26-year-old Tan Shen from Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province stayed at a Kentucky Fried Chicken for an entire week after her boyfriend broke up with her.
Yahoo News reports that she was “walking around feeling miserable and decided to stop off at the KFC.” Consumed with lovesickness, she ended up staying the whole week at this 24-hour fast food chain.
Was that really a good idea?
The explosion of this news has prompted mixed responses on Twitter:
“[S]o embarrassed for this girl” – @Shaya_in_LA
Some people viewed her greasy splurge negatively:
- “so embarrassed for this girl. put down the buttermilk biscuit and get your groove back, stella” (@Shaya_in_LA)
- “WTF” (@malfjnha)
- “Ha poor girl..” (@TerryMurphy11)
- And this guy who exploits her experience to comfort himself: “If you’re feeling down, just remember that it could be worse: [link to article]” (@chardavie)
(Photo via uk.news.yahoo.com.)
“She did the right thing” – @LillyNguyen
Most reactions were supportive and empathetic:
- “This girl…. She did the right thing… Lol <3.” (@LillyNguyen)
- “We’ve all been there, girl.” (@rgay)
- “I just wanna give this girl a hug.“ (@sha_merirei)
- “stay strong, girl.” (@pizza_mom)
- And even “The girl who spent a week @kfc is my soulmate.” (@AbsoluteCintron)
But did she really do the right thing?
What do you think? Was it really right for her to close herself to the world and binge on unhealthy fried foods? In 2013, Sopranos actor James Gandolfini suffered a fatal heart attack after binging on a large meal of fried foods. Doing something like that to your body is dangerous in the short-run and long-run, leading to higher risks for obesity, diabetes, cancer, and stroke.
@SuperBadPlayers calls her “fat” in his sarcastically crude tweet, “fat woman spends entire weekend in KFC after boyfriend leaves her, scientists shocked to find she isn’t american”. Much *feminist* media has been trying to curb the stereotypes that fat girls are lazy and do not take care of themselves. And even though being a “big girl” can be genetic, we still have the responsibility to care for our bodies in hard times.
Perhaps we too often rationalize post-breakup unhealthy eating although we know it’s bad for us. @aj_9304 tweets “Nothing like good ol’ cholesterol and chicken fat to numb the pain in your heart ;)“. While eating chicken fat is definitely better than resorting to self-inflicted harm, try to latch yourself to healthy and delicious alternatives to hack your way out of a breakup: frozen yogurt, fresh fruits, and healthy gourmet meals with chicken, salmon, and beef.
Still, some people think she was wrong to go to KFC for other reasons, arguing that she should have gone to Popeye’s instead: “Get it together, girl. And if you’re gonna wallow, at least do it at Popeye’s.” (@oneandonlyjoyce)
Jokes aside, sometimes life does hit you so hard that you have to just get away and think (and eat) at a KFC. Or Popeye’s. If you can find comfort in something healthier, please do so. But if you need the fried foods to heal the ache, eat in moderation!
“The draw to all things fried while mending a broken heart is universal. The struggle is real, girl” (@_BrianWhite).
