New study: Dads who smoke raise overweight kids.
The adverse-effects of smoking have been hammered home, time and again, spanning back to those pesky D.A.R.E. classes: lung cancer, emphysema, high blood pressure, yellow teeth, and heart disease.
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In other news on the obesity front, New England restaurant chain Friendly’s is garnering headlines for its new Grilled Cheese BugerMelt, which, at 1500 calories, 79 grams of fat, and 2,090 mg of sodium, blows away Wendy’s Triple Baconater and KFC’s Double Down for first place in the “heart attack on a platter” division.
The Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt—a sopping, half-pound burger wedged between two grilled cheese sandwiches—has been met with a mixed reception. Not surprisingly, nutrition experts are horrified.
“This is insane and very irresponsible,” railed American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Keri Gans. “And the amount of sodium is outrageous, exceeding by almost 600 mg. what is being recommended for the 2010 dietary guidelines.”
Ugh. I can’t decide whether to vomit or speed over to the late-nite drive-thru.
Either way, remember when fast food chains actively downplayed their traditional menu items through marketing healthy, alternative choices? Now it’s become a race to see who can come up with the cheesiest, greasiest, bacon-infused, artery-busting offering.
What caused this shift in approach? What else—it’s the economy, stupid.
—Nick Lehr