Vault: This menu might change the way she eats

Summary

The Bert Show: "Vault: This menu might change the way she eats" (May 26, 2026)

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Episode Overview

In this lively, candid episode, The Bert Show team dives into a surprisingly divisive issue: the impact of displaying calorie counts and nutritional facts on restaurant menus. Prompted by one member's post–Black Friday breakfast dilemma at IHOP, the cast and callers share personal stories, argue the pros and cons of menu transparency, and explore the insecurities and judgments that often accompany food choices, especially in public. The conversation touches on personal responsibility, societal pressures, and cultural perspectives around eating out, all delivered with The Bert Show's signature humor and authenticity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shock of Full Nutritional Disclosure

• Country Omelette Lover's Dilemma (01:30–04:10)

  • Recounts a family tradition of post–Black Friday breakfast at IHOP.
  • Expresses dismay upon seeing every menu item labeled with calorie, fat, carb, and sugar counts—not just a "healthy section."
  • Quote:

    “I could not get my country omelette because it showed 1600–2000 calories.” — Country Omelette Lover (03:10)

• Cast shares laughter and incredulity at the calorie counts, noting that enjoyment can be zapped by too much information.

2. Should Menus List Calories?

• Arguments Against: Personal Responsibility (04:07–05:12)

  • Practical Eater: "It's your responsibility for your own eating... It's not the restaurant's job to be your health doctor." (04:07)
  • Skepticism about whether transparency changes anyone's choices at indulgent places like McDonald's or Cold Stone Creamery.
  • Some argue that visible calorie counts may prompt guilt but not necessarily lead to healthier choices.

• Arguments For: Informed Decision-Making

  • Nursing Student Caller points out:

    “...when somebody gives us the information, it makes it harder for us to rationalize and justify why we're going to have that country omelette... We don't want to have to be held accountable for knowing all the facts before we make that personal decision.” (06:46)

  • Fitness Enthusiast: "When you're held accountable for the choices you make because you have all the information, you make a more informed decision." (08:09)

3. Judgment, Remorse, and Social Pressure at the Table

• Paranoia Over Public Food Choices (05:17–06:16)

  • Country Omelette Lover confesses to feeling judged:

    “It literally took me 20 minutes to decide what I wanted to eat because I thought everyone around me was going to judge my food because of the calories.” (05:17)

• Gendered and Cultural Perspectives on Food Judgment

  • Fitness Enthusiast challenges the group to admit bias:

    "How many people would judge the heavy woman more than the... thin one?... Be honest with yourself and tell me that you haven't looked at a heavy woman eating a big plate of food and think to yourself, ‘Well, honey, if you did eat all that, then that's...’” (11:48)

  • Cultural Perspective Speaker notes:

    “...to the African American culture... it would be insulting just to have a little puny plate at Thanksgiving because you know how hard everybody cooks... There are more things to worry about, especially if you're taking care of yourself. It’s okay to go to IHOP once a year... just relax.” (10:35–11:14)

4. Indulgence vs. Guilt: Can We Ever Just Relax?

• Diet Skeptic proposes periodic indulgence:
  • "For three days, give yourself this mental just relaxation. Eat whatever you want and worry about it when you get back... Most women are not capable of doing that." (10:04)
• Cast discusses the persistent remorse many feel after indulgence, especially women.

5. Misconceptions and Menu Tricks

• Misleading “healthy” options:
  • Diet Skeptic: "…if you go to a Taco Bell and you order the salad... it’s the fattest thing that you can get on the menu... if you eat that shell, that’s like eating 19 burritos right there." (12:37)
  • Practical Eater: "Salad dressing is the kiss of death, right?" (13:01)
  • Emphasizes that education is lacking; most people don’t realize what's truly healthy.

