Bigger People, Smaller Population

BBC: X-treme Eating in the US

Chain restaurants in the United States are promoting dangerous "X-treme Eating", a US watchdog has said.
They are serving up "ever-more harmful new creations," the Center for Science in the Public Interest says... some individual dishes can exceed 2,000 calories, more than the recommended daily intake for women.

Gross? Yes it is. It's as if fast food and chain resturaunts are having a culinary arms race with each other over who can build the biggest arsenal of disgusting and deadly food. And like the objects of a real arms race, it seems the menus of these resturaunts can be measured in megatons.

But because of the horrid affront to healthfulness that it represents, I would argue that some unintended but quite beneficial consequences could come out of this "X-treme eating" trend.

The human population on Earth is expanding faster than it ever has - not only because of pure exponential reproduction, but also because of improving medical care and increasing life expectancies.

But the fact that a disgustingly large (pun intended) section of the population won't make it past middle age will help stem the growth of the population. Think about it: you don't see many obese senior citizens. For a healthy person, a retirement plan is a 401(k) and a condo in Florida; for an obese person, it's a heart attack and an XXL coffin.

And there also will be an added bonus for those of us who don't eat ourselves into oblivion. Since social security money all goes into one big pool, those of us who actually survive to retirement will get to enjoy more money, since there will be fewer people around to collect.

So if you're a fan of the Texas Double Whopper, by all means: bon appetit. Go ahead and block up those coronory arteries. And take up smoking while you're at it. We atheletes and vegetarians will be enjoying your social security money and the extra space in the neighborhood long after you've been buried in your big, fat grave.