The general decline in standards today

[vintageTink]

Yeah, and it's sadly ironic that today it's poor people who are more likely to be obese. I once saw a woman with a cardboard sign that said "Starving Single Mother." She looked like she could have benefitted from missing a few meals because she had to have been at least 300 lbs. :doh:

Maybe she was the one starving the single mother.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Yeah, and it's sadly ironic that today it's poor people who are more likely to be obese. I once saw a woman with a cardboard sign that said "Starving Single Mother." She looked like she could have benefitted from missing a few meals because she had to have been at least 300 lbs. :doh:

Yes but the single part was true.

 

[Touchofevil]

Maybe she was the one starving the single mother.

:rofl:

 

[jamespowers]

Maybe she was the one starving the single mother.

lol lol NOW it makes sense.

 

[Red Diabla]

Yeah, and it's sadly ironic that today it's poor people who are more likely to be obese. I once saw a woman with a cardboard sign that said "Starving Single Mother." She looked like she could have benefitted from missing a few meals because she had to have been at least 300 lbs. :doh:

Sad thing is, and I'm sure it's been covered to death here but it's worth bringing up again, but when fast food is cheaper than real food thanks to subsidies, the poorer people end up losing health-wise in the long run.

 

[Stearmen]

Hi

GAWD that brings back memories. I graduated from HS before 1980, we had a calm, quiet, NICE graduation ceremony. No cheering, no high fives, no doing the wave, etc. For one thing, it was too hot in the gym.

The NEXT graduation I attended was in 1998 for a nephew. Before the ceremony, the principal made a list of the things that the crowd wasn't supposed to do, and where the officers on duty to arrest them were standing. When some of the kids crossed the stage, their cheering section would blow air horns, dance, scream, and generally raise hell. I couldn't help but wonder why they seemed to think that graduation was sooooo unlikely for their child? Was he the first in their family ever? Was he one thousandth of a grade point from flunking out? I've seen less emotion for a touchdown.

Later

Cheering can be part of a great tradition on graduation day. At the Air Force Academy graduation, each year, there is a thunderous applause and cheering for Tail End Charlie! Thats the cadet with the lowest academic record that still manged to graduate.

 

[dh66]

Sad thing is, and I'm sure it's been covered to death here but it's worth bringing up again, but when fast food is cheaper than real food thanks to subsidies, the poorer people end up losing health-wise in the long run.

All too true.
Whole Foods opened up a store here a few years ago. It is definately not in what you would call a "working class" part of town. The bus service doesn't even extend to that area.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Gregg Axley]

Sad thing is, and I'm sure it's been covered to death here but it's worth bringing up again, but when fast food is cheaper than real food thanks to subsidies, the poorer people end up losing health-wise in the long run.

Yeah, bad food is cheap but good food is expensive.
Makes a lot of sense.
McDonalds isn't real food, it's modified in so many ways I can't even begin to count.
I think this kind of morphs into the decline in standards, because while food used to have additives in the golden era, I'm not sure it had
the ones we have now.
Potatoes were just potatoes, meat, eggs, chicken, all were just what they were advertised as.
I know in the 50's(?) chicken started getting additives to make them larger. I saw that on MST3K's viewing of "Chicken of Tomorrow."
Shown here [video=youtube;1G0stojwYjI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G0stojwYjI[/video]
When on a trip, I'll find a Cracker Barrel and get it to go, before I stop at a McDonalds.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, and it's sadly ironic that today it's poor people who are more likely to be obese. I once saw a woman with a cardboard sign that said "Starving Single Mother." She looked like she could have benefitted from missing a few meals because she had to have been at least 300 lbs. :doh:

If everything you could afford to eat was laced with high-fructose corn syrup, you'd be fat too. Blame the corn lobby for that one.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Also mind-boggling is finding high fructose corn syrup in stuff you wouldn't think needed sweetening like canned soup or chili. I know I've never needed sugar (or corn syrup) when making soup or chili at home. Though I don't know whether it will be cheaper for long because more corn is now being used for methane production and thus diverted away from the agricultural sector which is one of the contributing factors to higher food prices.

 

[Feraud]

If everything you could afford to eat was laced with high-fructose corn syrup, you'd be fat too. Blame the corn lobby for that one.

Americans need to hear this a hundred times over and stop assuming overweight mean affluent.

The lobbyists have done a great job of deflecting what little discussion there is on the topic too.
Anytime the subject comes up it invariably points a finger at sugar. Sugar??
What products in the U.S. contain sugar? Sodas do not, nor do breads, cereals, preserves, soups, condiments, etc.

I have to go out of my way to find something sweetened with real sugar.

 

[CharleneC]

Yeah, bad food is cheap but good food is expensive.
Makes a lot of sense.
McDonalds isn't real food, it's modified in so many ways I can't even begin to count.

I don't eat at McDonalds so I am not familiar with it. What are some examples of what they are doing to the food?

