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by Pettus Read
The age of "super-sizing" is out and the reality of low carb debunking is in. We have now reached the stage of fast-food dining where the fun of eating something that tastes good is no longer the objective. Instead, the day of the french fry and the hamburger bun is going the way of the Nehi grape drink and candy cigarettes.
Super, burger-producer giant McDonald's has announced that they will no longer "super-size" orders. Officials from McDonald's have reported that the only time you will hear those words again will be during special promotions and only Ronald himself knows when that will ever be.
The burger corporate executives put the blame on making the change due to trying to help consumers become more healthy in their food choices. It seems they felt the fries were not the only things becoming "super-sized" and needed to do a good deed to protect us all from becoming a "Big Mac."
All of their reasoning presented for media reporting purposes may have sounded good to the carb watching clientele, but those of us who remember what happened to the tobacco industry when a group of attorneys sued for health reasons, understood exactly why they chose to not "super-size" anymore. The guys in the double-breasted suits are looking no longer at big tobacco for revenue, but now are setting their sites on fast-food and McDonald's is taking evasive action.
Just a few years ago, I wrote a column concerning the new idea, at that time, of suing the tobacco companies by a group of lawyers in the northeast. Their main reason for suing, they said, was because the tobacco industry was making people smoke and they wanted to protect their health.
In that column I said that the suites against the tobacco companies were only the beginning. Not necessarily meaning that they would be the only ones singled out either. In that column I mentioned fast-food, ice cream and anyone who produced something that may cause someone to develop health problems if they over indulge. I am not one to say I told you so. However, I told you so.
The door was opened when law cases were won just because individuals were allowed to blame someone else for their own habits and failures. Legal counsel is already organizing and forming ranks to blame food chains for making us overweight. I can't wait to see that settlement and who will get the "food money" just like how our states fought over the "tobacco money" in past years.
When will we as a society take the blame for our own actions? I'm overweight and will admit it, but it is no one's fault but my own. Ronald McDonald never forced me to eat a McNugget or anything else that they serve at the Golden Arches. So why should I sue them when my doctor can't read my chart numbers because they are so large they run off the chart?
But, what can you expect from those who will spend half a day looking for vitamin pills to make them live longer, then drive 90 miles an hour on slick pavement to make up for lost time. We're supposed to be the most civilized nation on earth, but we still can't deliver payrolls without an armored car.
It has been said we are a country that has more food to eat than any other country in the world and more diets to keep us from eating it. Low carb, grapefruit, high protein, sugar-free, and other names are given to diets that we quickly break only to regain our original stature prior to dieting.
Let's take blame for our actions, push away from the table and remove the term "super-size" from our vocabulary without a threat from a law firm.
However, just remember, I told you so.
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