Fat Food?
This weekend, a car full of us drove to Los Angeles and back. On the return trip, we stopped at In-N-Out Burger, which sparked a conversation about fast food chains. We agreed that while the ubiquitous McDonald’s is not that tempting, In-N-Out is another story. We were happy the only one in town is at Fisherman’s Wharf, where none of us ever goes. Because we know, of course, that fast food shouldn’t be a staple of our diet, right? It went without saying that all of us, who are a reasonably health-conscious bunch, try to avoid it as much as possible.
I was reminded of this discussion when I read the results of a Canadian study that found a direct correlation between obesity and the proximity of fast food.
For every extra fast-food restaurant per 10,000 people, a city’s obesity rate goes up 3%, said Sean Cash, a health economics professor who drew up an obesity map that plotted obesity rates and the density of the top 10 fast-food chains in Canada. “The strong relationship really suggests that access to fast food may indeed be one of the issues that may explain increasing obesity rates… We were surprised by the strength of the relationship, but we weren’t surprised to find that there was a relationship. This has been a likely culprit that has been discussed quite a bit over the last few years. This provides support for that view.”
I guess the correlation isn’t news to me. At times, when I do get fast food, I have been self-conscious about it. I feel like “oh, of course, the fatty wants a Big Mac!” even though I most likely eat fast food no more often than many of my thinner counterparts. (I’d be interested to hear how often normal-weight people eat fast food.)
So, there’s a stigma to fast food, and it’s not entirely undeserved, but does that make it right? I find it a tricky issue to figure out, quite frankly. I don’t want to assign morality to food, but Pizza Hut now has a type of pizza where each slice contains 580 calories, and I kind of think it’s irresponsible to make something like that. I blame the people who make it, though, not the people who eat it. I’m not sure why that is, considering that for the most part, I am all about personal choices and personal responsibility. Maybe it’s that I’ve been working in advertising too long.
Some more interesting statistics:
According to a report published in Chicago Tribune, fast-food consumption is more in higher-income households, young boys, older children, African-Americans and children living in the south, whereas fast food consumption is found to be low in youngsters living in the West, rural areas, Hispanics, white women and those aged 4 to 8. Due to the increase in the number of fast food outlets, fast food prevails in virtually every segment of the society, including hospitals and schools, as per a study on fast food & obesity by Harvard School of Public Health.
Can that really be true? There is more fast food consumption in higher income households? I always thought low it was the opposite. (I can’t find the original Chicago Tribune report.)
So anyway, now I’m wondering. How often do you eat fast food? How does it fit into your life? Do you think it boils down to class, convenience, cash? Is there a fast food stigma? I’d love to know your thoughts.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Advertising, Food, Health, International, Personal, Question
When I lived in the midwest I ate a lot of cheap fast food in college, and I ate quite a bit of it in late high school years when I got a car and could drive to the fast food. I grew up in a relatively wealthy community where there were very few restaurants at all within walking distance, and my mom always cooked healthy meals for the family. Since I moved out west about 13 years ago I have hardly touched fast food because there are so many other more tasty options when dining out, and I have more money now than when I was a student, so I do think there is an economic driver in there. I also have more time to cook meals at home than when I was a college student. I think people generally frown upon fast food in my social-economic group (mid30s high tech employees).
Oh definitely, there is an economic correlation. When I worked for a large urban library system in the 90s at a branch in an affluent neighborhood I hardly saw fast food joints at all. When I worked in a poorer neighborhood in the same city, they were on every corner.
I also think the food industry has a lot to answer for when it comes to the use of cheap, flavorful, high calorie incredients like high fructose corn syrup. It’s in everything, including “whole wheat” or “multigrain” breads and yogurt.
The first thing we learned in stats was “correlation is not causation.” They really shouldn’t infer that fast food is the culprit where “obesity” rates are higher.
On the other hand if poor people are fatter, and they also have more fast food available, maybe the fast food is helping to make them fat. Still, I’m fat and I don’t eat much fast food so it’s not true for me.
I hardly ever eat fast food, mostly because if I do I feel gross afterwards (not guilty, but … greasified, and usually with an upset stomach). I used to eat it more when I was in high school, though. I’ve really lost my taste for it as I’ve gotten older and richer. Not that I’m wealthy or anything, but since I can afford to buy better stuff, fast food usually doesn’t taste good to me. Apart from KFC. For some reason, I really love me some KFC. But I eat it maybe two times a year.
