The Heart Attack Grill…NOT for Children!
Recently, I watched a news clip about a restaurant in Las Vegas called “Heart Attack Grill”. Although I had heard about this restaurant a few years ago, I was surprised to see that it still currently going strong. On the website wwww.heartattackgrill.com, one finds a menu of 8,000 calorie burgers and French fries fried in lard, among other monstrosities such as full butterfat milkshakes. Additionally, customers weighing in over 350 pounds eat for free. The waitstaff are dressed up as nurses and “spank” you at the end of the meal if you do not finish your meal. Although I realize that the “concept” is supposed to be all in fun, the reality is that the sensationalism of this restaurant, the free food for obese patrons, and the cartoon-y brand-imaging of this establishment, all in the ends seem to glorify unhealthy eating choices. Since customers are REALLY being fed the funny items on the menu (even for free) and are rewarded for finishing (customer gets a glory-lap seated in a wheelchair) and for being morbidly obese, there is no realistic learning about cardiac health or anything else from this example. If a customer does not finish his/her meal, punishment is administered, reinforcing overeating.
My initial reaction was that this would NOT be an establishment that should be around, especially if children are allowed to eat there! Not only are there terrible food choices, but no real no vegetarian options. In fact, there is a “Vegan” menu but it consists of a pack of cigarettes. To confirm that this place would be bad for a child, I found a Yelp posting stating:” You can get paddled by your waitress which was happening right next to us. We saw a little child get egged on by his family to get paddled and he screamed an agony.” I suppose this means that in addition to being offered poor food choices, a child could be bullied for not finishing the meal?
With faster lifestyles, cheaper fast food options and bad role modelling, it’s no wonder children have been given permission by example in today’s society. I was interested in finding out what the American Heart Association had to say concerning pediatrics and cardiovascular health so I went to their website at http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/110/15/2266.full. The fact that American children are experiencing increases in childhood obesity brings alarm to me. In fact on looking for the statistics, I found that obesity among children has more than doubled and in adolescents, has quadrupled in the past 30 years! (Ogden, 2012). For children, this means that they are more likely to experience high cholesterol, pre-diabetes, high blood pressure, low self-esteem, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems and more…conditions that are not usually associated with pediatric health, but in adults (Hayman, 2015). Pediatric cardiac health is detrimentally being affected, a fact supported by autopsy studies that show positive associations between established risk factors from childhood obesity and the presence and extent of atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta and coronary arteries of children (Berenson, Srinivasan, Bao, Newman, Tracy, 1998).
Although the Heart Attack Grill glorifies themselves and act tongue and cheek about their establishment, regular known customers have died. Sadly their chief spokesperson, a 575-pound, 29 year old male, passed away last year. This restaurant may have a “fun”, comical image, but if a regular customer that is obese regularly eats there and dies at 29 years old, how do we explain to the next generation that that’s ok, just laugh and eat there anyway? Unfortunately, restaurants such as the Heart Attack Grill are not helping our future generation to stay healthy, only providing yet another horrible choice to the young generation. I would rather see a restaurant make more efforts to glorify healthy choices and show the next generation options that directly affect cardiac health positively, and show them that their hearts will say thank you with a long, healthy life. On a last note, the waitstaff dress up as nurses…that makes me even more sad and concerned, as it pollutes the sincere desire of real nurses to educate and care for patients’ health.
References:
Castillo, S. (2014, August 9). Heart Attack Grill Killed 2 People, But Owner Says ‘Business Is Good’ . http://www.medicaldaily.com/jon-basso-owner-heart-attack-grill-comes-bad-his-high-calorie-burgers-new-showtime-series-297394.
CDC (2015, August 27). Childhood Obesity Facts. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm.
Hayman, L. (2015). A Statement for Health and Education Professionals and Child Health Advocates From the Committee on Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in Youth (AHOY) of the Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young, American Heart Association. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/110/15/2266.full
Ogden C. (2012). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Journal of the American Medical Association 2014;311(8):806-814.
