English

During the process of evolution, dramatic changes on anatomic, behavioral and nutritional aspects have been noticed in humans. These gradual changes allowed them to be more adaptable to environments and have caused genetic evolutionary responses. The adoption of a more settled way of living (the man is no longer nomadic), resulted in an agriculture and animal husbandry. Further, the industrial era caused an even greater impact on the human diet. Nowadays, the imbalanced diet (which is usually high in trans fatty acids, refined flour and sugar) consumed by the contemporary society, could be directly related to the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and many others.

In order to do an analysis in this contemporary way of eating I’ve chosen a famous fast food/ restaurant” place to write about it. Its name is Heart Attack Grill. I was there a month ago while I was visiting Las Vegas. It was one of the craziest experiences that I ever had. The place was packed. The surroundings and the atmosphere were definitely unique.

Right at the entrance, I could notice that Heart Attack Grill was beyond any restaurant that I ever visited before. The waitress was dressing up as a nurse and the hospital there was also adopted by some customers (referred as patients) that were using gowns while eating their enormous meals. To ensure the happiness of their clients The Heart Attack offers free meals for those who happen to weigh more than 350 pounds and for this reason. There is a scale with a giant digital readout on the wall. While I was there, two different people stepped up on the scale. To my surprise, when each one of them stepped on the scale and the giant digital surpasses the 350 pound mark, the entire restaurant started to applaud and celebrate the overweight of them. It was just unbelievable.

That was just the beginning of my adventure at the Heart Attack Grill. What really blows me away was the menu. The name of the meal was also related to the hospital there and I believe that each one of them can really make you experience a real heart attack. The menu offers four varieties of the traditional Bypass Burgers: Single. Double, Triple or Quadruple and each one of them can come with 5, 10, 15 or 20 slices of bacon. The fresh-cut potatoes, which came on a side, were deep fried in pure lard. To make my high-calorie meal completed I tried the chocolate “Butter-fat Shake”. Made from butterfat cream this shake is known as the world’s highest butterfat content of any food or beverage. Being honest, it was the best drink that I ever had.

Unsurprisingly the restaurant doesn’t provide calorie counts for many of its menu items. I did my own count. My Double Bypass Burger had around 4000 calories, the French-fries another 700 calories and the shake surpasses 2000 calories. Of course that I did the math just a few days after my visit to the Heart Attack, and it is impossible to describe how it feels to know that I had almost 7000 calories in just one single meal. To burn off these calories, I would need to jog for approximately 16 hours. Even worse is to find out that by having a meal like this I could exactly have a heart attack.

And this was actually what happened with couple patrons that regularly used to eat at the Heart Attack Grill. In February of 2012, a man was hospitalized after eating a 6,000 calories Triple Bypass Burger, apparent he had a heart problem. Last year, a faithful patron of the restaurant died with a heart problem and flu-related pneumonia. He was an unofficial mascot of the restaurant. Those two cases follow several previous fatal and near-deaths incidents connected to the restaurant.

On the other side of this scary scenario is the owner and founder of The Heart Attack Grill. Jon Basso is very proudly and doesn’t seem to be a slightest bit sorry about it.

After having lived this experience at The Heart Attack Grill and had learned more about the consumption of certain foods and its consequences, I realized that we definitely are what we eat. More than ever in the contemporary society and the globalization era are contributing to the creation of bad habits and a sedentary society.

The obesity, cancer, diabetes and other diseases related to the bad habits of food consumption have reached outrageous numbers and the United States of America is the top one in most of them. The financial interest of the corporations dictates even what we eat. We are overwhelmed with propaganda that persuades us to maintain this poor lifestyle, and not even the governmental agencies seem to cause any effect in this scenario.

Is The Heart Attack Grill a “joke” that is literally killing people, or a clever way to say that this is the reality of America’s obsession with unhealthy food?