CNS: I lost ten pounds in the summer that I worked at McDonald’s, eating there all the time. Yet, people try to blame fast-food restaurants for their obesity. It’s one of the “myths about fast food” discussed this week in The Washington Post.
As that newspaper notes, this myth was based on the claim that poor people are getting fat because, as noted “in the New York Times back in 2011, … ‘junk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that makes it almost essential for the poor because they need cheap calories.’” Based on this perception, “the Los Angeles City Council in 2008 banned new fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles.”
But as The Post points out, “Studies and surveys show that fast food is most popular among upper-middle income brackets.” Indeed, “wealthier Americans – those earning $75,000 a year or more – are more likely to eat it at least weekly (51 per cent) than lower-income groups,” according to a 2013 Gallup survey. “Those earning the least are the least likely to eat fast food weekly – 39% of Americans earning less than $ 20,000 a year do so.”
Moreover, “regular restaurants aren’t appreciably healthier than fast-food joints,” according to a comprehensive 2015 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that compared fast food with full-service restaurants. And entrees at fast-food restaurants typically have fewer, not more, calories, than those at fast-casual restaurants.
In America, obese people have so far been unsuccessful in suing McDonald’s over their weight gain. But in Brazil, a judge in 2010 ordered McDonald’s to pay an overweight employee the equivalent of $17,500, after he gained 65 pounds over 12 years of working at the restaurant and eating its food for free. That was a truly strange ruling that disregarded the fat man’s personal responsibility for his eating habits. read more
Mooch doesn’t eat Big Macs. That’s fo damn sure!
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce and cheese pickles on a sesame bun. That and a tea to go.
We never go through the drive thru.
We don’t get Mickee Dee’s a lot, but we like to save it for our road trips.
I’m convinced that Cheesecake Factory is either a Russian, Chinese, or North Korean (or maybe all combined) implant to kill us all by age 55.
I love McD. Driving across country one can normally find a clean bathroom at any McD, a quick decent lunch, or an affordable breakfast sausage with an egg, and get back on the highway.
Maybe I’m just a cheap date, but their coffee runs circles around the stuffy yuppie coffee shop.
https://www.delish.com/food-news/g22606587/highest-calorie-fast-food-restaurant-meals/
☝️☝️☝️☝️WARNING: DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK IF HUNGRY! ☝️☝️☝️☝️
Who eats most of their food in restaurants? The “poor people” I know actually pack their lunches for work and cook their dinners at home because it’s cheaper.
People get fat for a variety of reasons: too many processed foods (overloading msg an appetite enhancer, high-fructose corn syrup, sweetened drinks, non-fat crap), too many carbs versus fats (thank you bean-counting researchers and industry lobbyists), genetics (people whose ancestors hailed from and survived places with hardship and starvation tend to be nutrient hoarders), and plain old habitual overeating not infrequently as a “drug” of choice because of emotional issues.
SOMEDAY, THERE WILL BE A STUDY THAT DISCOVERS BEER IS OUTSTANDING FOR YOUR HEALTH AND LONGEVITY…
THEN, MANY OLD TEETOTALERS WILL SAY….OH FUUUUUCKKKKKK!!!
IGNORE THE BS, LIVE YOUR LIFE!!!
🎶Hold da pickles, hold da lettuce, hold da meat ‘cuz dat upset us🎶
When you pay with other peoples money you often eat like a pig.
Michelle obama, for one. But food stamp holders can’t mooch the same way, so they eat too much free crap when they eat out. One big mac versus three: it’ll put some pounds on you.
@Janitor, here is the other thing about home-cooked meals, you have a lot less trash! I have noticed that my neighbors who tend to do takeout and delivery their garbages are overflowing yet my garbage is minimal. We pretty much cook in nightly with a family of 5. And we pack our lunches.
its a tax on single people
Great jingle it was,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBCV0ic6Tc
You deserve a break today, at McDonalds…NOT Burger King they hate us.
ghost of brig gen j glover, You left out the onions.
Single people have the most time to prepare a meal for themselves, please explain. Are you saying single people HAVE to eat out/take-out? When I was single it was much easier to cook for just myself without child care and cooking for others as well.
