The study that listed Canada's "fattest" cities spent a lot of time talking about poverty. When people cite the correlation between poverty and obesity, I think it leads us to assume that people can't afford to eat well. I'm not sure that's the the case. I think it's more about learning how to live and eat healthy.
You can make an 8 liter pot of veggie stew for about $6. Lunch for a week, for the price of two large bags of chips and a 2 liter of coke.
Two tomatoes and loaf of nice bread makes toasted tomato sandwiches for 4 people, for less than the cost of one happy meal.
FWIW, have any of you noticed how rediculously expensive some packaged & processed food is? Compare the price of Kraft Singles processed cheese to the price of a nice brie.
Then there's TV:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/statistics/television/tv_viewing_habits.cfm
"Residents of Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia watched more television than other Canadians. The average weekly viewing time was more than 25 hours in Quebec and about 24 hours in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland."
24 hours of TV?!? That's over 3 hours of TV a day!?! WTF is wrong with people??
The very last thing most people need is "convenience" foods. People are watching the tube instead of preparing food. "we don't have time to make supper"... bull$chit!