Does anyone eat this much at a meal?

[16251]

[KuruPrionz]

I'd like to know exactly what is in that burger. 

I might eat that much if I was really hungry but maybe not the same food items.

I see what appears to be ground beef patties and buns, I'm OK with those. 

 

What are the other ingredients?

[The Real MC]

Nope nope nope

 

I adopted the European style of meals.  I used to have business travel in Europe and I noticed that so many people are fit and in good shape.  I read that their meal patterns are opposite of North America - Europe has their biggest meals at breakfast and lunch, dinner is small meal.  US has their biggest meals at dinner, breakfast and lunch are small meals.  With the biggest meal so close to end of the day when people spend the rest of the night relaxing then going to bed, it's no wonder that so many Americans are out of shape.  Eating out makes it worse, the dishes are huge and restaurants use a lot of additives that are unhealthy.

 

Since I had adopted the European pattern of meals, I have managed to stay in shape.  I also make more of my own meals and have cut way back on fast foods.

[timwat]

i think there is an American-way of thinking about food (from an older generation) that often equates "putting away" an outsized meal like that with opulence and wealth, and sometimes with manliness and masculinity. And this still lives on with food challenges like that Beard Meets Food guy on YouTube and such.

 

I used to do that too - see a burger like above as a challenge to be overcome (rather than as a long-term health risk).

 

All that was fine in my 20's and 30's - I was in very good shape, and tended to put on muscle quickly (and lose weight easily).

 

Not anymore. My wife (who keeps herself in VERY good shape) keeps insisting we should eat like we're in our 60's...which we both are. These days portion sizes like above might serve as 3 or 4 meals. 

 

As a bit of postscript - data seems to suggest that eating two cheeseburgers is healthier for you than eating a cheeseburger and fries. Reading that has forced me to rethink how often / how much french fries I allow myself anymore.

 

 

[David Emm]

Holy bleep, that's a monster. Looks like a real lip-smacker, except I'd have to divvy it up into about 10-12 meals. If I ate it all at one sitting, I would die horribly now. Its also a roller coaster of saturated fat, so I'd have to eat a truck bed's worth of bran to process it. When I was younger & hanging out with a dubious crowd, I would have taken monkey pride in the Godzilla gas that would have yielded. Now, I'll just have a slider. Its wiser. My poor colon was once Teflon; now its more like sandpaper. 😬

[K K]

[bill5]

37 minutes ago, timwat said:

As a bit of postscript - data seems to suggest that eating two cheeseburgers is healthier for you than eating a cheeseburger and fries. Reading that has forced me to rethink how often / how much french fries I allow myself anymore.

 

I doubt that, but some choice. Both are extremely unhealthy, so I doubt it matters much. It matters a lot more to eat fast food very infrequently in general. I almost never do anymore. That picture above doesn't even look appealing to me. The size alone is ridiculous, but even at half that size, about all I see is a boatload of salt and (charred) grease. ecch. I'm no health nut, but pass.

 

And I don't think the stereotypical "American" attitude of more is better really applies commonly anymore. People in general I think tend to be more conscious about such things. 

[o0Ampy0o]

Years ago I read of a concept where the 24 hour day was divided into intake assimilation and elimination. If you did what the period was designated you felt great and your body got adequate rest and processed food efficiently and you had clarity and energy. It varies per person. I cannot eat the most at breakfast. That shuts me down making me groggy. I have to be at my wakeful peak and energized when I eat the largest meal. But that also has to take place well before bedtime. So if I work late I am better off with a very light snack and skipping a large meal altogether. If I eat moderately and mindfully on a routine basis I can tolerate a large extravagant meal once a week without consequences.

 

I watched a documentary like 60 minutes or something and a segment was on weightlifters taking steroids. One guy described how small and weak he felt when he had to lose the muscle because his steroid abuse was making him sick. He did not leave the house. I suspect a lot of "height-free" men get robust in weight compensating for their being "short-rich."

[o0Ampy0o]

25 minutes ago, bill5 said:

I doubt that, but some choice. Both are extremely unhealthy, so I doubt it matters much. It matters a lot more to eat fast food very infrequently in general. I almost never do anymore. That picture above doesn't even look appealing to me. The size alone is ridiculous, but even at half that size, about all I see is a boatload of salt and (charred) grease. ecch. I'm no health nut, but pass.

 

And I don't think the stereotypical "American" attitude of more is better really applies commonly anymore. People in general I think tend to be more conscious about such things. 

 

Generally, you are better off eating double the meat than mixing in the greasy potatoes with half the meat. Of course neither are healthy but one is more difficult to process than the other. There is a lot of salt in both but I suspect the amount people add to fries is more than what would be in double the amount of meat and including the cheese.

