The Awesome Junior Whopper

Because we clearly have not lifted enough from Matt's blog today, I want to double down on this point about the value of fast food in regards to weight-loss:

I think that sometimes people need to be just a bit more patient with the operation of things. I see the McDonald's oatmeal saga as in some ways optimistic. The first piece of good news about McDonald's oatmeal is that, as a marketing strategy, they clearly think there's money to be made in selling people food that they perceive as healthier than the existing McDonald's options. The second piece of good news about McDonald's oatmeal is that, as a matter of corporate policy, McDonald's discloses extensive nutritional information about the food they sell. Thanks to the second piece of good news, we know that the promise of healthy McDonald's oatmeal is a lie. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more extensive and aggressive calorie information will be coming.

Last year I found myself traveling a lot and thus ending up in my room with McNasty's or Burger King. I can not overstate the benefit of knowing, as much as possible, the precise amount of calories you're taking. Many of the fast food chains make that really easy. This is a very good thing. As Matt says, calories are most certainly not intuitive. There are "salads" out there that will hit you like a burger

I love Maoz. But the Junior falafel ultimately, has roughly same amount of calories as the Junior Whopper. Again, there are other important and very good reasons (overall health, ethical, environmental etc.) to go with the falafel. But I don't think weight loss--in and of itself--is a good one.

Food is complicated. When in doubt, I try to avoid the hidden price tag.