Though junkfoodscience hasn’t picked the story up yet and dissected it, I did notice that the economist conducting the study made the point that, “”I wouldn’t say our study proves anything.” And there was no indication in the coverage of the study of actual weight differences, as the article merely bandied about terms like “obese” as if they were meaningful in and of themselves. And though they say they looked at commuting distance and income levels, there’s no indication that they looked at any other possibly confounding variables.
Also, not surprisingly, the article’s title and first sentence bear no relationship to the study’s results.
The link to the Chicago Tribune reported study makes several false claims as well, including the “fat people eat more/consume more calories.”
Too much of this reporting hinges on badly done science and ridiculously bad journalism–both of which I think are more dangerous than fast food.
I just can’t get past 580 calories a slice. . . no wonder the fast food industry doesn’t want to have to make their nutritional information public.
I rarely eat fast food and not because it’s fattening or whatever but because it doesn’t taste good to me most of the time. Then, out of the blue, I will crave a McDonald’s original, thin, not very interesting hamburger, and I go out at lunch and get one.
It’s not generally food that makes me think yuck more than yum.
But if I want some, I get some.
I have to be honest, I’m not sure what’s so bad about a 580 calorie slice of pizza. I’m sure there are tons of schmancy gourmet dishes that have calorie concentrations just as high. Plus, coming from Chicago (home of the stuffed pizza), I don’t necessarily think this is all that revolutionary.
I think this article pushes the same old tired misinformation that fast food makes people fat - people are getting fatter - obesity epidemic - GAH!! I’m pretty sure *that* is total crap, and this study sounds like more of same.
Personally, my strongest criticisms of fast food come from a slow food perspective - there’s very little sustainably grown, local/fair trade, organic fast food out there. If there was, I might eat it more often. As things currently stand, it’s something I eat maybe a few times a year.
I blame the people who make it, though, not the people who eat it. I’m not sure why that is, considering that for the most part, I am all about personal choices and personal responsibility.”
Blame them, too. Because it is easy to say people should make responsible choices–but the responsible choice must be an informed choice. Given the resistance of the fast food chains to making nutritional information easily accessible, I think they are quite aware of the potential effect of an empowered public on their bottom lines.
Okay, I’ll admit that I was a sucker for Jack in the Box’s sirloin burger, but once I saw that the burger alone was over 1000 (!!!) calories, it was no longer an option. I also know that I have crappy willpower when I’m hungry or confroted by an array of deep-fried foods, so I just avoid all fast food (with the exception of Subway) entirely. As for the preponderance of affluent fast-food eaters, I would think it has something to do with longer working hours leaving less time for decent eating.
That pizza looks delicious. I recently “discovered” their p’zone. I can only eat one half (they kindly split it for you) at a time, and even then so full I almost feel sick — but I bet just that half is 2,000 calories.
And guess what? I couldn’t care less. That shit is TASTY.
More on-topic, I eat admittedly WAY too much fast food. I’m young, don’t really know how to cook, and don’t want to cook for just myself. And I’m usually in a time crunch. I’m working on it (brown-bagging it to work for lunch), and some weeks go better than others. But…for a time, when I was living in Colorado, I was eating 1 restaurant meal and 1 fast food meal a day for over a month. And I weighed about 125-130 at 5′7″. Clearly, fast food does not make all people fat in all situations.
I rarely go to fastfood, but there definitely is a bias that fat people are fastfood eaters. A recent story about an obese boy in the Bay Area showed pictures of him having a meal at McDonald’s.
Fat people are also fat sometimes despite being on diets that people assume only skinny people eat (i.e. vegetarian or vegan).
Hi MoPie. I don’t know if this will make sense (or if it’s really on topic) but here goes..
Sometimes I like it when fast food places advertise in a silly, look how calorie filled our burger is, way. Like the Burger King enormous omelette or that pizza you were talking about. It makes me feel like they are aware that their food is crap (yummy crap). Yes, it’s a bad idea, but every month or so if you’re in the mood for a 13 egg omelette…you know where to get it! When i go to McDonald’s and buy something off a menu that is touted as a “healthy choice” and then find out I could have eaten a Krispy Kreme…that’s when I get frustrated! I’m not really one to blame fast food places though, because we all know there are usually only a handful of decent things to eat …healthwise. Taste wise though…pass the nuggets! :)
Eve took the words right out of my mouth! “Correlation does not equal causation” My first thought when reading the article was that somehow the fast food joints did a demographic study (because they don’t open a new store without lots of research) and found out where the fat people lived, and planted their stores there! Who knows?
