McDonalds, you know you love it

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Originally Posted by Shiny

It isn't just food that determines a person's weight. You have to take in account, genetics, medicines that person may be taking and illnesses. Some people tend to assume that because a person is fat that automatically means they ate alot of crap which isn't necessarily true in some cases.

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Yes, but that's relatively rare in comparison to those who consume mass amounts of crap and do nothing but sit around.

EDIT: Yay, post 2500 GET~

Guess where I ate tonight, bitches. xD

Mirage, I don't have to prove what I say! because rubah will do it for me! xD

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Im not sure what you mean by "European perspective... The population density is lower here in Norway than it is in the USA. I always imagined my town (and calling it a town is an exaggeration imo) to be small, even by Norwegian standards, and theres more people in Washington than in all of Norway. I suppose it was just hard to imagine that there would be a lot of places smaller than that in the US. I mean, I realize there would probably be a few, but not a whole lot of them.
-edit-
I mixed up the state Washington with Washington DC. Fixed now.

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The US is a strange country like that. Technically we probably do have more people per square mile, but we also have vast country side. There's a town in West VA with literally six people in it. Crazy.

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Originally Posted by Momiji

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Originally Posted by Shiny

It isn't just food that determines a person's weight. You have to take in account, genetics, medicines that person may be taking and illnesses. Some people tend to assume that because a person is fat that automatically means they ate alot of crap which isn't necessarily true in some cases.

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Yes, but that's relatively rare in comparison to those who consume mass amounts of crap and do nothing but sit around.

EDIT: Yay, post 2500 GET~

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You don't have any proof of that.

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Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon

The vast majority of you have no idea what you're talking about. It makes me lol all over the world. Do you even know what technically defines obesity? Do you know why people become obese? Do you know obesity has more to do with genetics, depression, disease, poverty and under-education than it does with gluttony? I'm not saying individuals aren't responsible for their own health, but you people are pretty heartless. You'd call an obese person looking for support in EoEO a glutton bringing about their own ruin, but you'd work your asses off to make someone depressed feel better, wouldn't you? So what if they were the same person? Hypocrites.

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Originally Posted by Avarice-ness

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Originally Posted by rubah

I think a bigger factor in american obesity is the relative cheapness of unhealthy food. Oils and sugars and carbohydrates are incredibly inexpensive, so those on low incomes are more likely to consume them, making them more susceptible to obesity and related diseases like diabetes.

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I don't agree with this, the closest fast food place I have to my house is a Hardee's. Which is a burger place for northerners.

Well me and my boyfriend will buy there and spend about 15$ on food.
I spend about 18$ at Quizno's and 14$ at Subway. 13$ at Arby's and up to 11$ at Taco bell.
When I'm by myself I try to never spend over 5$ but everywhere I go, the value meals I want are over that. And trust me, the ammount of fast food the people eat to become obesse from fast food add's up and FAST. Spending only 6$ at a fast food place monday through friday is 30$ a week, 120$ a month, and 1440$ a year. Personally my GROCERY budget isn't even 120$.

Now, until the weather prevented me, I was going to make healthy mediteranian chicken wraps for dinner. I already had the chicken and the spices and all I needed is ONE tomato, ONE cucumber, ONE bag of romaine and a small container of ceaser salad dressing.

All of that would have made dinner and more for the both of us for under the price of normal fast food and it's much healthier than fast food.

Either way, now I'll be panfrying chicken in light olive oil and eating it over rice.

After having a set limit for money, I realized that fast food eating's the worst thing for my money. So the people able to eat at these fast food places arn't eating there because they don't have alot of money to spend on food, it's for their own personal reasons that isn't about money. Fast food at this point is like gormet for me since I end up going a month or so without being about to afford it.

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For the record, you're wrong. It's cheaper to eat fast food and junk food than it is to eat healthily. That's why poor people are fatter than wealthy people. Fatty meats are cheaper than lean meats. Frozen entrees are cheaper than fresh meat. Bread, chips and snacks are cheaper than fruits and veggies. If you're a single parent earning minimum wage, what are you going to choose?

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My mom was a single mother on minimum wage (in Texas at the time it was 5.15$) for 3 years and we could never afford fast food.

