The holiday season is a notorious harbinger of expanding waistlines and skyrocketing blood sugar levels, often resulting in New Year’s resolutions and new (or renewed) gym memberships. America’s weight problem has long been a public health concern, and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden is taking decisive measures to lower the obesity rate. Having tasted success with the passage of a ban on the use of trans fats in New York City restaurants that spread nationwide, Frieden has set his sights on enforcing restaurant menus indicating caloric content.

According to the New York City Department of Health, Frieden’s proposal would mandate restaurants with 15 or more chains nationwide to list caloric content on their menu boards. This measure is a revision of an earlier proposal which garnered a lawsuit from the New York State Restaurant Association and was vetoed by a federal judge. SB 120, a similar menu-labeling bill for California, was vetoed in October by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a recent interview segment of “60 Minutes,” Frieden staunchly defended menu labeling as an important first step to helping consumers make healthy meal choices and combating the problem of obesity. Frieden is convinced that caloric information will clear up rampant misconceptions in separating the choices that only seem healthy from those that are actually healthy. He cited an example in which a customer at Subway might choose a tuna sandwich over a preferred roast beef sandwich under the impression that tuna is healthier, when in reality the roast beef is lower in calories.

Frieden’s proposal would be of great utility to many fast food patrons — whether they are on a strict diet regimen or simply seeking a healthy lunch option. As noted by Frieden, while several fast food chains have already made this information available to the public, it is not practical to access a Web site to obtain this nutritional information. Furthermore, he hopes mandated calorie counting will encourage restaurants to reevaluate their meal items and consider healthier ingredients.

However, while menu labeling would provide a very convenient location for calorie information, such an in-your-face display would result in a very poor dining experience for patrons who are unconcerned with calorie counts. The meal choices of such consumers are not likely to be changed by nutritional information and most, if not all consumers, do have a rough idea of what is and isn’t healthy as articulated by Richard Berman in “Americans Should Still Have a Right to Guilt Free Eating.”

As the New York State Restaurant Association pointed out in its lawsuit, the proposal unfairly targets fast food chains that have voluntarily provided such nutritional information under the premise that they should post this information on their menu boards since they have already done the calculations. Delis and Chinese restaurants are among those untouched by the measure. If the goal is to empower customers to make informed meal decisions, why restrict regulations to restaurant chains? Why not regulate all restaurants? The New York Department of Health reports that the measure would only apply to 10 percent of New York restaurants. As opponents such as Berman point out, Americans can consume just as many unhealthy calories in a plate of chow mein as a Big Mac.

Thus, with a diverse consumer base, legislation should attempt to better accommodate diners from all regions of the health-conscious spectrum. For example, sit-down restaurants could print menus with and without caloric information and ask patrons which menu they would prefer. Fast food venues, valued for their expediency, could provide such information on-site, in the form of easily accessible posters or convenient pamphlets and make sure that patrons are aware that such information is available. This way, those who want to know how many grams of fat they will be consuming can easily access the information, while those who prefer to eat “guilt-free” need not be burdened by ominous calorie figures or the guilt of indulgence.

Which eateries will be the next targets of menu labeling? College dining halls? Hospital cafeterias? In these situations, it would be incredibly difficult to compute the caloric value of each dish, as menus change daily. If menu labeling were implemented in such cases, culinary diversity would have to be sacrificed at dining locations where variety is most valued.

Ultimately, public health comes down to more than healthy eating choices. The public needs to be reminded of the necessity of a healthy lifestyle which includes exercise, portion control and good lifestyle decisions.

Frieden’s goal of making restaurant nutritional information more accessible to the public will undoubtedly help health-conscious consumers make more informed decisions. Nevertheless, his proposal should be less intrusive to those who want to enjoy a guiltless McFlurry at the end of a long day.

Kristine Ongaigui ‘10 is the Health Research Fellow of the Roosevelt Institution at Stanford and is majoring in biology.