Are you fat?The 10 Worst Fast Food Meals.

If people actually cooked their own food and no I don't mean slam a tray into the microwave and wait until it bleeps, then we might see a drop in obesity rates.

I visited Latvia a few years ago and noted that they had only a few fast food establishments. Those they did have were empty. They prefer coffee and have plenty of little coffee shops.

A walk through the big local market showed produce and not processed food. They actually buy the food and create their meals. It might have changed but I didn't see processed fast foods anywhere in the shops.

The result of this is a slim young healthy population as it should be.

The magazines and tv don't seem to be causing them much problem.

I'm just sometimes shocked how this notion of "thinness as optimum health" is constructed.

I'm just thinking back to my youth, and most African women were sturdy and healthy, and they often bore several healthy children and worked manual labor until their later 50s.

Now a kind of "vegan" or extreme slimness is promoted, especially for women.

How do we really know this is healthier?
For how many generations have we tried this?
How do we construct this as an "average, normal citizen"?

Reality programs that once showed morbidly obese people that couldn't even move just a few years back are now focusing on kids that looked like me when I was 10!
I'm classed as fit now, so how dare they standardize people like that!
The extreme body keeps shrinking in the West, and notions of health and illness are constantly reworked.

I hope this is not a big mistake.
If the SHTF comes, all the super-slim people will starve.

reply to post by halfoldman
Or you could look at it this way....

The people that are in good shape might be able to catch something to eat.

Think donut-eating cop chasing criminal.

Good point.

But in a SHTF situation it could take several days or weeks for cannibalism to break out.
By that time the fat people will be normal, and the thin people wouldn't have the energy to run.
A snack is better than nothing.

I have the opposite problem. I am 127 pounds. I now drink whey protein shakes for mass gain. I stay away from fast food as much as possible though. It may help to gain weight, but it also slows my day down and makes me feel disgusting.

reply to post by halfoldman


I really don't think it is about being slim that makes you healthy. Healthy, to me, is when you have enough strength and the right weight to optimally physically and mentally perform. Think freerunning or parkour. Those people have such control over their actions and can really control and power every muscle in their body. The most in shape I have ever been is wrestling season back in high school. I always felt great and just empowered with energy. I was a lean and agile guy. Now I am in my sophomore year in college and I am losing that wrestling muscle and power i once had. I am getting weak, not fatter, just weak. My goal is to turn this malicious process around and regain my strength.

I wonder how a balanced diet looks like!