Food Reward Fridays

Each Friday, I'm going to post a picture of a modern food so ridiculous it makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.  I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. To raise awareness about the unhealthy, fattening foods that are taking over global food culture.  These are highly rewarding, highly palatable, energy-dense foods that drive people to eat in the absence of hunger, and continue eating beyond calorie needs.  In many cases, the foods have been specifically designed to maximize "craveability" and palatability.
2. Because it's funny.

Without further ado... the first lucky winner:

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky winner... the Hardee's MONSTER THICKBURGER!

Two 1/3 lb beef patties, four strips of bacon, three slices of American "cheese", mayo and bun.  This bad boy boasts 1,300 calories, 830 from fat, 188 from carbohydrate and 228 from protein.  Charred and fried processed meat, fake cheese, refined soybean oil mayo, and a white flour bun. You might as well just inject it directly into your carotid artery.  Add a large fries and a medium coke, and you're at 2,110 calories.  Who's hungry?  Actually I am.  

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Food Reward Friday

This week's winner: the Taco Bell Doritos Locos Taco!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's winner: poutine!

While not as appetizing looking as the Monster Thickburger, poutine is probably more popular.  For those who aren't familiar, poutine is a large plate of French fries, topped with gravy and cheese curds.  It originated in Quebec, but has become popular throughout Canada and in the Northern US.

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Food Reward Friday

This week's winner... the Starbuck's Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... Kellogg's Krave cereal!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"...

The Pizza Hut hot dog stuffed crust pizza!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... the Heart Attack Grill's Quadruple Bypass Burger!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... the Garbage Plate!!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... the KFC Double Down sandwich!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... an unnamed hot dog-laden Pizza Hut monstrosity with tempura shrimp and mayonnaise!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner"... the Banana Split!

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Food Reward Friday

This week, Food Reward Friday is going to be a little bit different.  I've received a few e-mails from people who would like to see me write about some of the less obvious examples of food reward-- foods that are less extreme, but much more common, and that nevertheless promote overeating.  Let's face it, even though they're funny and they (sometimes) illustrate the principle, most people reading this blog don't eat banana splits very often, much less pizzas made out of hot dogs.

So this week's "winner" is something many of you have in your houses right now, and which was also the subject of an interesting recent study... potato chips!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... Yoplait Go-Gurt!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... fried Coke!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's luck winner(s)... pastries!!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "lucky" winner... milkshakes!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... energy bars!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... ice cream!!

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Food Reward Friday

This week's "winner" will certainly be the most controversial yet... bacon!!

Bacon is a fatty cut of pork (typically side or back) that has been thinly sliced, cured, then cooked until crispy.  This results in a fatty, salty, savory flavor that almost everyone loves.  Bacon's extremely high calorie density, saltiness, and savory flavor give it a reward value that competes with chocolate and ice cream.  Sometimes it's even used to flavor chocolate and ice cream!

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