a peek inside the fishbowl

1 | Mary Lynn

June 8th, 2009 at 9:31 am

I always look for the nutritional information of recipes in cookbooks and newspapers or magazines. I find it annoying if the nutritional information isn’t there…and I’m less likely to use the recipe. I think that information should be included.

2 | are you gonna eat that?

June 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am

Definitely it should be included. What are they hiding if they don’t, and what can it hurt? The more information the better. Consumers are way savvier than ever before.

3 | Anne

June 8th, 2009 at 10:17 am

I`m also less inclined to make the recipe if the NI isn`t there. If it is there and let`s say that it`s a dish that`s high in calories, that doesn`t mean that I won`t make it, it just makes it easier for me to make other choices during the day then I can enjoy the dish without feeling guilty. I don`t like to guestimate the calories and fat when I`m watching what I eat. It`s too easy to go over or under.

4 | Lynn

June 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am

I depend on nutritional information to help me make smart choices and lose weight. Luckily for me I have a computer program where I can enter any recipe, and it gives me a complete nutritional breakdown — so I can always get this info if need be. Still, I think it only makes sense to include this info with recipes in the paper. They could use my program to figure it out!

5 | Katerina

June 8th, 2009 at 11:24 am

There is a great site here where you can enter the info of a recipe and get the nutritional info. Which I do sometimes but probably not as often as I should… If the info is there it definitely affects my decision to make a recipe.

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

6 | Yoni

June 8th, 2009 at 11:48 am

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for spreading the word.

Surprisingly to me, even though I offered to do the work myself, I haven’t heard a peep back from the Citizen.

I will continue to calculate values myself and post them weekly.

Hopefully with enough noise we’ll get something done.

Warm regards,
Yoni

7 | Chantal

June 8th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

You know when I first read this I was leaning towards no. Not that I don’t care, but more that these are recipes. That we can see what we are putting in them and we can adjust things. I doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know that a full stick of butter in hamburgers is going to make them unhealthy. But after I read his article and reviewed some of the recipes I sorta changed my tune. I am quite concerned about the sodium and saturated fat in my family’s food. The more informed the better, and we don’t always have time to figure these things out ourselves.

8 | lizzy

June 9th, 2009 at 5:26 am

It should definitely be published. All the facts should be very clear especially for people watching their fat intake or calorie intake, or sodium intake and then list goes on. This is very crucial information. We should all know what we are eating.

9 | Javamom

June 9th, 2009 at 7:34 am

I’m leaning toward the no myself, although I have found myself to read the odd label for things like salt or sugar. Less so in recipes, more so on the occasional packaged food.

Honestly, I’m more concerned with the whole food aspect than the nutritional information. If a recipe is devised around whole foods, chances are I’m less inclined to check the nutritional information. Having said that, it may be helpful for people who have allergies or illnesses to have access to such information. I have a 6 year old niece with a severe egg allergy, and since egg ingredients come with a variety of names, it’s helpful to have the ingredients and nutritional information published.

10 | DaniGirl

June 9th, 2009 at 11:54 am

Gah, just typed a huge comment and your spam filter rejected it!

Ok, gist of it was that I think nutritional info is far more important on packaged goods than on recipes I will prepare myself. In general, I think we expend too much angst on micro-nutritional issues like calories, % of RDI, grams of this or that, and should focus more on macro ideas like minimizing sugar and saturated fat, and maximizing a variety of fruits and veg. Then again, I’m lucky that I don’t have to worry about allergies or counting calories right now.

11 | andrea

June 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

Katerina – Thanks for the link! I am definitely bookmarking that one.

–

Dani: I’m not counting calories either but many people do!

I think most people would figure out that stuffing your burger with cheese (or something like that) is going to result in a fattier burger, but do they know how much fattier?

Dr. Freedhoff posted the info for the Citizen’s “To-Die-For Decadent Burgers.” Judging by the title of the recipe we can probably guess that it’s not a low-cal dish, but would people naturally conclude that each burger (with no fixings) actually contains 776 calories, 29g saturated fat, 592mg sodium, and 22g total carbs ?

As he points out, the nutritional info is especially important for people on calorie-restricted diets and those with health issues. CanWest/Citizen has the ability to post nutritional info, and it’s fairly easy to do so, so why just do it already?