Chain restaurants have revamped menu selections in response to a new federal mandate coming that requires them to disclose calorie counts right next to the food items.

The truly interesting thing is that even the restaurateurs that fought the federal mandate are now making money from menus with revamped calorie counts!

I love the idea of you having access to calorie info. Instead of controlling what you can eat, the government is giving you the info so you can decide what's best for you to eat.

The new federal rules, which follow in the place of various local and state efforts across the country, will only apply to restaurants with at least 20 locations.

Now, I didn't know if people would change their behavior when confronted with calorie counts. But what the restaurants are finding is that if something is north of 1,000 calories, people tend to balk at ordering it. The Los Angeles Times reports that's lead to the following changes:

• Panera had a breakfast sandwich that was 650 calories. After changing the ingredients, it's now down to 350 calories. They also have a variety of half-sandwiches at 250 calories.


• IHOP's standard bacon and eggs breakfast was 1,160 calories. But now they have alternatives like the turkey bacon breakfast with egg whites that drops to calorie count to 350.


• At McDonald's, I have changed what I order for breakfast. I used to get a Sausage McMuffin with egg that had 460 calories. Now I've switched to an Egg McMuffin that has Canadian bacon and checks in at 300 calories.

As the newspaper article notes, salads can be particularly dangerous when you're eating out. With enough dressing and other toppings, a salad can easily be the unhealthiest thing on the menu.

So pay attention to the calorie counts the next time you're out. Those numbers put you in control, not the government. And you know I like that!