Nutritional Information
In the past thirty years or so this country has seen a dramatic rise in obesity, currently one in four Canadians are considered obese, meaning a BMI (Body Mass Index) of over 30. Like anything else, the better educated we are the better choices we can make. Remember when you we're asked if you preferred smoking or nonsmoking? (well okay, maybe not all of you remember that...) It wasn't so long ago that it was acceptable to light and enjoy a cigarette in a restaurant. Trends in food lately have been for more local or sustainable options and these are clearly important issues. But when a farmer or supplier says "local organic butter" we have to say, whoa, it's still butter and that may not be the healthiest option. We need to be conscience of all the issues when deciding what to eat. My goal is not to force you to eat better by limiting our menu, that's not what you go to a restaurant for. My hope is that by including the nutritional information with the regular menu items you can make better informed decisions throughout the day.
We use software called the Food Processor (or ESHA) to help us analyze the menu items. To be honest we have found some limitations with using database software, it requires us to guess on what may the closest match to certain ingredients as well the software does not always take into consideration specific cooking methods. I do feel though that we've managed to come up with some very close estimates to what the actual nutritional composition is. You'll notice that we've listed only four categories of information, calories, good fat, bad fat and sodium on the menu.
Calories
Calories measure the amount of energy in our food and all of our body functions require energy. If we consume more calories than we use though, our body will store the extra energy as fat and years of over consumption can lead to significant weight gain. Listen, everyone uses a different amount of energy, guidelines are based on gender, age, genes and body composition. It's far from an exact science and everyone is different but a good starting point for women is 1500 to 2000 calories per day. Men can consume a bit more; about 2000 to 2500 calories per day.
Fat
Fat just makes food taste good and we all need some fat in our diets for good health. Fat helps us to absorb certain vitamins, however fats are calorie heavy and over time this can lead to putting on the pounds. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recommends a healthy eating pattern that includes 20 to 35% of your daily calories from fat. For Women that can mean 45 to 75 grams of fat a day and for men 60 to 105 grams of fat a day.
Good fats like monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats can help improve blood cholesterol levels. It can be found in
olive oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and fish such as rainbow trout and salmon
Bad fats like saturated and trans fats increase LDL “bad” cholesterol and trans fat can actually lower HDL “good” cholesterol. It can be found in fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, butter, coconut oil, deep-fried foods from fast-food outlets (fries, doughnuts), and many packaged crackers, cookies and commercially baked products.
Sodium
Sodium plays an important role in maintaining proper heart function and fluid balance but most of us consume two to three times the recommended amount. Not all foods high in sodium taste salty. 80% of the sodium we consume is hidden in processed and packaged foods. The daily recommend intake for sodium is 2400mg, which is equal to 1 teaspoon per day.
Here's a breakdown on all the Standard Menu Items, Soups and Desserts that you will be on the menus during the Winter 2012 Semester at PJ's. View the Nutritional Facts
If you have any questions about the Nutritional information on our menu items please feel free to email me. If I don't know the answer I'm sure I can find someone who does. Nutrition is a bit of a hot spot topic, everyone has a different viewpoint and I encourage your feedback on the issue and what we're trying to do here at PJ's
Simon
Instructor for Restaurant Operations courses