Shocker: Eating Out Is Why You Are Fat

This couldn't possibly have something to do with it (Flickr thebrownsquare)

For today's installment of Food News You Probably Could Have Figured Out Yourself, we present the following: a new study shows that the more you eat out, the more likely you are to be fat. Who would'a thunk it?

According to a study from the USDA, a third of the calories Americans eat come from restaurants, particularly the dreaded fast-food franchises, which is almost double what it was 30 years ago. The problem? Restaurant meals tend to come in larger portions and with higher calories than home-cooked meals. To put it in perspective, food economist Lisa Mancino explains, "For the average consumer, eating one meal away from home each week translates to roughly two extra pounds a year." A moment on the lips, people, a lifetime on the hips.

Mancino goes on to explain that Americans are eating more because we have less time for cooking, longer commutes, and more options for affordable meals out, though she does gloss over one other important contributing factor, which is that butter and salt-laden restaurant food just tastes better than a home-cooked salad. As they say in culinary school: fat is flavor! Now go get your lunch.

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By Jamie Feldmar in Food on July 5, 2011 12:49 PM

Comments [rss]

robingee

You can eat out, in, on the roof, in your car, off your neighbor's butt... as long as you eat relatively healthy. Don't matter.

Roger_the_Shrubber

Way too many people in this country are obsessed with the eating habits of their fellow citizens. I'll eat whatever the hell I want and I promise not to waste a nanosecond worrying about what you eat. Deal? Good, now f*** off.

Joshua

as long as you dont' support any type of socialized medicine, thats fine by me. Well, maybe not . . . I was in a small Pennsylvania town this past weekend and had to stop in Wal Mart. Oh lord the obesity was out of control. It made me sick.

Roger_the_Shrubber

Socialized medicine is tyranny. If the government can tell you what to eat, then it's not a free country. What happened to "my body, my choice?"

BobSantos

Fine. When your lard ass is hauled in to an ER on a gurney, they'll check your bank account for funds before operating on you. Maybe you die while your next of kin arranges financing and puts the house up as collateral.

Interesting fact: operating on a faty fat is a lot more time consuming than operating on a person with a normal BMI. That time equals dollars. Fatties should pay, especially under the Roger the Shrubber regime.