A beginner’s guide to obsessing over calories

A fast-food chain announced it will inform its customers who stuff burgers and fries into their faces about the nutritional value and the calorie count of its fare.

A press conference was held to tell the media about this move and the fast-food giant said it was doing this in the best interests of its customers.

I am not sure if whoppers were served for the gentlemen of the press because unfortunately I could not be there that day. So to compensate, I went to McDonald’s the next day because all that talk about nutrition had me pining for a Big Mac.

As I stood in line with hyper-active kids and office-goers from nearby, calories were the last thing on my mind.

Firstly, I was starving because I had put off lunch until about 3pm. Not eating on time is terrible, nutritionists say, because when you are in starvation mode one tends to gulp down the food. I dumped the fries on my tray because I couldn’t be bothered with picking one fry at a time from the cardboard container, instead needing a fistful of fries at a time. But then I remembered to ask the Filipina at the counter for mustard because I had read somewhere that it is better to dip the fries in mustard because it has fewer calories than tomato ketchup. I was like a crazed calorie-counter and decided that my other concession on the road to being healthy was to ask for a chicken burger and a colourless soft drink, as I believe it is better than a cola for your insides.

The person at the next table was loudly discussing the cost of water pipes while chomping on his burger and didn’t seem like he was interested in the calorie count of his meal.

Anyway, if you are a person who obsessively counts calories, a Big Mac has 550 calories, a quarter-pounder with cheese has 520 calories and a large serving of French fries weighs in at 500 calories.

Even though the fast-food chain was offering healthy choices such as salads, it appeared everyone was ignoring them. I had tried one such healthy serving but it was a sad affair, even after I dunked the whole of the tiny plastic tub of dressing.

We basically eat food for energy, that we may get on about our daily lives. On an average we should be consuming about 2,000 calories a day, depending on one’s build and gender, according to the nutritionists.

After I finished my tray of tasty food I didn’t feel like getting up; I think there’s a word for that feeling: ‘satiated’. The fries had a nice salty taste, the coleslaw in the burger was sweet and the fresh lettuce was crisp and crunchy. I decided I needed an icecream cone to top off my lunch. After all, it cost just Dh1.

Fast-food chains are now under pressure to disclose the ingredients in their meals because of a world-wide obesity and diabetes epidemic. But I don’t think that concerns many people who just want their meals tasty, cheap and appearing on the table as soon as one thinks about it.

An Australian was offended recently when he found that his foot-long Subway sandwich was actually 11 inches. He took a picture of his sandwich against a ruler which showed that he was shortchanged and the picture went viral.

Many are now suing the food chain for cheating them. There was only one lone comment from Margaret Zakhary, 30, in the US: “It’s probably good that it’s not a whole foot long — I don’t think anybody needs a full foot-long sandwich,” she was quoted as saying.

Just for your information a six-inch sweet onion, chicken teriyaki sandwich has 370 calories, 19 grams of sugar, 17 per cent cholesterol and 1,220 milligrams of salt.