Opinions about fast food

[azalea]

Well, I agree with you on the smoking thing -- I mean wouldn't a clue be that you are INHALING SMOKE INTO YOUR LUNGS? Which people die from, by the way. Smoking cigarettes just does it veerryyy slooowwwly.

Our tobacco money has been spent reimbursing farmers for tobacco revenues lost as a result of the law suits. It's crazy stuff.

I don't really like fast food and don't eat it unless I'm on a long car trip.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by azalea

But I have heard of possible legislation to tax foods based on their nutritive value. For instance, many states either do not tax food or have a lower tax on food items than on non-foods. But the fact that the people buying cookies and potato chips get the "tax break" doesn't bode well with some, because those foods have so little nutritional value, and the foods that should get the break were really meant to be essentials (bread and meat, etc.).
I think that makes some sense, because around here so many poor people are obese from making poor food choices (among other things), and have ended up with diabetes and heart problems. Since they are on Medicaid the taxpayer foots the bill for the expensive medical care. So the ones introing the legislation are reasoning that people who buy the non essential unhealthy foods should pay more into the tax pot for healthcare than those who are buying primarily healthy foods. This would include taxing fast food more I think.

I don't believe in taxing food on nutritional value. That's the government getting into our business where it doesn't belong. Maybe if there is a problem with people on food stamps becoming obese (and again out of AN ADULTS own ignorance of not making the proper choices) - maybe they should not allow food stamps to be used for junk food. Maybe they should only be used for essential food items. But then who is going to determine what is essential and what isn't? Is soda essential or do we just make them buy water? or no drinks whatsoever since they canb get water from the tap. How far do we go trying to save people from themselves before we realise there is always that last zero IQ person we haven't saved yet?

[azalea]

Hey, I agree with you -- there's no way to decide what is healthy and what isn't. It can be very subjective. I think they're going to base it on fat content, but for instance lettuce is considered nutritious but has no real nutritive value except for fiber, whereas sugary cereals can be chock full of vitamins; who's to say which is better?

[Reverie]

WHOA!
Poor peolpe are not fat just because they may make poor food choises...fatty, sugary, high-caloric, perservitive packed foods are cheaper than ones that contain whole wheat, soy, and assorted vitamins and minerals.
My husband and I do most of our grocery shopping at a local health food store (as opposed to a big chain supermarket) that stocks only healthy whole foods and most people would faint dead away to see the weekly bill. A person making minimum wage with a house full of kids couldn't afford it. An example: At the bigger chain supermarkets if you price a loaf of plain white 'bread', which I usually call bagged air, it's about $1. If you can find REAL whole wheat or multi-grain bread that isn't mislabled due to advertising semantics, first off you're lucky, secondly it'll run you close to $5. Personally I make my own bread from organic, stone ground whole wheat flour, it's better, but not much cheaper. A single mom working possibly 2 or 3 jobs would not have the time or the ambition to do that.
This is only one example, there are hundreds. Large companies and advertisers know that health food is big business and charge accordingly.
I guess my much belabored point is don't look down your nose and tsk-tsk the poor without knowing the facts. I know that the majority of posters here are underage and have yet to forge their own path into this life without mom and dad as a safety net...take it from someone who's been there and not always landed softly.

[jerseydevil]

This is what i said on ABC'sWho Deserves the Blame for Obesity? messageboard.

Another Frivolous Lawsuit
This is another ridiculous lawsuit that ties up the court. Just like the lawsuits against tobacco companies - people know what this stuff does but then want someone else to blame for their health problems. Just like people knowing for years that smoking kills, people know that eating fat food and junk food isn't a healthy diet. He has no one to blame for his weight other than himself. I don't think the fast food restaurants held a gun to his head, tied him up and force fed him their food.

How can adults expect children to learn how to take responsibilty for their actions when adults don't see to want to take responsibilty for their own. We've become a nation of "let's find someone to blame and pay".

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Reverie
WHOA!
Poor peolpe are not fat just because they may make poor food choises...fatty, sugary, high-caloric, perservitive packed foods are cheaper than ones that contain whole wheat, soy, and assorted vitamins and minerals.
My husband and I do most of our grocery shopping at a local health food store (as opposed to a big chain supermarket) that stocks only healthy whole foods and most people would faint dead away to see the weekly bill. A person making minimum wage with a house full of kids couldn't afford it

I was going to make the point that unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy - but that's not really the case. It's how healthy do you consider healthy? I make my own spaghetti sauce and everything (I dont care about organic or that crap) - and it's cheaper to make than Ragu or any of the premade junk and it's also healthier. I grew up poor - and my mother used to joke around that she invented hamburger helper. A can of tomato puree with some oregano, basil, garlic and garlic salt - is about $1.50 and that makes as much as one of those ragu jars.

