Los Angeles County Supervisor proposes fast food menus show calorie counts

In recent days, the state ordered restaurants to cook without artery clogging trans fats. The Los Angeles City Council approved a ban on new fast food restaurants in some parts of town. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is announcing a proposal that will - hold on to your deep-fried Snickers - put calorie counts on some of your menus. "Most people do not have a clue how many calories they are taking in when they have a milkshake or a double hamburger with cheese and fries," Yaroslavsky said. "This is an incentive for people to make the right dietary choices." Yaroslavsky said health problems brought on by obesity, particularly the troubling trend of teenagers diagnosed with Type 2 adult-onset diabetes, are one of the biggest - and costliest - challenges facing government. "People don't want to be fat or obese. Left to their own devices, people want to be healthy," Yaroslavsky said. "Menu labeling is a powerful education tool. And information is power in the dietary world."

Click here to read the whole article by Rene Lynch of the Los Angeles Times