however for many more people, the issue is affordability
unhealthy food is cheap and widely available
healthy food is more expensive and in some neighborhoods unavailable -- so there's the cost and effort of going somewhere where you can actually get it; food deserts are a real thing, while soda and chips vending machines are ubiquitous
this is why there are much higher rates of obesity among lower income populations
it's a solvable problem (not entirely, but it's possible to greatly reduce levels of obesity), but there seems to be very little social willpower to fix it
Idk, McDonald's doesn't seem that cheap to me but I haven't been in quite some time. Food deserts are a real issue, but if you're driving to McDonald's you can just keep on driving to the grocery store IMO.
There's an educational piece, a motivational piece, and a marketing piece (you'll be like Lebron James if you eat Burger King!!! or whatever) and lots of other general barriers. But it's a problem that we can make progress toward.
Though with all this being said I had hoped to really convey the problem of nutrition advice which misses the component that matters the most which is cooking proficiency. You eat out because it tastes better, but it tastes better even if you could make the same thing at home, because you don't know how to cook or cook well enough.
> McDonald's doesn't seem that cheap to me but I haven't been in quite some time
I don't go either, but I do know that it's cheap compared to healthy alternatives (especially organic); the immediate availability is a huge factor as well
> t's a problem that we can make progress toward
agreed; what really bothers/saddens me is that there seems to be so little social desire to do so -- probably because there's no money to be made from solving the problem, and lots of money to be made from letting it be and "solving" the symptom (but not the root problems) post-hoc with big money-makers like ozempic. it's disgusting.
this is a problem for a some people
however for many more people, the issue is affordability
unhealthy food is cheap and widely available
healthy food is more expensive and in some neighborhoods unavailable -- so there's the cost and effort of going somewhere where you can actually get it; food deserts are a real thing, while soda and chips vending machines are ubiquitous
this is why there are much higher rates of obesity among lower income populations
it's a solvable problem (not entirely, but it's possible to greatly reduce levels of obesity), but there seems to be very little social willpower to fix it