Who is responsible for what we choose to eat?

I haven't seen anyone held down and forced to eat a bag of chips, 14 hotdogs, a 2 liter of pop, and a cake.

Bingo! McDonalds doesn't hold my family hostage if I don't eat there! It's all about personal knowledge and personal responsibility.

I agree with your point but it is a lot deeper than that. For example Fatty foods being cheaper than healthier options. False marketing on food which aren't really healthy especially on food targeted towards children.

there are a lot of relatively in-expensive foods that are also healthy... like dried beans and barley, steal cut oats, etc. plus fruits and veggies are a lot cheaper this time of year at like farmers markets etc too. Do all of these foods take a lot longer to prepare than fast food... yeah... which is why I've had more than my fair share of fast food... It's quick and easy... but you can still eat healthy on a budget.

I have never been held at gun point to go into a fast food joint or eat a bag of chips !

People are responsible for themselves. I will also say that good eating habits start early, and if you are fed only junk from the time you are a year old, it can be very, very hard to start eating better as an adult. So, parents are definitely to blame as well.

The only people FORCED to eat bad are children and those who are in severe poverty.

Most people will eat what they like, what tastes good to them and availability.

Responsibility is basically on the person doing the eating.

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We personally are responsible for what we choose to eat. We cannot blame advertising, we are the ones who make the decision, we inheritly know that the food advertised is "bad". And "fast food" and "fatty foods" are not always cheaper. There are plenty of cheaper options. Frozen vegetable and fruits are just as nutritious as the fresh ones, and canned foods are ok as long as you read how they are packaged, and they're super cheap. People also need to understand that there is not a list of "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods. Healthy is an objective term, and depends on the person and situation. If you're fat, it's because you made poor choices, you cannot blame anyone but yourself. If you're thin, you also can blame yourself, because you made good choices. Message to take from this: Don't blame others, blame yourself.

It comes down to the individual, of course, but anyone who's ever taken a sociology course should be able to step back and see the bigger picture. I think the root cause lies with the US government promoting dietary and health recommendations wllly nilly without the science to back up those recommendations--and continuing the debacle by not correcting the mistakes they made because of political and economic considerations. It's outrageous.

The answer is in the topic title. "We choose to eat" whatever it is that we want to eat. Except for children that eat whatever their parents feed them.

you are.
and when you were a child, your parents.

it's ronald's fault

Adults know better and can do better. I truly feel sorry for obese and overweight children, though. They are just eating how they've been trained.

I blame my mother. lol Seriously, she would eat a whole bag of mini Mounds candy bars in one sitting right in front of me and then berate me if I tried to get one. We always had fresh fruit and lots of vegies, but the pantry was stocked with cookies and candy! WTH?
Truthfully, it is solely up to me.

it depends. for the most part it's the individual's responsibility but with that said, some people do have access to better education about nutrition as well as better food in general. basically some people don;t know better and when you dont know there is something better, it doesnt make sense for others to just expect them to some how acquire this information by magic.

like many thing, it's hard for people to see past their experiences unless they are given new experiences

for instance, i was lucky enough to grow up raised by an old school family who lived closer to their food, so we all had gardens, the adults knew people who lived on farms and could get eggs and dairy. we bought our meat from farmers and markets in bulk. i was only allowed candy twice a year (easter and halloween). everything we ate was from scratch, every meal had a meat, a starch and vegetable. we snacked on fruits, nuts and veggies. we never had mcdonalds and the only time i ever did have it as a kid was when i stole $$ from my mom when i was 8 because i wanted to try a big mac. :laugh: of course she saw my theft as a further proof as to why she would never let me eat fast food since it was the devil enticing me to steal and eat :laugh: i never got chips in my lunch until i was 12 and that was 5 years of begging and pleading and alway putting those snack pack thing on my grocery list.


when i got older in my 20's, i met tons of people my age who did not have that background with food. some of them had kids and were teaching their bad habits that they learned to their kids. these were people who's idea of salad was iceberg lettuce and i was like no wonder you hate salad! the first time i made a good friend of mine a delicious salad (with spinach, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, fennel, sauteed mushrooms, capers, herbs and grilled chicken with a yummy homemade vinaigrette) she was like "OMG this isn't salad this is so good". we were 25 at the time and up until then her experience told her that vegetables just meant - wilted iceberg with thick ranch.

so yeah, we're responsible for what we choose to eat but many of us are limited by our experiences