With slight apologies to Robert Frost, when it comes to making menu choices, it appears you'll eat less if you know just how many "miles there are to go before you sleep."

That info comes from an interesting study: On a menu with no nutritional data, people ordered meals totaling 1,020 calories; put the calorie count next to each menu item, and folks ate only 927 calories; add how many minutes of walking it takes to burn off the calories, and the total was 916; post how many miles you have to walk to burn off the calories - well, orders fell to 826 calories!

So next time you sidle up to a menu board, consider that if you weigh 150 pounds, you're burning around 90 calories per mile regardless of speed.

-A Big Mac with medium fries (930 calories)? Takes 10.3 miles to walk it off!

-Original Boca vegan burger (70 calories), 100 percent whole-wheat bun (100-200 calories), yellow mustard (9 calories in three teaspoons) and 3 ounces of broccoli carrot slaw (25 calories): just 3.3 miles to walk off 304 total calories.

-KFC mashed potato bowl (680 calories): You're hoofin' it for 7.5 miles.

-Subway chopped salad with turkey breast (110 calories) and packet of honey mustard dressing (80): Gone in 2.1 miles.

One more tip: Turns out that trading 1 mile a day of car travel for 1 mile of walking is an effective way to lose weight, and, say the researchers, it could save billions a year in health care costs.


© 2013 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.