The Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain must surely be in line for a "food porn" award. The Center for Science in the Public Interest gives that designation to manufactured food, usually combining calorie-dense ingredients in obscene sizes. Past honorees have included platter portions of fettuccine Alfredo ("heart attack on a plate") and the Hardee's Thickburger at 740 calories a pop.

At first glance, I thought the Ultimate Colossal Burger was a joke. It looks like a parody of what not to eat. It's an ungainly tower of refined white bread, ground beef and processed cheese, stacked twice, totaling a full pound of meat. It includes the usual burger "fixings" and is merely garnished with the only redeeming edibles on the plate, tomatoes, lettuce and onions. This monstrosity of saturated fat comes with sides of coleslaw and french fries, of course.

"It's so big, it comes with a support beam," says the announcer, and then the whole thing is impaled on a big knife. The commercial ends with "it's so good."

As Queen Victoria once said, "We are not amused."

The Ruby Tuesday website was less than forthcoming regarding the nutritional numbers for their creation. It's safe to assume that this single meal exceeds anyone's daily calorie needs, and does so poorly, mocking the health fundamental of the balanced diet. Meeting a human being's daily caloric requirement (1800 -2400 on average) is easy these days. A big bag of chips washed down with a liter of lemonade would do it. That's a poor (but common,) choice of how to fuel the body's needs.

Individually, no food is inherently evil, but some of the restaurant marketing combinations are horrendous. A five-ounce hamburger on a whole grain bun served with a salad is a far different meal than what Ruby Tuesday's is advertising. Your body knows the difference. Polishing off that kind of dinner doesn't make you heroic or cool or enviable. Eventually, it will make you a patient. I'll have a stent with that and a side of angioplasty, please.

The American sense of food proportion was altered beginning in the 1970s when serving sizes started ballooning, and so did we. Super sizes, Big Gulps, all-you-eat buffets came on the scene and nothing's been the same. If 2005 restaurant patrons were served 1965 size dinners, they would likely feel slighted.

Put a rein on it. Eat less. Eat better. Stoke your body with premium fuel and keep moving to burn it off. It's such a simple equation and even Sesame Street's Cookie Monster has recently jumped on the bandwagon in response to the epidemic of childhood obesity.

Real food is meant to be enjoyed. It's finally spring and our area farmers will soon offer fabulous products, including greens and lean proteins. Frequent the farmers' markets and produce departments and literally, eat to your heart's content.

Brenda Berstler is the founder of the Walking Example Group (WE-GO) a non-profit organization encouraging walking and walkable communities.

Visit their website at www.we-go.org.