<p>I am currently reading a book called “Twelve Patients,” by the director of Bellevue Hospital. One of the twelve patients is a 30-something woman, obese, who suffers a stroke. The author discusses not just this particular patient but also our current obesity epidemic. One of the specific things he mentions is that many state legislatures have enacted laws that ban consumers from suing fast food producers for causing obesity. This makes me pretty angry–the lawsuits against the tobacco companies were one of the primary ways that the public finally learned about and then accepted how dangerous cigarettes are. But here now are the fast food companies, which seem to me to be at least possibly deliberately misleading the public about the safety of their product, and then getting legislatures to shield them from the consequences of their actions. </p>
<p>Am I the only person who didn’t know about this? And am I the only one who is opposed to the fast food companies being shielded from litigation over the safety of their food?</p>
<p>that’s a pretty powerful claim there, comparing fast food to tobacco. consumers are entitled to their own decisions. If they’re too lazy to cook, then it’s their own freaking fault. In my opinion, this shield would save a lot of people a lot of stress, time and money.</p>
<p>I agree. There is a huge difference between cigarettes and fast food. I reserve the right to have an occasional hamburger without being made to feel guilty. There was a story on the news tonight about a woman suing the makers of frozen pizzas for selling unhealthy food. Nobody is forcing her to buy or eat them. This whole idea of blaming others for your choices makes me really mad.</p>
<p>Fast food restaurants don’t ‘cause obesity’. They don’t sell food any more likely to cause obesity than one can get at ‘slow food restaurants’ or the grocery store. </p>
<p>As more proof that the fast food places don’t cause obesity, there are plenty of people who eat at fast food restaurants who aren’t obese and conversely, there are plenty of people who are obese who don’t eat at fast food places.</p>
<p>The food they sell isn’t necessarily ‘unsafe’ either. Why do you say it’s unsafe? Do you think eating bread is unsafe? Eating cheese, chicken, beef, lettuce, tomato? </p>
<p>The bottom line is that individuals become obese for a number of reasons, one of which can be from eating too much of the wrong food for the given activity level they have (genetics comes into play as well). It’s the individual who’s making the decisions of what they eat and how much of it they’ll eat. It’s their choice - they’re in control.</p>
<p>Now, if a fast food place advertised a particular item as containing 350 calories when it really contains 700 calories, then that’s an issue that action should be taken against.</p>
<p>People need to be held accountable for their own actions, including eating too much of high calorie food, and not blame it on the producers or providers of the food. It’s the individuals who decide on the food to consume, go out of their way to buy it, and put it in their mouth. There needs to be personal responsibility.</p>
<p>Unless a fast food provider falsifies information like a calorie count they should not be held legally liable for what people decide to consume. They also shouldn’t be singled out from any food provider including non fast food restaurants and grocery stores - all of which sell food that can contribute to obesity if people eat too much of the high calorie choices.</p>
<p>Eating the occasional fast food meal will not make you obese. Eating like a friggin pig will.
This is another example of a person not taking personal responsibility for her own out of control actions. </p>
<p>Stop eating supersized fries, 20 pieces of chicken nuggets, and Big Mac’s multiple times a week while washing it down with large sized mocha frappes or supersized sodas. Order a water bottle with a child sized meal (4 nuggets, small fries, or small simple hamburger). </p>
<p>Until she pulls the denial blanket off and takes responsibility for HER actions, it’s guaranteed that she’ll continue to make poor choices and pack on the pounds. </p>
<p>PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY</p>
<p>PS—eating too much healthy food will make you fat also. </p>
<p>I wonder how many soda’s this woman drinks on a daily basis.</p>
<p>I am all for personal responsibility. But I can only be responsible if I know all of the facts. And I do think that at least some elements of the food industry have been engaged in a concerted effort to keep facts about their food products from consumers. Most people know that sugar is unhealthy because it is empty calories, but do most people know that sugar can cause liver cirrhosis?</p>
<p>Drinking too much water can kill a person.
Not managing sugar intake can kill a diabetic.
Someone with an allergy to a particular food can die from consuming it.
Drinking too much alcohol can kill a person.</p>
<p>Very few people who eat some sugar will develop cirrhosis of the liver and eating sugar to some extent is virtually unavoidable. Obviously eating mass quantities of sugar wouldn’t be healthful (or mass quantities of fat, apples, cucumbers, alcohol, water, or almost anything else).</p>
<p>There all kinds of exceptions and people need to be aware of of excesses and particular sensitivities they might have.</p>
<p>The main point is moderation. I think there probably are very few people who are unaware that eating a breakfast burrito for breakfast, a half bucket of KFC for lunch, and a couple of guarter pounders with a large fries, large sugared drink, and a dessert on a regular basis isn’t going to be a healthful eating lifestyle - especially when they can easily see and feel the effect on them. If someone eats at a FF restaurant once a month they’re very unlikely to experience any issue from it or if they eat at one more regularly but moderate what they buy/consume, they likely won’t have an issue.</p>
<p>How is it you think the fast food places are misleading people? I haven’t seen anything from them saying eating mass quantities of their food on a regular basis is healthful and recommended.</p>
<p>I never understand comments like these and I’m surprised to find them on a place like CC. It is not that hard to become obese. A 6 foot tall person can go from being a normal weight to obese in 2 years if they overeat by 250 calories a day, which is not that hard to do.</p>
<p>I think in terms of restaurants, fast food chains, and chains in general, are much more conducive to losing weight and staying healthy since they’re more likely to have nutritional information. As someone counting calories, it is very hard to account for the food I eat at local restaurants. On the other hand, I know what’s in my McDonald’s fries, and I can easily work around that if I try to satisfy a craving.</p>
<p>Do most people know that there can be as much salt in a McDonald’s milk shake as in a hamburger? That a bagel may have twice as many calories as a plain donut? In NYC most restaurants are at least required to post calorie counts. I agree that it’s easier to make informed decisions if you have the information. For fast food at least, it’s nearly all on line.</p>
<p>I agree with those who agree with the ban on suing fast food chains for one’s obesity. The analogy between food and tobacco doesn’t hold up, Amesie. Tobacco is a very addictive drug. It has nothing in common with a hamburger and fries. Granted, some people do have food addictions, but it’s not the specific food, like a burger, that is responsible for the addiction. And while, in the past, people didn’t know how harmful tobacco was, now we do. Today, you would not be able to sue for damages. With the warning label on the product, they are protected, too.
