill & Bar. "We are honored that the proceeds from this campaign will serve the children of New Orleans and continue to strengthen this great city."

Restaurants may be forced to serve small portions

The Dallas Morning News reports consumers are cutting back on portions (not because of health, but because of costs). Any way it happens, it will be good for your waistline and wallet.

With the price of basic foodstuffs, such as wheat and corn, making restaurant prices rise like a soufflé, consumers are cutting back. In part they're eating out less, but they're also eating less when they go out.

That means treats like the aforementioned bite-size cakes, fancy alcoholic drinks – even french fries – are finding fewer takers.

"When cash on hand gets tight, consumers will act to preserve their visit frequency while more aggressively managing their spending" on the meal, explains Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and information services for the National Restaurant Association.

"I can feel the pressure" of rising prices, said former Dallas resident Brad Hilton, 41, who was dining with friends Sunday at Maguire's North Dallas on the Dallas Parkway.

"I've been splitting meals with my girlfriend rather than both of us ordering something," added Mr. Hilton, who estimates he eats half of his dinners out, down from 60 percent a few months ago. "It makes sense price-wise and health-wise since you get such big portions."

Chipotle's hires marketing genius who can't add

Restaurants have fought to keep calories off of the menu. Now that New York City requires it, here's a new way of keeping the consumer in the dark: lie about it.

The blog Midtown Lunch found that Chipotle's calorie numbers just don't add up. They put the range for a burriot as 420-918 calories. But as I found out just using Chipotle's own numbers on the website, you really can't have a burrito for less than 1,000 calories.

Midtown Lunch says:

Let’s take the basic burrito as an example. The Chipotle in my building has the range for any Burrito as 420-918 calories. Common sense might cause somebody to think “Hmmm, low probably refers to the vegetarian burrito, high is burrito with some sort of fatty meat”. That would be a faulty assumption.

According to the nutritional information on the Chipotle website, the flour tortilla *alone* is 290 calories, leaving one to wonder, what exactly is in this 420 calorie burrito?

So, by process of elimination, if you want a burrito on the low range of the calorie scale (420), you will be ordering a flour tortilla, filled with vegetarian black beans. No salsa. No sour cream. No rice. No cheese. Can that even be considered a burrito? Has anybody ordered a burrito like that? Ever?

The NY Post lists the Mexican Grilled Chicken Burrito at 1179, a full 250+ calories higher than any range listed on the Chipotle Menu.

When I first discovered Chipotle's my wife, thought the beans, rice and chicken would be a healthy alternative to the rest of the fast food restaurants. How wrong were we? A lot it turns out. We skip Chipotle's all together now. There's nothing good about gigantic sizes of calories disguised as healthy food.

Here are healthiest restaurants. Not!

Health.com has just published the healthiest Fast-Food Restaurants.

And this tells you how confusing and complex buying food out can be.

The site chose these restaurants the best out of 43 sit-down and 53 fast-service chains:

Noodles & Company
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Cosi
Panera
Au Bon Pain

They eliminated any restaurant that did not provide any nutritional information.

The rest were judged on healthy food preparation; the availability of organic or hormone-free foods; whole grains on the menu; limited or no trans-fats in all dishes; low-sodium options; healthy beverages; and portion control; as well as how easily you can access nutritional information.

Noodles & Company

On the surface -- like a lot of restaurants -- its menu looks reasonable. Lots of vegetables, salads and soups. But try to access nutritional information, and it takes 20 mouse clicks to find the calorie information. And then don't be surprised to find your meal at 1,000 calories or more. The mac and cheese is at least 1,050 itself and the suggested salad adds 350 calories.

Now remember this is the HEALTHIEST restaurant chain out of 96 in America...according to Health.com. If you are watching your calories Noodles & Company recommend starting with a small order of Pad Thai at 380 calories and adding a small salad at 170 calories (the same as a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese).

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Keep in mind this is the second healthiest restaurant in the free world. Chipotle does not practice anything close to portion control. Ninety-nine percent of the customers go in to order the huge 13-inch tortillo-wrapped burrito, and through the entire process you are asked over and over, "do you want meat, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, corn salsa, etc." At the end you can have something the size of a yuletide log, and it weighs in at over 1,300 calories. Add chips and you have had all the calories for the day in this one 15-minute meal.

What did Health.com like so much about Chipotle: the hormone-free sour cream (at 120 calories).

And by the way, try and find the nutritional information on its site. Good luck, I couldn't. Google found it for me buried deep inside the website.

Panera

I'll look at one more...but you know where this is going.