6. Special Considerations

• Fitness Enthusiast mentions those with chronic illnesses, noting that standard menus rarely accommodate specialized dietary needs. (13:19)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You don't really notice like the fat, calories you're eating... You just want to go there because you like it.”
  — Country Omelette Lover (02:05)

• “It's your responsibility for your own eating. It's not the restaurant's job to be your health doctor.”
  — Practical Eater (04:07)

• “We're getting defensive because... when somebody gives us the information, it makes it harder for us to rationalize and justify why we're going to have that country omelette.”
  — Nursing Student Caller (06:49)

• “You wouldn't go buy a house... without all the facts on the home being listed. You don't just look at it and say, hey, that looks good.”
  — Nursing Student Caller (08:11)

• “If you have stepped foot in the door, then just go. Just go all in. Like, you can't dip your toe in the pool. You've got to dive head first.”
  — Fitness Enthusiast (06:08)

• “How many people would judge the heavy woman more than the... thin one? ...Tell me that you haven't looked at a heavy woman eating a big plate of food and think to yourself, ‘Well, honey, if you did eat all that, then that's...’”
  — Fitness Enthusiast (11:48)

• “People don't know that sometimes salad dressing is the kiss of death.”
  — Practical Eater (13:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:30–04:10: Country Omelette Lover’s story & first reactions to calorie counts on menus
• 04:07–05:12: Debate: Personal responsibility vs. restaurant obligations
• 05:17–06:16: The social pressure and paranoia of eating in public
• 06:46–09:02: Nursing Student Caller’s perspective; accountability and informed decisions
• 10:04–11:46: Cultural perspective, indulgence, and the difficulty of relaxing around food
• 12:37–13:10: Menu tricks and hidden calories in “healthy” options

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Tone & Flow

The episode is playful, candid, and at times self-deprecating, with lots of laughter and tongue-in-cheek admissions of guilt or indulgence. The cast’s diverse viewpoints create a dynamic, relatable conversation that oscillates between humor and sincerity, highlighting both the complexity of food choices and the social/emotional baggage they often carry.

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Summary

For anyone who’s ever stared down a menu and debated between flavor and “good choices,” this episode of The Bert Show serves up a buffet of relatable anxieties and hard truths. From personal anecdotes to sharp-witted observations, the team unpacks calorie labeling with honesty and humor—reminding listeners that food, judgment, and self-worth are inextricably linked, but maybe, just maybe, we can all relax a little and enjoy the (occasionally 2000-calorie) ride.

Transcript

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[Country Omelette Lover]

show so this was probably a couple of weeks ago because we did the whole Black Friday thing. Me and my mom and my aunt always go out and we get done pretty early, around 8 o' clock in the morning, so we always go and have breakfast. Well, my dining experience at this one particular place was ruined all by a menu. So we go into ihop and the normal thing I get at ihop, it's so good in the morning and you go there and you have your one thing that you really love there for. For me it's a country omelette because those are the bomb. They're huge so you can't eat them.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Fit the one with like the ham, cheese, everything.

[Country Omelette Lover]

It's got everything. The hash browns, the cheese.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

I think they even put sour Cream on it to make it even less healthy.

[Country Omelette Lover]

And it's so good. And I mean, you don't really notice like the fat, calories you're eating or any of the calories in it. You just want to go there because you like it.

[Diet Skeptic]

And it's an omelet. How unhealthy can it be? Who cares if there's sour cream and cheese? It's an omelette, man. This breakfast is delicious by nature. It's healthy.

[Practical Eater]

And you're gonna burn it off all day.

[Diet Skeptic]

Absolute.

[Country Omelette Lover]

You've already been burning it off. We've been walking around shopping.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

They tell you not to skip breakfast, so eat on.

[Country Omelette Lover]

So we all go to sit down, open up the menus and every item, every item, I'm talking from the appetizers to the end of the menu with the desserts has the calorie amount, the sugars, the carbs in it, everything listed under every single item. Not just under, because you know, under normal menus they have like the healthy ones where you can like pick and choose and you see what calories.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Yeah, that heart friendly page that nobody reads.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Right, yeah, Healthy.

