"After a period of collective indigestion induced by the 2004 documentary Super Size Me and the 2001 book Fast Food Nation and its subsequent film adaptation, much of the industry is returning to its traditional customers—men—and its traditional food—meat—served up in ever-greater quantities. Although CKE's signature behemoths—the Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger and Hardee's Monster Thickburger, both introduced in 2004—out-calorie all comers, Burger King narrowed the gap with its Triple Whopper With Cheese (2005); Wendy's unveiled the Baconator (2007)...and Taco Bell awakened the industry to new possibilities with its 2006 campaign, which urged customers to enjoy a "fourth meal" each day."
posted on Jun 1, 2008 - View this thread

The Southern Foodways Alliance is one weighed-down church-supper table, full of oral history/blog projects like The Tamale Trail, the Boudin Trail, interviews and recipes from the Bartenders of New Orleans, photo essay/interviews from Birmingham's Greek-Americans, a mess o'homemade films, and a passel of event and BBQ-shack photos on Flickr, all smothered in the tangy-sweet academic goodness of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. These folks get my vote for most flavorful, funkiest food-loving folklorists in the lower forty-eight.
posted on Apr 28, 2008 - View this thread

Leonard Nimoy's new photography book is not what you'd expect. In this NPR interview, Nimoy discusses his new book, The Full Body Project.
posted on Nov 9, 2007 - View this thread

Pink Floyd fans may not need no education but Gilmourish, an exhaustive review of the guitars and audio effects of Pink Floyd's David Gilmour (with help from an insider), will leave most comfortably numb.
posted on Oct 19, 2007 - View this thread

I'm no toothpick myself, and admire and enjoy the female form in all its sizes, especially ladies with some meat on them. Thus, my idea for collecting art of a bigger-sized WW happened
posted on Jul 20, 2007 - View this thread

Fat is Genetic, from NY Times science writer (and sister of Judi Bari) Gina Kolata.
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread

These women are supposed to disgust you into buying low-fat yogurt.
posted on Jun 19, 2007 - View this thread

"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat." According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.
posted on May 10, 2007 - View this thread

Fat MRI shows the difference between subcutaneous and deep body fat, and makes some distinctions beyond just apple/pear. Here's another article, same site. I originally found this strange image searching for info on health effects of fat/red meat depending on whether it's mainly pastured as frequently discussed here or mainly unnaturally fed (as per Omnivore's Dilemma.)
posted on Feb 19, 2007 - View this thread

RIP Heather MacAllister. "Any time there is a fat person onstage as anything besides the butt of a joke, it’s political. Add physical movement, then dance, then sexuality and you have a revolutionary act.”  Founder of Big Burlesque and Venus Group, she died Feb 13 after a long fight with ovarian cancer. She was notably photographed by Leonard Nimoy. Multiple memorial services are planned for her birthday, Feb 25. [some links may be NSFW]
posted on Feb 15, 2007 - View this thread

A group of scientists have announced that they have created cloned and genetically modified pigs that make their own omega-3 fatty acids. NPR has more on the story, including an audio report from Joe Palca. There are apparently some naturally occuring pigs with their own omega-3 fatty acids, primarily a Spanish breed called Ibérico. Descended from native Iberian wild boar, black-footed Ibérico hogs are raised in specially maintained oak forests, and feed primarily on acorns. Until last September, however, no Spanish producer had been approved to export Ibérico products to the United States, and consumers may have to wait a few more months before they can get their hands on the tasty pork. As the ham is sure to be in short supply, you can put down a $199 deposit now for a ham that will carry a final price tag of as much as $1000. If you're unable to wait for—or afford—the Spanish version, you can treat yourself now to the Bacon of the Month Club, which serves up a different artisanal bacon each month. For more on raising hogs, read James Buchan's account in the London Review of Books. And don't forget the bacon blogs: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
posted on Mar 27, 2006 - View this thread

Bacon as health food. Scientists have added a gene to a cloned pig that converts omega-6 fat to to the more healthy (and trendy) omega-3. Link to full Nature Biotechnology article (may need subscription).
posted on Mar 26, 2006 - View this thread

Lifestyle on the line. UK to allow hospital's opinions on personal lifestyle to define state healthcare decisions.
posted on Dec 17, 2005 - View this thread

NSFW "Here at Fantasy Feeder we either want to be fat or we want to fatten. We're feeders and feedees obsessed with over endulging our huge bellies and fat bottoms, and we're here to share stories, play online games and encourage each other to gain weight."
posted on Nov 15, 2005 - View this thread

America's Waistline. A new piece examines the politics of the fat. Despite the growing numbers of people who are becoming obese, the fat acceptance movement remains oddly stunted in terms of membership. The growing civil rights movement faces many problems, including presenting a respectable face to the public. You see, many of the people who are in charge are feeders (NWS). Many wonder how the movement be taken seriously when so many who lead are sexual deviants and much of the revenue generated for size acceptance efforts is through pornography? Still, the battle rages on.
posted on Nov 3, 2005 - View this thread

