Fat chance of (diet) reform during holidays

You might remember a few months ago when I wrote about menu labeling. There was a provision in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s Affordable Health Choices Act that would require certain restaurants to post nutrition information on their menus.

As it turns out, the House-passed health reform bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962), also contains such a provision.

This provision appears to be substantially similar to the one in the Senate HELP Committee’s bill. But today, we’re not going to discuss legislative text (did you just let out a little cheer? It’s ok. I did, too.).

Instead, in honor of Thanksgiving (which is a mere week away!), let’s take a look at the nutritional aspects of some popular Thanksgiving menu items.


Food         Calories          Fat           Carbohydrates*     
2 ounces    70                 2.5g             1g                    
turkey

1/2 cup      99                7.18g           7.25g               
gravy

1 ounce     160               1g               21g                    
stuffing

1 cup        180               0.1g            41g                
sweet
potatoes

1 cup       418               0.6g             107.8g            
cranberry
sauce

1 slice     229                10.4g            29.8g                 
(3.8 oz)
pumpkin
pie
*Sources: www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate and www.calorieking.com

Now are you going to skip that pumpkin pie in light of this information? I didn’t think so.