via caiti anne @ flickr
Welcome to Harpy Seminar, a regular feature we plan to have at regular intervals, unless we get too busy to have it at regular intervals, in which case it shall appear whenever we have time and inclination for it. Each Seminar begins with a question, which we discuss amongst ourselves, and we then edit the highlights of our conversation into a post. Please feel free to join in in the comments!
Note: This seminar was originally conducted prior to Thanksgiving, but we decided to wait until
after the year’s most food-centric holiday to post it.sarah.of.a.lesser.god: So, on the heels of this cartoon I’ve been thinking (more) about the obsessive public calorie counts that go on in our society. Now, in New York City, certain restaurants have to post the caloric values of their offerings, just so you can’t possibly forget that those fries you just ordered were 500 calories. Maybe I shouldn’t be shocked by this, but in all the dialogue about posting calorie counts, the contention seems to revolve around whether or not people have the right to be “babysat” in this manner. But the issue of fat-shaming and reinforcing disordered eating — not disordered in the sense that someone should not order fries, but that these kinds of public displays make it all but impossible for a person battling any kind of ED to not immediately start adding up daily caloric intake.
BeckySharper: I knew we were going to talk about this so it was especially strange that when my mom and I were at Starbuck yesterday she said, “I wonder if the sales of their baked goods have gone down since they started putting up those calorie counts.” We both agreed that we were a lot less likely to get the pumpkin loaf slice because we knew how many calories were in it.
sarah.of.a.lesser.godThat makes me laugh because I am currently noshing on a Starbucks oatmeal raisin cookie. Suck it, calorie counts. I still want my cookie.
BeckySharper: The positive aspect of posting calorie counts is that transparency about what goes into our food and how many calories it has helps keep Big Food honest. Because, like Big Tobacco, we know that they’ve spent years telling us that their product was totally fine even as they loaded it with more and more sugar, sodium, trans-fats and preservatives in order to get us hooked. It took public shaming and the requirement to post the fact that their food was cooked in trans-fats before McDonalds was willing to switch to a healthier frying oil. So in that respect, I am in favor of posting nutritional info, including calorie counts, because so many people eat processed food without having any idea how unhealthy it is. I’m pretty militant about the evils of Big Food, so anything that helps people avoid the damage their products can do is a good thing, IMO.
That said, now that they’re staring me in the face, I find myself mentally totting up calorie counts in a way I never used to. It’s easy to become obsessed and start rationing and putting caps on your consumption the way that cartoon pokes fun at. And I say that as someone who has never had to watch my weight or deal with any kind of eating disorder. I have to actively turn off the calorie counter in my head sometimes, and that irritates the hell out of me.
sarah.of.a.lesser.god: I agree about transparency for Big Food, and I remember certain chains saying “it’ll take forever to take out trans-fats and it won’t taste as good!” I think the larger issue (to me) is the question of who is being shamed? Big Food or the consumers?
BeckySharper: I never stopped to think about whether calorie counts shamed anyone. I guess I would have said they shame Big Food for trying to kill us with fatty sugary crap. But I can see why people who had internalized shame about food/weight would feel judged.
For the record, I don’t think anyone at Burger King would judge you for ordering the Cheezy MegaWhopper with Bacon. They WANT you to order it or they wouldn’t make it for you! It pays their bills, and that’s why it was specifically formulated with your Cheezy Bacon needs in mind. I suppose you might think someone standing in line behind you might judge you, but since they’re likely there to order the same thing, I don’t think they’d be all “OMG, why is she buying that??”
Pilgrim Soul:My parents got me calorie counting early. Around the age of 13 or so my dad was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and we promptly all went on his diet. It is actually the only time in my life I even approached skinniness; I seem genetically susceptible to sugar. At any rate! Thus I actually, out of force of habit, check the nutrition labels on everything I eat. We also cut back to a 30% fat diet at that time, and so actually I tend to eyeball whether something meets that criteria without even thinking about it. There is often a running tally in my head, and I frankly get a little anxious when I don’t know how many calories something is because of it. It just fits my obsessive personality. I sometimes feel like I kind of need the policing; though I’ve never been strictly diagnosed with an ED, doctors have occasionally voiced suspicion that I may suffer from compulsive overeating. Which should really be cured by intuitive eating, which I do try to practice! And which I do find is sometimes helped by calorie counts simply because it helps me feel out whether I’m really hungry, or just looking to eat some feelings.
