A millennial family member was ranting about eating breakfast at McDonalds being unhealthy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird post, OP. I have two grandparents that smoked their whole lives, from their mid-teens. They both lived to see their 80th birthday. Would you argue smoking is not unhealthy?

Meh, I think smoking - a known carcinogen - and eating McDonald's - something that can make you obese if not done in moderation - are two totally different things. Apples to oranges.

Op is annoying for sure though. It's not a generational thing.

[Anonymous]

It's a class thing with millennials. More so than it was for other generations. There were always people who looked down on certain kinds of food, including fast food or ball park food, but you'd also find rich people who enjoyed foods like this and no one was freaking out about it. No one has ever advocated for eating all your meals at McDonalds or something, but it used to not be considered poor form to grab a Big Mac now and then or to enjoy a hot dog at a ballgame.

But now there are all these people who think every single bit of food you put in your mouth needs to be both a moral and a political statement. So it needs to be organic, locally sourced, GMO-free, healthy according to current health trends, and preferable from a certain kind of restaurant or store (upscale, very clean, with nice lighting and a neutral color scheme). It's about projecting an image and a philosophy. It used to be that eating at McDonald's meant you were hungry and it was convenient and affordably priced -- no politics. Now it means you support factory farming, work exploitation, climate change, and the destruction of local businesses.

It is exhausting, it's best to simply not speak to people like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Eating breakfast at McDonalds is not healthy and eating hot dogs at baseball games is not healthy..." Blah Blah Blah

But when I pointed out to her that we have members of our own family (plus many friends of theirs) who are in their 80s who have been eating breakfast at McDonalds and eating hot dogs at baseball games for most of their lives she literally had no answer or reply when I pointed that out to her

On any given morning most McDonalds restaurants are filled with senior citizens on a daily basis.

Now my question to you is have younger become people so involved at staring at their smartphone screens that they do not notice the world around them?

I apologize for any grammatical errors. English is not my 1st language.

Neither is logic, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like anything, done in excess, it is unhealthy. For instance, if you only eat hotdogs at baseball games, you are eating roughly 40 hotdogs a year (assuming you don't go to away games.) As for the senior citizens eating breakfast at McD's, how did they get there? Walk? Are they socializing? Life isn't about eating living in your basement and eating steel-cut oats.

YES. I want this embroidered on a pillow!

[Anonymous]

It’s not healthy but there are no issues with occasionally having an unhealthy meal.

We are pretty health conscience but when traveling will stop by McDonalds and feel zero regret. It tastes good, it’s a treat. The problem only exists if it becomes a regular meal replacement. Once every couple of months is totally fine.

[Anonymous]

Old people aren’t gorging in McD. They get a black coffee and maybe an egg McMuffin. Or a plain hamburger. They hardly eat. It is social thing more than a meal.

You have to remember that for the first half of their lives they were eating home cooked meals mostly. What you eat when you are young and middle aged is much more important than what you eat at 80

[Anonymous]

It’s not healthy, but it’s not the only unhealthy option. Everyone does unhealthy things sometimes. Moreover, even “healthy” options aren’t perfectly healthy. There’s arsenic in rice, mercury in fish, and they’ve found heavy metals in baby food.

I think a more relevant response to the millennial’s question, would be to inquire about her habits. Does she drink Starbucks specialty coffees? Frequent happy hours? Binge Netflix on the couch? She may not frequent McDonalds, but most likely she has some habit that’s at least as bad. Unless her life revolves around health and fitness, the question is more about hypocrisy and double standards than about the health risk associated with McDonalds.

[Anonymous]

Causation and correlation. My mother never ate at McDonalds or had hot dogs and died suddenly at age 70. Do you think she'd have lasted longer if she'd eaten fast food??? We all know some 95 yr old who smokes two packs a day, and some healthy guy who ran triathlons who dropped dead at 58. Should the runner take up smoking?

[Anonymous]

A lot of what is promoted as health food, aimed at the millennial market, is crap chemical composition. Having a small burger at McDonald's isn't any worse than eating a Quest protein bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Old people aren’t gorging in McD. They get a black coffee and maybe an egg McMuffin. Or a plain hamburger. They hardly eat. It is social thing more than a meal.

