The Death of Calorie Cards: Hate it

There’s something different in the d-hall this year. No, the food isn’t better. And no, the hours aren’t longer.

The difference? No nutritional value cards, presumably to make people forget about the existence of calories.

The move doesn’t make sense. Despite the fact that, after last year’s fiasco, HUDS has given us back whole wheat carbs and white chicken, the bounteous array of cream cheese brownies and popcorn chicken doesn’t exactly make it easy for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

While the parents and students who pushed for the removal of calorie cards argue that the cards created a prime environment for eating disorders, the truth is that the cards’ removal actually hurls us into a bubble of ignorance. Imagine trying to pick classes without a course book or Q Guide. Without the cards to guide us, how are we supposed to realize that for every brownie we eat, we could eat approximately 13 pieces of hangover chicken?

And eating disorders as a result of calorie cards? Really? The causes of eating disorders run a lot deeper than a bunch of little papers. Maybe if we attempted to abandon the anal retentive behavior that characterizes us as Harvardians to the outside world, we could effectively steer away from eating disorders.

While staying in shape is not entirely dependent on calorie counting and awareness of nutrition values, such knowledge does more good than harm. The calorie cards serve as a friendly reminder of what we are putting in our bodies—information that is a privilege, and one that we should learn to appreciate rather than ignore.

So c’mon HUDS, give us back our calorie cards…and keep those cream cheese brownies coming.