Friday, May 15, 2015

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... Hardee's Most American Thickburger!!




All I can say is... wow.  This monster, just unveiled by Hardee's and Carl's Jr., is a regular cheeseburger plus a smoked hot dog and potato chips.  It weighs in at a whopping 1,030 Calories, not including fries, soda, etc.

This is consistent with the company's recent policy of not just ignoring health concerns, but mocking them.  Nothing can sum this up better than the words of Hardee's CEO himself, Andrew Pudzer:
I hope our competitors keep promoting those healthy products, and we will keep promoting our big, juicy delicious burgers.
This statement encapsulates many of the reasons why the company is doing brisk business at the moment.  They focus on the reward value of food without concerning themselves with the collateral damage to the health of their customers.  And they offer a lot of food for not very much money.  It's a simple formula, but it works.

Thanks to David Lawrence for the tip, and the Boston Globe for the image.

7 comments:

John said...

Still feeling hungry after lunch, I come across this picture! Looks tasty, but like it would be better without the chips and hotdog.

JWO said...

They never look like that when you buy them.

fivechappels said...

Only a matter of time before they replace the standard bun with pizza buns. Sorta surprised they have chips in the burger/dog instead of fries. I suppose that would cut into their fry sales.

nix132 said...

The Beef Industry Council in the 1980's had the same cocky attitude as Hardy's current CEO Andrew Puzder. It's TV commercials in the 80's featured actor James Garner who would make condescending remarks about vegetables and brag about how good steak made the brain feel. Garner underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1988 and shortly thereafter the Beef Industry Council dumped him from its ads.

Some of James Garner's beef commercials are on youtube.

Joseph said...

Love the food reward friday series Stephan! How about including some seemingly innocuous foods to raise public awareness? Take toast for example. Take bread void of water, fiber and protein, toast it to add that rewarding crunch, slather it with salty fat like butter or peanut butter, and cover it with sugar like jam or honey. Even with the best wholesome ingredients toast is a recipe for palatability.

Anonymous said...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26044613
It actually seems to be the case that VLC increases insulin sensitivity in obese. If measured properly.

Stephan Guyenet said...

Hi Erdoke,

That study involved weight loss, which increases insulin sensitivity. Any diet that causes significant weight loss increases insulin sensitivity, so that is not specific to VLC. The question is: does CHO reduction have an independent ability to increase insulin sensitivity? Current evidence suggests that the answer is "no", and in fact, VLC decreases insulin sensitivity in weight-stable people. Moderate CHO reduction does not appear to reduce insulin sensitivity.