Personal Dork Assistant

The Death of Supersize?

It must've killed the bean-counters to get rid of super-sized fries and drinks. The marginal profit on the extra bit of potato and sugar water is awfully sweet. On the other hand, the bad publicity was starting to sting.

The move is part of McDonald's "Eat Smart, Be Active" initiative, which it launched last year under first-year CEO Jim Cantalupo and U.S. operations chief Mike Roberts in an attempt to revive then-stagnant U.S. sales.

Sure, the salads are doing great, raising same-store sales, attracting more women, etc. But are they actually any healthier? Um... well, salt and fat taste good.

For example, McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad with dressing has a hefty 51 grams of fat and 660 calories while a Big Mac has 34 grams of fat and 590 calories. Surprisingly, this salad entrée also has just as much cholesterol, 85 milligrams, as the Big Mac.

At least the salads provide a good portion of veggies under the gloopy dressing. Ironically, the workers who pick the lettuces for those salads are too poor to afford them. Most of the time the fresh produce isn't even available.

Farm worker Iris Caballero often has a hard time keeping the refrigerator and cupboard stocked with food. Yet, she's overweight and diabetic. She is a classic example of a modern-day paradox: as reliable access to healthy food declines, the likelihood of being overweight goes up.

Meanwhile, it just kills me that the nearest In-n-Out is now 7.5 miles away instead of 5.0 miles. Although the addiction should be in check for a while, considering we ate there each time we drove up and down I-5. Dad likes it Protein Style.