We ate canned corn (80cents) and a single peice of chicken that came out of a bag of 12 that was 4.99$ for the store brand. That's 41cents for each peice of chicken in the bag, including milk (for my mom) and a gallon of 99cent juice for me.

That's 2dollars and 2cents max for our basic food needs each. I could go to McDonalds and get the same filling ammount for 5 dollars.

Prices also vary depending on where you live. Those 4.99$ chickens from Texas cost 9.99$ in Wisconsin, They're 6.99$ if I'm lucky enough to find them on sale. Also, the canned corn ranges from 92cents to a dollar, and the 99cent juice is 1.08$. It may not seem like much but that change can go a long ways. Even with the cheapness of the food, baked chicken, canned corn and juice was alot more healthy than McDonalds.

My dad was out of job for two years and all he ate (alone by the way) everyday was Speghetti (1dollar a pack) and sauce (1dollar a can), then he'd have some bread and butter, which lasts longer so those could be bought by saving up.

There's a difference between the people who CAN be able to buy fast food and those who literally make so little they can't. My parents for about 2 years (my dad) and 4 years (my mom) were just that, so I personally know from eating Chicken and corn everyday, that fast food was like going out to eat at a resturant for me.

Those people who are able to go eat fast food everyday for even just one meal are lucky and don't really realize that there ARE people who can't even afford that.

Wonder why there are few obese people in the poor area's of town? And not the lower-class people, I'm talking about the people in the dangerous "ghetto" part of town. Because they can't afford to eat at fast food.

You're ignoring the fact that poor people are MORE LIKELY to be overweight than wealthier people. I will grant you it isn't all to do with fast food, a lot of it is to do with plain old unhealthy food and I will grant you that very poor people can't really afford fast food. But when you're making minimum wage and you have the choice of a $3 burger meal and a $5 salad, you're going to pick the burger meal.

I'm not saying it isn't a choice, I'm just saying there is a lot more to it than that.

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Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon

You're ignoring the fact that poor people are MORE LIKELY to be overweight than wealthier people. I will grant you it isn't all to do with fast food, a lot of it is to do with plain old unhealthy food and I will grant you that very poor people can't really afford fast food. But when you're making minimum wage and you have the choice of a $3 burger meal and a $5 salad, you're going to pick the burger meal.

I'm not saying it isn't a choice, I'm just saying there is a lot more to it than that.

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I can't admit it's true 'cause I've never met a person who was truly over weight because of the food they could afford. When my dad was on the under-poverty level side, he weighed a good 30 pounds less than he does now that he makes a.. well alot of money. Basically, he can eat what ever he wants no matter, and he knows that, so that's what he does. That's 'caused him to be in the "over-weight" category and when he was poor he was "under-weight" all because the money could buy him all the eats he wanted. He'd basically go to a resturant and get his money's worth in food, then complain later that he gained weight, and it was because when he was poor he had to ration his food, and when he had his money he didn't because the cost was no problem.

Granted from all the obese show's I watch on Discovery Health, most of them are poor with not so great health to begin with. Not to mention, most of them have gotten so big that really all they eat is fast food and junk food so they are so large they're literally unable to cook themselves a meal with the basic needs of a person. It's like a really bad habbit almost.

Given those choices, of course one would pick the meal. Personally, I wouldn't pick the salad because a salad wouldn't be as filling, and really when you have run out of food at home and you -have- to get something cheap and filling for you buck, you'd go for the burger.

I do believe though, that in certain places people find it easier to just go out to fast food and buy that 3 dollar meal than realize that they could be saving alot more money. Saddly, that's where the laziness part comes in, which is another thing people argue is a cause of the obesity trend. Instead of going to the grocer and making a semi-healthy meal for the night, it's easier to just go through a drive through and bring home what food you can then have to suffer through the not so good food or even have to deal with grocers.

Part of me wants to say it's this day and age's laziness that overall causes the obesity problem, but then another part makes me believe that there are people out there that are either spoiled by the fast food's food and don't want to have to live off Speghetti and Sauce because they lack the taste of their favorite burger or that they just don't know how to budget a basic health needs grocery list. Then again, instead of anyone helping the people out and making public announcements on how someone can eat healthier, we get people who protest fast food. :eep: