Yeah, the barbacoa burrito.

And soon, because of Obama care,

all restaurants with more than 20 locations will be required to post calorie counts.

It’s like how the FDA requires labels on packaged foods.

Yeah it is pretty basic. When you know how much you’re eating, you tend to eat less.

Now, Section 8150, the New York City Health Code states,

"The Health Department will cite violations if you fail to post calorie information."

But the health department doesn’t verify the accuracy of that information.

They told me no one checks to make sure these numbers are correct.

So I thought I’d assume that responsibility.

The actual process of testing caloric content is incredibly complicated and horribly boring.

It involved two food scientists

who were totally patient and answered all of my stupid questions.

Is it pronounced calorimeter?

(repeats calorimeter… calorimeter)

Okay, got it!

We needed the resources that the Obesity Research Lab at St. Luke’s Hospital.

It involved precision beyond anything I’m capable of.

And a lot of Math.

It took us 10 hours to test 5 items.

How much do you stand behind today’s results?

100%

Now, there is very little science put into the selection of food to be tested.

I just tried to pick all the foods that I might eat in a single day.

Some from restaurants and some packaged.

These muffins are everywhere in this city but the nutritional information is impossible to find.

They’re called "Yogurt Muffins".

And the guy at the bodega said, “They are low fat.”

-Low fat? -Yeah, low fat.

This one sign… all yogurt muffin in this side.

They’re pretty healthy.

Yeah… The best!

Alright, thank you!

There is no nutritional information on their website so I called them and they faxed me the data.

According to them, the muffin had an incredible 640 calories.

And it was even more incredible to find out,

they are actually 734.7 calories.

That’s more calories than two McDonald’s Egg McMuffins.

Thoughts on the results from the Nutty Banana?

No! I suspected that it’s gonna be over.

Next stop, the Frappuccino.

A grande with whip cream is supposed to have 370 calories.

The actual count was 392.9.

I can forgive that.

The girls at Starbucks like me.

Here you go!

They probably just gave me an extra squirt.

I used to put this online calorie calculator to add up all the ingredients in my burrito.

It came to whopping 1,175 calories.

Not a huge surprise, this thing is as big as my foot.

Actual count was just over 10% more which is an understandable margin

but nonetheless a lot of unaccounted for calories.

A favorite snack of mine are these vegetarian sandwiches.

They taste okay and are Vegan, Kosher

and according to the label, only have 228 calories.

Plus, in big bold italic red letters, it says, “HEALTHY”.

And this “healthy” sandwich took the trophy for the biggest inaccuracy.

Actual calorie content was nearly double what the label said,

giving this sandwich about the same amount of calories as a BigMac.

Not cool!

And lastly, Subway!

I just didn’t believe that a sandwich this big could only have 360 calories

but I guess that guy Jared knows what he’s talking about.

The only item tested coming under the declared amount was Subway.

Now, this isn’t a conclusive study.

I didn’t test multiple samples.

But I did find that on this day, if I’d base my diet on the calorie count provided to me,

because of the discrepancies in those counts,

I would have consumed an extra 548 calories.

So, today’s 548 calorie discrepancy means I unknowingly ate a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese

or 2 hamburgers worth of calories

or 2 Snickers

or a couple of donuts

which all of that is the question.

If the requirement to post the information is going to be enforced,

why not also enforce the accuracy?

Bye again! Thanks for your help!

Bye! Thanks for having me!

Bye!