INSANITY.

Great post.

That's pretty bad. They also spray their burger patties with hydrogenated oil and use hydrogenated oil to bake their hamburger buns, neither of which is necessary.

If you want to you can write to the CEO of Burger King:

Gregory D. Brenneman
Chairman & CEO
Burger King Corporation
5505 Blue Lagoon Dr.
Miami, FL 33126

You can find out more bad things that fast food companies do at:

http://advertpro.webspawner.com/cgi-bin/banners.fpl?

The picture of that burger is truly disturbing!

Great post -- I'm trying to Eat Fresh for lunch these days...

Not to mention that creepy puppet king!

so, in other words...fast food is bad for you? Damn...I didn't know that!

Apparently it's not a case of knowing that fast food is bad for you so much as it is of knowing how bad it is.

You might think you're giving your kid a treat for breakfast that you know isn't healthy, but would you even begin to think that something being sold for breakfast for a child contains more than HALF the calories he/she needs for the day?

Vic

BTW, I say "apparently" because of the runaway obesity numbers in the U.S. for both adults AND children.

Vic

Never has the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished" been more true than trying to provide healthier, lower calorie, lower fat items on Burger King restaurant menus. For example, we've been (trying to) sell veggie burgers for several years - don't sell one per day. The people who protest our better selling items just don't buy the "healthier" items.

This isn't anything new - BK had salad bars in their restaurants in the early 1980's. Every attempt to sell healthier items has been met with customer's refusal to purchase.

People who buy big burgers/big calorie food allow me to employ people, pay the bank loans, generate tax revenue, and make the mortgage payment on my house.

Here's how you can change things, rather than just being pissed off: Buy what you think is a good thing. Convince other people, who believe as you do, to "vote with their wallet".

Capitalism means providing goods and services that people want to, and do purchase. That's the most powerful economic concept the world has ever known.

Those salad bars were fantastic -- I loved them. I've wondered why they've disappeared nearly across the board. Didn't a number of franchises have salad bars during the 80s?

"Here's how you can change things, rather than just being pissed off: Buy what you think is a good thing. Convince other people, who believe as you do, to 'vote with their wallet'."

Um, isn't that what I'm doing with this post? And yes, I do that on my blog site as well as when I talk to people. I actually own a copy of "Super Size Me" that I pass around to friends.

I understand what you're saying, I really do, and you're right. If the stuff didn't make money they wouldn't be selling it. I suppose the same thing is true for low-tar cigarettes and their lack of sales compared to the real thing.

I guess if I was to just come out and say it... We've turned into a nation of fat, lazy pigs, who want to eat what we want, as much as we want, whenever we want and who cares if I'm 100 pounds overweight and my 9 year old weighs as much as a normal adult.

I'm truly disgusted by it.

Vic

Salad bars were in virtually all Burger King restaurants in the early 1980's. There's no mystery why they were removed - not enough people made the purchase to make it possible to break-even (which is the first hurdle), no less make a profit keeping them. They were very serious money losers.

Learning from that, we've tried to "limit the losses" from doing healthy-items, but the introduction of low-calorie bagguete sandwiches two years ago nearly put me out of business.

Your mouth must be this big to eat that burger.

Okay, THAT was disturbing.

As humans we have options sharks don't. Take a bite. Chew. Swallow.

Then put the rest of your Ultimate Double Whopper into the refrigerator. You can have another bite tomorrow. An intelligent human with decent willpower can survive for half a week on one of these things.

Thanks, Burger King!

Vic, I appreciate that you may be trying to "raise awareness" in via your post. But I can't pay my bills, provide people with jobs, etc with internet posts. I have to sell product to stay in business.

Don't make focus of your indignation on what people are doing that you don't like. Don't end up at being disgusted.

Convince people what "action steps" need to be done to accomplish something more than just being pissed.

It was S-Rant's using "man-sized" as an adjective that inspired me.

But I agree that the idea of a veggie burger at BK is silly. If you go at all, you go there to get something tasty, not to do some type of compromise for a diet's sake.

"Calories: 1,250"

WOW... that's more calories than I eat in one day.

"Don't make focus of your indignation on what people are doing that you don't like. Don't end up at being disgusted.

Convince people what 'action steps' need to be done to accomplish something more than just being pissed."

I did exactly that on my "Last 10 Pounds" blog where I documented my fat loss to around 8% body fat. Another reason I'm "pissed" is because this runaway obesity is adding more to my monthly health insurance bill as people have to get hospitalization and treatment for obesity related diseases that would never have cropped up had they not gotten to that point.

