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The other thing I find interesting is that McDonalds is a common dietary substitute for those with a low-income. If they were to increase quality (nutritional c

by nness 11y ago

The other thing I find interesting is that McDonalds is a common dietary substitute for those with a low-income. If they were to increase quality (nutritional content) or increase price, it could have a meaningful effect on obesity.

AlexeyBrin 11y ago
McDonalds is a common dietary substitute for those with a low-income It is really hard for me to understand this line of reasoning. I lived in Canada as a foreign student a few years ago and it was way cheaper to cook for yourself than to eat at a McDonald. Maybe the situation is different in US, but I doubt it.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > I lived in Canada as a foreign student a few years ago and it was way cheaper to cook for yourself than to eat at a McDonald. Maybe the situation is different in US, but I doubt it. McDonald's isn't cheaper than cooking for yourself, but time constraints (consider a single parent with multiple jobs) and/or the up-front costs when bits of your cooking infrastructure is lost, broken, damaged may make the marginal cost of getting the next meal from McDonald's cheaper than the cost of repair plus the next meal. Given that the poor may have limited access to additional credit and litte-no reserves, that marginal cost difference may make McDonald's the only affordable choice, even though the long-term cost is higher.
  - AlexeyBrin 11y ago
    The time constraint I could understand. However, the cooking infrastructure argument doesn't hold water two people eating at McDonalds once a day could easily spend $600 monthly. You can buy some cheap, second hand, fridge and stove easily with this amount.
    - greedo 11y ago
      Dollar Menu...
      - AlexeyBrin 11y ago
        Try to eat this for a month ...
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        greedo 11y ago
        Try being poor and eating for a month on whatever you have. You learn to be a bit less discriminating.
bunderbunder 11y ago
I think it might be a meaningfully adverse effect on obesity. There aren't a whole lot of ways to affordably meet your daily calorie needs when you're living low enough on the income scale that you possibly don't even have access to a working kitchen. I many of them are less healthy than McDonald's.

by nness 11y ago

AlexeyBrin 11y ago

McDonalds is a common dietary substitute for those with a low-income It is really hard for me to understand this line of reasoning. I lived in Canada as a foreign student a few years ago and it was way cheaper to cook for yourself than to eat at a McDonald. Maybe the situation is different in US, but I doubt it.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> I lived in Canada as a foreign student a few years ago and it was way cheaper to cook for yourself than to eat at a McDonald. Maybe the situation is different in US, but I doubt it. McDonald's isn't cheaper than cooking for yourself, but time constraints (consider a single parent with multiple jobs) and/or the up-front costs when bits of your cooking infrastructure is lost, broken, damaged may make the marginal cost of getting the next meal from McDonald's cheaper than the cost of repair plus the next meal. Given that the poor may have limited access to additional credit and litte-no reserves, that marginal cost difference may make McDonald's the only affordable choice, even though the long-term cost is higher.
- AlexeyBrin 11y ago
  The time constraint I could understand. However, the cooking infrastructure argument doesn't hold water two people eating at McDonalds once a day could easily spend $600 monthly. You can buy some cheap, second hand, fridge and stove easily with this amount.
  - greedo 11y ago
    Dollar Menu...
    - AlexeyBrin 11y ago
      Try to eat this for a month ...
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      - greedo 11y ago
        Try being poor and eating for a month on whatever you have. You learn to be a bit less discriminating.

bunderbunder 11y ago

I think it might be a meaningfully adverse effect on obesity. There aren't a whole lot of ways to affordably meet your daily calorie needs when you're living low enough on the income scale that you possibly don't even have access to a working kitchen. I many of them are less healthy than McDonald's.