And what is the average in other countries? I don’t know what’s the ratio for Switzerland, and maybe I hang with the “wrong” crowd, but a small glass of wine or a full glass of Prosecco is all the “liquor” some Swiss would drink. It does make one feel very conscious about how many glasses they have!! 
It’s different in the French speaking cantons though…
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I was commenting on the fact they felt the need to have a burger, and nuggets rather than one or the other but that may just be me.
I saw a man in Hawaii once with a tray of six burgers - I thought he had a big family but he then proceeded to eat them all himself.
A few months earlier, I was in Bosnia and a ‘cheeseburger’ at a kiosk there was a burger bun with a slice of cheese in it and that was it.
Beer contains no sugar, vitamins and minerals. Coke has no nutritional value but plenty of sugar.
They can see coke as healthier but they would be wrong.
America has the obesity crisis. Maybe they should look at other countries and see how they do it.
Total abstainers in Switzerland 20% of 15+ YO. That’s the other point 15 YO it’s OK for beer here, whole 6 years later in the US, well…at least TX.
Those were the numbers, now some feelings 
I have the impression that in Switzerland I can drink 4-6 beers or more with work colleagues, friends and it’s all “normal” people. By normal I mean friends, responsible parents with jobs, not afflicted by any addiction, etc. Hey, I can have a beer on the train back home from the office and parents drink “in front of their children”.
During my short stay in a US university, the environment was a bit different. There was heavy drinking too (yeah!!!) but a significant fraction of students and professors were total abstainers and not shy about it. After some time I noticed that the “normal people” has 2-3 beers max and the rest that drinks more has some issues: other addictions, unresolved trauma, etc. I’m no anthropologist but it seems drinking is marginalized. If you have 6+ beers, you find yourself in a not so nice environment. I believe it’s because “average people” shuns drinking and thus a minority with most issues are the ones drinking a bit more. Not that different to junkies in train stations here. Maybe the drugs are not that harmful, but the environment brings everyone down.
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I’m a big fan of junk food. I just came back from McDonalds for lunch. I had a McRib, Hamburger Royal TS, Fries and Cola.
Sugar free coke is popular. I guess almost essential if you’re drinking litres of the stuff each day.
I prefer BK, because larger portions and beer (at least here in CH). The point remains, it doesn’t hurt every once in a while. So, I don’t understand the “got you” for R. Kennedy Jr. Trump,he’s 78 YO, that means he doesn’t have 5 burgers a day, regardless of populist photo ops.
The issue is not what these guys do in the personal lives, but the decisions they impose on others.
I’m not so much so. I had a Macdonald’s last year and was distinctly underwhelmed. So were my kids.
We’ve been trying to create the perfect burger at home and mass-produced ones just don’t cut it.
There are some great burgers out there, especially in the U.S. - just not from those places.
New studies, and evidence suggest that people’s brains react in the same way to fake-sugars as they do to sugar - giving them more desire for high-calorific food which they’ll eat washed down with more artificial sweeteners providing a vicious spiral downwards (or rather outwards).
The problem with food research is that most of it is conducted by, or funded by food processing companies (especially in the US) and they are not going to be interested in research which slams their products.
I will admit that the McDonald’s burgers are not really very good and you can easily do better at home. They are just quick and convenient.
Now the Popeye’s spicy chicken sandwich. That is one tasty burger.
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I have a big problem: I like to buy stuff with no sugar or less sugar, but then they stick fake sugar in it which I do not want or like.
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Some of it is led by legislation - such as the EU reduction in sugar in products, which Switzerland is adopting - and which is ruining a good G and T.
Keep the sugar and raise the taxes on these products so people consume less of them.
The revenue from the taxes should be used to fund research into obesity.
Despite what the manufacturers try and tell us, these products shouldn’t be everyday consumables but rather for treats and special occasions.
Taxing works on this sort of thing.
True. Maybe we belong to a minority of consumers, because there must be a reason for which producers add “fake sugar” in order to satisfy people’s taste buds. I have bought a lot of things that were nauseatingly sweet for my taste; I suspect they make them like that because this is what most consumers want. Anyway, there’s always home baking…
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It’s not just that.
The combination of sugar and fat is really additive and moreish.
It keeps people coming back for more, again and again.
Manufacturers know this and add sugar to everything from pasta sauces to fruit juices and yogurts.
Going back on topic, Kennedy has says he’ll fight against the food companies but I suspect it will be a losing battle as they are so powerful.
The title of this moved thread is Junk food and everyone seems to equate this with burgers and KFC but almost all mass-produced ultra-processed food is basically junk.
Apparently the exception (and there may be more) is fish fingers.
Governments and government elects seems to have a real problem selecting the right sort of Health ministers.
The Tories in the UK had Thérèse Coffey, cigarette-smoking, obese, drinker.
She said she wasn’t a role model for the position but her stance on health wasn’t healthy either:
She tried to stop the ban of smoking with children in cars, saying it was up to the parents and she tried to block obesity-related health plans too.
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No, it’s not only you. Maybe there are people who need more, but for me personally one filet-o-fish or a small portion of chicken nuggets is OK.
What I suspect is also part of the problem in some countries is that current of “body positivity”…instead of doing something to fix or ameliorate a problem (more or less).
Lol, Phil_MCR has moved all the off-topic from he other thread.
Also, beer or wine are not “junk food” as far as I know, though of course one has to moderate their intake.
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On the topic, what is the definition of junk? If I make a burger at home, with home ground meat and home baked buns, it this junk? I have always believed that its not about individual foods, but about food “regimen”. I do enjoy the occasional Popeyes with much gusto, but in moderation. I have an instinctive dislike for “sugar” tax as people will always find ways to consume it and companies will always find “efficient” ways to deliver it to them. Educating the consumer what this means is the right way forward.
The “body positivity” rubbish has created more issues in the West than Donald Trump ever will
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That’s an unhealthy extreme.
The other unhealthy extreme is micromanaging ourselves for the sake of health. The fear, anxiety and stress felt by failing at some irrational target may be more harmful than bacon and smoking.
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I go with the processed foods definition of junk which includes ingredients you would not usually have at home, such as preservatives, sweeteners and emulsifiers.
Mostly I keep it simple by trying to avoid foods with high fat, sugar and salt.
Having said that the elephant in this room is the McDonalds food poisoning recently due to the raw onions on some of their burgers.
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That’s a pretty pragmatic definition and quite logical too. I never bothered myself with defining it, but now that you gave this definition, I’ll go along with it.
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I guess what interests people is not whether it is ‘junk’ or not, or what ingredients are available at home, but rather whether the food is good/healthy for you to eat or not.
That’s a rabbits hole. Tomatoes are healthy, 3 kg per day is not. Cheese is unhealthy, 50 gr per day is not. I’d go with Marton’s definition, sounds much more pragmatic and relevant.