The next time you get a craving for a McDonalds Big Mac, would looking at the menu and seeing that it has 540 calories make you think twice before ordering? I think it would. Presently, legislation is being discussed by the government as a part of healthcare reform that would make nutritional and caloric information more visible and accessible. As of now, this information is only available online or if it is requested at fast-food restaurants.

If the government makes it mandatory for all restaurants to display caloric information, American obesity is likely to decrease. People who see the tremendous amount of calories in some of the meals they order won’t want to order those meals anymore and would opt for healthier choices. Restaurants would then have to adopt healthier menu options if some of their high caloric items don’t sell anymore. Overall, this would lead to healthier and thinner Americans. Of course, this all depends on if American’s care about their health and wants to change the fact that we’re the most obese nation in the world.

So if you saw that a White Castle large chocolate shake has 1680 calories in it, a Burger King Triple Whopper with cheese has 1230 calories, and a large McDonalds French Fries has 487 calories…wouldn’t you rather get a large diet coke with zero calories, a Burger King hamburger for 290 calories, and a small fries for 224 calories? Then again…maybe a salad would be healthier.