 

Aside from that, I do not eat at fast food restaurants unless I am desperate. I recently discovered that a large fries portion is not the large it used to be. Super-sized used to be an attraction. Now it is as though they are dictating how much you can eat. It does not seem like the common profit motivated switch like Haagen-dazs reducing their large size by ounces instead of raising the price. They are trying to distance themselves from the "junk" and "unhealthy" reputation remaking themselves into the healthy cigarette.

[bill5]

5 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:

 

Generally, you are better off eating double the meat than mixing in the greasy potatoes with half the meat.

Burgers are greasier than fries, generally speaking, but I suspect it can vary depending on the particular burger and fries.

 

Quote

Of course neither are healthy but one is more difficult to process than the other. There is a lot of salt in both but I suspect the amount people add to fries is more than what would be in double the amount of meat and including the cheese.

I disagree. I think fries are usually salty enough that most people eat them as is vs adding more salt, but I admit that's a guesstimate.

[o0Ampy0o]

Are you really in a position to know what most people do when it comes to french fries? I rarely am with a wide variety of people when eating fast food. It has been brought into work by the company but at the restaurant I am usually alone or with the same person or another.

 

Again I only go when desperate and that equates to possibly three to four visits since now 2023 and back to Dec 2022. I do get fries when I go and they have not salted them perhaps as part of passing that responsibility to the customer so the customer has control over it.

 

Back when I just ate how I wanted, unless they were too salty I typically added more because they were not salted well enough. Like sugar, the less you are used to the less you desire.

 

During different periods of my life I ate out more. At times I rarely ate at home. Everything is generally saltier in a restaurant, not just fast food. When I was rarely eating at home I wasn't eating fast food. I was eating in good and above, good as in no diners, Denny's, or similar.

[bill5]

1 hour ago, o0Ampy0o said:

Are you really in a position to know what most people do when it comes to french fries?

No. That's why I said "I admit that's a guesstimate." But I think it's a reasonable one.

[o0Ampy0o]

Sometimes when I read something I unconsciously toss out words that do not belong and instead read for the message. I don't think "guesstimate" is the appropriate word to use in this case. "Generality" would fit better.  I tossed that out because I did not see it as any form of estimate, (loose or realistic). You made a sweeping statement rather than a loose attempt to peg down an actual figure. This is not 6 of one / half a dozen of the other. Words do have definitions which can be precise even when they are loose estimates and sweeping statements. 😍

[RABid]

Looks like a good portion of height is from hollow onion rings. Still, I would eat 1/3 of that. I eat small and often. 

[Stokely]

17 hours ago, The Real MC said:

Nope nope nope

 

I adopted the European style of meals.  I used to have business travel in Europe and I noticed that so many people are fit and in good shape.  I read that their meal patterns are opposite of North America - Europe has their biggest meals at breakfast and lunch, dinner is small meal.  US has their biggest meals at dinner, breakfast and lunch are small meals.  With the biggest meal so close to end of the day when people spend the rest of the night relaxing then going to bed, it's no wonder that so many Americans are out of shape.  Eating out makes it worse, the dishes are huge and restaurants use a lot of additives that are unhealthy.

 

Since I had adopted the European pattern of meals, I have managed to stay in shape.  I also make more of my own meals and have cut way back on fast foods.

I recently read the same thing--generally better to eat heavier earlier.   

I don't eat out much now that I work from home (most of my eating out was lunch as I'd get too lazy to bring one to work.)   The family tries to get breakfast  out once a week, dinner is harder since my kids are now driving around doing their thing (when they are home at all).

Salt never used to be a concern of mine but my leg has a pretty bad circulation/swelling issue that is made worse by salt (water retention).  As the doc says, drinking water is great *unless* you combine it with salt   Looking at salt amounts in most restaurant food....yikes.

If I do eat out--and for that matter at home--I try not to let my eyes and taste buds make all the decisions.  By that I mean, take/set aside a reasonable portion, eat it and then either box up the rest or wait a bit.  Your stomach needs time to catch up to the fact that its full; we've all kept eating something because it tastes good, or because it's still on the plate ("clean your plate" being terrible advice from the good ol days....).  Chances are, 10-15 minutes later that half meal will prove to be enough.

For me though, my main problems are two:   1) drinking too much booze/beer, which leads to bad eating decisions (on top of being unhealthy) and 2) having junk food in the house.  I generally don't *buy* the junk, others do, but at some point I tend to get into it.    And really those two points fall under one larger one:  mental health.  Depression, anxiety, these things lead to "ah, who gives a shit" and wanting to "reward" myself for some bad thing that just happened.     It's been a bad couple weeks in a bad year for me, and while I love exercise, it's not nearly enough to get me over the mental lapses that lead to unhealthy decisions.  

[David Emm]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:35 PM, K K said:

(Nuttin', just the picture!)

 

At least he's already in a hospital gown. He'll need it if he tries to eat that. Damn, I avoid large regular injections of beef, but these burgers look delicious. Satan, get thee behind me and don't comment on my ass while you're back there.