Are Restaurants or People to Blame for Fatty Foods?

Should it really come as a surprise that childhood obesity is an epidemic when fast food chains create new meals such as the Double Down from KFC-- a "heart attack in your hands" as Rebecca Woolf from Girls Gone Child says. But are these companies to blame? Shouldn't consumers, parents!

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Showing the Latest of 26 Comments

sarah.ann.perrone
1 years ago

I think both are to blame. The fast food industry however is just trying to make a profit. They make unhealthy food but the thing is we are buying it. We need to put pressure on them by not buying their products and by demanding more from them.

jnjmommy
2 yearss ago

If it wasn't for the consumers those places wouldn't exist. With places like mcdonalds raking in over 2 million dollars a year you got to know that it is completely the consumers fault. Sadly I LOVE fast food. I get cravings for it...but because of the calories and luckily enough we have the money to eat healthy I push those cravings deep inside. (well on most weeks...I have caved in!) I personally believe Rebecca's idea is amazing. Eating horribly is just as damaging as smoking.

jbridgetfisher
2 yearss ago

Parent's are too blame. Either they turn their head and adore "baby fat", or make excuses for being "big boned" or "going through a phase", parent's dont step up and tell children NO or turn to a Physician to support them. I have been on both ends of the stick, as a fat kid and as a parent of a chubby kid. My mother never told me no, never had boundaries, took me to eat out and chose what I wanted and never made me accountable to my choices. At age 31 I lost 135 pounds and developed a new attitude toward food as I had to relearn good habits, and identify getting that fat was secondary to an eating disorder. As a parent I have my children count calories, make them aware of choices; good and bad and their nutrient value. I tell them no, I weigh and am aware of their caloric intake. It's not the food military or anything like that, but it is definitely surroundings with awareness of food and feelings and they are talked about. Being a fat kid is not fun, I endured that my whole life and by any means necessary I wont allow that to happen to my family. It's cruel to ignore your child's weight problem, just as it is cruel to subject them to taunting by their peers. Bottom line, I am ultimately responsible for my child's success. If I can't control the success, I get a professional to team up with me. It takes a village to raise a child, ultimately parents must lead by example as we are the front line heroes in our kids lives. We must be the change we want to see.

BeautyofWisdom
2 yearss ago

I think fast foods are DISGUSTING!!! Completely gross. I never have had a good experience with fast food. I make sure I cook EVERYTHING!!! I think that tearing down forest for the millionth McDonalds or Burger king is F#@^!& up. I think that its the governments fault for letting these businesses thrive and use and waste so much. It is terrible and I think I just might burn all of them DOWN. I can not even get bees and hummingbirds to come to my garden becuase THERE ARE NO FOREST for them to live in. Now this oil spill has to happen and I just really hate a lot of things about our society. I make sure I work out and that I feed my family healthy foods because of so many diseases and illnesses. I am a responsible parent and I am not going to be responsible for my family becoming sick in any way shape of form becuase of what I fed them. I do not trust any one else to feed my family except for me. Everyone I observe who eats out at restaurants or work there are not so healthy looking. Restaurants are TERRIBLE!

Jojo
2 yearss ago

The fast food industry is as guilty as the cigarette industry for purposefully swaying people to their incredibly unhealthy products. Solutions? People need to learn how to cook. It should be taught in school because kids are not getting it from home. We also need to care about what our kids eat in school. Read your labels. Eat real food. Let your kids eat real food because all of those parents taking their kids to fast food places are forcing their bad choices on their kids. The kids have no real choice in the matter.

Irisblossom81
2 yearss ago

While I think that there need to some changes to the way fast food companies make their servings (who really NEEDS a Super Sized meal), I believe it comes down to personal responsbility. You can't eat fast food everyday and then blame McDonald's because you got fat. I work in a hospital and several pediatric cardiologists I know keep flyers for grocery stores in their exam rooms just to show patients and their parents that you can in fact buy vegetables for less than the family of 4 can eat fast food every day. The argument that fast food is cheaper than fresh foods doesn't fly with me. These are kids who are obese and yet their parents don't do anything to change it. Don't get me started on the argument that Junior won't eat healthy foods and only likes fast food. Fast food is convenient and I do eat fast food and so do my kids, but we do it in moderation. Our society talks all the time about the problems of obesity in this country and we seem to want someone else to fix the problem. Each individual person has to fix their problem. I've been overweight and I know how I got there. It wasn't just fast food, it was laziness and sitting on the couch instead of running or taking a walk and being active. To me, you can't just blame the fast food company.

divahh
2 yearss ago

The argument that the onus rests on the fast food industry is valid. However, if we, as consumers, stopped buying products that are bad for us we would force the fast food industry to re-think the "food" they sell. It's not just the food that is reprehensible about the industry though. Offering cheap food means that farmers have to take the hit. If you're buying a burger for $1.99 and it claims to have 1/4lb of beef in it how much is the fast food joint paying the middle man and how much is he paying the farmer? Think about this for a moment. If the farmer is getting 24¢ for 1lb of beef how can he afford to raise it? Well, he feeds his cows corn. Yep, corn. Or by products from the chicken slaughterhouse. Awesome hey? Next time you sink your teeth into a Big Mac see if you can't taste a little chicken :)

SilverXeno
2 yearss ago

BTW...I saw something interesting that I paid attention to b/c my husband is deployed, and I wish I could find it now...But there was a news short that said basically the effect of a fatty cheeseburger on your brain, causes the same seratonin output as SEX. I have seen a lot of articles that mention similar things...that things people are addicted to give them the feel-good b/c their seratonin levels spike when they get it. Its no wonder I crave cheeseburgers!

JessicaGottlieb
2 yearss ago

We have GOT to get your husband back in town. ;)

SilverXeno
2 yearss ago

Lol...That or I need to go back to that exercising thread and figure out if anyone has got any really good tips!!

Are Restaurants or People to Blame for Fatty Foods?

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