Because Death simply isn't going to come soon enough for some people...

[Gillianren]

Yeah, a friend's mother told me that one about a month ago when trying to make me eat breakfast. (Eating first thing in the morning tends to make me ill.) The cite she gave me was "my aunt, who was a nurse." It didn't sound medically plausible to me.

[Fazor]

I always try to eat something late at night - if I don't, I'm near certain to wake up with a headache. Individual variation and all that. But I'd like a cite for digestion shutting off during the night.

I've actually recently been hearing that it doesn't matter when you eat, and that digestion doesn't actually shut off during the night. What makes late-night eating so bad for many -- and this is certainly true for me -- is that it tends to be the snacky-eating that is all "extra" intake. In other words, we've already eaten what we need during the day, but at night we're eating out of habit/boredom/whatever, so we take in all these extra calories and such that we don't need.

@Gillian; I never was able to eat within the first hour or two of waking up either. Does awful things to my stomach, usually. I don't often eat breakfast anyway, but when I do, it's not until 10 or 10:30, which is a good two hours after I've been awake, at a minimum.

[Ara Pacis]

I have to eat in the morning soon after waking, or else my metabolism slows down and I don't eat anything until I eat too much.

Eating late can be problematic if you are suceptible to acid reflux. Protein tends to make one alert, so eating meet before bed might make sleep more difficult to obtain. More to the point though, is that if you do something out of your normal routine, your normal routine may be upset.

[AndreasJ]

I've actually recently been hearing that it doesn't matter when you eat, and that digestion doesn't actually shut off during the night. What makes late-night eating so bad for many -- and this is certainly true for me -- is that it tends to be the snacky-eating that is all "extra" intake. In other words, we've already eaten what we need during the day, but at night we're eating out of habit/boredom/whatever, so we take in all these extra calories and such that we don't need.

That shouldn't cause anything worse than weight gain - Trulialia seemed to suggest more immediate ill effects.

My late-night eating isn't very snacky - it's usually sandwiches. I don't know if there's an actual difference (GI, perhaps?) or just psychosomatic, but eating something "real" rather than sweets or cookies seems to be more effective. (ETA: Either way, it doesn't cause me to gain weight - since recovering from depression, my weight has hovered stubbornly around 68 kg, seemingly irrespective of how I eat or whether I exercise.)

[NEOWatcher]

KFC seems to be pushing even harder on the double down.

KFC pays college women for ad space on buns

Women on college campuses are being paid $500 each to hand out coupons while wearing fitted sweatpants with "Double Down" in large letters across their rear ends.

They don't mention the size of thier rear ends. I wonder if they are using appropriately sized ones. (take that comment however you want to ).

Last week, the chain confessed that more than six in 10 Americans ages 18 to 25 — the chain's key demographic — couldn't identify who Colonel Sanders was in the KFC logo.

Maybe its because they don't promote any kind of connection anymore.

I think there's a disclaimer missing from this promotion... "Buns not included".

[Trebuchet]

The late "colonel" was not much of a fan of the KFC corporation in his later years. He referred to the gravy as "wallpaper paste".

I believe Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, probably had at least as much influence as the colonel on what KFC eventually became. He was one of the first franchisees.

[SeanF]

I believe Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's, probably had at least as much influence as the colonel on what KFC eventually became. He was one of the first franchisees.

The ubiquitous KFC red-and-white bucket was Dave Thomas' creation.

[AndreasJ]

KFC seems to be pushing even harder on the double down.

KFC pays college women for ad space on buns

They don't mention the size of thier rear ends. I wonder if they are using appropriately sized ones. (take that comment however you want to ).

There's a photo in the article of some of the young ladies in question. Does it make me a bad person that I thought it was funny the "enlarge" button is situated right under one of the ladies' rear end?

[NEOWatcher]

Does it make me a bad person that I thought it was funny the "enlarge" button is situated right under one of the ladies' rear end?

Not as bad as me to click it just to see what happens. Alas, it only enlarges the picture, and doesn't show the "after" picture.

[danscope]

On the news, they showed something at the big fair which seemed implausable , but was caught on film: Deep Fried Butter !
Spare me !!!!!!!!!!!!
" Hello,...mortuary; yes, we have a rush...."

[NEOWatcher]

A bit of a bump.

This doesn't address any specific "bad" food. But; it does kind of go along with the whole "fast food is bad and nobody cares" type of thinking.

Customers pay little heed to calories on menus

Customers at TacoTime (a western Washington chain) who read how many calories are in their chimichangas, burritos and tacos on the restaurant's menu were just as likely to order them as people who don’t have that information.