This is probably the best time for single people to learn to cook in all of history. There are many internet sites, YouTube, cooking channels, and literally a million books for you to learn. Cooking is not a hobby, it is a life skill. Get with it!
I don’t know if “Anonymous” is baiting or serious, but people should know how to cook. If you don’t (and I here this much), you are an idiot. Everyone is not a chef, but you should know basic cooking skills.
Who eats a 40 piece McNugget meal by himself (MB’s link)?
The other extreme is something I read in Consumer Reports years ago about a diet salad dressing that bragged about how few calories a serving had. The problem was that a serving was half a teaspoon or some such.
@ Charlie – Thank you.
@ Meerkat – we are talking about culture here!!
What, you don’t think we can’t make a killer burger or red sauce/gravy???
PJ — Used to be able to buy their large coffee for a buck, but Seattle went with the $15./min wage and now it’s $1.89. Still a better value and better tasting than the fru-fru coffee shops. I like Micky D’s two breakfast burritos (egg,cheese, peppers, onions) for $2. on their value menu.
@ghost, I an not talking to you. I am speaking to Anonymous and the single people that do take-out or dine-in for every meal and also don’t have at least a vague idea of how to prepare a meal.
@ghost, he said eating out is a tax on single people. Do you agree?
I was responding to that.
And actually I hardly eat out because I love to cook!
@ Meerkat – fair enough, but how about some trickle down economics then? We like to go out with the troops for the grilled cheese, soups, but can also make it at home as well.
Going out can be fun! (and help out local economies).
Get to know the staff and such…all good.
Nothing like the ‘local place’ away from home…makes going back home…better.
Piece a Pizza anyone?
Not the fast food pizza nonsense, but the real stuff that has many of the daily nutrients anyone of us could use.
Well baked bread, tomato sauce and cheese.
@Ghost,
OK let me explain, we are a family of 3 teenagers and two parents. What are you two retirees? Very different, we are trying to save but will probably pay $800,000 over 6 years for our children’s undergraduate education. Where does that trickle down? How was that grilled cheese sandwich?
@AA
I’m quite spoiled…Indiana pork is really great, at least my sources are, but I really like McD’’ breakfast sausage…no matter where their pork is sourced. In my former life I really liked the muffin, but on Keto, I have to pitch the muffin. Haven’t had one in what seems like a century. The buritto sure sounds tempting.
When the kids lived in a nearby burb of Seattle I used to spend a month at a time there and liked Seattle’s Best Coffee. Tasted Starbucks and spit it out.
Love McD’s, white Castle’s and Dunkin Donuts coffee.
Wow, $1.89 is high.
One of the things I really miss are the fresh caught Dungeness crabs. SiL and his friend had a sea worthy huge boat that they used on the Sound and pulled their crab pots. Oh heavenly.
Hey Meerkat Brzeninski,
No we are not retirees, not nearly yet. We have a 14 and 13 year old (boys) married 26 years and I am 54! Started somewhat late with the little ones. Honest enough for ya?
Now that said? Given that you will pay that much for future college bills (sorry you are NUTS), I am thinking more a trade based future for me boys or as I say me troops. Who the fuck wants to be impeded by a 800k grand bill?!??
Say goodbye to allll the savings you have and I hope those great three children will be well enough off to take CARE of YOU.
I happen to like me grilled cheese sammich with to-MO-toes, on the money we have to get by.
Please, do not make to many assumptions!
Ghost
@Ghost, my son got a perfect 800 Math on his SAT TWICE. 760, 770 on verbal. Should he go to trade school if he wants to be a computer programmer?
Well, we saved this up for this because we knew it was coming. Hello? If we saved up for it are you saying we were stupid?
@ Meerkat – the answer to your question? From the hip, yes your son should go to a trade school unless he is smart enough to become an electrical engineer to do this:
Boston Dynamics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRj34o4hN4I
But?? Can it fix a faucet? Can it isolate a circuit in a house in a panel?? Repoint a bad sidewalk? Yeah, it can print me up a 3d house but that’s about it.
He will probably meet more interesting young ones in a trade school than EVER in a modern college setting.
I have been in both, CUNY/CCNY and carpentry.
@Ghost, because YOU NEVER SAVED $800,000 for your children. But at age 31, when my first was born I started this fund…And I finished it! IT IS TOTALLY FUNDED FOR MY CHILDREN TO FINISH COLLEGE! WHATEVER THEY WANT! SUCK IT!
