The last time I visited my sister in NYC, I found out that New York was a full disclosure state, meaning that all restaurants had to supply the nutritional data of every item on their menu. My sister hates it because sometimes ignorance is bliss when you want a burger and fries and not think of the fact that you're eating your entire day's worth of calories and fat in one meal.

While I do agree with my elder sibling, when you're counting calories and watching what you're eating, it's helpful to have the facts laid out right in front of you so you can try to make the best choices possible because God only knows that something may look healthy on paper, but not in execution.

The reason I bring this up is that I know next Thursday I'll be going to The Cheesecake Factory because it's a friend's birthday and I'm treating her. I'm trying to find nutritional data and see what would be the wisest food choices for me to make, but...yikes (I don't live in a full disclosure state, BTW).

I don't think they should have to put the info on the menu (although it'd be nice), but I do think all restaurants should have to have the info available! It drives me nuts when they don't know.

As far as cheesecake factory, they have some weight management salads listed on their websites, didn't have calorie info though. But this site had most of the menu it looks like http://calorielab.com/news/2007/07/2...its-rochester/

Before I changed my lifestyle (aka started eating healthy) it would have bothered me seeing the calories. When I was 'fat' the last thing I wanted to know was how unhealthy my choices were. Now that I'm conscious of calories, I really prefer to know. If I know I'm going to a certain restaurant (e.g. Cheesecake Factory) I look up the info. online beforehand so I'll know what to get, otherwise I try not to worry too much and just make healthy choices. But life would be so much easier if it was posted on all the menus.

Rashomon: you can get the Cheesecake Factory's nutritional info. online, I used www.thedailyplate.com.

I would love to know the nutritional info of everyplace I was eating. Would I choose to ignore it sometimes? Sure! But it'd be nice to have that info for the other 95% of the time I want to eat something healthy.

I think they should have a menu that has the info and a menu that doesn't and let people have the choice. Also, I think they should break down the calories so that if you make changes (such as no dressing or no crutons), then you know what you're having instead of having to guess. I'm sure that won't ever happen, but a girl can dream, right!

I would strongly prefer that all major restaurants were required to make nutrition information available on request. I will definitely look up information beforehand if it is available, and it has saved me many, many times from making a "healthy" choice that was anything but (like the infamous grilled chicken dish at Claim Jumper that came in at 1900 calories for a half portion). Luckily, since CJ provided the information, I was able to go through the options, find something reasonable, and get out of there on plan.

It was also available in a booklet on the table, separate from the menu. That was nice as well - available but not in the faces of anyone not requesting it.

Oh my goodness! I would LOVE to have all the nutritional facts for restaurants I go to. I hardly ever eat out, and when I do, I mostly get a salad (without anything on it...the waitress always gives me a look...but she's always bigger than me. haha!). I think if people actually knew the kinds of calories that they were eating when they ate out, they would make better choices. Sure you can always order a salad, but when you visually see that a sandwich that you are eating has as many calories in it as what you are supposed to eat in a day, that's a little shocking.

I think that if you are going to eat a burger, you are gunna OBVIOUSLY be eating way too many calories, and you don't need nutritional facts to tell you that.

I like your username btw, I am a huge Kurosawa fan!!

Yes they really should have it available! Mandalinn, that is a good way of presenting it.. not everyone wants it to be in their face while they are trying to look for what to eat, though it still should be in plain sight.

NJ is full disclosure as well, and it's helped out quite a bit. My BF has gallstones and no insurance, so we have to be careful with what we eat.. This one night we were drinking and decided to order what was easiest to order.. Dominos online.. and the next day after we realized all the damage lol, we checked the caloric intake online and it was insane.. even the sandwich he ordered that he believed would be OK if he left out things like cheese, was insane. We have since stopped ordering out and instead we make pizza out of whole wheat pizza dough and skim cheese w/ tons of veggies.. much tastier and much better - so the caloric thing IS really helpful.. Now we made it a rule to not order food and if we want to eat out, we have to walk to this Vietnamese soup place b/c the food is amazing, healthy, and we get a total 4-mile walk!