I'm not sure what a TacoTime is like (Mainly take-out? Sit-down?). But; I don't see a taco place as being representative of the entire picture.

Now; I am one who seriously doubts that posting the information does little to disuade the decision to buy something when you have a taste for something or really don't care, but the information does help those who do care.

What this study doesn't address is the volume? How many people entirely stopped going there once they found out how the entire (or mostly) menu is bad for them. (if applicable)

And; if this is happening (in general), I see that it's possible that the worse food would actually be a larger percentage of thier sales, thus causing a chain to say "we sell it because that's what people want".

[Fazor]

I think it's likely more an indication that people already know that fast-food is bad, so those who care about the calories probably aren't going there to begin with. Once someone has said, "I want fast food", they've already likely said, "the calories don't effect my decision."

(From their website, looks like it is indeed fast-food style 'Mexican' food.)

[Gillianren]

Taco Time is kind of like Taco Bell, only it's local and not national. (The commercials are also voiced by Seattle's own Pat Cashman, our low-rent Phil Hartman.) Frankly, I won't eat at either, but when my sister moved up here in '92, a New Mexico native told her that Taco Time is worse food than Taco Bell.

[Tobin Dax]

Taco Time used to have some locations in Oregon, ten or twenty years ago. It seemed like a cheap Taco Bell, as Gillian says. I've not eaten at one that I can remember, so appearances is all I have to go on.

[HenrikOlsen]

The real decision is about where to eat, not about what to eat once there.
They're comparing people who have already decided to go there with people who have already decided to go there, rather than looking at who decided to go somewhere else.

[HenrikOlsen]

That shouldn't cause anything worse than weight gain - Trulialia seemed to suggest more immediate ill effects.

My late-night eating isn't very snacky - it's usually sandwiches. I don't know if there's an actual difference (GI, perhaps?) or just psychosomatic, but eating something "real" rather than sweets or cookies seems to be more effective. (ETA: Either way, it doesn't cause me to gain weight - since recovering from depression, my weight has hovered stubbornly around 68 kg, seemingly irrespective of how I eat or whether I exercise.)

I seem to have a natural weight of 86 kg, the only time in the last 30 years I've deviated from that was the three years I had a girlfriend with severe eating disorder which caused me to gain 5-10 kg.
When I'm on my own I do tend to eat large portions bout only when I happen to notice that I'm hungry, something which is not defined by a clock and varies from 0 to 3 times a day. When I was with her, eating was large portions 3 times a day every day.

Eating out with her, her mother and her son was the only time I've ever tried being four people for all-you-can-eat spare ribs where I only had a fourth of the total ribs eaten.

[NEOWatcher]

Taco Time is kind of like Taco Bell, only it's local and not national. (The commercials are also voiced by Seattle's own Pat Cashman, our low-rent Phil Hartman.) Frankly, I won't eat at either, but when my sister moved up here in '92, a New Mexico native told her that Taco Time is worse food than Taco Bell.

As far as the meat is concerned, that would be awful.
Lawsuit filed in beef over Taco Bell 'meat'
They call it seasoned ground beef, while it's only 36%* meat (and not sure how much of that is beef). From what I see in the ingredients, it's basically Vegemite/Marmite.
*Got that from a different article.

What gets me is the doubletalk.

"Taco Bell prides itself on serving high quality Mexican inspired food with great value. We're happy that the millions of customers we serve every week agree. We deny our advertising is misleading in any way and we intend to vigorously defend the suit."

I'd like to know how they determined that these millions really do agree. I'm sure a majority just don't care.
Or looking at the statement another way, they could be saying "see? the marketing works, we got millions of suckers buying our crap".

At least the ground "stuff" isn't a majority of a finished product. Plus; thier chicken and thier asiago steak are reportedly meat.

Next; I'd like to see an analysis on thier cheese.

[rommel543]

Thats like when you pick up a single portion container of milk (the kind you would grab at a gas station) they don't read Milk or Chocolate Milk, the read "Milk Drink" and "Chocolate Milk Drink". I'm half expecting to read "artificial milk flavoring" on the side and the rest is soy or edible oil product.

[Swift]

Lawsuit filed in beef over Taco Bell 'meat'
They call it seasoned ground beef, while it's only 36%* meat (and not sure how much of that is beef). From what I see in the ingredients, it's basically Vegemite/Marmite.
*Got that from a different article.

What I find really sad about that is that if you are going to make a "meat-like product" instead of real ground beef, why not make it semi-healthy at the same time. Making a high-fat, high-calorie, fake meat is really pretty sad and obviously is just done because it is cheap, cheap, cheap.

