The Waitresses Dress as Nurses at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona
We can, as a society, be astoundingly cruel to people who are obese.
"Maybe this partially explains why obese people are flocking to a restaurant outside Phoenix, Arizona, whose name, and I am not making this up, is the Heart Attack Grill.
The restaurant, which seats 100, is often packed. It offers what owner Jon Basso calls, "an environment of acceptance to overweight customers who are typically demonized by society."
A few weeks ago, the 575-pound spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill, a 29-year-old man named Blair River, died. It wasn't a heart attack, it was pneumonia. He had been the public face of the restaurant and the star of its advertising. He was also the single father for a five-year-old girl.
At nearly 600 pounds. Blair River ate all his meals free at the restaurant.
Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso did not deny the link between the young man's excessive weight and his tragically premature death.
"I hired him to promote my food," said Basso, "(but his) life was cut short because he carried extra weight."
Ironically, the restaurant's motto is "Food Worth Dying For."
--John Robbins, "Being Fat in America," Huffington Post, March 26, 2011--
Anyone remember reading about the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona? Or watching the CBS video in which it was featured? It made the rounds on the email circuit for months.
Two years I posted the video about it, in "8000 Calories Of A Bypass On A Bun! Enjoy A Hamburger To Die For At The Heart Attack Grill In Chandler, Arizona" If you missed it back in 2009, you might want to refresh your memory.
John Robbins' on "Being Fat in America"
Blog reader Kate just sent me a link to Robbins' sensitive essay on obesity. It's a quick read--and it took me by surprise. That's all I'm going to say.
I just got home from work--and I'm about to head out the door, so a link is all you get--but all you need. I just wanted to pass this essay on in case you haven't yet seen it. It certainly touched me. Click here for: Being Fat in America
Debby, thanks very much for this article and link. It brought tears to my eyes, of sadness, frustration, and ultimately joy. Thank God there is a better way -- and all of the effort on so many people's part (including yours) that is going into spreading the word is so, so worth it. My heart breaks for that little girl.
Pam
Posted by: Pam Mayne | March 27, 2011 at 07:47 AM
How very, very sad. The loss of the father and the restaurant.
Just yesterday, I was sitting getting my hair done and listening to the stylist at the station next to me regale the tale of her latest visits to the doctor. She was telling of how the doctor didn't know what was wrong with her, but put her on some antibiotics. (It didn't sound like she needed antibiotics from her symptoms, but what do I know?) It turned out she was allergic to the medicine and her reaction then prompted a 2-week course of steroids. Her conclusion was she was glad her doctor had given her medicine that she turned out to be allergic to because now she knows how sensitive she is that medicine, and she'll just have to take different ones.
Listening to her conversation through the filter of "maybe medicine isn't always the answer" as I was made the conversation sound completely ridiculous. Medicine really shouldn't have to be so trial and error. So much is wrong with our model of western medicine.
Posted by: virtualJK | March 27, 2011 at 11:47 AM
I just read this article before I saw your post, and I think this about sums it up:
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The physicians she was seeing for her diabetes took a look at her numbers, were amazed, and wanted to know how she did it. "I told them I had adopted a completely plant-based diet. They didn't seem surprised at all, and told me that plant-based diets were helping to reverse diabetes. When I asked why they had not suggested it, they told me because it isn't practical."
Aghast, she asked her doctor, "Do you think it's practical to be 30 years old and lose a leg?"
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EXACTLY. We treat the symptoms with drugs and risky procedures, but the cure is impractical?? I don't get it!
Posted by: Jeff | March 28, 2011 at 11:49 AM