All you can Eat

It is estimated that within five years, 40% of adult Americans will be obese. What is causing this to happen on such a scale?

Can one lay some of the blame on the portion sizes here in the US?

McDonalds offers ‘A Hugo’ size drink for 69c. The drink is 42oz , which is 1.2l or 2.2 pints. If the drink is Coca-Cola, this is 534 Calories or about 20% of recommended daily calorie intake for a middle age man. To make this worse, the TV advertising campaign is emphasizing that this drink is available at drive-thru, so you do not even to walk across the car-park and up to the counter to order this drink. To be fair, the chain of convenience stores, 7-11 offers a Super Big Gulp which is a full 44 ounces.

The LA Dodgers have now started offering seats in the less popular part of the ground that are all you can eat, so from ninety minutes before the game starts until the seventh inning you can stuff your face with hot-dogs, soda, and nachos drenched in cheese.

Memorial Day

This is my first long weekend in the US since I started working. It coincides with the UK’s Spring Bank Holiday. Here in the US, however, holidays have more purpose than Spring Bank Holidays and Summer Bank Holidays. Monday is Memorial Day; a day to honour day those who have died in military service. In observance it seems an opportunity for the big DIY chain (Home Depot) to step up their sales, for the airports to be jammed, and for big movies to open.

This year the weekend sees two anniversaries; Friday was the 30th anniversary of the premiere of the first (or fourth) Star Wars movie. Monday is the 70th anniversary of one of the area’s most famous icons; the Golden Gate bridge.