We’re all used to the concept of calorie counting — in fact it’s been central to our thinking on weight loss for more than a century — and now, in the UK it’s become even more visible. As of April the government made it compulsory for restaurants that employ more than 250 staff to display the calorie counts of their dishes on the menu. The initiative, designed to tackle the UK’s massive obesity crisis, has sparked a national conversation about whether the inclusion of the information will have any impact on people’s waistlines (and what it’ll do to their mindsets) facing criticism from experts who argue calorie counting is an outdated concept and “fundamentally flawed” method for calculating what we eat. They highlight that we’re all very different when it comes to metabolising food and say it’s time we ditched the calorie altogether.
Rhiannon Lambert, who’s been a nutritionist for 10 years, is among those taking a stand against calorie labelling, saying it only tells us a fraction of the story. “We eat food, not numbers,” says the 32-year-old who has a nutrition clinic on Harley Street. “Do I think calories on menus will help solve obesity? No. Do I think it’ll impact people’s relationship with food? Yes.”