I used to eat more fast food when I was in grad school. I was broke and didn’t know how to cook. Now I know how to cook, and I can’t recall the last time I went to a drive thru. I swore off McDonald’s after reading Fast Food Nation (about 3 years ago now). Someone asked me recently where the nearest location of a certain fast food chain was, and I honestly had no idea, having not patronized one since moving to a new city over a year and a half ago!
So, I don’t eat it very much at all, and I’m still “overweight” according to the lovely BMI. I think Zombie Z has a point-fast food doesn’t make everyone fat, but I also think the opposite is true-not eating fast food does not make one thin!
Echoing what some other people have said - fast food outlets tend to thrive in less wealthy neighborhoods. Less wealthy people tend to be heavier. That doesn’t mean that ones causes the other. Wealthy neighborhoods have ordinances restricting fast food restaurants because they lower property values, not because they cause fat people.
Also, one of my favorite things about Rethinking Thin was that Kolata makes a point of acknowledging the fact that *everybody* compensates for high or low calorie foods in their diets over time. 580 calories is a perfectly reasonable meal for an adult who eats 3 or 4 meals a day, and the reality is that if that was too many calories for your body in one sitting, you’d compensate at some point later by not being hungry and eating less.
I probably eat a fast food burger once every couple of weeks, mostly for convenience, but every once in a while because it’s just what I want. I’ve lately taken to grabbing a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich (english muffin, cheddar, black forest ham, egg) at Starbucks two mornings a week when I have to teach early classes.
I could probably eat only one slice of that pizza, if that. Five hundred and eighty calories for one meal does not sound like the apocalypse to me. Even 1160 calories does not sound horrible for the occasional treat, or when you haven’t eaten much else all day. And inasfar as anyone might eat more than that, other than hollow-legged teenagers who are always hungry, it’s probably ’cause they were dieting. A lot of these foods seem to be made for bingeing; rebound bingers are a huge market.
I had a friend in college who ate so much McDonald’s he used to brag that he “could find one blindfolded.” He was and remains pencil thin. But nowadays he’s avoiding Mickey D’s because of problems with his heart (in his 40s). And I’ve yet to go to any fast food place and see only (or even mostly) fat people eating there. Man, am I ever tired of those “dem fatties sure lubs de fast food” crap. I don’t even like it much, truth be known.
Can that really be true? There is more fast food consumption in higher income households? I always thought low it was the opposite.
I know that prices of fast food places vary, even within the same chain - depending on what part of town you’re in. Around here, the average “value” meal will run you around four or five dollars… and that’s for one person. With four or five dollars, i can buy enough food for at least one meal (more if there’s a sale) that will easily feed 2-4 people… not just one.
I’m not financially hurting, but i’m far from rich; for the most part i live paycheck to paycheck. I can go to the grocery store and get a week’s worth of food for me and Ben for $30. That’s three meals a day for seven days, as opposed to 6-7 “value” meals total.
Fast food is a luxury item. Poor people simply cannot afford to eat out all that much.
I rarely eat fast food for a couple of reasons. One, because I’m slightly more afraid of tampering with it because I have in my mind the disaffected teenaged fast food worker. (I know that this is illogical and that tampering is just as likely in “higher-end” restaurants. It’s totally illogical.) Two, because a lot of the time, the food just doesn’t taste very good to me.
I will eat it in an emergency, or if there aren’t any options — but if I’m close to home, I’m not going to the Golden Arches.
As far as fast-food restaurants in different neighborhood, I notice that the McDonalds in the tony neighborhood where I used to work is very posh (with an outdoor eating space complete with fancy landscaping and everything), and is well-populated by moms and their kids.
It definitely makes more sense that people who have a higher income eat more fast food- because really, low-income families simply cannot afford to eat at McDonalds very often. When I was little and we were really poor, going to McDonalds was a really huge deal.
Anyway.. fast food.. ick. I eat out more than I’d like, but at restaurants rather than say, McDonalds, Burger King, or the like. Of course a lot of times eating at a restaurant is just as bad except that you can get steamed veggies or something usually instead of french fries.
As for blaming the people who make these things- Well, I do it. People can say it’s a personal choice all they want, but I say that it’s hardly easy to make a “choice” when you’re constantly not given ALL the information you really would need to make your choice. Take the pizza from Pizza Hut that you mentioned- when you go into Pizza Hut and look at the menu, you don’t see that a slice of this particular pie has over 500 calories- you just see all the yummy toppings and cheese and everything that they advertise.