I can see, therefore, why it would annoy someone like you, Becky, but at this point for me the inner dialogue is so obsessive that without calorie counts I get anxious too. So I don’t think it’s as simple as posting or not posting for anybody.
Sarah, sure the consumers are being shamed, but on the other hand, a lot of fat people report being ashamed to eat in front of anyone, calorie count or no calorie count. When I am out with smaller friends – even the Harpies – I often feel like I am eating too much, or too unhealthily, and although it’s surely absurd, I imagine you to be judging me anyway. It is impossible not to be somewhat self-conscious about food if you are overweight, I think. To feel like you shouldn’t be eating at all, anyway, you fat cow, etc etc, and on and on with the destructive inner dialogue.
All of that to say, I’m conflicted, not least because this is such a tiny part of the problem, to me.
BeckySharper: I think my internal calorie-counter dates from when I went into a depression after the breakup from hell, lost too much weight and had to gain it back. It was the first time I ever learned how many calories I needed per day and I actually started to pay attention to how many calories I was getting and learned how to use it to gain weight. I think the counter just stuck around even after I got healthy, and now it’s messing with my head a little.
True confession: I’m super-obsessive about other aspects of food, like making sure I get a lot of fruits and vegetables–preferably organic–and don’t eat too much red meat. But that’s because we have cancer in my family and I’m terrified of it. So I get really anxious if I’m stuck in a place where the salad bar is all iceberg lettuce and mayo (hello, Deep South!) or there’s no good fresh fruit (hello UK!) or where every meal is heavy on the meat (hello, Latin America!).
sarah.of.a.lesser.god: Yeah, the whole issue is complex. This is a culture that glorifies excess, unless it comes in caloric form, but that begs the question of what (and who) defines excess. To be sure, health issues like diabetes should be addressed and the point is to keep people healthy. And P.Soul, to your point about fat people being ashamed to eat in front of anyone and feel like you’re being judged, that’s something I’ve dealt with as well and wonder if I’ll always deal with. I always calorie count in my head, and now that I’m at a point where I’m trying to stop that, the whole public calorie counts screw around with my resolution.
PhDork: 1) Because I’m vegetarian and poor-as-fuck, I rarely eat out (1-2x a month), and even more rarely at places where calorie counts are required/listed. Maybe Dunkin’ Donuts, maybe once a month. So really, I’ve barely noticed.
2) I don’t have any serious food “issues.” I mean, I’m veg (for ethical/eco reasons moreso than health) and I know to read labels when I shop, so yes, I’m aware that what you eat matters, but I pretty much eat whatever the hell I want, whenever I want it. Sometimes that means I have Nerds and brie for dinner, sometimes I don’t have dinner, and yeah, I *feel* that, physically, so those spells don’t last too long.
That said, I see how the counts could be very shamey and/or triggering for many people, even if I’m of the opinion that what your momma told you in junior high is true: no one is looking at you; they’re all worried about themselves. In any case, I’m not sure if that outweighs the need to be an informed consumer, and for corps to claim some standard against which they can be judged.
I suppose the irony of the posting is that those who are most likely to be concerned–reasonably or not–about calories/weight/whatever are the ones who probably DON’T need the info.
Ideally, McDonald’s would be swallowed into the bowels of the Earth for its many crimes and you could just eat some fucking fries made from an actual potato.
sarah.of.a.lesser.god: PhD, it’s interesting that you mention being poor-as-fuck as one of the reasons why you don’t eat out. Personally, I tend to go to places like Starbucks or McDonalds (I know, I know, rap my knuckles), buy one thing and make it last for half a day so that I can stretch my dollar. I never cook because I have huge anxieties around cooking/baking and because I don’t trust myself around a kitchen full of food, I’m always going to buy individual portions. The added cost of that makes me go to cheap-ass fast food places. (I know, this is kind of tangential, but whatever.)
