Posted by Hannah Howard, June 17, 2008 at 5:45 PM
Chris Coleson, before and after his diet. inRich.com
It's an oft-told tale: guy eats copious McDonald's fare—guy gets fat.
Chris Coleson, a Richmond, Virginia businessman, has a different story to tell. He told his wife "I could lose weight eating anywhere." He chose Mickey D's.
According to AdAge.com, he has lost 86 pounds since last December on an apple-walnut salad, snack wrap, and cheeseburger diet. His cholesterol is down, too. In recognition of his achievement, he replaced his "OLDNFAT" license plate to one which reads "MCFIT." He'll appear on Good Morning America later this week to ballyhoo his weight loss saga.
The Golden Arches and our mighty obesity epidemic are faithful accomplices, or so we are told ad nauseam. A media blitz has pointed to fast food in general, and McDonald's in particular, as culprit for our collective beefy circumferences. One might think that the folks at Mickey D's would be stoked to get some good press, but their reaction is lukewarm.
"There have been numerous success stories like this one, where consumers elected to follow a responsible diet with adequate exercise and incorporated McDonald's food in a very positive way," said McDonald's USA spokeswoman Danya Proud. Of Mr. Coleson's accomplishment, she did not seem especially proud.
Related
Density of Fast Food Joints Affects Obesity Rates
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 14, 2008 at 6:30 PM
File under newsflash: University of Pennsylvania researchers have found that counties with a higher concentration of fast food joints also have higher obesity rates:
"We found that there was an association between the amount of full-service restaurants (with waiters) in the county one lives in and a lower risk of obesity,' said Neil Mehta of the University of Pennsylvania.
"Conversely, we found that the increase in the number and the amount of fast food restaurants was associated with an increase in obesity,' he added in an interview."
[via Word of Mouth]
Posted by Gordon Mark, January 3, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Posted by Ed Levine, July 27, 2007 at 8:37 AM
Having struggled with a weight problem my entire life, I paid particular attention to the news that being fat may be a function of a germ-like phenomena passed around my rotund circle of friends. I used to blame my parents, may they rest in peace, for passing on their fat genes to me. Now it turns out my weight struggles aren't all their fault. The fat germ, as I'm calling it, turns out to be spread among friends, according to a just-published study.
The New York Times says:
If the new research is correct, it may say that something in the environment seeded what some call an obesity epidemic, making a few people gain weight. Then social networks let the obesity spread rapidly.
It may also mean that the way to avoid becoming fat is to avoid having fat friends.
Read on to find out which of my friends made me fat.
Continue reading »
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 1, 2007 at 8:45 AM
According to both the British Culinary Federation and the Master Chefs of Britain, chefs in the UK are becoming thinner—there's apparently been a 75 percent drop in chef obesity over the past 20 years!
Gordon Ramsay thinks he knows why: "Running a kitchen is like running a marathon," he says. "It demands stamina and the ability to pace yourself. Being on your feet for 18 hours a day requires a level of fitness and strength that doesn't work well with excess weight. Most chefs rarely sit down for a square meal: you don't want to start service weighed down by a heavy dinner." Fat or skinny, I don't really care—just make me something delicious to eat! (Oh, and please pass the lardo...) [via The Food Section]
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 27, 2007 at 3:40 PM
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is pointing the finger at chain restaurants for the proliferation of X-treme Eating: "[The Cheesecake Factory's] Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake combines brownie, pie, and cheesecake into 1,380-calorie pudding. The CPSI says this is "the equivalent of eating two [McDonald's] Quarter Pounders plus a large fries - for dessert". "Since those chains make almost zero nutrition information available on menus, their customers don't have a clue that they might be getting a whole day's worth of calories in a single dish, or several days' worth in the whole meal," the centre says."
One item mentioned in their press release is Uno Chicago Grill's Pizza Skins, but come on, if the menu says "We start with our famous deep dish crust, add mozzarella and red bliss mashed potatoes, and top it off with crispy bacon, cheddar, and sour cream" how can you not know what you're getting? No one disputes that chain restaurants make insanely unhealthy foods, but it's also true that no one forces you to eat at them or to order the fattiest things on the menu. At the end of the day, we can only hold ourselves responsible for what we've chosen to put into our bodies.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 19, 2007 at 5:00 PM
Rebecca Puhl thinks so: "93% of HR professionals would choose to hire a ‘normal weight’ person over an identically-qualified obese applicant ... "