[rommel543]

The article in question is a couple of years old, but you keep seeing the same thing pop-up over the years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSPAR27349420080102

Moreover,the average price of the lowest-calorie foods -- including green vegetables, tomatoes and berries -- increased by almost 20 percent over 2 years. In contrast, in the same time period there was a 2-percent dip in the cost of the most calorie-laden fare, such as butter, potato chips, cookies and candy bars.

...

"The finding that (calorie)-dense foods are not only the least expensive, but also most resistant to inflation, may also help explain why the highest rates of obesity continue to be observed among groups of limited economic means," they write.

[Gillianren]

Thats like when you pick up a single portion container of milk (the kind you would grab at a gas station) they don't read Milk or Chocolate Milk, the read "Milk Drink" and "Chocolate Milk Drink". I'm half expecting to read "artificial milk flavoring" on the side and the rest is soy or edible oil product.

I've never encountered that. That sounds repulsive.

[Tog]

Someday when you're certain you will never consider eating it, look at the ingredients on Armour's "Potted Meat Food Product" It's in a blue can and sits beside the Vienna Sausages.

For the non-faint-of-heart. Link.

Seriously, though. Eww.

[NEOWatcher]

Thats like when you pick up a single portion container of milk (the kind you would grab at a gas station) they don't read Milk or Chocolate Milk, the read "Milk Drink" and "Chocolate Milk Drink". I'm half expecting to read "artificial milk flavoring" on the side and the rest is soy or edible oil product.

Nope. At least the Milk Drink (I've seen this before with juice type drinks) they do have some phrasing to clue you in, even if it is too subtle to pick up.
With Taco Bell, they are advertising it as "Seasoned Ground Beef" with no other language attached to it.

Someday when you're certain you will never consider eating it, look at the ingredients on Armour's "Potted Meat Food Product" [...] Seriously, though. Eww.

At least it's still meat. Disgusting meaty parts of the animals, but still animal.

Sounds no worse than various types of sausage.

[Van Rijn]

As far as the meat is concerned, that would be awful.
Lawsuit filed in beef over Taco Bell 'meat'
They call it seasoned ground beef, while it's only 36%* meat (and not sure how much of that is beef). From what I see in the ingredients, it's basically Vegemite/Marmite.
*Got that from a different article.

What gets me is the doubletalk.

Heh. This reminds me of a Buffy Vampire Slayer episode, where a fast food company plays up the beef and poultry processing for their sandwiches, but the team finds that the "meat" isn't actually what the company says it is. Given the nature of Sunnydale, Buffy first assumes it's people and does the Soylent Green line, but it finally turns out it's processed vegetable product. Of course, the company doesn't want anyone to know that.

Fiction becomes real life - sort of.

[Gillianren]

Nope. At least the Milk Drink (I've seen this before with juice type drinks) they do have some phrasing to clue you in, even if it is too subtle to pick up.
With Taco Bell, they are advertising it as "Seasoned Ground Beef" with no other language attached to it.

Which has got to violate some truth-in-advertising law. Certainly it opens up grounds (ha!) for a lawsuit when someone is allergic to whatever-it-is.

[Trebuchet]

The words "product" or "drink" are a sure sign that the product is not what it seems. Even when you see "100% juice", chances are its mostly not the kind of juice pictured on the label.

That potted meat page is pretty funny. I need to follow a few links from there!

Edit: Nuts. Two of the three links are dead.

[mike alexander]

Heck, there's always Mr. Brain's Pork Faggots.

Never had 'em, but that 'rich West Country sauce' sounds so tempting.

Ingredients: Water, Pork 11% (Pork Liver, Pork), Pork Rind, Rusk, Onion, Wheatflour, Lard, Salt, Modified Waxy Maize Starch, Tomato Purée, Flavourings, Colour (E150c), Sugar, Herbs, Spices

[Solfe]

I have the biggest fast food ethical dilemma. At the Burger King closest to my house, one of the employees there keeps upgrading my meals. I always order one cheeseburger and two side salads. What I end up getting is a double cheeseburger, two garden salads (about half again the size of the side salad) usually a pie and a drink - Doctor Pepper which actually is my favorite.

I have actually corrected the woman but she keeps doing it; I try to avoid that BK because I feel like I am being fattened up or stalked. But I have to admitted it is tempting to go back for the all of the free food.

[Van Rijn]

Edit: Nuts. Two of the three links are dead.

The web archive to the rescue:

http://web.archive.org/web/200705291...com/mike/meat/

http://web.archive.org/web/200310082...huck03-01.html

[Tog]

That second link is pretty funny, in a sort of gross way. Some may not see it as funny as I did.