You have to remember that for the first half of their lives they were eating home cooked meals mostly. What you eat when you are young and middle aged is much more important than what you eat at 80

Were they? Convenience foods were very popular when Boomers were young.

Count me in as another millennial who thinks the occasional fast food treat is fine. Meanwhile, my boomer mother had a freakout two weeks ago because pregnant SIL ate fried chicken, which will apparently kill the baby (my mom smoked for the first six weeks while she was pregnant with my brother). It has nothing to do with age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Old people aren’t gorging in McD. They get a black coffee and maybe an egg McMuffin. Or a plain hamburger. They hardly eat. It is social thing more than a meal.

You have to remember that for the first half of their lives they were eating home cooked meals mostly. What you eat when you are young and middle aged is much more important than what you eat at 80

Were they? Convenience foods were very popular when Boomers were young.

Count me in as another millennial who thinks the occasional fast food treat is fine. Meanwhile, my boomer mother had a freakout two weeks ago because pregnant SIL ate fried chicken, which will apparently kill the baby (my mom smoked for the first six weeks while she was pregnant with my brother). It has nothing to do with age.

BTW my mom quit smoking after finding out she was pregnant (so 35 years ago) and is now obsessed with health to a fault. She is basically like your millennial relative, making blanket statements like "No one who eats fried chicken is healthy," and "People who don't exercise for an hour daily are unhealthy." She does not grasp the concept that I can eat something unhealthy for lunch, then something healthy for dinner, and go for a run. I am either a fat slob (which, in her eyes, my brother and I ARE fat slobs because we occasionally drink alcohol and eat dessert) or I am healthy. There is no room for the occasional indulgence. You either eat perfectly all the time or you don't and you'll die at 40.

Now, of course I look at this as my mother is severely disordered in her attitude toward food, judgmental about other people's diets (I was beyond pissed at her for saying what she said to pregnant SIL about the fried chicken), and just generally unpleasant to discuss food with. Do I attribute that to all boomers? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Old people aren’t gorging in McD. They get a black coffee and maybe an egg McMuffin. Or a plain hamburger. They hardly eat. It is social thing more than a meal.

You have to remember that for the first half of their lives they were eating home cooked meals mostly. What you eat when you are young and middle aged is much more important than what you eat at 80

Were they? Convenience foods were very popular when Boomers were young.

Count me in as another millennial who thinks the occasional fast food treat is fine. Meanwhile, my boomer mother had a freakout two weeks ago because pregnant SIL ate fried chicken, which will apparently kill the baby (my mom smoked for the first six weeks while she was pregnant with my brother). It has nothing to do with age.

BTW my mom quit smoking after finding out she was pregnant (so 35 years ago) and is now obsessed with health to a fault. She is basically like your millennial relative, making blanket statements like "No one who eats fried chicken is healthy," and "People who don't exercise for an hour daily are unhealthy." She does not grasp the concept that I can eat something unhealthy for lunch, then something healthy for dinner, and go for a run. I am either a fat slob (which, in her eyes, my brother and I ARE fat slobs because we occasionally drink alcohol and eat dessert) or I am healthy. There is no room for the occasional indulgence. You either eat perfectly all the time or you don't and you'll die at 40.

Now, of course I look at this as my mother is severely disordered in her attitude toward food, judgmental about other people's diets (I was beyond pissed at her for saying what she said to pregnant SIL about the fried chicken), and just generally unpleasant to discuss food with. Do I attribute that to all boomers? No.

Your mother sounds utterly miserable to be around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smoking is also unhealthy but I've met smokers in their eighties...

If I remember correctly, the scientific estimate is that about 2/3 of smokers do not die earlier because of smoking. "Smoking isn't unhealthy; there's only a 1 out of 3 chance that it will kill you" is not that persuasive.

That said, health isn't everything. Eat a varied and healthy diet, but sometimes enjoy that McDonalds breakfast (or whatever makes you happy), even knowing it's not as healthy as the fruit and yogurt you could have.

[Anonymous]

i started eating breakfast at McD's everyday including Sat/Sun since I RTO two years ago. It had been the only restaurant opened for a long time post covid lockdown. so i support it with my $, my health, and my pride.

[Anonymous]

1. McDonald's is fine in moderation

2. Has nothing to do with your relative's generation