Restaurant dishes ‘contain more calories than fast-food meals’

“Can this really be true?  A study published today by the BMJ states that there are excessive calories in meals provided in sit down restaurants, an average of 1,033 kcals and were found to exceed that found in fast foods, where the average was 751 kcals. 

Public Health England recommend as part of their plan to reduce the incidence of being overweight or obesity particularly in children, that meals should not contain no more than 600 kcals!  So an average meal in a sit-down restaurant equates to two meals in one sitting!  It was also found that restaurants were five times more likely to offer high calorie meals of 1000 kcals or more than fast food restaurants.  

Surprised?  When we eat out in sit-down restaurants for the majority of us it is a social occasion or a treat.  So who cares about the amount of butter, cream, mayo or cheese that is used to prepare our food?  Or how the food is cooked?  It is easy to forget about the added calories.  A further problem is that plate and dish sizes have increased and therefore, so have our portions of food and our appetites.  We do not often like to leave a plate full of food so try and eat as much as possible, or as this study terms ‘plate clearing’.  In a sit-down restaurant, there is also the option of having a starter and/or a dessert, all adding to the calorie content.  Often, there are special offers on two course options as opposed to one by which we are frequently tempted as well as pressure from our fellow diners to ‘go on treat yourself.  And to top off the calorie content, let’s add a bottle of prosecco or our favourite tipple to the mix which also now come with larger glass sizes to fill!  So there may very well be more calories in your sit-down meal than in your fast food option.”

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