Then there’s the fact that the companies making these horrible-for-you foods can almost ALWAYS find very SIMPLE ways to make them healthier; Food (especially fast food) is made in such an unhealthy way- I mean, really, why does a McDonalds hamburger have more calories than the same hamburger you make at home? Why does Mayo come standard on sandwiches/burgers/etc? It doesn’t have to be like that!
Then we have Advertising.. I know way too much about how advertising works to have any doubt that you can lay some of the blame on food manufacturers. I don’t think you can really call it a choice when companies spend so much money on ways to trick you into wanting their product.
When I was living in (health conscious) Austin for a semester I ate fast food once a day every day (Brger King). I didn’t have many friends or any intention of staying for longer than a few months so I didn’t have the social pressure to not eat like crap, nor did I want to invest in cookware or grocery basics. I knew that I wasn’t making healthy choices but I continued to eat that way. At first it started off as a convenience, then I probably got addicted. There is definitely a stigma against fast food amongst my peer group of graduate degree holders. It’s considered shame food, alone food, or guilty pleasure food. I think it tastes great, but the calories are very empty, which is where the weight gain comes in. I was hungry all the time and probably consumed more calories as a result.
I didn’t notice the weight gain right away, but after a few months it became apparent that all that high fat food was depositing itself on my body. Now I have a limited budget (again) but I eat homecooked food, which is not more expensive than getting cheap meals out. I also have people around me who would criticize me for eating poorly. In this case I think social shaming of bad foods is justified. It’s really easy to incorporate fast food in your life, and it’s easy to abuse it. Sometimes I get sick of people’s snobby attitudes towards it
(it’s chemically engineered to taste good, so why should we deny that it does) but the stigma really helps me make a healthy choice when it would be easier to get high off of fast food.
I think the “fast food in proximity to the obese” is nothing more than correlation that probably has more to do with economics, class and the fact that richer people can afford to live away from convenience shopping and restaurant areas.
In regard to the second quote, it would be interesting to know more about that study. I wonder what they would find if they looked at single vs. married or with children. When I’m alone during the day or in the evening, I sometimes get fast food because I don’t feel like cooking just for me.
I would say there definitely is a stigma around fast food. So much has happened surrounding fast food in the past decade. And didn’t squintyface just mention Super Size Me? However, I would posit that the anti-fast food stigma is embedded in all sorts of class issues as well and fast food is forever a whipping boy in the “breakdown of the family.” Dual-earners do not have the same time for food prep (among other things) that couples with one gigantic breadwinner and one full-time home maker do, so naturally the rich and the pious are free of the fast food scourge (and funnily enough the stigma that goes with it). Not to mention the people employed by fast food restaurants are usually low to low-middle class and are not valued in our society.
I find myself eating at fast food places more than I want to since my job doesn’t provide a refrigerator and every cosmetologist is poor, lol, at least in this state. But I’m planning my new year to be better than this last year and I’m really going for the ‘lifestyle change’.
How often do you eat fast food? How does it fit into your life?
Never. Absolutely never. The closest we get is take-out kebab sandwiches at a local restaurant. My (skinny) husband has digestive issues and thrives best on my cooking. I manage to be fat on a diet of fruits, vegetables and whole gains.
OMG… In-N-Out Burger!!! I moved to Texas from California three years ago and god do I miss In-N-Out. I haven’t found anything close to that here. My husband and I always said that would be the first place we go to if we ever visit California again.
Anyway, I am embarrassed to say that we eat a lot of fast food. I would say at least 4 times a week. It is mostly because I work at home and I just get so busy that I can’t cook. Especially with the holidays here. I plan to start cooking again next month, but even so, I have kids and tons of hobbies, etc. that its just too easy to eat out. And really, its not that much more expensive if you stick to the dollar menus. As my income has gone up this holiday season due to increased sales, my fast food consumption has gone up. But who’s to say its because I have more money? It takes more time to make more money, thus I have no time to cook. My husband eats fast food more than I do because he eats at Wendys for lunch almost everyday. He is underweight and can eat anything he wants. It makes me sick! But he realizes it is still unhealthy for him to do that even though he is not overweight from it. If we don’t eat out and I’m too busy to cook, we eat frozen foods. We try to stick with Lean Cuisine’s, Lean Pockets, Smart Ones, etc. I’m not sure if those are really any better than the regular ones.