 

[Edward]

The overweight are certainly one group of people whom it is still acceptable to judge, the assumption being that it is always self inflicted - which is not true, of course. It's certainlty true that the better off are typically in a position where they can afford to eat better food, with fewer process meals and the likes. Can't be easy for the unemployed; I've known even people employed in steady, professional level jobs in the public sector who have to watch the pennies, which often means a Greggs pie for lunch every day. A fairly substantial lunch if you are on a budget and only have a pound to spend many days, but certainly not the healthiest option if it is a regular one.

I do wodner if this is something that varies with food culture too. I've certainly noticed a lot more little fat kids in Beijing since the generation who have grown up with McDonalds, KFC et cetera being available and fashionable have become apparent.

I don't remember extreme eating being part of the past, but maybe I missed it.
Liberal with the drink, but conservative with the food.

Can't recall the source, but I have heard it said that competitive eating and the sort of food challenges we see today on the likes of Man v Food have their origins in Depression-era USA, the original contestants having been people who were ready to eat as much as possible in a short space of time because they might not have had a square meal for several days previously owing to poverty. Then, of course, they would often be ill immediately afterwards as their bodies simply were not up to the job of coping with so much food all at once. Whether there's truth in this or not, I have long found such challenges tasteless, bearing in mind we live in a world where there are still people who starve. We all overdo it on occasion, but to revel in such excess, unnecessary consumption is tasteless at best.

 

[sheeplady]

Whether there's truth in this or not, I have long found such challenges tasteless, bearing in mind we live in a world where there are still people who starve. We all overdo it on occasion, but to revel in such excess, unnecessary consumption is tasteless at best.

We had a number of students from India who were quite upset when we had a "pie throwing contest" at our local university for a local charity. It was seen as offensive to a number of students because it suggested the wasting of food. The pies were originally shaving cream and pie shells, but after pressure from the students it was changed to pie tins with shaving cream. I think it is great that they stopped using pie shells.

It's the same as using food items in kids' art classes. Food shouldn't be wasted. Chances are that some kid in that class might not be getting enough to eat and forcing them to glue beans on a stick knowing they won't get supper that night is tacky and privileged at best. There's tons of things you can use in an art class in place of food.

 

[Feraud]

I do wodner if this is something that varies with food culture too. I've certainly noticed a lot more little fat kids in Beijing since the generation who have grown up with McDonalds, KFC et cetera being available and fashionable have become apparent.

Food culture has its part to blame for the obesity problem. Cultures push that insane Bigger is Better mentality with regards to food. Giant sandwiches, large portions, Super-Size that meal, and the illogical notion your average Joe sitting on his backside all day needs huge amounts of protein.
Taco Bell has been pushing for a fourth daily meal! The last thing the average American needs is a fourth meal..

 

[Edward]

We had a number of students from India who were quite upset when we had a "pie throwing contest" at our local university for a local charity. It was seen as offensive to a number of students because it suggested the wasting of food. The pies were originally shaving cream and pie shells, but after pressure from the students it was changed to pie tins with shaving cream. I think it is great that they stopped using pie shells.

That seems an eminently sensible compromise.

It's the same as using food items in kids' art classes. Food shouldn't be wasted. Chances are that some kid in that class might not be getting enough to eat and forcing them to glue beans on a stick knowing they won't get supper that night is tacky and privileged at best. There's tons of things you can use in an art class in place of food.

We used to throw rice around at Rocky Horror, but that's one tradition I think I'd forgo now as it feels a bit wasteful.

 

[LizzieMaine]

What ever happened to "you'll spoil your supper if you eat that crap?" In the Era, the culture of eating continuously did not exist.

 

[1961MJS]

Food culture has its part to blame for the obesity problem. Cultures push that insane Bigger is Better mentality with regards to food. Giant sandwiches, large portions, Super-Size that meal, and the illogical notion your average Joe sitting on his backside all day needs huge amounts of protein.
Taco Bell has been pushing for a fourth daily meal! The last thing the average American needs is a fourth meal..

Hi

I remember when a 16 ounce Pepsi was a LARGE, now a small is 24 ounce and a medium is a quart with free refills. I'd hate to work out how many calories that was. It's too bad that the real sugar cane drinks are so expensive.

Later

 

[LizzieMaine]

For over sixty years, Coca-Cola was sold only in six-ounce bottles or six-ounce fountain glasses. When they finally introduced a "king size" in the mid-fifties, it was twelve ounces -- and a "Family Size Bottle" was twenty-eight ounces. I remember when they came out with the forty-eight ounce bottle -- billed as "The Crowd Pleaser" -- and it was enough to last a family a whole week.

We have become a nation of gluttons, and we're surprised there are consequences.

 

[Feraud]

Yep, I remember when 16 oz. was large we rarely needed that much drink.

I read somewhere Starbucks is looking to roll out a Trenta size. Does anyone need (or want?) 30 ounces of coffee and sugar?
What a wacky culture that constantly needs to feel jacked up on energy drinks, giant sugared coffee , and feel compelled to post their stupidity on YouTube.