Man has heart attack at The Heart Attack Grill

[Steve Kroll]

Wow. A 6,000 calorie burger. I'm at a loss for words.

Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas: 'Come hungry, leave in an ambulance' | Healthquest | NewJerseyNewsroom.com -- Your State. Your News.

 

[Andy M.]

As a heart attack survivor, I'm offended by this advertising gimmick.

 

[Addie]

I hear ya Andy! There are a couple of shows on TV where the hosts travel the country trying to eat outrageous amounts of high calorie foods. Food TV isn't free of blame either. When Paula Deen was making her "Ooey Gooey cake with a pound of butter, they promoted it constantly. Along with her unhealthy recipes. Now look where she is at. A Type 2 diabetic. And she kept it hidden for three years until it became a profit maker for her. She is touting a pharmaceutical medication for diabetics.

 

[kleenex]

It was bound to happen sometime....

BUTTTTTTTT...


How can you not go wrong with a quadruple bypass burger???

http://www.heartattackgrill.com/picture/Quadruple.jpg

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I don't understand the thinking process that would motivate somebody to eat a 6,000 calorie meal. I googled a bit and it appears that a recommended daily caloric intake for women is 2,000 calories, for men 2,500 calories (although it depends on weight, age, metabolism, exercise and many other factors). I think 6,000 calories would be at least twice as big a total daily intake for all but the largest most active few. Let alone in one meal.

Then there's another health effect. If you habitually eat such large meals I believe your stomach will stretch out to accommodate your usual meals, and I believe your appetite and feeling of satisfaction relies in part on your stomach size, so eating large meals IMO predisposes you to not being satisfied with large meals. (And if you don't habitually eat that much then you are certainly going to experience discomfort.)

And then there's just the practicality of it all, as illustrated by the picture Kleenex linked. That's four bacon cheese hamburgers minus three of the buns and all in a single stack. Only the monster from Alien (the movie) has a mouth big enough to take a bite out of that big stack. A hamburger is a form of sandwich. No human has a big enough mouth to eat that without disassembly of the burger. If somebody truly wants to eat that they should order 3-4 ordinary bacon cheeseburgers.

The burger is an advertising gimmick. I bet they hardly ever sell any of them. They probably use it as a draw for traffic and then most people order a regular bacon cheeseburger. Fries and a malt with that please!

 

[Steve Kroll]

How can you not go wrong with a quadruple bypass burger???

http://www.heartattackgrill.com/picture/Quadruple.jpg

At 8,000 calories, that's just plain revolting. Four days worth of calories in a single sitting.

Plain and simple, places like this exist because there are people out there who look at gluttony as some kind of a personal challenge, and take pride in seeing how much greasy meat they can stuff their faces with.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

At 8,000 calories, that's just plain revolting. Four days worth of calories in a single sitting.

Plain and simple, places like this exist because there are people out there who look at gluttony as some kind of a personal challenge, and take pride in seeing how much greasy meat they can stuff their faces with.

If you weigh more than 350 pounds, they will give you the Quadruple Bypass free, the burger, not the surgery.

 

[TATTRAT]

As a gimmick, and a novelty, I have to give it to the business owner. He has cornered a segment of the market, that obviously wants it. There is no reason, whatsoever, anyone should go in there expecting a healthy meal. it clearly states that the meals are, well, bad for you(to be PC/DC Friendly). He has all of the "nutritional information" posted with all menu items, and people know what they are doing.

No one is forcing people to patronize his restaurant. He has a corner of the market, that appeals to the like of the Challenge Eaters, like Addie referred to, and obviously enough people(the lovers of excess, college kids, etc etc etc...) to have kept the place in business for as long as it has been.

If you are going into a restaurant called, "The Heart Attack Grill", and knowingly order something that states the calorie count(among other things), orders it, eats it, and has a heart attack, IMHO it is not on the owner to shut down because of it(as is being requested)

Is the govt going to go around asking business owners to go around and shut the doors on any place that sells booze, or tobacco? No.

As gross/scary/sickening/excessive as it is, he's not breaking any laws.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Tatt is right, customers walk in knowing what to expect. The excess is theirs, not the owners.

 

[Steve Kroll]

As gross/scary/sickening/excessive as it is, he's not breaking any laws.

Well, technically, you could hand matches and a can of lighter fluid to a 5-year old and not be breaking any laws, either. But does that make it a responsible thing to do?

I don't want to get into who's right or wrong, or start an argument. I simply find this to be a flagrant example of gross excess in our society. It's like the ancient Romans who considered it acceptable to eat to the point of vomiting, or to slaughter a thousand flamingos just so they could eat the tongues. Just because it's not illegal to do something doesn't mean it's okay.

What exactly is the purpose of an 8,000 calorie burger except to stuff oneself to the point of being ill? Not to mention you could feed a family of 8 with that one burger. Furthermore, maybe some of these people should consider the burden they place on the health care system when they indulge in this kind of stupid behavior. And that costs all of us more money in the long run. Maybe the owner should have to pay for his customers' medical expenses out of his own pocket. I guarantee his business model wouldn't be so viable then.

I apologize if I'm getting too preachy, but stuff like this just irritates me to no end.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Part of the price of having freedom is having the freedom to do stupid things. If you took away the freedom to do stupid things it wouldn't be freedom anymore. On the other side of it, so many of us hate the idea of the nanny state where the government makes all kinds of personal behavior the subject of government intrusion, interference and regulations. It's reasonable for the government to require nutritional information on food products. But I doubt there are very many people who want the government what we can and can't eat.