As to earning a living, I understand that, but that doesn't justify anything as far as I'm concerned. There are plenty of lines of work/business out there to get into. I sell an eBook that helps folks get in shape. I could probably start up a company to sell high fat/high carb/hydrogenated oil/fructose syrup-injected foods to kids, but I'd rather not.

Vic

O.K. I'm convinced that your concept of what people should eat: Never create another job for another American, unless it passes muster with the non-job-creating-pissant-asshat-nonproductive-semi-smartass-

Screw it: You're really not worth answering anymore ....

can you so no? are you such a drone that you can't decide what you want to eat whether it's healthy or not? It pisses me off too...it pisses me off that people complain about fast food like someone is forcing it down their throat.

Someone out there will be getting a burnt Croissant'wich tomorrow morning.

helpful

BK Owner Operator,

Why don't you address the point about hydrogenated oil. It's banned for human consumption in Denmark and Germany. Canada is moving towards banning it. Burger King fries their fries in it, sprays in on their hamburger patties, bakes it into their buns and makes it the second ingredient in their Sundae Pie. It is very bad for people.

Even if consumers want to eat fries and burgers, they aren't bargaining on this extra toxin. Why does Burger King do this? They don't have to. That isn't a question of giving the people what they want. Also, the super sized sodas, that was foisted on people who grew addicted to it. That is greed.

You're living in the fattest nation on earth. Everywhere you look you see fat people. You are part of creating that.

BK owner/operator:

I kinda liked those low-fat gourmet chicken baguette things. They did pretty badly huh?

Why did they almost put you out of business? Out of curiosity since I'm always interested in people's business fortunes. Thanks.

The corporations add these fats for a very, very good reason; two good reasons, actually: 1) most flavor is concentrated in the fat. Adding fat = adding flavor. 2) most recent data shows that high-fat consumption is addicting: the more fat you eat, the more you want to eat, to the point where even drugs designed to stop the appetite will not work. The benefits of this to corporate profitability are obvious. Get 'em hooked on highly flavorsome, highly addictive foods, which they have to buy from you, & it's perfect! BTW, I in NO way implicate individual franchise owners in this. I'm fingering the corporate fatcats at the top.

However, this article does make me feel a lot better about the juicy, dripping, natural-sugar-laden but fat-free fresh peaches I "cheated" with for breakfast!

My point is not that fast food exists, it is that it is marketed deceptively in order to encourage people to eat it with the idea that there are no consequences.

Has anyone EVER seen a commercial for a fast food restaurant that had an actor in it that was anything other than thin as a rail? Even ONCE?

All that is ever shown are skinny people taking a bite of burgers that are as big as their skull, intimating that you can eat this stuff and stay trim and fit.

How about this for an ad slogan:

"Eat two combo meals per week and you'll weigh 50 pounds more in one year."

If you read my comments you'll see that I blame the public as well as the corporations that formulate, market and sell this stuff.

At least after years of public pressure the tobacco industry is finally owning up to the fact that that cigarettes cause cancer. That fact is out there and now people can decide whether or not to take up smoking armed with that information. The same does not apply to the food industry.

I singled out BK here but the same applies across the spectrum. At Starbucks, a "Venti" (God, I hate the pretentiousness of those drink sizes) Mocha Frappucino has 530 calories. That's almost a full meal's worth of caloric intake. Do people have a concept of how much that is when they order it? I don't think so. Under the guise of giving people more for their money portion sizes have been increasing constantly over the years. When I go out to eat at a chain restaurant like Chili's, my wife and I can easily split one meal and we both come away full. For value, how about keeping the portion size down to a reasonable size and cutting the price instead?

Go to Europe and you'll see that portions are much smaller for both drinks and food.

Part of the problem is a also lack of nutritional education in schools. This would be essential since apparently most parents are not providing this at home.

All I know is that if we don't turn things around as a country very soon "average" people will be considered the equivalent of runway models 20 years ago.

Vic

Nancy, what a coincidence.

I cheat with a girl named Peaches in the morning! How do you know her, baby? Did you meet her at the strip club too?

That is all.

Today I spoke with the individual who purchases all the oil (shortening) for Buger King. He says that flatly that hamburger patties are NOT sprayed with hydroganted oils, and that it is NOT in the specfication for the buns.

There are hydroganated oils used in french fry coatings, and other before-it-gets-to-the-restaurant processing of foods.

