We’re Thinking of Getting Them a Giant Birthday Cake with Extra Frosting and Ice Cream

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, making note of how the American food landscape has changed over the past 40 years, such as:

Apparently, nutrition facts labels rode in and rescued us from a life spent at a healthy body weight.

While Planet Moron has not been around forty years, we do mark our sixth anniversary later this month and thought we’d take our own trip down memory lane alongside the CSPI by taking a look at some of our posts covering the self-anointed food watchdog:

October 26, 2005

McDonald’s. I’m Lovin’ it Because I Don’t Know Any Better.

Responding to demands from people who don’t visit their restaurants or purchase their food, McDonald’s will include additional nutritional information for its customers who never asked for it and don’t care.

Call it, “the free-ish market” at work.

For years McDonald’s customers have had to go through a fair amount of trouble to ignore nutritional information. Either they had to ignore the posters and fliers in the restaurants or wait until they got home to ignore it on the web. But with McDonald’s new plan to print this information right on the packaging itself, consumers can now ignore it quickly and conveniently.

Call that progress.

Read the rest…

February 27, 2007

Wait, So What You’re Saying is That “Colossal” Isn’t a Synonym For “Diet Lite?”

If you are like most people, when you look at these two meals you probably think to yourself, “say, that one on the left sure looks like it might possibly pack a calorie or two more than the other one perhaps even by a significant amount.”

But if you are with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), you think “whoa, did you say one of these is a burger? Really? They both look to be of equal nutritional value. And in the absence of mandated caloric information I surely cannot tell which one is the healthier choice.”

And that is why the CSPI thought it essential that they alert the media to the very real possibility that a hamburger made up of a pound of ground meat might just constitute a rather large meal.

Read the rest…

October 30, 2007

And You Thought Halloween Was Scary Before

Halloween doesn’t have to be about sickly sweet treats and high-fat snacks. It can be both fun and nutritious. Make that, funalicious!

We know what you’re thinking, “I don’t think ‘funalicious’ is an actual word.” Also, “You’re not talking about eating carrot sticks again, are you?”

Of course not! The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has thoughtfully put together an extensive selection of “ghoulishly great” alternatives to candy bars and other sugary snacks that are not only good for you, but just plain good!

Such as, okay, carrot sticks. But there’s much more!

Read the rest…

November 23, 2009

Enjoying Yourself Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

In their December “Nutrition Action Health Letter” out last week, Jayne Hurley and Bonnie Liebman with The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), exposed a deadly health hazard lurking unseen in every movie theater across the country:

Eating a medium-sized popcorn smothered in buttery flavored oil is the equivalent of eating a medium-sized popcorn smothered in buttery flavored oil!

Read the rest…

For the latest on how government officials and other opinion leaders are working to ensure that you make the kinds of decision you’d make if only you were as smart as they were, see our Health and Fitness section.

 J.