Goodbye guilt, hello obesity!

The pledges of America's fast-food industry to slim down menus and join the government's war on obesity are like last year's diet fad -- broken and forgotten. This year's restaurant menus look like they've gone on steroids, with offerings of humongous burgers and gigantic pizzas.

Pizza Hut says it is serving up a new "Full House XL" pizza, which is 30 percent larger than the chain's previous largest size and totals 2,240 calories.

For breakfast, Burger King is selling its 730-calorie "Enormous Omelette the King of Breakfasts," while the chain also has a limited-time offer of the 1,090-calorie "Ultimate Double Whopper" with bacon and cheese toppings for dinner.

Wendy's "Triple with Cheese" burger boasts a little over 1,000 calories, and Hardee's "Monster Thickburger, the mother of all hamburgers" hovers in the neighborhood of 1,430 calories.

The chain Ruby Tuesday's, which last year saw profits sink after adopting a slimmed-down menu, has put the good stuff back in its new menu this year and boosted serving sizes as well. Ruby Tuesday's is promoting its "Ultimate Colossal Burger" -- two half-pounds of hamburger on a triple-decker bun with both American and Monterey cheese. Ruby Tuesday's nutrition Web site translates that into 1,781 calories.

"Bigger is better," concluded Jerry McVety, a Michigan-based consultant to the fast-food business. "There's a large group out there who still want to eat large hamburgers. It comes down to choice. The fast-food restaurants are still addressing the nutrition issue with healthy choices on their menus."

McVety predicts that the menu of ever-larger choices will expand. "I think you are going to see a variety of bigger items," he said. "The industry is responding to what the consumers want, although what they want is not necessarily healthy for them."

Gargantuan burgers pack twice as many calories as McDonald's Big Mac, which once set the industry's big-burger standard. McDonald's highest-calorie offering is the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, at a relatively modest 730 calories. The recommended daily allowance for caloric intake by adults ranges from 1,600 calories to 2,400 calories.

More low-calorie items like salads and fruit bowls are appearing on menus. But as Mark Kantor, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Maryland, points out, that's not what people go to fast-food restaurants to eat.

http://www.rep-am.com/

It's as big around as the inside of a car tire and should be approached with relish.

The Beer Barrel Belly Buster, the newest superburger on the market, weighs in at a whopping 15 pounds. It's a great publicity stunt for Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, a small restaurant in a tiny town in mid-Pennsylvania, but not so great for anyone who dares to consume it.

The restaurant's owners thought the 15-pounder would attract more customers and be a good option for families, parties and anyone who is up for a challenge of consuming the $30 burger.

The burger starts out as a large slab of raw ground meat enough to make about 60 McDonald's quarter pounders.

Kitchen manager Matthew Williams mixes in eggs, bread crumbs and other ingredients to hold the beef together and then broils it for 2 1/2 hours. Once it's good and cooked, the Jabba the Hut-like lump of meat is lifted by Williams with a pizza shovel to the grill. There, it is charbroiled. From there, the burger is lifted again to the condiments counter, where it is slathered with five pounds of dressings. Oh, and add to that a head of lettuce, two onions, three tomatoes and 25 slices of cheese. And a big bun.

The caloric value of a burger that size means that it should be consumed by about 30 or 40 people. Several professional eaters have tried to team up to eat the mega-burger, but were stymied by its sheer size.

The popularity of the 15-pounder, featured on national television morning shows, in newspapers and on the Internet, just goes to prove: healthy or not, if you grill it, they will come.

A few years ago, I heard a rumor that McDonalds offers school systems money if the school system notifies McDonalds of any schools within the district which will open in the future. Apparently, when a new school is being built McDonalds will open a new restaurant as close in proximity as possible. Has anyone else heard this? Is it true?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.