There are an overwhelming number of reasons why this is done, which do NOT include trying to harm people to be evil and addict them to products. One of the most compelling reason is that seed companies have not sufficiently developed commercially viable soybean plants that would allow the food industry to virtually eliminate the hydroganated oils.

I am not a scientist; I'm a small business owner, so I can't fix this. The expert I spoke with says that this should be a non-issue in 3-5 years, with the development of new soybean plants.

I know nobody wants to hear this, but people eat at Burger King cause they want to.

If you don't want to be fat, don't eat there everyday.

Everybody laughed at the people who warned one day the Gov't would go after things like this, but you can see it coming now, so where is it going to end?

Screen Rant. The primary reason that the Burger King's of the world don't change is that the people that hate our food already don't eat there.
Burger King is a restaurant. They serve food to people that show up to eat it. Restaurants are usually visited because they serve distinctive food that satisfies a sensory need of the customer. They don't show up because of the chubbiness or slenderness of the people in the ads. It's foolish to think that fast food restaurants can even begin to change people's behavior. Fast food and its success with customers is the symptom, not the cause.
So, Rant, grow up and try and change people and quit grousing about restaurants. They are there to serve, not direct peoples desires.

Sorry but you're lumping the physical restaurant together with the corporation that is behind it. The corp. creates and sells the marketing campaign, not the restaurant owner, and of course media influences where people eat. Otherwise millions of dollars wouldn't be spent on advertising, would they?

It sounds like you're basically saying that advertising has no effect on what people purchase. Look at the soft drink industry... they don't even advertise based on how the product TASTES any more... it's all about the lifestyle you have if you drink it or how cool you'll be or whatever.

So you think those ads don't influence what people drink, either?

Of course taste is a part of it, but it's not all of it or what gets people in the door initially.

Vic

BK operator, thanks for responding. I got my information from the Burger King site's ingredients listings. It did say that, unless it was changed recently. I also get certain physical symptoms when I eat hydrogenated oils which I got a little of when I ate a Whopper and I could not figure out why until I read the ingredients.

I don't know what they are telling you but Burger Kings in Germany and Denmark do not use hydrogenated oils as it is forbidden by law there. Before hydrogenated oils came into use, which could not have been that long ago, french fries were fried in non-hydrogenated oils or fats for most of their existence. Obviously it is possible and has been done many times, including by your own corporate parent every day in Europe. If hydrogenated oil suddenly becomes the new food demon, like Alar, then you're going to lose money. It's a shame that your corporate parent can't be more proactive in protecting you from an event like this.

I continue to believe that Burger King and McDonalds another fast food places do put addictive triggers in their food, based on my own experience and what I've read. That would be done on the corporate level, not by you. Thanks for even responding to this debate, however. Makes it interesting.

My information is USA only. Two quick points, and I'm going to leave all of you (permanently)to your..... :

(1) If there are addictive food-additive triggers, then why do restaurants have to constantly have to spend money on advertising? If it were true, I want BKC to improve the Addiitive Triggers.....

(2) Advertising rarely works. "Marketing & Advertising" is the B.S. industry that you might want to rant at..... You have to have a compelling new product (hey, it's food. How much "new" can it be?) or deeply discount it, to get anyones' attention. Marketing campaigns very rarely gain any improvement over last year results. When they do hit a home-run, you hear of it. Most of the expendures yield no improvement in sales or profits.

Hey, maybe we outta work on that adiction-trigger-thang.....sounds like a good idea.

BK Operator,

I obtained some of the addictive triggers for use in my posts here. Ha. I would guess that the advertising has a cumulative effect, keeping fast food and soda wildly popular over the years even though people know that it isn't good for them. It's the corporations that order the ads, the ads don't create themselves. As far as addictive formulations, why don't you ask BK what they have spent on food chemists and similar consulants over the years? What would that be about?

Fuck it, I like to eat only once a day: the big burger, large fries, large reg. coke and a dessert. Then I like to pass out for 6 hours. Then do it again 18 hours later. Saves time vs this three-five meals a day crap. :)

I know that I am part of the large, semi-rational market that Burger King is seeking to serve with a 2500 calorie meal menu.

"I guess if I was to just come out and say it... We've turned into a nation of fat, lazy pigs, who want to eat what we want, as much as we want, whenever we want and who cares if I'm 100 pounds overweight and my 9 year old weighs as much as a normal adult."