Are you HUNGRY or do you just crave the flavor? (my favorite is that Mustard is under the heading Exotic.)
posted on Aug 17, 2005 - View this thread

Fat Man Walking. Steve Vaught chronicles his effort to shed most of his 400 pounds on the highway from San Diego to New York. An inspiring, if medically dangerous, tale of human willpower. (via today's Washington Post, registration required).
posted on Jul 8, 2005 - View this thread

"No soup for you! Only salad!" The Soup Nazi stars in a Center for Consumer Freedom ad about overeating and the "calorie curmudgeons" trying to regulate it.
posted on Oct 21, 2004 - View this thread

The life and death of a supersized man. Walter Hudson was fat. Precisely how fat was impossible to determine, because the one time he agreed to be weighed on an industrial-strength scale, it broke. (Maybe it was something he ate?) But no one denies that Hudson was one of the most obese people of the modern era (note: pictures not safe before lunch). Former comic, erstwhile diet guru, civil rights activist and Michael Jackson proponent Dick Gregory was one of Hudson's many exploiters, but Hudson's agoraphobic existence sounds almost beatific.
posted on Sep 18, 2004 - View this thread

Obese Florida woman melds with couch after laying on it for six years. Meanwhile.
posted on Aug 12, 2004 - View this thread

Scientists know that being fat reduces your lifespan, making you more susceptible to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a host of other bad things. However they are only beginning to understand why. "Fat tissue is now recognized to be the body's biggest endocrine organ," producing 25 known signaling compounds and a variety of proteins.
posted on May 12, 2004 - View this thread

Time to blow the whistle. Is the "obesity epidemic" a medical emergency, or a big fat lie? Paul Campos says it's time to tell the truth.
posted on Apr 28, 2004 - View this thread

The Great Citizens Campaign to Lose Three Kilograms. Okinawans have closely adopted the U.S. lifestyle of cars, suburban malls and fast food, and have become Japan's fattest people?
posted on Mar 29, 2004 - View this thread

American fat asses rapidly dying. The aggrandizing of the scourge.
posted on Mar 10, 2004 - View this thread

mypetfat™
posted on Mar 1, 2004 - View this thread

The food pyramid has been updated again, apparently. According to Frito-Lay, your major food groups now consist of fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy, and Doritos. (via Calpundit)
posted on Jan 24, 2004 - View this thread

US and Big Sugar challenge WHO Obesity Plan William Steiger, of the US Department of Health and Human Services sent a 28-page letter to the World Health Organization on January 5th. On behalf of the Bush Administration, he writes "rigorous scientific studies do not clearly show that marketing fast foods or high calorie foods to consumers increases their risk of becoming obese. Nor do scientific studies definitively link particular foods, such as soft drinks or juices, or foods high in fat or sugar, to a higher risk of obesity." Attacking the science, protecting the status quo, it's a familiar tactic.

The WHO's efforts to combat worldwide obesity, and the reactions of US Sugar and Food Manufacturers were already discussed here last year. Now that the plan is outlined, after 3 years of work, it recommends "advising people to limit sugar and refined foods, restricting junk food marketing, improving food labeling and raising prices on unhealthy foods". The US, however, is demanding strong changes before it signs off.
posted on Jan 21, 2004 - View this thread

Create-a-meal [note: flash] ... comes in mcdonalds, subway, barbeque, and pizza hut flavors.
posted on Nov 22, 2003 - View this thread

"Sweat-hogging" -- seeking out plus-size women for romantic encounters characterized by a remarkably virulent brand of hatred, cruelty, objectification and, it seems, not a little self-loathing. And I use the word "romantic" loosely. Anybody ever run across this pathology before? (via Romanesko)
posted on Oct 2, 2003 - View this thread

What's on the menu? Perhaps fat and calories. "Five states have taken up similar bills this year, with none being passed so far." Will bills like these ever get passed? Will we ever see nutrition facts on fast food wrappers? Will consumers ever bother to read them?
posted on Jul 15, 2003 - View this thread

How much trans fat is in that Devil Dog? The FDA has announced that starting in 2006 food manufacturers must list the number of grams of trans fatty acid -- very bad fat -- on food packages. This is supposed to be a big deal, meant to save lives and billions of bucks. Not so fast. I say, it is a useless addition to the already confusing line-up of numbers on the nutrition panel. Besides, the presence of trans fats is already revealed in ingredients lists on food boxes and wrappers -- look for hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils. But the stuff flies off shelves anyway. I say, if the FDA really wants to tell people how bad these foods are, they should come right out with it. It's time for warning labels on junk food. THIS PRODUCT CAUSES OBESITY. THIS PRODUCT WILL CLOG YOUR ARTERIES. THIS PRODUCT MAY LEAD TO HEART DISEASE AND DEATH.
posted on Jul 10, 2003 - View this thread

