Why is the blame for obesity always at the fast food places?
I was watching Super Size Me last night, and here's what annoys me people always sue the fast food companies for making them fat. But why is the blame always on the companies and not the pigs who over eat.
I love fast food and I'm a chubby myself. But I've never blamed fast food companies for making me a little overweight.
Because it's so accessible, affordable, and tastes good, it's hard to not consider fast food. It's really an issue of self control but people don't like blaming themselves for their own problems.
Because it's so accessible, affordable, and tastes good, it's hard to not consider fast food. It's really an issue of self control but people don't like blaming themselves for their own problems.
^
Pretty much, fast food being so readily available and cheap surely won't help counter obesity
The blame does lie partially with the people who are over-eating, but you have to recognize the affect that the media has on these people. Fast food companies, aside from the convenience that makes them popular choices, the aggressively promote their food and they misrepresent that food's nutritional value. You can't only blame the people who eat it when they're led to believe that it's not actually as bad as it is, combined with the extreme ease of getting this food. Eating healthy isn't hard, but it's not the easier or more convenient option these days.
Marketing, accessibility and advertising all play heavily into a consumer's decisions and can strongly influence your eating decisions. Of course I agree, it's a person's own decision and job to ensure they eat healthily themselves - but considering the soaring obesity numbers in the developed world, clearly something is disabling people from making smart choices. Lack of education maybe?
It's sad that (in the USA at least), unhealthy fast food is more accessible in many impoverished neighborhoods than raw, fresh produce. Even guns and drugs are more accessible.
Aggressive marketing and it's more accessible than normal food. Also the food is so processed, it doesn't have any nutrients so the brain thinks it needs more and it stimulates the body to take more.
i usually put it on parental guidance/environment and fast food advertising excessively towards children luring them in with disney toys and stuff to make them nag their parents to buy them horribly unhealthy food. when the parents give in or are themselves frequent fast food eaters its really easy for kids to become chubby. when they are chubby they get teased but children dont have the sense/intelligence (not sure what word to use) to choose healthy food so they eat whatever tastes good and continue to get fat.
now by the time they are old enough to realize that all that fastfood they've eaten is hurting them its too late and its no longer an issue of "oh you like mcdonalds too much" mcdonalds has become their comfort food they turn to when they are being teased for being fat at school or at home by siblings. its no longer a food problem but a psychological issue. like that vicious circle line in austin powers 2 by fat bastard. yeah it was a joke but that eating because you're unhappy and unhappy because you eat thing is real.
thats all i can come up with as far as fast food taking PART of the blame for obesity or at least in children.
There's many factors to the issue of obesity and the causes of obesity, its not as black and white. Like a few have stated let's first look at the environment that doesn't support healthy lifestyle habits for some people.
Fast food and other large processed food companies are certainly one of the largest contributors. People say things like "obese people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions", but they should know that these businesses went for a long time unregulated. They've spent BILLIONS of dollars a year paying psychologists and marketers to make people want their products, even when they don't want their products. So, in my eyes, they should be held responsible for making people desire absolute crap through the powerful psychological agents in use by companies like McDonald's and PEPSICO. Being bombarded with advertisements that effect you at the psychological level on top of adding known addiction causing additives to food/drinks is something that people from before the fast food age didn't have to deal with. The more recent generations do, though, correlating with the rise of obesity.
Add the accessibility and the fact that they are dirt cheap (in America cheaper than buying food from the supermarket) for many fast food is just about the only choice. Double Cheeseburger (McDouble) is $1.
Sugary soda is cheaper and more accessible than bottled water. That is not by coincidence. Companies can pump all types of chemicals to trigger addiction (and do!) to soda, this keeps us coming back and buying more. They can't quite do the same with bottled water.
These companies need to be held responsible and better regulated. But business rules politics.