[Practical Eater]

The healthy fare.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Unless you're on your way home from pacemaker and surgery. You didn't even look at that.

[Country Omelette Lover]

They had calories on the menu for everything.

[Practical Eater]

For everything. They have fat grams too. Yes, everything.

[Country Omelette Lover]

And I could not get my country omelette because it showed 1600-2000 calories.

[Diet Skeptic]

I can't believe they would volunteer to do something like that. That must be some kind of legal deal that they had to do. Well, there are some places though, like they're, they're sort of like the. It doesn't much matter anyway if they have the calories listed anyway. I mean, if you're going to.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

If I'm going to Cold Stone.

[Diet Skeptic]

If you're going to Cold Stone. Yeah, right.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

It's not because you just got off two hours on the treadmill. You don't even go to Cold Stone because you're going to get a nice drink.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

Yeah.

[Diet Skeptic]

You have very few healthy options anyway. If you're going there, you're going there to crush your diet. That's it.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

But I'm sure it is the law because there are people who, you know, want. Because it is hard to go out and eat and be really healthy, unfortunately. It's unfortunate to say, but that's the truth. I don't think so.

[Diet Skeptic]

I disagree with you. I think there's always something on the menu that you can find this healthy no matter where you go. If you're really committed to it, but it's a struggle. And you got to know what you're doing right.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

And it shouldn't be a struggle for the majority of your experience. Should be easy to find something healthy when you really have to look.

[Practical Eater]

Yeah, but it's your responsibility for your own eating. Like, you're responsible for whether you eat out or eat at home, or you're responsible for what you choose off the menu or what you don't. It's not the restaurant's job to be your health doctor.

[Diet Skeptic]

Especially if you're going to a place like McDonald's where you know.

[Practical Eater]

Yeah, those kind of stories where people blame McDonald's for their kids being fat, and then they go, sue them. Like, that drives me crazy. Your kids aren't fat because of McDonald's. Because you're too lazy. You're too lazy to figure out how to actually cook a decent meal.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

I'm too lazy to cook at home. And that's why you're obese.

[Nursing Student Caller]

I would.

[Practical Eater]

Right, because it's more expensive, by the way, to go to McDonald's every single day than it is to go grocery shopping and get something healthy.

[Diet Skeptic]

But how come some restaurants do it and others don't? Like, we're at McDonald's quite a bit for the kids Now, I wish my kids were a little heavier, but when I go and I look at the menu, it bums me out. But there are other places. Like, I don't see it as prominent. If we go to Burger King, I don't want it.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Some places have it separated from the actual menu. There's some, like, sub shops and stuff that have the card. Like, if you want to go see.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Check it out.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Go check it out if you want.

[Practical Eater]

That's smart.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Let me Google it. What's it called?

[Diet Skeptic]

At least it's an option.

[Practical Eater]

It doesn't need to be in all faces. It's not the restaurant's job to do that.

[Country Omelette Lover]

It literally took me 20 minutes to decide what I wanted to eat because I thought everyone around me was going to judge my food because of the calories. Because they can look on this menu and say, oh, she's eating 2,000 calories this morning. Great.

[Diet Skeptic]

Now we're getting back into that conversation about how women are so into their own heads about everything they eat. There's nobody in that restaurant that's judging you on what you're eating because everybody else is in there eating the same damn thing. Well, no, they're relieved. I would think if you're eating that much and something that's not good for you. It probably gives them an excuse to eat the same thing.

[Practical Eater]

They probably are relieved. Yeah.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Well, then when you have the health conscious person at the table, then you're like, oh, what are they gonna think

[Fitness Enthusiast]

if I get this long? I make fun of people who eat healthy at BE places. I mean, not, I mean, awful, traditionally bad food places. And ihop. Yes, you're a great place. And that's where you're. You're a guilty pleasure. And so is Cold Stone Creamery.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

It's like going to McDonald's and getting a salad shaker.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Yeah.