"Live Large, Live Free!" Freedom Paradise is a new Mexican resort catering to large-size visiters. "There are a lot of people who put off vacations, saying, 'I'll buy that bikini when I lose 15 pounds.' We say, why wait to lose weight, when you can enjoy life now?"
posted on Jun 8, 2003 - View this thread

Sure I'm insensitive, but you're fat. This jabeep may be on to something -- has our hot-or-not culture done away with all pretense of looking further than skin deep? fat may not be a "moral failing" anymore, but our growing national waistline doesn't seem to slow continued mockery of the non-slim...can't we be gorgeous ingenue hotties too, not just funny sidekicks? (via Bifurcated Rivets)
posted on May 1, 2003 - View this thread

Yesterday the World Health Organization launched a report on diet and nutrition, saying that sugar should be restricted to 10% of caloric intake. Predictably, the sugar industry (press releases) threw fits and called on their cronies in Congress to cut off WHO funding. Apparently they're fighting and clawing even more than the tobacco industry in similar circusmtances, and WHO fears that lobbyists have more power with the Bush administration. The SA believes that inactivity, not our increased sugar consumption, is the primary cause of the obesity epidemic. Are we in for another few years of declarations of junk science and endless gov't investigations into what seems obvious, a la most environmental and health concerns?
posted on Apr 24, 2003 - View this thread

Andrew Antone can't help falling in love... If, like me, you're tired of good looking, teen pop icons with salon coiffed hair and rock hard abs, but don't want to give up the illicit pleasures of horrendous teen pop, I humbly submit Andrew Antone, 15 year old icon to be, in an alternate universe where looks & talent are no obstacle to pop icon, fame & fortune. For added delight, I encourage you all to customize your desk with the free wallpapers.
posted on Jan 31, 2003 - View this thread

Obesity may not be unhealthy after all A careful survey of medical literature reveals that the conventional wisdom about the health risks of fat is a grotesque distortion of a far more complicated story. Indeed, subject to exceptions for the most extreme cases, it's not at all clear that being overweight is an independent health risk of any kind, let alone something that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. [The New Republic online, free reg. required]
posted on Jan 28, 2003 - View this thread

One Got Fat "Somewhere along the line, a cute little safety movie for the kiddies turned into a dark journey through a grotesque nightmare world of misshapen monkeys in stupid hats." - Scott Munro
posted on Dec 12, 2002 - View this thread

It's not your imagination, Americans (and those of us who live in similar cultures) really are getting fatter. The latest Journal of the AMA has the reports.
posted on Oct 9, 2002 - View this thread

Lose 15 Lbs. in 20 Minutes a Day! by playing the flute during sexual intercourse, square dancing while stacking wood, and other easy methods.
posted on Jul 28, 2002 - View this thread

Fat versus Carbs NYT Magazine takes an deep look at the issues of the low fat diet and the modern obesity epidemic.
posted on Jul 6, 2002 - View this thread

Southwest Airlines to charge larger fliers extra fare. Is this a legitimate charge, discrimination, or are seats simply built too small in airplanes these days? Being a tall fellow, I can attest to never having enough legroom, but what about width-room? Remember to be nice with your discussion kids, as things got a bit ugly the last time something like this was posted...
posted on Jun 19, 2002 - View this thread

I'm fat and I'm suing Twinkies. Art imitating life? Who else saw this past Sunday's episode of The Simpson's? First a bus driver named Otto kidnapping children and now this.
posted on Jan 24, 2002 - View this thread

The worlds heaviest people. And by god they are heavy.
posted on Sep 27, 2001 - View this thread

Michael Kelly to America: We are some kind of fat. Never mind what we consider to be beautiful; the sad fact is that many, many Americans are slobs who cover their guts with spandex pants and think they look good. If only they knew. Amen to this op-ed, and down with dress-down, too, while we're at it.
posted on Aug 2, 2001 - View this thread

Fat chicks in party hats. Offensive or comedic. You decide. I'm still in shock...
posted on Nov 20, 2000 - View this thread

This is the true story of what happens... when seven strangers... are picked to live in a house and have their lives taped... to see what happens when people stop being polite fat and start being real skinny. America's obsession with weight loss continues on ABC. It's the anti-Fat Project.
posted on Oct 31, 2000 - View this thread

Eric is fat! After a month of gorgeing himself for The Fat Project, Eric has finally achieved his goal of 30 lbs. in 30 days. Nicole, on the other hand, isn't faring so well. Updates every few hours today.
posted on Oct 30, 2000 - View this thread

Despite the claims from Nobel Prize winning scientists that fat people have better sex lives (via memepool), the thought of this woman scares the hell out of me.
posted on Sep 2, 2000 - View this thread

Will they come for you next? Warning to all parents:, THEY are watching you....
posted on Aug 29, 2000 - View this thread

Another chink in the armor of anti-fat bigots, haters and discriminators: Scientists discover common virus appears to cause obesity. Interestingly, it also seems to lower cholesterol at the same time.
posted on Jul 27, 2000 - View this thread