SarahMC: I counted calories for a few months during college because, y’know, I’m fat, I should be skinny, yada yada yada. But I grew bored of that pretty quickly. Sometimes I will think, wow, I’ve consumed far too many calories today, and I have a tendency to binge on sweets from time to time. My tight budget makes it difficult to eat “right.” During the days leading up to payday I eat whatever I can find: often a bowl of rice or two bowls of cereal for dinner, candy bars for snacks, etc. I also find that living alone makes healthy eating more challenging. My boyf enjoys cooking and makes very tasty, balanced meals. It’s just not worth it for me to buy lots of fruits and veggies or invest a lot of time in cooking when I’m the only one dining. If I were a better planner, I might eat healthier, more filling meals on my own. In general, I eat OK. But I don’t do any habitual calorie counting because in the scheme of things it’s not that important to me.
I don’t precisely count calories (and never really have) but I’m doing WeightWatchers right now. This is an entirely personal decision, and I don’t give a fig about anyone else’s weight, and would never try to shove calorie counts in someone’s face …but, I have to say, since I’ve started calculating the WW “points” for things, I have been thankful to find easily-posted nutritional info.
I do see how putting the info out there could be triggering to some, but as someone who has for a very, very long time just ignored any concept of calories or fat grams in favor of eating whatever seemed delicious at the time, I find the information useful in educating myself about what is really in packaged foods, now that I’m trying to be more aware. I need these calorie counts as metrics of how much energy is in a food, and the fat, fiber and protein counts to determine if it’s empty energy. The “eating instinctively” thing doesn’t work for me right now, because my instinct is to throw myself into nomming all things tasty.
Then again, my relationship with food is fairly friendly – some would say too friendly. I’m over my ideal weight (per my doctor) but I have absolutely no sense of shame about nomming on delicious things in front of anyone. Perhaps I actually need to get some shame? Apparently I’m so not-susceptible to restricted diets and obsessive calorie counting that I need a formalized plan and clear food labeling just to remind myself to exercise some moderation.
After years of calorie counting (and now, I realize, disordered eating), I gave up. I gained all the weight back, plus some. But I generally eat better these days then I ever did during the dieting days. I try to get the requisite veggies and fruits, and limit the carbohydrates. And I’m pretty vigilant about avoid HFCS as much as possible. I try not to slip back into calorie-counting, because for me it doesn’t lead to anywhere good.
I don’t pay any attention to calorie counts and there are two reasons:
1) Food is delicious.
2) It’s a vast oversimplification. The metaphor I like to use is that of cars and gasoline — compared to the human metabolism, a car’s engine is quite simple (we did build it from the ground up after all), and yet gasoline is a complex mix of hydrocarbons and other additives that is consumed at a rate dependent on the car’s make, age, service history, and present usage conditions. If that’s so complex, why would we think the human body is simpler? To simply say “calories in – calories out = weight lost” is flattening out so many different factors about individual metabolic differences (some people digest simple sugars or fats better than others, etc.) as well as the fact that foods are an incredibly complex mix of compounds and determining a single number as the “energy content” is scientifically inane, especially since the assumptions aren’t known by most of the people who are using the information (i.e. consumers). Saying 1 gram of protein contains 4 Kcal of energy is ignoring completely the differences between proteins, for example.
I’m not saying that calorie counts have no value — they’re decent as a relative scale that has very little relation to any hard numbers — but that using only a calorie count to determine how healthy a food item is isn’t, scientifically speaking, very sound.
So, speaking of calories being posted…I have this snazzy Iphone app that helps you count calories- you can plug in your desired weight loss goal and it will tell you how many calories you ‘have’ for the day and if you exercise, you get more, etc. Cool thing was that you could tell it what you ate and it would tell you how many calories you ‘spent’. Ironically, it was a LOT easier to tell it that you had chicken nuggets at McDonalds (or any number of fast food resturants in the database) than it was to enter a homemade salad or sandwich, which had to be entered item by item.
Needless to say, after about 8 weeks of using the app (cheerfully called “LoseIt!”), I was exhibiting some obsessive tendencies and frustrated at not being able to keep the calorie count in the black (recommended calorie intake was like 1600 calories), so i quit using it.
But I will say that knowing calorie counts enables you to make better informed choices, but not always healthier ones. At least if I eat a McGriddle, I now know what its ‘costing’ me.
@Flackette: Perhaps I actually need to get some shame?
Nope. You don’t. Eating is nothing to be ashamed of. Even eating food that is bad for you is nothing to be *ashamed* of, just something to be avoided. Shame is nothing but harmful–and useless–when it comes to eating.