Is it really any of your business what people put in their mouths or do with their bodies? While I found your original post educational (though I don't eat fast food as it's never appealed to me), I think your subsequent posts come off as egotistical, self-righteous and selfish. You're worried about your health insurance rates based on the increase in doctor visits based on obesity? Okay, how about smokers? How about people who exercise compulsively and suffer greater injuries? How about people working high stress jobs? Who gets to draw the line on how people should live their lives? I'm sure you think you should.

Everyone thinks their yardstick about how life should be lived is just about perfect. The problem is that everyone is different but most people lack the empathy to "get" how severe those differences are.

People like to talk about "willpower" and the choices we make but we're not all living in the same skin. There's a reason some people can drink a beer or two after work and never get drunk and some turn into alcoholics and it isn't willpower or choice. There's a reason some people are overweight and others aren't and it also isn't about willpower or choice. It's about responses to various stimuli in your brain, your endocrine system, your blood, and your psychology.

That doesn't mean that people aren't responsible for their behavior but it does mean that the choices you make may appear to be the same choices others have but they are not. If I stick a beer in front of someone who doesn't care for alcohol and put another in front of an alcoholic, do you think they are both making the same choice?

It means the solution to the problems are far more complex and require more attention, compassion, and, yes, cash than most people want to acknowledge.

Do you think everyone should just choose to exercise everyday to maintain weight and be healthier? When I get up every morning, I try to do 15 minutes of exercise (stretches, sit-ups, leg lifts), ride a bike 30 minutes a day to get to the train and back, walk for 20 minutes on my lunch hour and try to exercise after work for another 30-40 minutes if I have time. Sounds like a choice to be fit and healthy and feel good, eh?

Well, that's not all there is to that choice. I have chronic back pain due to a congenital spinal condition. I have arthritis and I seem not to be able to sweat very much when I get hot. When I choose to exercise, I choose pain and feeling like I'm baking in my own skin. When you choose, I'm betting that's not factored into your choice. We may seem to be making the same choice but mine is far harder one to make than yours.

Each person has a different set of circumstances and issues and to reduce any problem down to "willpower" or making a simple choice is the height of naivete. It may make people feel smugly superior but things aren't that simple unless your mind is too narrow to focus on only the most simplistic of solutions.

Comment 8 posted by BK owner/operator on August 3, 2005 09:19 PM:
"Here's how you can change things, rather than just being pissed off: Buy what you think is a good thing. Convince other people, who believe as you do, to "vote with their wallet"."

There is another way to vote: vote with your feet. I do. I try to stay away from fast-food in general. If and when so-called "healthy alternatives have been offered, the price has been considerably higher than the standard offerings, and the taste very poor.

Another of my pet peeves is sugar added to almost all juices and canned or frozen fruits, not to mention peanut butter. I am trying to watch my diet, too, so rather than getting all those extra calories hidden in what looks like healthy foods, I want to save them up for an occassional treat. That means that I would rather get my empty calories in a good piece of choclate than hidden in other foods.

And you call yourself an American?

Flowergirl,

I appreciate your well thought out comments. Sometimes I feel like I get egged on in these threads and have to go over the top to make my point.

I also suffer from a number of back problems (scoliosis, spondylolisthesis) and chronic back pain. I didn't work out for two years up until recently due to workouts exacerbating the pain. I did recently find a way to exercise that didn't increase my pain, however.

What I did during that time was adjust how much I ate so although I wasn't fit per se, I did not go over the top and eat more than I needed.

I understand your arguments on why some people can't do exercise (physical issues) or tend to overeat (psychological issues) and of course there are always exceptions to the rule. However, if we were talking about maybe 10% of the population being morbidly obese that would be one thing. But when 2 out of 3 people are in this state there just aren't enough excuses to go around IMHO.

Are you ok with the fact that children that could be perfectly healthy are coming down with diabetes just because of the way their parents feed them and let them eat? I for one get incredibly angry at that.

So fine, let folks do what they want with their bodies... the problem is kids learn from their parents and they're a captive audience with no one to tell them different.

Thanks however (truly), for pointing out that I've crossed the line from educating to berating. :-

Sorry if I've gotten a bit heated, but (at the risk of re-igniting things) I feel *really* strongly about this and BK Owner's comments in the vein of "if people want to buy it we'll sell it, regardless" reminded me too much of tobacco companies and drug dealers. If he'd just said "yeah, I know, but I have to feed my family" I never would have gone there.

