Irresponsible Food

I'm really not suprised I've gotten as fat as I have. The opportunity to be fat is all around me. Everywhere we turn, we're offered french fries, hamburgers, pizza, dressings, sodas, desserts. Perhaps what we have here is not an obesity epidemic, but an epidemic of irresponsible food options.

It isn't shocking that there's a correlation between being poor and being fat. I recently had about five dollars to spend on food for the day. I could go to the grocery store and buy a plethera of food with that money, but it's doubtful it would be the kind of square meal we're intended to be receiving. I could take the five dollars and buy five cheeseburgers, or five medium fries, or how about some fried chicken? Nutritious food is simply not affordable for everyone, and as someone who works on a very tight budget, the deicison to save money and eat badly or to spend money and eat healthy is an often lost battle.

I watch a lot of tv (which I'm sure is another factor in my weight) so I see a lot of television commercials. I'm shocked at the choices some places have decided to make. While McDonalds has choosen to do away with Super-Size options and offer smarter side choices, other fast food chains seem to be going to the other way. Burger King has introduced even larger portion sizes for the breakfast sandwiches, and Taco Bell has campaigned some of their quicker, easy to eat on the go, cheaper items as "Fourth Meal" options. In a country where our waists are getting bigger and bigger do we need to add more meat/carbs/cheese to our breakfasts and add a fourth meal to what is traditionally a three meal day? Probably not.

It's not easy making the right choices when everywhere we turn there seems to be someone eager to offer us a cheap escape from making a healthy decision. Foods that are less nutritious are far more attainable and affordable. But I guess loseing weight is going to be a whole world of making the right decision, which in the end, is the harder decision.