The New York Times has an interesting article on the rising trend of decreasing caloric content in popular food items across the country -- particularly in NYC, where recent legislation mandated that stores with more then 15 outlets post the calorie content next the price. Suddenly that Big Mac ain't so appealing! Evidence of the trend, they note, can be seen in chains from Starbucks to -- gasp! -- Dunkin' Donuts!:

Evidence of the calorie’s resurgence is everywhere. The makers of Coca-Cola and M&Ms will soon print calories on the front of packages. Consumers, too, are paying more attention, like the diners who discovered that some meals at Applebee’s had more calories than advertised and filed a class-action suit this fall.

New Yorkers got a harsh dose of calorie reality this summer when restaurants with 15 or more outlets were forced to post the calorie content of food next to the price. The resulting sticker shock has brought parts of a great city to its knees, often to do push-ups.

The campaign has inspired lawmakers around the country to follow New York’s lead.

Restaurants and food companies are lightening recipes and portion sizes. Starbucks, for example, claims to have saved the nation 17 billion calories since last October by swapping 2 percent milk for whole. The 100-calorie snack is this decade’s answer to the fat-free SnackWell cookie, as more brands introduce tiny portions of things like Cool Ranch Doritos and Clif bars.

Dunkin’ Donuts recently added a low-calorie egg white breakfast sandwich, Così is using low-fat mayonnaise and McDonald’s large French fries have dropped to 500 calories this year from 570 last year. Quiznos is testing smaller sizes and less-caloric sandwich fillings in its New York stores. Cathy Nonas of the New York City health department said this is all a reaction to public-health pressure.

Restaurant corporations say consumer demand, not the threat of legislation, made them change. That’s why Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and other fast-food restaurants, will start voluntarily posting calorie counts for individual servings in its restaurants nationwide later this year, said Jonathan Blum, a company spokesman.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. Consumers should be able to make informed choices about the food that they eat. Unfortunately, I think there's been a kind of classist attack on fast food, as if were the worst offender in fattening up Americans. But let's be real: any meal eaten in full at practically any sit-down American restaurant is likely to have more calories than a Bic Mac. We love to blame poor people for America's fatty woes, but I mean, c'mon! It's total fucking bullshit.

Let's say, for example, that you sit down for a meal at Olive Garden, chow down on a three of their breadsticks (150 calories / pop) and polish off one of their oversized potions of pasta -- Chicken Parmigiana, for instance, at 1090 calories / dish -- in that one meal, you've just gorged on over 1500 calories, more than a full day's worth for many people. Even if you downed a Big Mac, a Large French Fry, and a Large Coca-Cola at McDonald's, you'd only hit 1350 calories. Cut the soda to Diet and you'd be at around 1000 calories -- 33% less than the meal at Olive Garden.

I don't mean to pick on Olive Garden here, a meal at just about any American restaurant would be similar in caloric content. Obviously the public health efforts to get people to change their behavior and "eat right" aren't working. More structural efforts (like in NYC) have got to be made.