Dietitians Urge Restaurants to Give Customers Healthier Meal Choices

Dietitians are urging restaurants to give their customers more healthy meal choices.

An editorial in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) admonishes the restaurant industry in general for contributing to the obesity epidemic in the United States.

"That is why we are asking you as an industry to step up to the plate and redouble your efforts to accommodate the nutrition needs of all Americans, particularly those of the growing number of health-conscious customers you serve every day," wrote Catharine Powers and Mary Abbott Hess.

Powers is director of the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, while Abbott is president of Hess & Hunt Nutrition Inc. in Chicago and a past president of the ADA.

Powers and Hess praised Darden Restaurants, Healthy Bites Grill and Subway for their commitment to providing healthy food choices.

"Unfortuantely, these companies and others like them are the exceptions, not the rule," the authors observed. "These restaurants integrate healthy choices into the entire menu concept, whereas others are offering a boneless, skinless chicken breast sandwich or salad as a token healthful option."

If Americans are to make significant changes in the way they eat, Powers and Hess said fundamental changes are needed at restaurants, noting that each restaurant should offer some tasty, healthful options.

How can restaurants do this? The authors suggest increasing the number of fruits and vegetables offered and including them in dishes people like such as rice, sandwiches, salsas and sauces; providing vegetarian options; using leaner meats; serving right-sized portions; and educating consumers and servers.

Other sources: American Dietetic Association