Too much food or too little activity?

As a child of the ‘60s, I remember the occasional visit to the neighborhood McDonald’s (“The Super-Sized Culture,” April 9). I also remember eating my share of cupcakes, ice cream and soft drinks, as did a lot of my contemporaries. I also remember there weren’t too many overweight kids in the school I attended, as we spent our spare time outside playing, riding our bikes or playing sports. If I needed to walk a mile or two to get somewhere, that’s what I (and my friends) did.

Of course, we did not have PlayStations, Nintendo 64, Xboxes, nor any sort of video or computer games whose computer-generated characters do more moving around than the players do all month. Funny, I had no idea how little I had. I guess I was too busy enjoying myself.

Steve Adelson

Tucson

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Sure, we’re fatter as a nation. Sure, we can point to super-size helpings of French fries and sodas as culprits. We can point to lots of things as culprits. We eat like we work in fields dragging plows, when in reality we sit in front of computers all day or behind the wheel.

If McDonald’s wants to change its economic woes, it had better get back to what it was good at all along, then worry about trying to sell Newman’s Own salad dressing.

David Brociner

Warren, N.J.

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I enjoyed your article about hamburgers and McDonald’s and all the rest. I rarely eat at any of those places for all the obvious reasons. The sole exception, whenever I get the chance, is White Castle. I agree the little frozen things, which are all you can get in California, are hockey pucks -- though it helps to sprinkle a bit of water on them and add pickles. But they are nothing like the real thing -- maybe it’s the smell! I come from Kirkwood, Mo., and my family and I went to White Castle many times.

After going home to attend a wedding, I swirled into a White Castle in Des Peres, Mo., in my long gown and heard a lot of commotion outside. It was my brother and his wife, dressed to the nines, telling me to save some for them.

I have never understood why there are no White Castles here. But if there were, I would never, ever have an inclination to go to any of the other hamburger joints or any of the other fast food places.

Maureen Schoenky

Santa Susana