The Checkup: Wanna See Calorie Labels Next to Your Favorite Wawa Hoagie?

Photo from Flickr user freakapotimus

• If you’ve been reading this blog with any regularity, you already know my feelings on calorie counts printed on restaurant menus. To recap for everyone else: Those suckers work (at least, for me). I found out today that I’m not alone—lots of my fellow compatriots would like to see calorie counts listed on menus and at places like convenience stores and movie theaters. Why? Because we want to know what the heck we’re putting into our bodies, that’s why. The Center for Science in the Public Interest ran a poll and found that 70 percent of Americans want to see calorie counts at movie theaters (anyone want to lob a guess as to how many calories there are in an extra large jumbo tub of buttered popcorn?), and 68 percent want to see calorie labeling on alcohol in bars. There’s more: “Seventy-seven percent of Americans want calorie labeling for the hot dogs, pizza slices, and burritos available at convenience stores, and 81 percent favor having supermarkets provide calorie information for their prepared restaurant-type foods, such as rotisserie chicken, sandwiches, and soups.” Yup, that could mean seeing—in cold, harsh, black-and-white ink—just how many calories are in that classic tuna hoagie from Wawa you’re planning to scarf at lunch. Would ya wanna?

• Hey runners, ever wonder what kind of running surface is best for your knees and ankles? Here’s a really good primer, courtesy of Competitor.

• Colon-cancer screenings are the best way to prevent deaths from the disease, the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Unfortunately, 40 percent of us don’t actually get screened.