I would disagree, and here’s why:

The bulk of our calories should be coming from carbs, and healthy carb staples are very cheap and readily available anywhere: rice, flour, pasta, etc.

Food deserts, while I don’t deny exist, aren’t a problem for the majority of the population. Most people living near any city over 100,000 likely have access to multiple grocery stores.

The cost argument falls flat when you consider that junk food, alcoholic beverages, meat and dairy, and high calorie nonalcoholic beverages cost a lot more than real food staples.

Availability and cost really only impact fruit and vegetable consumption, but historically, most Americans have never consumed enough regardless (unless they were vegetation/vegan). It’s a cultural thing, I’m sure.

A breakdown of food spending also indicates that a large proportion of food spending tends to be “eating out”, which is not cost effective and gives a good indication that people are often misspending their food budget.

The issue of time is also not a good reason when throwing ingredients in a basic pressure cooker, rice cooker, or , slow cooker takes minutes and you can batch cook an entire week’s worth of food with minimal cost and effort. As with the point above, it takes more time to eat out, and learning to prepare basic meals is a skill that every adult should have.

Eating cheap and healthy isn’t impossible, but someone needs to be willing to at least break their poor eating habits first.

For me, I don’t have a fuel guage in me. I don’t mean it to be a smart ass. I mean like, I’m always hungry until I am full. That’s my food fuel guage and it sucks. If I’m not full, I’m hungry. I dropped 60lbs over a year or two by dieting. Not necessarily eating healthy, but reducing my calorie intake to 1200-1800/day. That’s it. I dropped so much weight and was able to fit in my old size from high school. Here’s the kicker. I was hungry the entire time. I refused food, but I was hungry. I woke up hungry. I went to bed hungry. I wouldn’t call it gluttony because I didn’t ever enjoy it but I don’t have the same thing you do. My body doesn’t tell me, “that’s enough food” until it’s screaming, “too much food!”

It’s been my whole life. I can lose the weight. I can gain it back. I can diet, I can control it, but I also will never do it comfortably. I will never be able to eat a small portion like my friends and say I’m good. I always feel like I’m the odd one out.

To all those who feel like I feel, you can do it! It sucks the entire time, but it’s possible. 1200-1800 calories per day. Don’t dive in. Just make adjustments until you get there. You never would’ve realized how many calories you’re putting in. Also, I lost the weight not going to the gym. I fucking hate the gym. Going to the gym is good for you heart, but to lose weight, it’s calories.

I struggle with it every day. Fuck you.

Edit: I am loving these numbers, lemmy. Let’s kick the fat shamers and dipshits back towards reddit. Good God, reddit was a cesspool of fat haters. Even those of us doing well to control our condition were met with hate if we dared to speak or appear. Fuck that. Reject hate masquerading as “common sense” when we all know damn well we would never choose to face these difficulties.