[Country Omelette Lover]

If you.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

I will make fun of you because if you have stepped foot in the door, then just go. Just go all in. Like, you can't dip your toe in the pool. You've got to dive head first.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Yeah.

[Practical Eater]

If you're gonna go there.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

You know what you're getting into?

[Country Omelette Lover]

Mail.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

What?

[Practical Eater]

You're.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

Go home.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Absolutely.

[Diet Skeptic]

Don't.

[Nursing Student Caller]

I'm not.

[Diet Skeptic]

I'm not forgetting to put the. The cheese on my quarter pounder just because I'm gonna save 100 calories and order a diet. Yeah, that's gon.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Or a water.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Hey, can I have one of those third pound Angus burgers, please? But go easy on the menu.

[Practical Eater]

Yeah, thanks. I don't want any super extra triple large Diet Coke. Shut up.

[Diet Skeptic]

Hey, Hannah. Good Morning. You're on Q100. Hi.

[Nursing Student Caller]

Hey. I listen to you guys every morning on my way to school, so thank you. Thank you for that. Anyway, I have a comment about you guys, and I just think it's really funny. I'm actually about to graduate nursing school, so nutrition and health awareness is like a really. Guess a really big push in bachelor's programs now. And we had a conversation, actually a debate about a semester ago about should people put the calories and fat content, you know, nutritional facts on a menu? And a lot of people said no. Absolutely not. Exactly what you guys are saying. It's a personal decision. But I think we're getting defensive because that personal decision, when somebody gives us the information, it makes it harder for us to rationalize and justify why we're going to have that country omelette, which is my favorite too. But we get defensive about it because, well, no, this is my personal decision. And we don't want to have to be held accountable for knowing all the facts before we make that personal decision. I'm all for it. I think exactly what you guys are saying. You're not going to not put the cheese on your quarter Pounder. So put the cheese on Your quarter pounder. Just know when you went into it that that's an extra hundred calories. That's an extra 10 minutes on the elliptical when you get to the gym.

[Diet Skeptic]

So what are you saying? That if the calorie stuff is not up, if the ingredients are not up, then it's easier for you to go ahead and eat that stuff, because you could always sort of subconsciously say, I didn't even know how bad it was for me. But if it's there in front of your face, then all of a sudden, it's. It makes it way more difficult.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

Exactly.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

When you're held accountable for the choices

[Nursing Student Caller]

you make because you have all the information, you make a more informed decision. We wouldn't go and buy a house, you know, without all the sex on the home being listed. You know, you don't just look at it and say, hey, that looks good. That's yummy. I'm going for that. And if you're going to Cold Stone, you already know it's all in the toilet. You know, y.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Well, before it gets to the toilet, it's gonna be my tummy. It's gonna feel good. So I think that I don't necessarily disagree with the calorie count being listed. You know, I do think. I wonder if instead of being right there, if it's. It's somewhere available. I do agree, because I want the labels on my food in the grocery store to tell me exactly what's in there, because I do think that it allows me a more informed decision. Because if I am a workout, you know, person, if I am following Katie Jo's lead and I'm making sure I'm looking at everything, then if I want to indulge, then I'm able to go to IHOP or Coldstone and see exactly how much I'm indulging.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

The flip side of that isn't. Wouldn't you think the flip side of that is the treadmill. Who, after you've been on it for what seems like four months, you move the magazine to the side and notice that you've gone. Burned a total of 41 calories, even though you're pretty sure that your legs are on fire.

[Diet Skeptic]

Who told you that story?

[Health-Conscious Friend]

That is the. Like. That's the. You don't want to be held accountable. Like, I want to know that if I get on the treadmill for 15 minutes, I have canceled out the country omelette.