You know what I think would be interesting to see? What they actually characterize as fast food.
I live in NYC, home of many takeout food kings and queens. I can’t help but wonder whether takeout tandoori or pad thai from somewhere that the fashionistas (don’t) eat, or some of the (admittedly fabulous) Sushi Samba entrees, or just an enormous plate of pasta from one of the all-night diners, has as many calories and as scary a nutritional profile, as something, from, say, Mickey D’s or Jack in the Box.
I’m definitely in the “whatever fits your situation” camp. To the extent I can afford it, I try to eat pretty scrupulously organic (just ’cause I’m scared of a lot of what’s sold in the regular grocery stores) with a nutritional profile to support muscle building and high-energy, but if it’s a really late night at the office or I’m driving someone somewhere on the NJ Pike, I’ll grab one of those bacon ranch salads with grilled chicken in a heartbeat, nitrates be blowed (although I do try to substitute the vinaigrette for the ranch dressing. I try to eat a lot of things with Paul Newman’s face on them. :D)
I definitely have spurts of getting fast food. I had a lot more freedom with my last job and ate in the car a lot. It’s really helped being back in a setting where the cafeteria actually has a chef and there is actually healthy choices. My kids only get fast food on that rare occasion grandma watches them and I “splurge” on burgers and fries then. My family enjoys eating at home and we try to really stress healthy eating habits. I actually had my son (age 12) watching BBC’s “You Are What You Eat” and he was so shocked at seeing the amount and types of food people who were obese that he now chooses, on his own, healthier snacking choices. He still loves sweets, he’s like me, but I think I am giving him better options for improving his asthma and his athletic talents.
I just can’t stomach fast food burgers and fires anymore. For about the past 3 years, I haven’t had any.
As for Pizza Hut and chain pizza- fuggedaboutit! I prefer hubby’s homemade thin crust or one local take out joint’s chewy crust. Maybe once a year, I’ll have a Pizza Uno individual size sausage pizza.
My fast food faves are takeout Chinese, Japanese, or Thai. And things I like are usually veggie related with lighter sauces (not fried). (Mmm, Schezuan veggies with tofu on white rice!)
Not strictly on topic, but I once heard Julia Child mention (on the Larry King show), that In-N-Out Burger was a favorite of hers when she wanted a burger and fries.
Oh — I forgot to say that in some cases, fast food is a REQUIREMENT due to tradition.
Road trip? MUST HAVE sausage & egg biscuit from McD’s.
I wish our culture didn’t have such an “all or nothing” view towards food. Eating fast food for every meal may not be healthy, but neither would eating broccoli for every meal — there is a much wider range of nutrients your body requires than that.
So to all the so-called “health” snobs (my boyfriend!): If I want to eat cauliflower for lunch, I will do it (and have). If I want to have a Big Mac, I’ll do that, too, and it’s NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
You know, when I was a kid, we were poor. Like, welfare poor. Didn’t know if we were gonna have lights that week poor. And we never ate fast food. I mean, EVER. I didn’t eat fast food until I was making my own money in high school. I’d never even been inside a McDonald’s. So I can believe that the higher the income, the more fast food. They can afford it.
I’m a college student–living at home, but commuting–so two meals a day I have to eat out. Usually I have a donut, a muffin, or a McDonalds breakfast sandwich for breakfast, and for lunch I’ll either have Sbarros pizza or cheese and broccoli soup from Quiznos if I need the calories, or else salad or a fruit and cheese plate from Starbucks if I feel like I need fruit and vegetables. And my family gets fast food once a week, ranging from Subway to Wendy’s. For me, fast food is a convenience issue, because I commute 6-7 hours a day, so bringing food to school beyond dried fruit, fruit cups, and the occasional banana is impossible; I’d imagine it’s the same for anyone who works or commutes a lot as well. And it is relatively cheap if you do it right (though the healthier options are more expensive–6 bucks for the Starbucks fruit and cheese plate, 4 bucks for Sbarros pizza).
So I eat a fair amount of fast food per week, and yet, I’m a size 5. (And also, a donut per day! When Anthony Bourdain was getting on Rachel Ray’s ass for supporting Dunkin Donuts and thus, of course, obesity, I couldn’t help but laugh.) Meanwhile my best friend is a fat vegetarian and my fat little sister eats soy rice cakes as snacks while I eat Doritos and cookies.
Ok, first I have to say that I am TOTALLY JEALOUS that you got to have In-and-Out burgers! I’m stuck here in the Midwest craving those little gems and the closest thing I can get is a Steak N Shake, which is so not an In-and-Out! (sigh)!