Have just a bagel and cream cheese and you are talking 600 calories. (Remember you could have a large plate full of egg whites, mushrooms, and spinach for less than 200 calories.)

One pumpkin muffin sounds healthy, but it's 530 calories; for ONE muffin.

Good luck finding healthy food in fast-food restaurants. Each restaurant seems to have one item that's less than 300 calories, and they call it the healthy choice. After that, all the items will take you to the dark side.

Health.com Names the Top (or is it Bottom) Not-So-Healthiest Restaurants

Health.com took a look recently at the healthiest and not-so-healthiest fast food restaurants.

I don't agree with its list of healthiest, but I'll save that blog for another day.

Today I'll share what Health.com calls the America's Not-So-Healthiest Restaurants.

Scary chicken: At Chili's, 1 serving of Crispy Honey Chipotle Crispers (no dressing) just laid 1,890 calories at your door.

Sides to Die For: Literally. O'Charley's Onion Rings with Cajun Horseradish Sauce packs 1,800 calories on the plate, and 139 grams of fat.

Worst advice: It's hard to think healthy when the menu encourages you to fatten up, which is exactly what Cracker Barrel does, telling you to 'loosen your belt and enjoy' its Country Boy Breakfast, which offers your choice of country ham, pork chops or steak grilled to order, three (!) eggs cooked to order, fried apples, hashbrown casserole, grits, gravy, homemade buttermilk biscuits, real butter, and preserves or what they call Jam n' Apple butter.

Is there such a thing as too much cheese? Yes, Pizza Hut: Stuffing cheese into pizza crusts is just plain overkill.

No wonder they sell a lot of soda: The chicken and beef grilled stuft burritos at Taco Bell both have more than 2,000 mg. sodium (and your daily max should be 2,300).

Killing us with silence: These places might look like healthy options, but they provide NO nutritional information. And we begged. Benihana, Bertucci's, Bonefish Grill, and California Pizza Kitchen, why aren't you talking?"

The New Recession Diet

There appears there is at least one way to get Americans to cut down on restaurant portions: have a recession.

The New York Times reports Americans may be forced on a Recession Diet. Data suggests middle- and working-class consumers are switching to eating at home instead of dining out, and eating less red meat and more pasta.

Wal-Mart Stores reports stronger-than-usual sales of peanut butter and spaghetti, while restaurants like Domino’s Pizza and Ruby Tuesday have suffered a falloff in orders, suggesting that many Americans are sticking to low-cost home-cooked meals.

Such trade-offs were on vivid display last week in Ohio, where layoffs have been rampant. At Save-A-Lot, a discount grocery store in Cleveland, Teresa Rutherford, 51, chided her sister-in-law, Donna Dunaway, 44, for picking up a package of Sara Lee honey ham (eight ounces for $2.49).

The women said that soaring prices for food and fuel had changed what they buy and where they buy it. “We used to eat out at Bob Evans or Denny’s once a month,” said Ms. Rutherford, who works in an auto-parts factory. “Now we don’t go out at all. We eat in all the time.”

Not only could the portions be getting smaller, but the portions may be getting healthier. Some consumers are skipping the red meat for the better-for-you turkey.

Mary Gregory, 55, a telephone company operator in Cleveland, used to eat red meat at least once a week. Now it is hardly ever on her menu. “I usually buy turkey instead,” she said. “Any recipe that calls for meat, like chili or spaghetti, I try to substitute turkey.”

There may be a silver lining in a recession.

Would you stop a car wreck?

If you saw a mother smoking in a car with the windows up and in the back were three small children, what would you do?

If you saw a father driving drunk with children in the backseat, what would you do?

If you saw a grandmother hitting her grandchildren in the park, what would you do?

Most of us would do the right thing.

Now, what if you saw overweight mothers and fathers lining up with their children to go and eat bottomless steak fries at Red Robin? Would you get right in line with them?

We all know smoking and driving and abuse are wrong. But taking our children to McDonald's for 5-6 meals a week, that's OK?

Betsy Hart, host of "It Takes a Parent" radio show in Chicago got me to thinking. She writes in Fredericksburg.com - FOOD A HEALTHY WEIGHT A too-thin trend in America? Fat chance: "

A few years ago, my family hosted a teenage French girl for several weeks during the summer. It was her first time in the United States. She was stunned by three things: American flags flying everywhere; the fact that the only time American news programs focused on other countries was when we were at war with them; and the sheer plethora of food, and thus the size of Americans.