Vic

Yeah, I sympathize, SR; to me, anyone who uses 'if people want to buy it, we'll sell it' are in the same category as whores, IMO, but less honest. There are some things any self-respecting, decent human being or business just doesn't do, regardless of who wants it & why.

Yikes...I knew fast food wasn't the greatest for your health but those stats are kind of disturbing.

Folks, here in a small town in Olde England we have a different problem. We are living with Burger (Stin)king - They are the neighbours from frying pan. For months they are operating defect ventilators, which run until well past midnight. Nobody gets sleep before that time! They seem to take little notice of neighbours' complaints and we do not even have an e-mail to contact the hooligans. Does anyone know how to launch this into big news?

NYC Health Dept. asks restaurants to stop hydrogenated oil here

It's starting, BK Owner/Operator.

I've done a few shifts at a BK recently to pay the bills and have to say its not as disusting behind the scenes as I'd imagined. The store struggles to make enough to pay the wages (its not the best location) and realistically has very little control - the area managers very much pulling the strings.

The trully disturbing thing is the people who come in everyday and order the same thing everytime...wrong, wrong, wrong. If you come into a bar drunk its illegal for them to serve you - surely BK, MacDs, etc. have to start taking responsibility for what they are doing to people too stupid/lazy/addicited for their own good

(nb I'm writing from Britain where we all pay for everyones elses health care)

I think this is so true i am doing a debate on the topic of fast food and how it causes people to be over weight for my english class. thank you for the prespective.

Yea...great post...Wwo'd have thought that two greasy patties filled with crap and greasy fries would account for an entire day's worth of calories!?!?! Well, unfortunately,you have some all too sad ideas about eating. First, you argue about the average man needing 2,000 calories. That's great, but for some people with a high metabolism that number means jack-shit. I know people who can eat 2 of those burgers a day and not gain an once. They may have a heart-attack when they hit 34, but they won't gain an ounce. Coupled with the fact that a lot of people exercise like crazy, that number means little. Plus, you have to consider the fact that anyone that hardly anyone with any intelligence would eat that monstrosity once a day, or once a week for that matter. Having one of those, or taking your kid out for French Toast once every two weeks or a month ain't gonna affect them that bad. It's all about moderation. Eat like a normal human being most of the time, splurge like a pig very little, you'll be alright. Plus, you have to factor in the fact that...if all I eat is healthy crap, and never eat stuff that tastes really good but is terrible for me...am I really living? Trust me...I've had the Ginormous Omelette Heart Attack Sandwich...it is delightful...if I didn't get to eat things like that once in a while, I'm sure I would regret it in the after-life. However, nothing is more depressing than going to the grocery store and seeing a large, large, LARGE man buying only stacks of oreos and seven-layer cakes (not stereotype, real-life example unfortunately). I don't care if you're on low-carb, low-fat, low-whatever....that's just wrong and sad.

When I lived in America, I was a Burger King manager. I have a different point of view about the business than the owner/operator who occasionally posted to this discussion. I knew it was an exploitative business that sold fat and sugar wrapped up as a dream taste to make money. And because I didn't and don't have an investment in the business, I do not have to defend the product.

Having said that, Burger King tasted best of the hamburger fast food joints, hands down.

I'd look at the guys who ordered double Whopper sandwiches, large fries and a diet Coke, and would have a chicken with cheese on the side for a chaser. I'd shake my head with disapproval (to myself of course), ring up the order and take the money.

I eventually paid the price for all the junk I ate at BK while managing there. I got my very own heart attack.

In the end, places like Burger King and its competitors will cease to exist. But how long that will take is another matter.

i don't know if they would cease to exist, Ruvy, they will just adjust their menus to coincide with consumer trends. places like McDonald's and Wendy's already offer a more extensive menus, with healthier choices. i think that's the trend we'll see in the future of fast food.

Chantal,

The trend you mention is already occurring and was already occurring when I worked there. But the end that I'm talking about is the Divinity hitting the "reset" button - something very different from changing a menu slat or introducing a "lower" calorie product.

eat a burger, do a line, eat a burger, do a line. you'll either gain or lose weight, and you'll certainly die, but then again, you're getting burgers and coke every day! happiness? maybe.

Good Post. If you could get me a list of ingredients, that would be even more gross.

I just had one, with fries. So fracking good. I just watched the move and on the way back we decided to pig out. I'm not sure why people are bitching about this, it has as many calories as I eat all day... but it's not like I'm going to be able to eat anything else today even if I wanted to, it was HUGE.