I remember seeing an interview with Ruth Reichl, the NYT restaurant critic and editor of Gourmet and she said that she had an absolute rule not to use “sinful” or “naughty” or “shameless” to describe food that she wrote about, because food is morally neutral and projecting negative judgments onto food was ridiculous and inappropriate.
@flackette: In an email thread earlier today, a few of us Harpies were joking about Big Macs with special shame sauce and the like. As someone who has struggled with anorexia for more than half my life, shame and eating should never ever go together.
@Sarah of a lesser god: I am so glad you wrote about anxieties around cooking/baking. I have the exact same thing and always get accused of just being “too lazy” to cook/bake. No. I literally freeze up when faced with a fridge/cabinet full of food or even a grocery store or cart full of food. I prefer single servings and the thought of making enough food to last a week or enough for a family just makes me freak out. I’m not sure where this comes from bc I’ve never been diagnosed with an ED but I refuse to grocery shop and my full size refrigerator contains water, beer and vodka. That is all. (No, not an alcoholic, LOL.)
If I’m perfectly honest, I really like knowing the calories in my food. But I take part in several sports, including mixed martial arts and other fighting sports. And when one is training, knowing the calories is important.
But one thing I really don’t get – that our country has declared the calorie as the end all be all of nutritional units. I would be ok with a high-calorie meal if it was rich in fiber, vitamins, calcium, ect. A lot of low-calorie foods are low in all the good stuff, too. I’d rather have butritional value disclosed than caloric value alone. But the almighty calorie still seems to dominate, i suppose.
@drahill: That’s really a terrific observation, because once again this is representative of a cultural mindset that favors quantity over quality.
I don’t pay attention to the calorie counts on food. I’m not sure that setting the food on fire and measuring the heat given off is all that useful a nutritional indicator.
I find that the anxiety it gives me isn’t worth it. I could eat what I want, enjoy it, and be relatively happy for the evening or I could not eat what I want, get something with a lower calorie count, feel like I’m going to get fat no matter what, and end up unhappy and hungry for the rest of the night.
I haven’t been confronted with public calorie counts as far as I can remember, but I don’t think they would really be an issue for me. For one thing, I have a good enough memory from my ED days to be able to hazard a good guess at how many calories a given item has anyway, so it’s not like they’d often be telling me anything I didn’t already know somewhere in the back of my head. But I’ve trained myself not to think about it, and I think I’d just have to train myself not to read the labels, too.
I do think people should be more informed about health (many people know shockingly little) but I don’t know if that’s the right way to do it, since calories really are a very reductionist measurement.
Side note: I actually developed a much more positive relationship to food when I went veg. It was a decision that was entirely unrelated to weight, and that forced me to learn a lot more about nutrition (where to get protein from, etc) than I did before, even as an anorexic (which was already a few years back at that point). It also gave me a reason to learn how to cook properly, which I discovered was a way to enjoy food in a whole new way.
Food. It’s something we need to live, and look at what it’s become: a moral, political, and social shit storm. No judging, as I am knee-deep in it. I could write a book. My brain will always perseverate to some degree about food (former ED sufferer). I just take that as a given. These days my focus is on avoiding, as much as possible, processed foods, and other food-like substances. I eat more calorie-rich foods now (cream, butter, whole-milk yogurt, cheese) since the fat-free stuff tends to have binders and fillers that I want to avoid. To the extent that this is a fixation on food, it’s by far the least obsessive and dangerous “fixation” I’ve ever had. I prefer home-made stuff that contains a lot of whole grains and veggies, but if I have to choose between being hungry and eating a hot pocket and canned soup for dinner, I don’t even have to struggle – I do the latter. I’m finally, miraculously, joyously to the point where my body tells me what it needs, and I listen. I can stop eating when I’m full, and I eat (without shame or guilt) when I’m hungry, even if that means getting out of bed at 3 a.m. to eat something because I wake up hungry. I don’t count calories, or fat grams, and I avoided having a scale for a very long time.