A lot of people have been eating carbohydrates - your body stores these - UNLESS you exercise. People think they can just be thin by just eating certain foods and not getting their butts of the couch. Well it doesn't work that way.

[Elvellon]

or is it anything which is fatty? huh? i need to know what you determine as fast food before i comment on it!

Use your own definition; my own is as valid as anybody else. Just point what kind of food you are talking about (pizzas, burgers, etc).

[jerseydevil]

I don't go to Pizza Huts or Dominoes (which in some ways I do consider fast food). But I do go to local pizzerias in NJ - which I do not consider fast food. Local pizzerias make their own dough and everything. I think Pizza Hut gets their dough and everything shipped in from corporate premade.

But the only reason I don't go to them is because I think their pizza sucks.

[Lizra]

Originally posted by jerseydevil



Then I was cooking when I was 12. Like Chicken Cordon Bleu from scratch or homemade spaghetti sauce - so when my mother went back to work - I came home from school and cooked. My mother at first bought Ragu when she went back to work and I told her that I was perfectly capible of cooking everythng that she used to cook and i was not going to eat Ragu. It's also much mofre expensive to buy the premade junk than to make your own anyway.

You kill me JD. No comment......

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Lizra


You kill me JD. No comment......

What part of that are you rolling your eyes at?

[Lizra]

I'm rolling my eyes because you just don't get the life experience I'm trying to convey, and I feel silly for trying to communicate it to you. Forget it!

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Lizra
I'm rolling my eyes because you just don't get the life experience I'm trying to convey, and I feel silly for trying to communicate it to you. Forget it!

I was just asking you why you do all that? I mean the only reason you would be responsible for everything you listed is if you are a single parent and your child is younger than 6. I was changing diapers when I was eight because none of our babysitters knew how to.

And men can cook and take care of a house as well as a woman and in married/"living together" household the responsibility should be shared.

[noldo]

Okay, you people seem to have been dealing the effects that fast food has on health and etc... What about more cultural aspects? I mean, it's no longer only hamburgers and chips and coke... Now we have kebabs, tacos & tortillas, all that Indian craze... yummy. ^_^

Fast food could be doing a lot FOR cultural diversity, other than just going AGAINST it.

[jerseydevil]

I don't really consider fast food to be representative of a countries culture. Like Taco Bell does NOT serve mexican food.

However - fast food resaurants do serve regional fast food such as McDonalds.

I don't think fast food has an adverse effect on culture anymore than there being a Chinese, an Italian and an Indian restaurant down the street from me. I do believe that those selections of restaurants does improve the culture more so than fast. Fast food is just the quick fix meal - no substance really. Anyone that really thinks that fast food is all Americans eat - has never been here.

[Elvellon]

You don’t have to eliminate publicity, merely regulate it, specially the one aimed at kids.

That's the parents job to regulate it.

You mean parental censorship? But if most society agreed with that fact that publicity aimed at kids is not desirable, why wouldn’t that be translated into a law? (And if most of society don’t, then it shouldn’t be)

Maybe i should sue the Bubbilicious company because when I was little I used to believe that if I chewed their bubble gum - then I could fly into outerspace.

JD, don’t forget I’m not an American. My own country doesn’t have the problem yours seem to have with such kind of abusive suing habits, so I’m not thinking of things under that perspective.

. I don't buy the whole - families don't have any time - they just don't want to make time as a family.

You don’t have to buy it, but I do know a lot of families with such a problem. Your parents actually overcame the difficulties; so I applaud them (my own did the same), but a lot of people do not seem to be able to, so we have, as a society, take their limitations in consideration.

So then adults aren't smart enough to know when something is deadly - they actually have to be told that smoking is going to kill them? Isn't when a person first takes a drag off a cigarette and starts coughing some indication that it's bad? I never smoked because I knew it would kill and I can't stand the smell of it. We can't protect the the zero IQs from their own stupidity. And what about parents that smoke aorund their children? Maybe child welfare should come in and snatch them up and drag them to foster care.

Actually, I agree that most people (but not all) suing the Tobacco companies knew the risks they took; they simply never considered it could happen to them.

