It’s pretty easy to down that plate full of pasta smothered in cream sauce and topped with bacon and cheese when you don’t know how many calories are in it. You might even be able to convince yourself that it’s good for you. That gets harder when the calorie count is printed right there on the menu.

New York City recently became the first city in the country to pass a law making chain restaurants post the calorie count of each food on their menus, in the same size and font as the prices. Similar laws in Seattle and San Francisco also are scheduled to go into effect later this year, according to an MSNBC report.

St. Joseph resident Ryan Garrison said for people like him, having the calorie count on menus wouldn’t make a difference. He tries to eat healthy, but since he’s not watching his weight, calories aren’t that important.

“Probably the more they said it had, the more I’d think I was getting for my money,” he said.

Sheri Caldwell, a registered dietician at Hy-Vee, said the measure could work, if people wanted it to.

“If a customer really wants a specific thing, there’s times they wouldn’t care what’s in them,” she said.

“I think a lot of time we are aware, (but) I think sometimes we don’t want to know, just because ignorance is bliss.”

Many people, she said, aren’t aware of how many calories they should be consuming each day; the national average is 2,000 calories. People also aren’t always aware of how easy it is to get 2,000 calories in one meal.

“They have a big hamburger with cheese and bacon and mayonnaise and fries and a large drink with a couple of refills, and they can really add it up quickly,” she said.

But knowing that the double cheeseburger meal you’re ordering at the drive-through could contain as much as 1,500 calories could help you make adjustments. You could decide to have a more vigorous workout before or after the meal, Ms. Caldwell said, or you could eat smaller portions throughout the day to save up calories.

Mr. Garrison said the idea is good in theory, but he’s not sure it would make a significant impact. The number of calories doesn’t mean much to people who don’t know how many they should be consuming daily. But knowing what they’d have to do to stay in shape might make an impression.

“Maybe if menus came with an exercise program,” he said, “what you have to do to work off that Quarter Pounder.”

Lacey Storer can be reached

at lstorer@npgco.com