That works for me because I don’t have any health issues related to my diet. Recently, however, my fiance found out he has high cholesterol and a bunch of other health red flags. His father nearly died of a massive heart attack when he was in his early 50s, so there’s a family history, too. We’re taking this very seriously. Posted calorie counts are actually pretty helpful to my fiance because he’s pretty oblivious as to what he consumes. We’ve had to modify our approach to food at home, too, and that’s been really tough for me. I hate making dinner more “low fat” because it’s a reminder of my past obsessive ways, and potential trigger for me. But it’s a real health issue for him, and we don’t have the time (or the money) to be making separate meals. By far the worst, though, is that he bought a scale. I resisted for a long time, but recently have been hopping on it, and I need to stop. Post-Thanksgiving, the scale told me I’d gained 4 pounds. Even though I couldn’t even see any difference on my body and my clothes were fitting the same as ever, it made me anxious. Fuck you, brain. And no more scale!!!!!
Ugh, this takes me back to the years when I refused to eat anything that I didn’t know the exact calorie count of. I weighed and measured all my food at home and only went to restaurants that had nutrition information available. It was miserable. I was miserable. That said, I have visited New York and seen the posted calorie counts, but they haven’t caused me any stress or motivated me to alter my eating habits. Honestly I think it’s a bit of theater that makes people feel like something is being done about the “obesity crisis”.
There was a time in my life where I knew the calories of any given item of food off the top of my head. Memorized. It was not a good time. I hate that we’re leaning more towards public posting of calories everywhere because I find it really hard to look at that and NOT get sucked in to calorie counting. Maybe some day it wont affect me as much but even though I have moved on personally from that every time I see posted calories I start adding shit up because if I think real hard I am still pretty good at estimating calorie counts anyway. It’s just like, I get that it might be helpful to a lot of people but personally my reaction is, “leave me alone.”
For me, this just makes eating disordered behavior that much easier. Like bluebears, I used to have everything memorized, but I thankfully have forgotten the calorie counts of hardboiled eggs (with yolk or without yolk) and the rest. But now, I have to see that if I’m going to get a damn doughnut and I’m so on the brink, that anything could push me over.
About the issue of not eating because other people might judge, I understand that completely. I used to be unable to eat in front of anyone and simply refused to eat during most of high school. And I knew that some people judged because I did it. When my life centered around weight loss, I judged everyone around me. Maybe I’m especially off-kilter, but I do assume that other people who are weight centric are judging eaters.
I used to be way too thin when my dad was on Weight Watchers while I was in high school because we’d always wind up discussing calories and points at meals (and there were no snacks in the house). I didn’t need to be anorexic myself because someone else was imposing limits for me, however inadvertently. For years, I put a moratorium on people discussing calories and diets at meals because it makes it nearly impossible for me to eat.
That said, I don’t actually mind calorie counts in chain restaurants. This is because practically all of it is at least a little bad for you–you can wind up with a 1500 calorie salad because of dressing and cheese–and I think it’s better for a lot of people that they know that. My dad, for example, probably inadvertently eats some things that destroy his attempts at dieting. I think knowing about vitamins and fiber is also important though to get a better idea of what sort of bang for your buck you are getting in terms of calories. I like knowing that stuff in the grocery store.
It might spell the end for The Cheesecake Factory, but I’m pretty okay with that.
I have such mixed feelings about all of this. On one hand, making restaurants and other food manufacturers include calorie counts is a way to hold them accountable for all the ridiculous amounts of unhealthy stuff they add to our food. (And calorie counting has always been the best way for me to lose weight. Then again, I get major satisfaction out of budgeting.)
On the other hand, it all goes to the pestilent, harmful idea that women are indoctrinated with since birth — food is our enemy, enjoying food and satiating our appetites is sinful and unnatural. We don’t deserve to nourish ourselves, and being fat is the worst thing that can happen. Eff that noise.
A woman’s appetite is a feminist issue!
Gee, think baraqiel is an engineer in training?
So what do we do about information that, in and of itself, is neutral but can cause stress, shame, or anxiety in some people?Calorie counts are just numbers. Some people may be upset by them, but that’s not the number’s fault, and others may find the information helpful. Do we not talk about food or any of the other subjects that can trigger undesirable reactions? I’m really not being snarky here-it’s a genuine question. How do we balance the legitimate need for information with the equally legitimate need to protect the vulnerable from emotional harm?
I’m an intuitive eater, so posted calorie counts generally make me pause but not change course.
I’ve never been good at dieting, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a diet that lasted more than a couple of days, so I reframed my complete lack of willpower as something positive.
