lucky_sharm said:
Shouldn't the blame for obesity be given to the people who chow down on 3 Big Macs all at once or feed their kids excessive amounts of greasy food a day? Fast food isn't in the very least deadly so long as you eat in moderation or exercise often enough. Why can't people ever hold themselves accountable for anything?
Well, even when I disagree with it, I try and understand the other side.
Realize that in today's increasingly technological world people are increasingly sedimentary, not doing much physically however does not prevent us from becoming stressed or tired, and actually psychological disorders in the first world like depression are reaching all time highs. Arguements about people being responsible and exercising sound good, but really aren't practical for most people. The only real success in dealing with things like this has come from things like executive fitness programs. That is to say that in addition to giving an employee of sufficiently high rank a lunch break, they also get a seperate break to hit the exercise room they keep around just for these people, and they are required to say put in 30 minutes to an hour a day there (perhaps even having it verified) as a manner of protecting what are seen as corperate assets. This isn't common, but it's out there, and has little to do with the vast majority of people stuck in a life-rut.
When it comes to fast food, it's also important to note that people today don't nessicarly have the time to prepare most of their own meals. There are exceptions, but the bottom line is that most people who are working full time or spend a lot of time travelling typically consume a ton of cheap, quickly prepared foods. This is one of the big reasons why fast food places ranging from Chinese Takeout, to Mcdonalds are such a prescence to begin with.
The issue is pretty much that for millions upon millions of people when lunch and/or dinner roll around they go looking for whatever they can get during their break, that is going to be as cheap as possible. Lacking many real alternatives, this means things like Mcdonalds (and this is incidently why you see lunch and dinner rushes at fast food places). Healthier food comes with coorespondingly longer times to obtain, and higher prices to boot.
Mcdonalds and similar resteraunts are out to make money, so of course they want to produce their food at cheaply as possible, with health being a tertiary concern other than the press. They also realize that they pretty much have a captive audience for all intents and purposes so there is little real motivation for them to change. Hence a big part of why some people are crying to the goverment to create and enforce tighter requirements when it comes to the health of fast food. Of course a big part of the issue is also that they want to force these high standards without an increase in price.
The problem isn't guys sitting down and doing 3 Big Macs in one sitting, that's a stupid stereotype that has nothing to do with reality. People become obese slowly, over a period of time, and it comes from getting into a rut, doing sedimentary jobs (as a good portion are nowadays) and then eating what are normal sized meals of low quality.
I understand the points being made. I think it's a touchy subject because there is no easy solution. People by and large can't just change their eating habits because things evolved this way for a reason. The problem is with society and the whole nature of the workplace in first world nations nowadays. By the same token I hardly think the goverment should be involved in directly regulating resteraunts any more than they already are. I hardly think the goverment would fix anything by getting even more heavy handed with fast food joints.
I don't have any answers that I think are practical, but I do understand why the situation is being criticized. Less blame is put at the feet of the consumers, because those who understand the issue, and debate it seriously, typically don't see them as the problem, rather than the situation itself.