[Diet Skeptic]

I had this wish. Good morning, Tracy. You're on Q100.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

Good morning. I think that when you go to a Place like ihop and you know that there's calories and things like that. If you're with your friends, I don't think. I think you should just relax. I mean, why are you worried about what they're going to think or judge you or the people around you are going to judge you for what you eat? You're in a restaurant, you're there to have fun. You're there to socialize and have some good food. I think it's. I mean, you shouldn't be in a position to. Where you worry about what people are going to think about you.

[Diet Skeptic]

Yeah, we're starting to regurgitate the same conversation we had a couple of weeks ago when I made the suggestion over Thanksgiving weekend that if you're very conscious about what you put in your body as far as food goes, and you're always sort of stressed out about your diet, for three days, give yourself this mental just relaxation. Eat whatever you want and worry about it when you get back. Right. But for three days, eat turkey and mashed potatoes and put gravy on there and really indulge. And what we found is that a lot of women aren't capable of doing that. Most women are not capable of doing that.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

Well, I mean, to me and, you know, to the African American culture, if you are, you know, I mean, I won't say I can't speak for all African Americans, but, I mean, it would be insulting just to have, like, a little puny plate at Thanksgiving because you know how hard everybody cooks. Just whatever it's about, I think it goes more subconsciously or mentally to where it's like, okay, are you truly starving yourself? Why do you care so much about what people think? You're taking care of yourself. You're eating healthy 364 or three days out of the year.

[Nursing Student Caller]

Relax.

[Cultural Perspective Speaker]

There are more things to worry about, especially if you're taking care of yourself. It's okay to go to IHOP once a year or twice a year, even three times a year. Just relax.

[Diet Skeptic]

I agree, but most were saying that the word that I heard more than anything else when we talked about that was remorse. If you do that, there's just such deep remorse about it.

[Practical Eater]

And, yeah, I think that all of that is great. In theory, we can all subscribe to that theory. But I think when you're actually in this situation, you do feel like other people around the table are judging you. For what? For what you're ordering. Especially if they're ordering healthy.

[Country Omelette Lover]

Well, you can see it on the menu now.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Well, if There's a skinny white girl sitting at a table eating, you know, what did you call it? What's the name of the country omelet. Country omelette. And an overweight white woman eating the country omelette at the table. How many people would judge the heavy woman more than the. In the skin in your mind? Be honest with yourself and tell me that you haven't looked at a heavy woman eating a big plate of food and think to yourself, well, honey, if you did eat all that, then that's.

[Health-Conscious Friend]

Women even.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

We do judge each other, but women

[Health-Conscious Friend]

even look at the skinny woman and go, oh, my God, how does she get away with that?

[Fitness Enthusiast]

Kind of. It's not just women. I think a guy would look at a big girl's plate and think that

[Health-Conscious Friend]

people used to give so much grief to Tracy St. George when she used to work here because every single day she would have McDonald's or Burger King or Chick Fil, a Doritos, Wendy's, all for lunch.

[Diet Skeptic]

And so has to find that rail thin.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

But her call is 361call I didn't

[Diet Skeptic]

get to, which I think is a really great call. And it's a really important point, is that sometimes when you go to those fast food restaurants, it's a little bit deceiving. Like if you go to a Taco Bell and you order the salad, the taco salad there, in a lot of cases, it's the fattest thing that you can get on the menu. And people don't know that. You just think that it says salad so it's healthy. But if you eat that shell, that's like eating 19 burritos right there.

[Practical Eater]

People don't know that sometimes salad dressing is the kiss of death, right? You can be eating all kinds of good vegetables and you smother it in that stuff.

[Diet Skeptic]

And the truth is that probably 90% of the people in this country don't know how to eat healthy. They just don't have the education and don't know. So that calorie stuff is probably pretty important stuff.

[Fitness Enthusiast]

And when you have, like me when I. When you have a chronic illness, if you have a specialized illness, it's even harder. It's even harder to go out there and find healthy food. No, no place really serves healthy food for somebody who's sick.

[Veteran Support Representative]

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