I worry about what I eat. When I cook for others I serve reasonably healthful food and portions. Outside of that I think people should eat reasonably and responsibly but I don't make it my business to interfere with their free choices. If I were going to interfere with other peoples' personal choices I'd start out by making them all quit smoking, but of course that isn't going to happen.

 

[Andy M.]

Part of the price of having freedom is having the freedom to do stupid things. If you took away the freedom to do stupid things it wouldn't be freedom anymore. On the other side of it, so many of us hate the idea of the nanny state where the government makes all kinds of personal behavior the subject of government intrusion, interference and regulations...

I agree 100%. As much as I am offended by the concept, I understand it is legal and effective.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Greg, I couldn't care less about politics and government. What concerns me is that we have an epidemic of obesity and overall poor health in this country. Almost 30% of our young people are unable to serve in the military because they're too fat. That number is up a whopping 70% since 1995. Who's going to protect our freedoms when we're all too large to get off the couch and defend ourselves? And yet places like Heart Attack Grill glorify excess. They portray stuffing yourself with 4 days worth of food (and to the point of having cardiac failure) as being "cool." I'm sorry but I disagree with you. Freedom doesn't mean entitlement to do whatever one pleases.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

The US CDC says that 30% of all Americans are obese and another 30% are overweight. That seems a bit overzealous to me unless many of these people are hiding somewhere (they might be too embarrassed to leave their homes) but there's no question that too many people are overweight and don't get enough exercise.

However the Heart Attack Grill is glorifying eating to excess in the same way that many popular movies glorify crime, violence and drug abuse. You can't have freedom without having the freedom to include the bad stuff. I agree with you that the Heart Attack Grill is in poor taste. You can't legislate good taste. Even if you could legislate good taste I wouldn't trust the clowns we have in Washington to know good taste if it bit them. Government is not the solution to problems like this.

The best we can all do is withhold our business from places like Heart Attack Grill. Maybe the people who eat there deserve what they get.

 

[Steve Kroll]

The best we can all do is withhold our business from places like Heart Attack Grill. Maybe the people who eat there deserve what they get.

You want to know my take? I honestly believe the owner, Joe Basso, is intentionally trying to make people suffer. Basso's background is as a nutritionist. He also used to own several Jenny Craig franchises. Doesn't it seem a little odd that someone with his background would be selling humongous burgers to folks, unless he's purposely trying to teach people a lesson?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Exactly, my poor choices in the past have caught up with me, but there is noone to blame but myself. It's the choices we make in the future that make the difference.

Let the dice fall where they may fall for each of us, even those who continue on the bad road...survival of the fittest.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

You want to know my take? I honestly believe the owner, Joe Basso, is intentionally trying to make people suffer. Basso's background is as a nutritionist. He also used to own several Jenny Craig franchises. Doesn't it seem a little odd that someone with his background would be selling humongous burgers to folks, unless he's purposely trying to teach people a lesson?

No, I think he's a person with experience in the food industry who is doing the best he can to turn a profit and make a good income. I would be surprised if he doesn't appreciate the ironic humor of trying to force, encourage or coax people into a reasonable diet and finally giving up and letting people have what they want. If anything the lesson he's delivering by an object lesson is that it's more profitable to let people have what they want rather than trying to keep them from it.

Perhaps I'm getting a bit off topic but Jenny Craig isn't going to help you any more than Heart Attack Grill is going to hurt you. Having a healthful diet isn't eating some pre-prepared packaged food for 6 weeks and getting your target weight any more than eating one big humongous hamburger is going to give you a heart attack. The people who eat Jenny Craig who don't learn their lessons are going to go right back to their old diet and back at their old weight one day soon. The people who have heart attacks at Heart Attack Grill get them from years or a lifetime of abusing themselves with overeating and poor dietary choices.

The Heart Attack Grill doesn't cause heart attacks. It attracts people who are going to have them anyway. If the owner wants to do something civic minded he should locate his restaurant right up the street from the emergency room.

 

[Rocklobster]

You want to know my take? I honestly believe the owner, Joe Basso, is intentionally trying to make people suffer. Basso's background is as a nutritionist. He also used to own several Jenny Craig franchises. Doesn't it seem a little odd that someone with his background would be selling humongous burgers to folks, unless he's purposely trying to teach people a lesson?

I think he has tapped in to the glutton market. I think it is all about making money. I think he sees a buisness oppurtunity and he is going for it. He isn't responsible for their obesity or poor eating choices, he is capitalizing on them... he has seen a sector of the population that isn't going to change no matter what you say, so he may as well take their money.

 

[Andy M.]

It's not as if he's the only one in the country pushing large portions of food that's not good for you. All the fast food joints push "Super size" or "King Size" meals. There are restaurants around here (and elsewhere as well) that advertise giant quantities.

Then there are the TV shows that glorify giant portions such as Man vs. Food.

Processed food manufacturers are constantly pushing larger portions (then they stick a nutrion label on the package that gives absurdly low portion sizes to keep the calories per portion low).

The "More is Better" psychology is pervasive in our society. It is embraced and encouraged by the food industry because it makes them money. They don't care if it makes their customers fat or causes heart attacks.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Another example: "All you can eat" buffets. For one fixed price you pay for the right to eat literally as much as you want, even to the point of vomiting (although I imagine that would get you thrown out of the restaurant and probably invited to not return).

I think "all you can eat" implies that some customers will be eating more than is good for them. Yet does anybody criticize these places?