I DID IT!
ONE FAMILY!
THREE CHILDREN 1-2-3 in graduation!
ONE MARRIAGE!
And you criticize my desisions?
What did YOU do?
Meerkat,
You find yourself in a great position, you made some great choices in life, you and your husband, and your children will greatly benefit.
Just make sure, I try the same, that IF anything they choose to do what makes them HAPPY. That is above all else.
No they do not get what they (KIDS) want. I did not,
Mrs. G did not, did you? And me troops don’t get what they ‘want’. Wants and needs are waaay different.
One Family,
One Marriage,
But Mom and Dad always come first,
Children will follow after.
College is just not for everyone, but ‘the assholes’ (not you) convinced everyone different 20 years ago.
Ghost
@Ghost, All three of my children are or will be happy depleting $800,000 in education. Which is I am not happy about, frankly. But it is still they way the system is set up! And because of our middle-class income and saving, I can’t do anything about it. We just planned around the rules.
Worst rule in education saving: saving.
Best rule: own nothing.
@ Meerkat – btw, I forgot to add, my intent is not to criticize you at all, but to add to the discussion.
Thought, debate, question and what is on YOUR mind?
If they don’t want college, per the above, than do a start up business with them! What do yous like to do?
Ghost
@Ghost all 3 do want college. First just finished her freshman year at Northeastern (Boston), Second is starting a school in Providence, RI, and my son is a Senior in HS this coming school year. So a lot going on!
Meerkat,
God Bless and good night…$$$$ in your dreams! ha ha…maybe I will be able to say the same for mine one day in nice colleges!
(Make sure they take care of you with educations like that!)
Ghost
I meant that we didn’t follow these rules:
Worst rule in education saving: saving. (But not in education accounts)
Best rule: own nothing.
It’s not the quality of food there that bothers me. It’s the quality of the employees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs
https://www.youtube.com/user/FatHeadMovie/videos
Rebuttal to morgan spurlock’s “Supersize Me”
Simple math:
Calories eaten – calories burned = fat on your ass.
Order any burger and get rid of the bun (that’s where all the carbs are at). Carbs are what makes you obese. Like pizza, order the pizza but only eat the topping and get rid of the bread part. Sausage Egg McMuffins are great for a low carber, just get rid of the bread. You will lose weight and lots of it by eliminating the carb intake. Carbs turns to sugar, what you don’t burn off, your body stores it as fat. Too much sugar in your body and you develop diabetes.
Back in the day, I would take the kids to McDs once or twice a week for breakfast. The huge woman at the cashier window was very sweet and called the kids by name whenever she saw them. I am not sure that they EVER actually got an order right…… I gave up sugar (sweets), soda and fast food back in November ’15 and have not missed it. Lost around 45# and have maintained a stable weight ever since.
Their coffee’s not hot enough.
Correct, McDonald’s, (AKA Stompers,) does not make you obese.
It makes you dead.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/08/beaten_to_death_at_mcdonalds.html
Just do the right thing and eat at Chick-fil-A
I once got a cold cup of coffee from the McBozo’s in Libby, Mt. after I asked for hot coffee. I wasn’t very happy with that and haven’t been back to that Mickey D’s since then.
If you consume more calories than you burn, you’re body will store whatever’s unused as fat.
And vice-versa.
It’s not complex, but most people don’t want to change their poor eating/drinking habits.
I suspect alcohol has more to do with the high level of obesity, but no one touches that.
No, no. The CICO , calories in < calories out as a method to avoid being overweight is a myth that's been busted .
That's what they did on that silly Biggest Loser show. The participants all later put back on all the weight + added some more. It's the consumption too frequent consumption of highly refined foods & sugar that causes obesity, diabetes. That’s also the plan the US gov pushes. Do you really trust government advice??
The two thumb rule to follow: if the food comes in a box with a barcode -.eat something else. Eat foods that are as close as possible to how they looked coming out of the garden. Preferably food that grew above ground.
Secondly, but just as important , maybe more important : stop eating 6, 8, 10x per day. How often you eat is more important than what you eat. Give your body time for insulin level to drop low before eating again.
Yes, Blink. You are correct. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs