From Where I Sit RONALD WANTS YOU
	APRIL 2005

by Richard Koscher, Publisher

The news services bombard us with images showing terrorist attacks across the world. We are becoming nervous and feel insecure. What stage of Alert are we on today? Some of you reading this know the answer. But how many are aware of the number one killer right among us?

More Americans are slain every month by the effects of eating too much fat than have been killed by terrorists in non-combat conditions from President Lincoln’s assassination until the present. When the towers fell on 9/11 2,400 Americans were killed in all four incidents, but by the end of that week, alone, almost 7,000 Americans had died from the effects of obesity, which, scientists tell us results, for the most part, from eating far too much fat.

We invite Fat to our tables in our homes and restaurants in the form of such things as pizzas, burgers, sweet and salty snacks, and deserts. We especially bring him in by way of the thousands of tons of French fries that we consume each day. If we would represent by a marble the possibility of any individual in America being killed by a terrorist, we would need a structure the size of a Walmart Super Store to represent the danger of being killed by one of the many effects of obesity.

According to the March 11, 2004 issue of Time Magazine, Obesity has taken the number one position in the list of major causes of preventable death in America, with associated health problems being responsible for more than 400,000 deaths per year, which turns out to 1,096 deaths a day. So every minute-and-twenty-seconds an American dies who would have remained alive if he or she had not been seriously overweight. More Americans die of eating too much fat every 36 hours than have been killed in Iraq since the war began.

I hope you are beginning to get the picture. When it comes to killing Americans, McDonalds and Pizza Hut have it all over Osama bin Laden and his nasty crew. Maybe terrorists have the wrong idea with their suicide missions. They should open fast food franchises and give out free burgers and fries and let the Americans commit the suicide on themselves.

I’m picking on McDonalds because it holds the record of being the world’s largest civilian food service and holds 43% of the American fast food market. McDonalds is actually becoming an international killer, since it now reportedly has 30,000 restaurants in 100 countries, representing six continents, and serves its hi-fat foods to more than 46 million people world wide every day!

I got excited about the issue of McDonalds’ role in the problem of American obesity because of a great movie, called Super Size Me, which told the story of Morgan Spurlock, who went on a McDonalds only diet. For three months Spurlock ate all three meals at a McDonalds, with only two rules. During the month he had to eat everything on the menu at least once, and if the sales person ever asked him if he wanted to Super Size his order, he had to agree.

The movie is nominated for an Oscar for outstanding documentary. One of the great parts of the movie is watching how Spurlock’s health and fitness absolutely tanked during the course of the month. He gained over 24 pounds, his cholesterol shot up 65 points, and his body fat flared in a seven percent increase. A shocking reality is that, even under the influence of the 24 pounds of additional lard, Spurlock’s 18 percent body fat was still two percent under the national average for men and a full 12 percent beneath the average for woman.

In one month Spurlock doubled his risk of a heart disease. He became depressed, his energy diminished dramatically and he felt exhausted most of the time. He experienced diminished libido. He ingested 12 pounds of raw fat during the month. The amount of salt intake also increased to unhealthy proportions and, even worse, Spurlock consumed an average of one pound of sugar every day — the equivalent of a 30-pound bag of sugar during the month of the experiment.

The first time he ate one of the massive sandwiches, together with the enormous super sized fries and super sized drink, Spurlock’s stomach rebelled at the load and he heaved most of it into the bushes. However, as the month passed he began to develop cravings for the food and became plagued by annoying fast food deprivation headaches when the gap between the fattening meals became too great.

Many people make the objection that my editor always makes about this experiment — that people aren’t supposed to eat that stuff every day, let alone three times a day. Spurlock admits that, himself. But then he goes on to say that some people really do eat it every day. “My experience has been extreme,” he says, “but not crazy.” He doesn’t point out the obvious fact that a person could do in a year what Spurlock did in a month without any obviously abnormal eating behaviors.

Spurlock’s health declined even when he was consuming McDonalds salads. The McDonald’s version of Ranch Chicken Salad actually delivers more calories than a Big Mac, plus 51 grams of fat. In other words, one serving of McDonalds dressing contains a full 79% of your daily fat intake.

What America is lacking is a fast food chain that serves everything from fresh salads (and I don’t mean the ones with the 300 calorie dressing) to a wide choice of vegetables and fruits. Of course grilled chicken and maybe some Low fat fruit shakes (with actual fruit). If some entrepreneurs would put such a chain into place even I would say, “I’m lovin‘ it!” A chain of healthy-eating fast food restaurants would provide a great anti-terrorism weapon against the silent menace that is killing so many of us these days.