Fast Food: Who's to blame?

You sure? I thought it was Republican?

waits for witty comment.

 

Are you an adult? If so, you are wholly responsible for all of your actions. Totally and completely 100% responsible.

 

Of course I'm responsible for all of my actions, but if my parents took me to McD's for dinner every day I'd be a fattie and they'd be to blame, even if I'm an adult now.

 

They would be responsible only for as long as it would take, once you reach adulthood, of placing yourself on a weight loss and exercise regimen to not be a fatty anymore, right?

 

I've seen your photo VRWC. When you gonna lose the puppy fat?

 

Yes, exactly, I am a perfect example. Though it's not "puppy fat", as I wouldn't have been allowed to be that chunky when I was in the service. But yeah, I'm overweight, and you know who is responsible for that? Me. Me, myself, and (no, not Irene) I.

On a side note, with winter coming on, I have plenty of built-in insulation

 

One of the responsibilities of a parent is to raise their child in a certain & acceptable way - the values they instill in their child is something that stays with him/her for years - and sometimes for the rest of their lives.

One of the biggest culprits here are certainly lazy parents. Your suggestion that everyone who has been brought up to eat fast food 5 times a week suddenly start jogging and eating healthy as soon as they hit 18 is incredibly unrealistic.

Your diet is a *habit* and habits are hard to shake - if you raise your kid to eat fries and a greasy burger for dinner every day, and to skip breakfast, you are responsible for that *habit*, a thing that does not magically go away when the child turns 18 - as idealistically pleasing that might sound to you.

You have an obligation to raise your child well - and that includes making sure that he/she eats healthy things. Parents not doing this is why there are so many obese fatlards walking the streets these days.

I agree that adults are responsible for their actions - but someone who brought up their child to be a fat-guzzling slob is responsible for contributing to the obesity problem on this continent - as well as reducing the lifespan of the child in question.

 

BS. If you are a responsible adult and you still CHOOSE to act a certain way, then it lies entirely on you and only you. Nobody else is responsible once you are responsible for making your own decisions. We have minds, are are able to make informed decisions.

Personal responsibility, that's what it's all about.

 

I'm not for excusing fatties in adulthood based on their experiences as a child. I am for keeping future generations of children from being sold on awful habits. Remember when people flipped out about Joe the Camel? There should be equal concern placed towards Happy Meals. It's the same marketing strategy: get them while they're young and impressionable.

Don't take that as me wanting to shut fast food down or ban it to kids. Not in the slightest. I do want to see it's advertisements regulated when aimed at kids though.

edit: also I need the information for #fiftychat IRC again. I had to do a clean wipe of my computer and lost the server!

 

And the parents are not responsible at all, for raising their kids in such unhealthy ways, instilling such unhealthy habits in them?

If my parents raised me to be a racist, and to truly believe that Jews are evil, are they not to blame for my outlook on the world? Sure, if I punch Dr. Goldstein in the face, that is my doing and my doing alone, but the parents are responsible for creating a racist in the first place.

Much in the same way, I am responsible for my decision to down a big mac for lunch and dinner every day, but my parents are responsible for creating someone who doesn't even KNOW how to eat healthy in the first place.

Surely you can see the different levels of responsibility here.

 

I'm fat and I eat lots of fast food, therefore, I conclude it's all Burger King's fault.

 

This analogy does not fly as I already explained. Warpus's rebuttal was woefully inadequate for all the obvious reasons.

 

Part of it is the consumer's fault, part is the companies. No, I'm not talkign about selling that disgusting food in the first place; companies like McDonalds pay millions of dollars each year to marketing firms, trying to figure out ways to get people to eat more - and it works.

Ever wonder why they have giant sizes? It's because somebody is more likely to eat a large order of fries that contains 3x as much as a small order, then they are to eat two small orders. Because eating two small orders makes them feel like a pig.

 

It's also profit orientated. Say (not actual figures, just a rough example) a bag of fries that sells for $1.25 cost the company $1.00 to make. Only about 20 cents of that is spent on potatoes, salt, oil, etc. The rest is stuff like salaries, bills, advertising, etc. But say the company adds 50% more fries and sells this larger size for just 25 cents more ($1.50). Consumer thinks he gets a good deal, company gets an extra 15 cents profit. Consumer also gets 50% more calories, fat, sodium, etc.

 

Bad business then, restaurants normally have a 100% mark up.

 

consumers for eating it. state level for sucking up to corn and the food industry. companies for serving the crap. society (that's deep) for the "I'll take that to go" attitude. the hope now rests on the heavily burdened shoulders of cooking shows. hell's kitchen? top chef? you're up!

 

I wonder, how was the idea that "McDonalds is fun" originally created?

 

I couldn't have said this better. One price of freedom is the blame that goes with making bad choices.

Not everyone chooses to eat at McDonalds. If the company had some sort of super power that automatically made people eat its food, then it might be to blame. But it doesn't even have good advertisements. I mean, really, McDonalds is to blame for obesity like Dolfin is to blame for Richard Simmons.

You CAN go to McDonalds and order a salad, grilled chicken or apple dippers. The company HAS made healthier options available. Even if it hadn't, nothing prevents a person from preparing better meals at home. If you can't figure out how to make a meal that tastes better than a big mac at home, you haven't tried hard enough. That's not any company's fault.

And I disagree with Warpus. Kids defy their parents on every other issue. They're perfectly capable of resisting their influence on diet. I know plenty of kids who grew
up eating fast food who have since become vegans. We are capable of making choices and we are responsible for the choices we make.

 

Consumer economics. And of course companies encouraging said profitable economics. The state too, for subsidizing cheap crappy food.

 

Those "healthy options" aren't so healthy.

Salads can go up to 430 calories. Another salad has 30% of your daily cholesterol. Almost all of them have horrid amounts of sodium. Croûtons are measured separately.. This is without dressing, a serving of dressing can be up to 190 more calories (170 of which are from fat), but I'm fairly certain there's more than one serving in a packet.

These are among the worse ones, but overall, most of them are pretty bad for you:
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html#3