The thing that pisses me off most about diet culture and how this conversation is framed as being about “health” is this: If we were really concerned about people’s health we would stop making this an issue of personal choices and police corporations whose decisions negatively impact the health of millions of people everyday.
We are so obsessed with personal responsibility that we think people should be able to project some kind of bubble of self-defense that keeps us all svelte and healthy even in the face of, I don’t know, free-floating dioxins and stuff.
MM-
I think we need a complete overhaul of how we think about food and health in this country. That includes greater scrutiny and exposure of Big Agribusiness and Big Food, an honest approach towards changing the socio-economic and cultural factors that affect people’s ability to eat and exercise for health, and the immediate death of the notion that weight is the true indicator of health, among other things. Not that I think that’ll ever happen. The “Bigs” and the Diet Industry are capitalism’s sweethearts, and so long as money talks the loudest, things won’t change much.
I agree with drahill. The more I learn about food, the more I realize that calories aren’t really what I need to pay attention to. I try to get lots of fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc., but I don’t really think about calories.
When I was knee-deep in body hate, though, I would obsess over calories, WW points, and the like. Posted calorie counts, probably, would have helped in the obsession and the categorization of foods as “good” and “bad.”
I live in the south, though, so I doubt we’ll be getting posted calorie counts any time soon. Ah, Waffle House.
@MM
Logically, just because it irritates me it doesn’t mean the info shouldn’t be available to someone who wants it. That said, just because so-and-so wants it doesn’t mean it should be shoved in my face either. California passed a law that restaurants had to post the Calorie counts of their food. The way many of the places I usually go to handle it is to have the info in the booklet with all of the booze and desserts. I prefer that to what some other places have done which is putting the Calories at the end of the description in the menu. If I don’t want to look at it, I don’t pick up the booklet.
“And which I do find is sometimes helped by calorie counts simply because it helps me feel out whether I’m really hungry, or just looking to eat some feelings.”
This. I’m somewhat overweight, according to the BMI scale (27), and have emotional eating tendencies so the calorie count helps me decide if I *really* want to eat it or I’m just bored. It’s also helpful if I’m out at some godforsaken chain restaurant and not wanting to eat enough calories to sustain three people. It’s a tricky thing, calorie counts, but I’m of the opinion that a bit more information doesn’t hurt, for me. I also prefer the booklet, if available – although it has a limited audience. These are my personal preferences, as someone who has never embarked on a serious calorie-restriction regimen.
I also read Fat is a Feminist Issue over the summer and it really helped me get over a lot of issues I had about food and eating, and enjoying myself. Which reminds me, I need to go over it again, as the scale in the bathroom and my Wii Fit are both negatively affecting my self-image.
I also agree with drahill. The only things likely to make me consider not eating something are if I found out it had more trans fats or more sodium than expected. Calorie counts alone sound useless to me but possibly interesting to know. I mean it doesn’t seem fair that every single thing in a grocery store has to have nutritional information and restaurants haven’t had to share anything until recently. But then again, would I really want to know? Would I stop enjoying certain foods? So I guess I think restaurants should have info on ingredients and nutrition available but not in your face.
@Lyndsay: That would be better. If a patron requested the nutritional info they could get it, but those who don’t want to know wouldn’t have to have it in their faces.
Ok, but I’m asking a larger question. a lot of information gets published in media of all kinds which can have an upsetting and/or triggering effect on someone who sees or reads it. How, then, do we decide what should or shouldn’t be published? Newspapers and news sites can’t realistically put warnings on every story that might cause a negative emotional reaction in a reader. But on the other hand, it does seem that, at least in theory, we should be able to go about our lives without living in constant fear of being triggered. I’m asking how we balance those interests.
Yes, but I think that most people expect to encounter possibly triggering material in certain places, say, a newspaper. Those places can be approached with the necessary caution and they’re somewhat easy to avoid. There are quite a few stories on the news that the anchors will preface with a warning about being potentially upsetting. They already provide warnings of potentially triggering material in a lot of places as well. Movies, TV, and video games have ratings. Music and books have adult content warnings. These aren’t 100% fool proof but they are there and they do provide warning.
In the specific example of Calorie counts there are ways of making that info available to people who want it without forcing those triggered by it to see it: the booklet or even the back of the menu. It’s a little thing, easily updated and easily avoided if you don’t want to read it.
VaS, that makes a lot of sense. I like the booklet idea.