The Great Fast-Food Pig-Out

The health craze is history, say the burger barons. Focusing again on traditional favorites, they offer jumbo sandwiches, supersize fries and prodigious pizzas.

As he prepared to tackle a Double Whopper with Cheese and a large French fries at a downtown Houston Burger King last week, Daniel Minturn, a stocky shipping clerk, paused a moment to reflect on the possible consequences: "I do my best off and on to keep to a diet," Minturn sighed. "But everywhere you turn, it's a warning for this and a warning for that. So what's wrong with just now and then going out and enjoying what you want?"

Nothing wrong at all, agree the giants of the fast-food business, who are paying renewed attention to faithful customers like...

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