That being said, I work at a university with professors who are in the higher income brackets and they eat fast food almost daily. Both parents work (sometimes they are both professors) and they don’t have time to cook between classes, grading, review sessions etc. For them it is a matter of necessity.
I eat fast food a couple of times a week, usually lunch, when I am pressed for time. I try to hit the healthier alternatives (Subway, Wendy’s) but every now and again I just need that Big Mac.
Fast food has become a part of our culture, for better or worse, and that’s just the way it is.
I go through stages. Sometimes I eat a lot of fast food and sometimes I don’t. Depends on what is going on in my life. I’m not ashamed that I like it and I don’t understand the snobbishness about it.
I will say that I do have to limit my intake of In N Out. I LOVE In N Out and could eat too much of it, which is not a good thing for most foods. Eat too much of anything and it probably won’t make you feel good.
I know way too much about how advertising works to have any doubt that you can lay some of the blame on food manufacturers. I don’t think you can really call it a choice when companies spend so much money on ways to trick you into wanting their product.
No sweetheart, no matter how much you want to, you can’t “blame” food manufacturers or advertising agencies for your food choices. You do have a free will, remember?
How timely! I do believe that yesterday I stumbled upon at least one reason for the “fast food makes you fat” posit: it doesn’t STAY with you or stave off hunger for as long as healthful food does.
My office ordered in a stack of pizzas for yesterday’s lunch. I was hungry & gobbled down 3 cheesy, veggie-bearing slices. That was at noon. By 5PM, I was ravenously hungry again, whereas the day before, when I lunched on a huge salad & a small piece of cornbread at 1pm, I was satisfied for the rest of the day . Conclusion? More healthful, nutrition-loaded food satisfies hunger longer, lets the body digest & process & make use of everything you eat, while fatty, sugary, greasy fast food does none of those things AND leaves all those unused calories around to turn to excess fat. On top of all that - let’s be REALLY honest here - fast food just doesn’t TASTE as good as the nice burger you can whip up in the broiler at home.
As for fatfighter - honey, I wish you size 28 hips for Christmas, bulging thighs, flabby upper arms, all the accessories that would seem to blend perfectly with your outrageously big mouth and small mind.
This is why I hate my years of dieting. I look at ALL food and go: Oh, shit. There’s cheese on it. That’s gotta add at LEAST 150 *extra* calories!
Yesterday, I ate half of a ham and cheese omlette, 1.5 biscuits and some forkfuls of hash browns for lunch. I was satisfied. I wonder if I need to be so worried about calories if I could just go get what I want and eat as much as it takes to satisfie me?
Fast food? I eat it regularly. Typically, I like a dry chicken sandwhich and some fruit from Chic Fil A. Even at the drive through, you have some power to go lower calorically. Not that you should each and every time.
I’m sorry, you lost me at “In-n-Out”. My brain just completely shorted out after that. ;-)
i dont actually like the taste of fast food so i never eat it. i do like taco bell though (which is weird cuz i tend to hate places that sell fake mexican or latin american food) but i only eat it once a year when i visit the US because its the one fast food restaurant they dont have in thailand, where i live. but other then that i dont eat it at all..too much grease or fried foods give me a stomach ache
What I see here is the unthinking acceptance that fast food equals food that is bad for you. Would someone please go into some detail as to what this “bad” is. A typical fast food hamburger has meat, cheese, bun, pickles, mayo, ketchup and mustard and sometimes lettuce, tomatoes and onion. Is this worse than eating spaghetti at home that you make with a jar of purchased sauce and some browned hamburger and then put over white flour spaghetti noodles? Many people also put parmesan cheese on the top. Are fries any worse for you than granola?
I think that most of us reading this blog know that weight loss diets don’t work. The opposite of that is that diets to increase weight don’t work any better. People in the USA are healthier than ever. Life expectancy is up. The obesity epidemic is a myth. There may be many reasons not to eat fast food but I don’t think “health” is one of them.
1. “The link to the Chicago Tribune reported study makes several false claims as well, including the “fat people eat more/consume more calories.””
I’m sure you will all once again turn into shrieking harpies claiming “zomg teh studies are wrong I am fat and I hardly eat aslkdjrowh!” but there are in fact several studies which prove that overweight people eat more calories than slim people. When put in a controlled environment and fed only what they self-reported they supposedly ate, they lost weight quickly. It has been proven many times over that overweight people eat more. Why can’t you people just accept this?