She simply couldn't believe the food that was everywhere. At a church social, in the ice-cream carts as we exited museums, at children's sporting events--and the size of portions in restaurants simply astounded her.

Yet what do any of us do about this portion poison?

What if all of our children's teachers couldn't read? That wouldn't be good role models. But what if the schools advertised the fact that the teachers are illiterate and coming to this school you could get more illiterate.

Now take a look at your local fast food restaurant. Look at the advertising: Our customers are fat, and we can make you fatter.

Take the 1,420-calorie burger sold at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Arguably, it's the first fast-food sandwich to publicly flaunt its excess of calories and fat.

Andy Puzder figures he'll be forever famous — or infamous — for creating fast food's first edible Frankenstein: the Monster Thickburger.

The food police and media have portrayed the CEO of CKE Enterprises (CKR) as fast food's demon.

But Puzder insists all he's really trying to do is offer consumers what he believes most want: tasty food. "These products sell better than health-conscious products," he says. "We don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."

Is recession or poor food hurting McDonald's?

McDonald's this week reported globally an increase in sales nearly anywhere, however, there was some negative financial news -- and maybe some good RightSizing news. Sales in the US are down for March.

Are consumers becoming a little more health conscience? At McDonald's they are eating a smaller portion.

The really bad news is the rest of world is eating more and more American-style fast food. And the world is becoming more and more obese as well.

Let's hope the trend continues as the recession forces more Americans to think about their wallets (and this blog forces more Americans to think about their waistlines).

From the Wall Street Journal: Global Comparable Sales Drove McDonald's First Quarter Earnings to $0.81 Per Share

Bottomless lunch means a big middle

Until last week, I'd had never heard of unlimited food at fast food restaurants. Sure, some local Chinese places have those awful buffets stewing under broiler lamps, but I didn't know Chili's and Red Robin entice obesity right there on the menus.

Yesterday, I saw Chili's advertising a bottomless lunch. I wasn't sure what a bottomless lunch was so I went to its website. (And bottomless lunch is trademarked, like they have to legally protect it from other restaurants.)

There it was: unlimited chips and salsa, a Caesar or House salad and one of three soups: Chicken Enchilada, Baked Potato, or Broccoli Cheese. (Why limit your choice of soup? If want patrons to risk a heart attack, let them try all three at one sitting.)

Even without being unlimited, that meal is not the RightSize. It has too many calories for your midday meal.

Let's see, just one basket of the fat fried chips and salsa is 480 calories. A Caesar salad is not healthy at all at 510 calories. And all the soups are more than 320 calories: Chicken Enchilada (440), Baked Potato (420), or Broccoli Cheese (320).

So for those without a calculator at lunch, the total -- before the unlimited -- is at least 1,250 calories. More than 60% of your daily recommended calories for lunch, and again, this is before the unlimited part. A little extra salad and soup, and you have all your calories for the day.

Soup, salad, chips. Sounds reasonable. It isn't. It's not Right.

Watch your bottom with Red Robin bottomless fries

Please tell me I'm not the only person in America that thinks the restaurant, Red Robin, single-handedly is trying to make sure everyone stays fat.

The chain which started in Wisconsin is now expanding into the Northeast where I live. I saw my first Red Robin TV commercial, and I could not believe my eyes or ears. Red Robin was touting to America -- like a bartender at a AA meeting -- to come on down and have "bottomless" fries. That's right, it's not bad enough that its "Whiskey River BBQ burger" has nearly 1,000 calories, but to complement it, they give you unlimited fries. A normal order (of about 10 fries) has nearly 400 calories. But don't try to confirm those numbers on Red Robin's website. It refuses to list nutritional information.

Back to those "steak fries", (and isn't that interesting they are called "steak" fries). Is that because they have as much fat as steaks, but none of the protein?

Red Robin gets my nomination as the worst food in America this week. Its motto is: "Honest to goodness ingredients."

George Orwell was right: think about that doublespeak. Red Robin manages to tell you that its food is honest and good. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are not honest with the calories, and there is nothing good about shoving unlimited steak fries in your mouth.

Restaurant serves "illegal" portions

America doesn't need too-large of portions served at restaurants.

In Buffalo, New York there was an illegal reason the Mexican restaurant was serving extra large portions. The owners were arrested for using illegal aliens, not paying minimum wage and then skimming the profits.

When you see (and eat at) a place that doesn't make economic sense, there's usually a reason. And many times it's because it's illegal.

The Buffalo News reports: "When El Caporal, a Mexican restaurant across from Cheektowaga High School, got a review from Cheap Eats in The Buffalo News, the reviewer gave it 3 1/2 pennies out of four.