Normally I would be inclined to disregard their complains, BUT, at the same time, the Tobacco companies did lie to cover the armful effect of cigarettes. They did so because they believed their lies to be effective, otherwise they wouldn’t have said them. So what can we say of a group of people that is trying to trick you into consuming a dangerous product, claming it to be safe? Sorry, but I can’t feel pity for them, they deserve all they get.

I say we lock up everyone that does anything we don't approve of and be done with it all.

Well, I don’t support such attitudes as that of that fat guy neither.

[Snowdog]

There are pros and cons to fast food, but in general I think its ok. The issues of obesity and such are more a problem of exercise and excess, at lezast here in America. Any food, fast or otherwise eaten too much with not enough burning of said calories will lead to obesity, especially in kids who spnd so much time either playing video games or on the computer or watching TV.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Elvellon

JD, don’t forget I’m not an American. My own country doesn’t have the problem yours seem to have with such kind of abusive suing habits, so I’m not thinking of things under that perspective.

I don't believe in frivolous lawsuits either. I can imagine someone suiing for that (of course it would be in the name of their child). Really what has caused this problem is that people don't want to take responsibilty for themselves or they view it as hitting the lottery - too narrow minded to know that the money has to come from somewhere.

[cassiopeia]

That guy suing the fast food chains is an idiot. Everyone knows that fast food is not healthy. Same for cigarettes - they knew in the '50's or earlier that smoking caused cancer. People choose to do these activities - no one forced them too. Here is says is huge writing on the cigarette packed "SMOKING KILLS" and other warnings. Yet people still smoke.

I love fast food, but I only have it every couple of weeks. I think that is OK, I wouldn't want to have it more often.

Actually here we kind of tax food based on its health value. We have a GST (Goods and Services Tax) on food items which are not staples. Foods like vegetables, fruits and bread are GST free. You have to check your docket to see which foods have been taxed.

[azalea]

Originally posted by Reverie
WHOA!
Poor peolpe are not fat just because they may make poor food choises...fatty, sugary, high-caloric, perservitive packed foods are cheaper than ones that contain whole wheat, soy, and assorted vitamins and minerals.

Oh, I agree with you 100% about that! I am always having to decide whether or not to save money by buying a food that has fat or sugar, or spending more and getting fat- or sugar-free products. That's so true! But I always thought it was more an issue of the expense to companies paying shelf fees (i.e., since fewer people opt for the sugar-free bread, it costs more for the company to keep that shelf stocked and it passes that cost on to the consumer). The "bulk buying" principle, so to speak. Which I disagree with, incidentally, and it's why I think healthy foods shouldn't be taxed at all, but obviously unhealthy ones should be. Or something. I'm not really sure what the answer is, but I don't think the healthier food choices should cost more (whole wheat vs. white, etc.)

My intention wasn't to deride the poor, it was to illustrate why some people agree with the above mentioned legislation. Not only that, but there is merit in the statement that undereducated people tend to make less healthy eating choices, and that the poor tend to be undereducated. My husband and I have seen many times people do things like this: two women and a bunch of kids are in line at the grocery store. They are buying a bag of apples and a case of soft drinks. The cashier gives them the total, they don't have enough money, so they put back the APPLES. This isn't just a one time thing, we've seen it many times, and they always seem to put back the healthy food and keep the junk food. It doesn't make good nutritional or economic sense. I'm not trying to be down on the poor, but I'm just relaying what my community experiences. Sure, there are plenty of rich people getting fat by making bad food choices, but the taxpayers don't have as much to say about that since those people usually have very good health insurance and don't use public money to pay for future medical care. I'm just trying to relay the justification for taxing unhealthy foods more.

Also, JD you might find it humorous that in my county, Taco Bell was voted one of the top three Mexican restaurants! It's so sad! Of course I think we only have 2 Mexican restaurants, but still, that anyone would vote that way!

[Lizra]

I can lead my family to healthy food but I can't make them eat it. I can't afford to throw food away all the time. (cause they didn't like it) My parents were health food nuts and I was a skinny twig cause I hardly ate. To this day I eat very fast and have a hard time enjoying food. I don't like to make food a highly charged issue. I want my people to be happy. I have thrown in the towel on the healthy food issue. I set an example myself and figure my children will be able to read and make rational decisions when they are ready too. Making things forbidden and off limits only makes them more appealing, My husband is very polite and doesn't want to hurt my feelings, but he is going to drink Pepsi and eat fettucini alfredo if he wants to! If everybody wants taco bell, fine, it makes my life easier anyway! Life is too stressful to argue about food. If you live in a situation where everybody is happy to eat whole wheat and fat free, and spend all that time scratch cooking, great. My people would say ewwwwwwww.