Looming federal requirements for major restaurant chains to provide pertinent nutritional information on what they serve is a reasonable step as obesity imposes an everheavier health care burden on our nation. But the notion that anybody who orders a huge ‘tostada pizza with grilled steak’ should be stunned to find that it’s fattening is still hard to swallow.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group, recently announced its ‘Xtreme Eating’ awards for nine particularly excessive menu choices from seven U.S. restaurant chains that it accuses of ‘caloric extremism.’

Among the ‘winners’: the aforementioned California Pizza Kitchen tostada pizza with grilled steak (1,680 calories, 32 grams of saturated fat, 3,300 milligrams of sodium); Five Guys’ bacon cheeseburger (920 calories, 30 grams of saturated fat — without toppings) and large fries (1,460 calories); and P.F. Chang’s double pan-fried noodles combo (1,820 calories — and a stunning 7,690 milligrams of sodium).

The sweeping health reform law passed in March orders the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to propose, within a year, regulations forcing restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to include calorie amounts on menus.

That should help further alert Americans to gluttony’s growing hazards.

Then again, folks who gobble down bacon cheeseburgers, large fries and tostada pizzas with grilled steak can’t fairly claim that they’re being duped into obesity.

So if you want to start eating —and being — healthier, don’t wait for those new federally demanded calorie listings.

And try the ‘heart friendly’ menu.

The (Charleston) Post and Courier