By Jackson Whiteker
<[email protected]>

As a small underlying part of the health care bill that was recently signed by President Obama, chain restaurants will have to start posting calorie information on menus. This law also applies to vending machines. Sophomore Hannah Wilska believes that this change will affect her everyday life.

“It’ll make me more aware of what I’m eating,” Wilska said, “It’ll probably affect how I eat a little bit because you’ll know what’s in it and the nutrition info.”

According to the White House’s website, chain restaurants that have more than 20 restaurants will have to follow the new legislation.

Junior Marie Romine said the new legislation not affect her as much as Wilska. “(The bill)  won’t because I don’t look at nutrition facts. When I see something and it looks good, I eat it,” Romine said.

Wilska said the legislation will probably help many students choose what they eat. “I think it’ll benefit other people too and it’ll be easier for them to stay healthy,” Wilska said.

On the contrary, Romine said she believes not many students will hear about this part of the legislation and therefore will not pay much attention to the changes it brings about.

Susan Pendergrass, assistant manager for the main cafeteria, said, “I don’t foresee it making a huge impact. The info is there and the kids that want to use it, use it,” Pendergrass said. “I think it’s an overall good thing.”

Pendergrass said she doesn’t think this new legislation will directly affect how the cafeteria works and presents its food items here. “We already show all the nutrition information for everything that we serve. We have to follow strict guidelines because we rely on the federal government for funding,” Pendergrass said.

Wilska said she believes this minor change in how restaurants display products could actually affect many people’s lives. “When people are clearly shown how many calories are in something, it can change their mind about something they eat regularly,” she said.

Romine said she thinks many students don’t have to worry about how many calories are in food. “I have a high metabolism so I don’t really care what I eat,” Romine said.

Pendergrass said that despite what information is shown, the effectiveness of the new law all depends on the attitude of the consumers. Pendergrass said, “The legislation will at least help kids that pay attention and care about what they eat. It might not affect those who don’t care about what they eat.”