"super size" news and stories

It has long been suggested that the oversized portions offered to diners at many restaurants are responsible for the expanding waistlines of Americans. Now, the health/lifestyle watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is implying that "table-service chain restaurants," such as The Cheesecake Factory, T.G.I. Fridays and Ruby Tuesday, are cramming their dishes full of fattening, unhealthy ingredients on purpose, encouraging "extreme eating." Sometimes described as the "food police," CSPI cites the fact that these restaurants are not entirely forthcoming with the nutritional information on their foods, pointing out that Ruby Tuesday's Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta entree has 2,060 calories and 128 grams of fat, while The Cheesecake Factory's Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake (layers of chocolate cake, brownies, coconut pecan filling and chocolate-chip coconut cheesecake) had 1,380 calories.

However misleading it may seem to call a dish "Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta" and cram it with (mostly) cheese, it doesn't sound like there is any ill intent there, does it? The restaurants say that their menus change so frequently that it would be impractical to put together nutritional stats for individual dishes and change the menus all the time. They cite value-conscious consumers, who view large portion sizes as one of their highest priorities when eating out. Looking at both sides of this issue begs one question: which came first, huge portion sizes or the desire for them?

Remember when stuffed crust pizza seemed like a relatively new idea? The idea of stuffing a pizza crust, instead of relegating all the toppings to the surface of the pizza, seemed to stem from the fact that the doughy crusts on many quick service pizzas weren't that good and really needed something special to make them worth eating. Cheese and sauce were the answers and in a relatively short time, the formerly doughy crusts were doughy and greasy - enabling you to consumer twice as much cheese per slice.

In Japan, Pizza Hut has taken the stuffed crust idea to the next level by including whole sausage links inside the crust, along with a layer of cheese. The crust is pulled up and tucked around the sausage, giving the impression that you have a hot dog attached to the end of your pizza.

The whole concept seems to be rather over the top, but that being said, it also seems like this sort of pizza would be a big hit at sports stadiums or anywhere else that beer, pizza and hot dogs already coexist.

[via supersized meals]

A group of Swedish university students is taking part in a study that is recreating Morgan Spurlock's fast food experiment, Super Size Me, in laboratory conditions. Under the supervision of professor Fredrik Nyström, two groups of young medical school students are stuffing themselves with fast foods and avoiding exercise. All of the calories they eat must come from fast food, although they are allowed to make breakfast at home so long as it was "bacon-and-eggs based".

Nyström thought it would have been more difficult to find people willing to participate, but the students were more than eager. More men than women applied and the chosen were the most highly motivated, who were likely to stick to the 6,000 calories-a-day diet. All their food throughout the study would be paid for and they were provided with bus passes so they would not have to walk any more than necessary. The only control on the study was that the Swedish ethics board said the participants must be removed from the study if they increased their bodyweight by more than 15%.

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I guess I had s'mores on the brain after writing about them yesterday, since I was inspired to look up the record for the world's largest s'more. The Guinness Book of World Records lists a s'more made in 2003 as the largest. It was constructed in California from 20,000 marshmallows, 7,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, and 24,000 graham crackers. All totaled, it weighed about 1,600-lbs.

The Guinness category was retired, however, which means that an even larger s'more made this year went unrecorded!

The current largest s'more measured 1,936-sq feet and was constructed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Virginia State Parks. It was made with 8,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, 40,000 marshmallows and 55,000 graham crackers - nearly double the size of the previous record holder, though it didn't use quite as much chocolate.

See a close-up of the s'more's construction after the jump.

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In the past, I have disagreed with some of the food-related lists that MSN has put forth and their latest addition is no exception. They put together a list of 15 tips to stay on a diet at fast food restaurants, most of which suggest things like choosing a smaller portion size or sharing desserts, fries, etc. with a friend. And one of their most important tips is to "limit your visits to fast-food restaurants to no more than twice a week," which is still quite a few visits, to say nothing of the fact that it assumes that you already visit three or more times per week.

It's not that their tips are bad, just overly obvious or repetitive. For example, if you're eating at a fast food restaurant every other day, it's pretty safe to say that your diet has a lot of room for improvement. The tips can be streamlined into a much shorter list:

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