Alcohol is similar to food. One or two drinks a week is not going to cause harm, but four or five a night could easily lead to alcoholism and disease. Are you saying we should sue the beer and wine manufacturers when someone becomes an alcoholic on their products?
People have a responsibility to know what they are eating. It’s not hard to find calorie counts on all types of food and beverages. Maybe restaurants should have a sign on their menus that says, “Warning: Eating too much of our delicious food can contribute to obesity.”
Frankly, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t already know that.</p>
<p>Good lord! When did we become the nation of big babies? There is nothing, absolutely NOTHING of redeemable value when it comes to cigarettes. Fast food has value as any other food does - calories and nutrients needed to sustain life. I assume one can become fat and obese even when eating the helathiest diet, and vice versa (google the potato diet guy). Can I sue the cat food manufacturer because my cat ate so much of their food that she barfed on my favorite rug?!</p>
<p>I am confused - who doesn’t realize eating more calories than you burn will cause weight gain and McDonald’s food has a ton of calories. Moderation and exercise.</p>
<p>And becoming obese in two years eating 250 calories more then you burn every single day!!! After gaining a few pounds, one could see a change needs to be made - if you choose not to make a change, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t say that it’s easy to do - like it just came out of nowhere.</p>
<p>You can consume just as many or more calories, bad ones at a wonderful French restaraunt as you can at McDonald’s. The problem with the fast food market is that kids can go there and gorge on those foods, and you don’t see that with the high end restaurants. I’m not as sympathetic over the 300 pound adult who is addicted to unhealthy (and healthy, for that matter) food, as I am to the situation with the kids. I hate the way college eating has become these days with the demise of the cafeterias where there was some attempt (after much complaining) to offer balanced means, and the mall kiosk style of eating that makes it easier not balance ones meal. WIth the old fashioned meat, potato, veggie mix staring you in the face, and the salad bar on the floor, the health and diet lectures and training just might kick in a little. </p>
<p>I am glad that the information on what is in the foods is posted at the popular eateries and I hope parents and the health classes at school keep informing the kids. As to law suits, I think that should be reserved when these eateries cross the line of safety and full disclosure which they have done. They make enough money that they can toe that line and should be whomped when they cross it.</p>
<p>But I am not sure that they really have fully disclosed the safety of their food. For example, “0 trans fat” does not mean “no trans fat,” it means less than 0.5 g trans fat. So if someone ate two or three items containing “0 trans fat,” he or she could really have eaten close to or even more than a gram of trans fat.</p>
<p>I guess I can see how there’s a grey area in unethically cutting cost in fast food. Remember the taco bell scandal? whatever the hell it was they were putting in their meat to save money. Things like that shouldn’t be exempt from lawsuits, although these problems in a way take care of themselves. Like I’m never going to eat at taco bell again, or McDonald, even if they were the last restaurants on planet Earth.</p>
<p>
it’s just competitive advertising in my opinion. Like mac book pros’ battery life isn’t quite 12 hours, or shamwow doesn’t quite hold up 20x its weight, or bowflex doesn’t QUITE give you a six pack.</p>
<p>Don’t these kids have parents? Whose responsibility is it to educate the kids on the dangers of gluttony? I would think parents are first in line to do that.</p>
<p>I think we still should have the ability to have litigation. I would love to sue the pants off all those restaurants that say they are selling a product that is beef. When in fact is it so low in terms of actual beef in their product. </p>
<p>The biggest problem I see in the food industry is no one will step out and offer really good meal choices. Americans are so hooked on sugar, bad fats and processed foods. </p>
<p>I was recently trying to think of one restraurant that sold whole foods that are not overly processed and could not think of one place.</p>
<p>Lerkin, I’m on my son’s case all of the time, but he and his buddies have to pass through fast food haven on the way home and they are growing boys coming home from sports. Yeah, I’ve packed, many moms have packed by the lure of Micky D is just too much. And they don’t listen. My kid is 6’ and 125 lbs and is trying to GAIN weight. It kills me that he will spend hard earned summer wages on crap like this. I go through a lot of trouble to make balanced healthy meals, and…out it all goes when they leave the house. And in some ways I’m grateful it’s the sodas, fries and burgers that are the contraband, not other things at this point. </p>
<p>But the main question is whether fast food companies can be shielded from claims. Umm. How can they be shielded from them? Can’t be shielded from much of anything. Any one want to take the time to sue you, they can. It can be thrown out and made not worth one’s while, but shielded? What special measures do they think they should have to be shielded? The fact of the matter is that they are making money off of not healthy food. Yes, they have the right, but there are consequences. There’s not much of a shield for any accusations, especially when they are true.</p>
<p>Momof3greatgirls, they were also selling products that were expressedly supposed to NOT be beef in countries to people who do not eat it for religious reasons. That those french fries were being fried in beef tallow was a big oops.</p>
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Whose job is it to make me aware of this information? You do know that all McDonal’s nutrition information is posted in the restaurants and online? I can’t imagine you think it’s the person at the register’s job to tell you that you’re eating too much.</p>