A cultural era has truly come to an end.
McDonalds has dropped the Super Size meal portions from its US menu.
You might be surprised to hear that McDonalds has done away with it's Super Size menu. Or maybe not if you eat there a lot. It might be a part of McDonalds corporate strategy against critics who claim that the obesity problem can be blamed on fast-food companies. I've seen commercials for new salad lines with some sort of free fitness-oriented gift and now they are axing the Super Size menu. Personally, I can't place blame on any business for what is ultimately a personal choice, but I suppose the corporate execs have to deal with their image problem, fair or not.
McDonalds worked hard to introduce the phrase Super Size into the cultural lexicon and now they are dropping it. Times are changing fast. I'm told by my girlfriend, however, that they still Large Size, and it might as well be as big as Super Size. So maybe it isn't changing as fast as I might think.
You too can eat McDonald's every day and lose weight. So says Soso Whaley, who is reproducing the "experiment" done by Morgan Spurlock for his recent film Super Size Me. (See my previous post on the topic.) Looking through Whaley's receipts, she seems to be getting below 2000 calories most days, some days getting as little as 1300. Some interesting things come up while I flip through the badly scanned receipts, like "what does 2270 calories get you at McDonald's?" The answer? Pancakes, OJ, a chocolate shake, a medium fry, a Caesar salad, and salad dressing. Not much. Anyway, this just shows you can live your dream, just aim high. You too can eat McDonald's every day and lose weight.
Via Diesel Nation.
This just in from eclecticism—fast food may be hazardous to your health. Within 30 days, a diet of McDonald's may cause vomiting, high liver toxicity, rocketing cholesterol, sexual dysfunction, headaches, splotchy skin, hefty weight gain, and, not surprisingly, depression. As Michael points out (via Kottke), who would have thought?
I do have to admit, I'm a bit surprised at how fast Mr. Morgan Spurlock, the subject of the film-documented, self-experiment, fell apart. He didn't even make it a month on the McDiet. We all know, "people don't go to McDonald's looking for diet food", but they do expect to not fall over dead after a month or two.
If you want to know more about what's in your fast food, check out Fast Food Nation, by journalist Eric Schlosser. See if you can eat Mc'eeDees and enjoy it the same way after that book.
And if you want to see first hand what the McDiet will do to you, you'll have to wait for Spurlock's documentary, "Super Size Me", to make it out of the Sundance. Good glub I love self-experiments. He should have blogged it.
Do you want to know...what...it...is?
(Via Living On Earth.) For an entertaining, somewhat basic overview of the problems caused by large agribusiness on commercial meat production, head over to themeatrix.com (requires Flash).
If you find yourself interested in this topic, I highly suggest the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, written by journalist Eric Schlosser. Be forewarned, however, you may never feel the same way about that McFatty Burger you eat when you find out under what disgusting conditions the meat is produced and how that delicious flavor is engineered and added to the food.
I'm not vegan and I'm all for killing animals. Meat is just disgusting.
Put you on the floor quicker than Tyson did McNeely
Wanna know how to make that great, deep pain in your jaw? I call it the "Mike Tyson Lunch"—the one that leaves your jaw inoperative for hours.
In order to improve my vegetarian diet, I'm trying to phase out Roasted Garlic Triscuits (which are one of the few whole-wheat crackers available in my local grocery store) in favor of carrots.
So here it is, the power-punch to the jaw of lunchtime here at LAB-Y. If you want to feel like you've been hit in the face by the famous Mike Tyson, eat this.
At this point, I'm beginning to feel like a rabbit except that I can't feel my jaw after eating lunch.