Another interesting thing for me has been going to walmart recently. I realize this is going to sound elitist and classist as fuck but bear with me. Ive been in grad school these past few years and I live in a very affluent area in the southeast (I also grew up very affluently with health nut parents). The type with whole foods literally everywhere, etc. So when I look at peoples carts its generally full of veggies, whole wheat pasta, few sugary juices here and there, etc.
I recently moved to a big city for an internship over the summer, and I've been shopping at Walmart for my groceries. God damn, peoples carts look even worse than the "average american" pictures above. The vast majority of it is pure sugar. 3-4 gallons of hawaiian punch, capri suns, 5lbs of lollipops, 5 bags of family size chips, etc. Honestly a lot of these people are probably consuming over 1000 calories every day just from drinks and snacks. I don't really think that has anything to do with low income vs high income either. I do understand the argument that poorer people have less time and motivation to dedicate to purchasing and cooking healthy foods. But the empty calories is really what kills them. The worst part is the kids with them, who are already obese, are almost destined to be fat for the rest of their lives and die early.
Most accurate post so far. The obesity problem isn't caused by "lazy individuals", it's the result of how our society is structured today. The extreme access to junk food is the problem.
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I don't disagree with this overall. But I don't believe that access to junk food has increased since the 1990-2000's. If anything, its decreased as portion sizes at fast food places have become a bit smaller and theyve been forced to print the calories of all their foods on their menus. However, the obesity rate has still grown. It does seem like there is a societal influence on obesity unrelated to junk food access.