All those food comments are 100% spot-on.
For myself, I reached a point a few years back when I realized I can no longer eat many of the salt-laden, sugar-boosted, starch-filled things I enjoyed and avoid going down a road that would without a shadow of a doubt end up with some bleak health consequences.
I wasn't a land whale by any means, but was roughly 25 lbs overweight and climbing. There were no imminent health issues, but it didn't take a dietician to see where I was heading.
I know people who drink a 6-pack of Coke a day, and eat fast food several times a week, and stock their houses with heavily processed grocery items. Some of these people I've known for many years, and none of them are looking too great these days. And it's a problem that isn't going to correct itself the older one gets without making dietary changes.
It doesn't even necessarily mean going full vegan, or totally eliminating salt. It does, however, mean making some changes in eating and definitely means cutting down portion sizes.
I was at a Chili's about a month ago. Not a place I like going to, but I was outvoted. So we go there. After considerable time scanning the menu, I asked the waitress if I could have a plain piece of salmon without all the sauces and glazes on the menu and rice. She informed me it came with loaded mashed potato. I said I didn't want it, but would pay full price for the dish regardless. She said she would have to check with the manager. The manager comes over and informs me that the menu dish comes with the sauces and glazes on the salmon and the loaded mashed potato in addition to the rice. I ask him if the salmon is marinaded in anything before the sauces and glazes are added onto it. He says no, it's a plain piece of salmon they add the sauces and glazes onto after it is put on the grill. I say, fine, I'm willing to pay full price for the dish, and have saved you time and labor in the preparation as well as ingredients by way of the sauces, glazes and potato, so I'm unsure as to why there is a problem. He thinks about it for a moment, then nods his head. No voices were raised, and nobody was being sarcastic.
Then I look at the tables around me and see people at least 50 lbs overweight eating whole racks of ribs, massive cheeseburgers, buffalo chicken dipped in several ounces of blue cheese dressing and the like, washing this stuff down with tall glass after tall glass of soda. Fuck me, I don't want to end up like that. But from the looks of the waitress and the manager when I ordered, you would have thought I had farted or something: they literally were confused as to why someone wouldn't want all that deep fried processed shit that place serves and make an effort to eat as little of it as possible with (considering the menu options) the smartest choice available.