Keeping track of food

As part of the new Health Care Bill, chain restaurants will be required to post nutritional information. A lot of cities (and states, I think) have already started requiring this so a lot of national chains are already in compliance. And while in general, I avoid chains like the plague (unless I'm in the middle of nowhere, then at least they're a known quantity), we do have a chain diner (Ruby's Diner) near us that I love. The waitresses are all really good and love my son, the food is fresh and it's relatively cheap (yeah, I'm justifying a bit, but the service really is spectacular). Anyway, I made the mistake, uh, informed decision, of looking up the nutritional information before going there for breakfast this morning. I know that restaurant food in general is going to be much higher in calories, fat and sodium than my cooking, but what an eye-opener! Anyway, point being, even when we know we're eating food that isn't great for us, we don't always realize just how bad it really is. The new law can help change that. There will always be times for a splurge, but it's good to keep an idea of how big that splurge really is (like, if I weren't pregnant, I'd have to forgo food for a few days to make up for it!). This is important to remember when feeding children, when neither breastfeeding nor pregnant, and when trying to not slip into the majority in this country who are overweight or obese (and with the amount of eating out people do, it's not always hard to see how).