By David Donovan, Independent Health

We are a nation on the go.  Between going to work, school, after school and evening activities, sometimes people do not have the time to prepare healthy meals or make good eating choices.  More and more Americans are now reaching the status of "obese," which leads to serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and some forms of cancer.  With that, health care costs can also rise.

It's been a little over a year since the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the health care reform law that set our nation's health care system on a new course to control costs and improve overall health.    Some of the provisions in PPACA are designed to help Americans take control of their health, by making it easier to find healthy choices when eating out.  

A provision in PPACA will require restaurants with 20 or more locations to disclose the number of calories in each standard item on menus and menu boards.  Self-service food items must also have written calorie information on signs adjacent to each item.   In addition to disclosing the calories in menu items, the restaurants will have to provide, upon request, additional written nutritional information to customers.  The additional information includes total fat and saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber and protein. 

Also, vending machines will now display the nutritional information on the front of the labels in eat item for sale.   Many companies have begun to place the new nutrition labels on the products before the March 2011 deadline. 

At Independent Health, we've taken a proactive approach to helping people make healthy choices while they're dining out in Western New York.  The Healthy Options Program, started in 2004 by the Independent Health Foundation, works with area restaurants to offer heart-healthy food options for their customers, items that are items are lower in fat, cholesterol and sodium.  Close to 70 local restaurants participate in the Healthy Options program.   By visiting healthyoptionsbuffalo.com, you are able to click on your favorite participating restaurant and see which healthy options are on the menu. 

In 2007, the Foundation began working with the Taste of Buffalo to require each participating restaurant to offer a healthy option item at the event. In doing so, the Taste of Buffalo became the first food festival in the country to guarantee a healthy options choice.  

Experts believe that when people see how many calories are in a menu item, they may decide to go for a healthier item instead.   As restaurants and companies complete nutritional analyses and redesign menus to make space for the new information, the healthyoptionsbuffalo.com and Taste of Buffalo are at the leading edge of better nutritional choices for all Western New Yorkers.