2. I have never, in my entire vegan existence, met or heard of a fat strict vegan. If someone is fat and they claim to be a vegan, they are lying. Period.
I can completely understand that families with higher incomes eat more fast food. I live in a suburb that’s fairly affluent. My husband and I joke that we live on the wrong side of the tracks because while he makes a decent salary, we are one of the few families we know who don’t live in a huge McMansion or earn $150k+/year. I have noticed that many of the parents of my childrens’ classmates take their kids to McDonald’s or Burger King for lunch after school; with several families it’s something they do every Tues/Thursday or M/W/F. Many of the husbands seem to travel frequently for business, and often I’ve heard a mom say that she’s taking the kids to McDonald’s for dinner “because Jim’s out of town and I don’t feel like cooking just for the kids.” My kids hear the other kids talking about frequent fast food visits and ask to go there, but regardless of how healthy/unhealthy the food is, it’s not in our budget, which is probably a blessing health-wise.
fatfighter…
“there are in fact several studies which prove that overweight people eat more calories than slim people. When put in a controlled environment and fed only what they self-reported they supposedly ate, they lost weight quickly.”
Please find these several studies and back up your ignorant assertions.
“It has been proven many times over that overweight people eat more. Why can’t you people just accept this?”
Like I said, back it up. So, do you personally know every single overweight person on this planet? So, you know for CERTAIN that all overweight people just eat too much? Sorry, but I don’t accept crap.
“I have never, in my entire vegan existence, met or heard of a fat strict vegan. If someone is fat and they claim to be a vegan, they are lying. Period.”
Once again, you know EVERY SINGLE vegan on this planet? AMAZING!
See, I personally stay fat and jolly to irritate and annoy losers like yourself. I know you have some sort of self-hatred going on, and you have to take it out on the rest of us. Sad, really.
Now - I’m off to eat five cheeseburgers, two dozen donuts, and a diet pop. Because that’s all fat people eat, you know!
Oh, and “fatfigher?” Keep fighting, but you’ll NEVER defeat me or my jolly rolls of fat.
As I posted on the other thread, I am now back from vacation and deleting antagonistic comments. Everyone has made their points, I think.
In defense of Fatfighter, I have recently been noticing the eating habits of my family members. The people who are chubby do in fact eat a lot. They all say they don’t eat too much and they all believe it. Yet they really pile the food on their plates and they often take seconds. Since I started controlling portions I have lost a lot of weight. So it’s a myth that overweight people eat more than they need to? I don’t think so. It’s observable truth. There are some exceptions, but that’s what they are - exceptions. Do you think you are all exceptions?
Have you counted how many calories you really eat? Have you used a website such as Fitday to really examine how much you are taking in?
Come on, step up to the challenge. You will be happier without your jolly rolls.
Oh please, Indoor Cat. Spare us the lecture.
I’m keeping my jolly rolls, thank you very much. I fail to see how my life could be any better if I was thin. It won’t, because I already have everything I want.
So, whatever.
Indoor Cat, you are no exception. Every single point you are rambling off has been hear ad nauseum by every fat person on this planet. Please, lay off.
And why are all my comments getting deleted and all the other hateful people get to make their points?
I don’t think I’m an exception at all, Indoor Cat. I know that my weight is from overeating, and I’ve had issues with disordered eating and food addictions my whole life. I try to focus on being happy and healthy at this size, rather than imagining that I would be “happier” in some ephemeral way if I were thinner.
Sarah, you need to calm down. You’ve made like 10 posts in the past 20 minutes with varying degrees of hostility and repetitiveness, and it’s really not adding to your point. (For instance, telling another poster to “fuck off and die” is not exactly contributing to the discourse.) I’ve kept the posts that I felt were substantive. (And the one above, asking the question.)
I’ve counted calories at FitDay, and I usually come in around 2K per day or less, which is about what the FDA says I need to live. It’s not what I need to lose weight - it’s what I need to sustain my life. Sure, I could survive on less, and I’ve done it. But I was miserable and focusing all of my issues with clinical depression on disordered eating and overexercising. I’m aware that what I do is probably considered “overeating” by people who think a normal way to eat is a weight-loss diet, but at the same time I’m not gaining weight and haven’t since my last big weight gain (compulsive overeating triggered by severe personal upheaval). I’m happy to keep my jolly rolls; they mean that I’m focusing my energy on things other than food.
