Over the past few years it has become a trend for many restaurants to provide the number of calories of their food next to each item on the menu. But what if putting the amount of time it would take to burn off those calories was listed on the menu instead? A recent study conducted by Dr. Meena Shah and Ashlei James from Texas Christian University showed that menus that provided calories in terms of exercises caused people to order less food and food with fewer calories whereas menus that only provided the number of calories did not have this effect.
This may seem like an intimidating thing to see when you walk into a restaurant, but it actually could be a great way to encourage exercising. So, instead of thinking of the exercise and calorie menus as scary, think of them as motivation to become a more active person. Regardless of what you eat, it is always good to get up and be active!
Here are commonly ordered items from popular chain restaurants that provide a calorie count on their menus. Underneath is the amount of time it would take to burn off those calories. We can get through this together.
Starbucks- Tall white chocolate mocha: 370 calories
Photo by Lindsey Law
Running: 33.3 minutes
Biking: 1 hour and 25 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour and 14 minutes
Panera- Chicken cobb salad: 650 calories
Photo courtesy of www.shopcoralgables.com
Elliptical: 52 minutes
Swimming: 1 hour and 37 minutes
Walking the dog: 2 hours and 49 minutes
Noodles and Company- Wisconsin mac & cheese: 1040 calories
Photo courtesy of www.onmilwaukee.com
Running: 1 hour and 33 minutes
Biking: About 4 hours
Yoga: 3 hours and 28 minutes
Chipotle- Chicken burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, fajita vegetables, fresh tomato salsa, roasted chill-corn salsa, guacamole, and lettuce: 745 calories
Photo by Molly Krohe
Elliptical: About 1 hour
Swimming: 1 hour and 52 minutes
Walking the dog: 3 hours and 14 minutes
McDonalds- Quarter pounder with cheese: 520 calories
Photo courtesy of www.pitchengine.com
Running: 46 minutes
Biking: 1 hour and 59 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour and 44 minutes
Domino’s Pizza- 1 serving size of a medium thin crust cheese pizza (unfortunately that is only 1/4 of the pizza): 330 calories
Photo courtesy of visitkoreatown.org
Elliptical: 26 minutes
Swimming: 50 minutes
Walking the dog: 1 hour and 26 minutes