“Appropriate for a restaurant bearing the Mexican name for a ranch manager,” reviewer Anne Neville wrote of El Caporal, “this is a place to strap on the feedbag for a real south-of-the border experience.”

Federal authorities seconded that comment Wednesday when they arrested the restaurant owner as an illegal Mexican alien. They said he paid for workers to be smuggled across the border to work at El Caporal and in six other restaurants he owns in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Simon Banda, 41, of Depew, was awakened at 6 a.m. Wednesday by agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau when they raided the Lancer Court Apartments.

Located on Union Road across from the high school, El Caporal developed a reputation as a place where hefty portions of food were served for a reasonable price.

The investigation had shown the undocumented workers were forced to work up to 70 hours a week in Banda’s restaurants for $600 every two weeks, the two lawmen said. Half of their wages went back to Banda, they said, to repay the smuggling fees.

In addition, Banda skimmed half of the operating profits from each restaurant, according to statements of Nelson Yera Jr., an Immigration and Customs agent, in a lengthy affidavit for search warrants.

Finally New Yorkers will know what they are eating

New York City has hundreds and thousands of rules and regulation. Those laws and policies control nearly every square inch of the world's busiest city. But until yesterday, there was no law allowing New Yorkers to know what they were eating. Oh sure, there are laws to keep the places clean and hopefully free from contiguous diseases, but to help you in your battle of the bulge, there was nothing the Health Department could do.

That changed when a judge ruled the city can require fast food restaurant chains to display calorie counts.

And by the way, what a bunch of post-digested pasture grass, are the industry's arguments:

• it's too complicated,
• it's too hard,
• it's too flawed,
• it's too patchwork,
• it's too confusing,
• it's too contradictory,
• it's too local,
• it's too much information on the menu...
  

The menu labeling regulation is designed to let you know the calories at the time you are eating the calories. No one is stopping anyone from eating a 1,169-calorie burrito from Chipotle. But I bet it will make you at least consider the burrito bowl at 489 calories instead.

And read the National Restaurant Association Chief Apologist's statement below. They are willing to put calorie information everywhere in the world, just not on the menu board where you might actually read it as you order. No, they say you should carry your laptop and access their website as you order (and that's not complex). Or you should carry around 25 different brochures and a calculator should you decide to visit a fast food place in the city (and that's not too flawed).

The food at McDonald's and Burger King is not as bad as the attitude of the industry. And the food is pretty bad.

The fast food industry is fighting tooth and nail to prevent you from seeing calorie information.

From Fox Business.com: "Today's ruling on the New York Board of Health's menu labeling regulation is extremely disappointing. Its flawed approach won't ultimately help consumers receive nutrition information that is useful to them," said National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney. "If this is allowed to go into effect, there could be a patchwork quilt of confusing and contradictory local regulation.

"A significant number of the largest chain restaurants in the country are already providing nutrition information in a host of different ways, and the trend is that more are offering detailed information in convenient formats every day - including brochures, posters, in-store computer kiosks and web sites.

"We are also seeing technology trends that are allowing consumers to access restaurant nutrition in new and innovative ways. The National Restaurant Association has partnered with HealthyDiningFinder.com, a search engine that allows consumers to find nutrition information from more than 55,000 restaurants across the country. And there are other products and programs that are allowing customers to access nutrition information from almost anywhere, through cell phone text messaging and other means.

"We are committed to working collaboratively with all parties to establish a uniform policy that provides consumers access to accurate and relevant information in a way that is meaningful to them."

From the NY Daily News: "A federal judge gave the city the green light on Wednesday to force fast-food chains to list calorie counts for items on menu boards - a change many New Yorkers welcomed.

'The more information the better,' said Barbara Kadish, 60, a retired teacher from Tudor City, Manhattan.

Carol Dawson, 58, of Flushing, Queens called the plan 'an excellent idea.' Too often, she said, she orders by 'the picture and my appetite. But this will raise my awareness.'

The Health Department has battled harsh resistance from fast-food favorites since it ordered them to post a menu item's calories alongside its price on bright menu boards.

The Health Department estimates the regulation will prevent at least 150,000 New Yorkers from becoming obese and 30,000 of them from developing diabetes in the next five years.

The policy is set to go into effect on April 22 but enforcement of fines won't begin until June 4.

"It doesn't hurt anyone to add the calorie information," said Joe Bermudez, 64, a retired economist who is borderline diabetic. "I have to be careful about what I eat."