I rarely eat fast food, but I agree that sometimes “fast food” is in the eye of the beholder. For instance, I get grocery store sushi quite often—doesn’t that sort of count?
I might get a veggie sandwich from Subway if I’m stuck someplace weird with no food (airport, jury duty).
Part of the reason I don’t eat much of it is taste, but I will admit that part of it is snobbery. I am not entirely sure where my distaste for the stigma of fast food comes from—too much AdBusters back in the ’90s? The advertising, marketing, and bland corporate culture are part of what turn me off, before we even get to the food.
This is a fascinating topic and obviously I need to examine my own prejudices further.
I don’t eat fast food much — mainly because I like to cook and we eat a sit-down family dinner almost every evening. I’m too cheap to buy it at lunchtime and almost always take my lunch to work.
I used to love fast food, but as I’ve grown older, I don’t care for most of it. I do still love QPs, though I eat one probably once a year. There is definitely a stigma attached to eating fast food among my peers.
Sarah,
Please find these several studies and back up your ignorant assertions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/fatthin.shtml
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Nov06/meal.size.calories.ssl.html
There’s a couple to get you started, and google.com if you want to look up more, I don’t have time at the mo.
Also, let me repeat, in MY vegan existence. I do not need to know every strict vegan, because if you are eating only greens and grains basically, it is pretty hard to get fat. If you know a vegan living on french fries and soda, then they are likely not a strict vegan if they care so little about their health.
I hope you realize, Sarah, that my comment was not meant as some sort of personal attack on you, just my personal viewpoint. You really shouldn’t get so upset about things on the internet :)
My best friend has been a very strict vegan for nearly 10 years now. Still fat. She doesn’t eat anything with wheat or yeast, too. Doesn’t eat sugar either - most sugar is refined using ash made from animal bones. Nor glucose syrup, as that’s often made from wheat. Still fat. Has never owned a car and walks about 3 miles a day minimum. Mostly eats vegetables, beans, fruit and brown rice or buckwheat. Still fat, has had doctors telling her to stop eating Big Macs. When she started out as a vegan, her concern was not “oh, being a vegan will make me lose weight/stop getting fatter/be a saintly healthy person!”, it was motivated by environmental and animal rights concerns. Still is. In fact most vegans I know are not in it for themselves, but out of concern for animal welfare and the earth. The few who got into it “for their health” are the ones more likely to be found eating fat-laden vegeburgers and fries and sugary soy shakes.
And yet, my dear friend manages not to be a sanctimonious, self-righteous, judgemental ass about veganism. Fancy that.
I would say I eat fast food MAYBE once a year. Very little of what they offer tempts me. Fries - that’s about it - but I am pretty picky about what I eat and usually only “go there” if I am wildly PMS-ing, LOL.
As far as the whole “fat vegan” thing goes… Two ways to look at this. The first is, if you do vegan it is almost difficult to get fat. It is also very hard to do vegan properly and sustain it for long times and remain healthy - it is an effort. MOST people don’t have it in them to do it. Myself included. If someone really is a strict vegan and is still what society would consider fat I think that helps to make my point that we are all different - what is good and healthy and normal for one is not necessarily the same for others.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could just love and support each other and not argue about who is the better vegan? Is it really necessary to say that someone who chooses to try being a vegan because they are concerned about their health is not as “good” as someone who does it because they love animals?
Peace y’all… Happy New Year!
DaisyBug, I wasn’t quite trying to argue that my friend was a “better” vegan, just that a lot of people seem to equate healthiness with moral virtue, and see veganism as some kind of ultimate health kick that somehow gives them a saintly glow. You know - it’s all about THEM. :) (there are of course animal rights supporters who get like that, there’s fundamentalists in any movement.)
My friend also knows a hell of a lot about nutrition and spends a fair bit of time creating balanced meal plans so she doesn’t get vitamin and mineral deficiencies. (And has of course been told she has no “willpower” for not losing weight…yet like you said, it takes a lot of self-discipline to work out a good vegan diet to stay healthy. Go figure.)
We eat it maybe once a month. We might even go a few months without it. Which is surprising because there’s a McDonalds about two blocks away and we both like Big Macs (all this talk about BMs is giving me a craving).
Fast food is an occasional treat for us. I find it expensive. I’m surprised also by your mention that there’s a higher incidence in the upper class because I have always thought they accused the poor fat people of taking over the joints.
As for stigma, I always feel uncomfortable eating in. Like everyone there is thinking, I eat there all the time. So we usually do drive through.