First the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" thread. Now this.
YOU try being a single parent of 4 and feed your kids a pristine diet when you are away from the house 11 hours a day making a shit wage.
The issue is our society. How our society values work flexibility, decent wages, family and free time. Hint: it doesn't.
Add in subsidies for crops that lead to the most unhealthy additives: HFCS, cheap fats, cheap and plentiful carbs. Oh, and make sure to add plenty of antibiotics to animal feed, antibiotics that have been linked to weight gain, so we can consume them en masse through our meat.
As I noted above, 6 big bags of potato chips at our local grocery store were cheaper than a small bag of apples.
About a year ago, I made a pledge to myself to eat super healthy.
It lasted 3 months. I couldn't afford the grocery bill. I couldn't afford to give my kids super healthy lunches and dinners.
I still try to cook everything from scratch. I stick to cheap vegetables, like celery, carrots, cabbage, onions etc.
But we've had to use less meat and more things like rice and pasta. This is bad, as I have type 2 diabetes (very recently diagnosed. No shock, I have PCOS, had gestational diabetes nearly 20 years ago, and with every pregnancy after that, managed to hold off the type 2 numbers for a long time). I do best on a low carb diet with tons of fresh veggies and meat - grassfed/organic as much as I can afford it. But - I *cannot* afford it. I'm considering asking my dr for insulin, because, well, at least I have insurance for that, then I can at least eat some carbs and lower my grocery bill.
Plus, when are people supposed to find the time for exercise, relaxation and family time, in addition to cooking from scratch? Guess what - c'est impossible.
To blame overworked, overtired, over stressed parents for this issue is ridiculous. I'm lucky enough to live in a very safe area, so my kids sometimes go for walks or bike rides while I'm still at work. I tend to get my exercise at work - my co-workers and I walk every break. But it's not enough. I'd love to do more with my kids. I get home at 6pm. My youngest goes to bed at 9pm. Not much time to cook, clean, help with homework, do laundry, catch up with personal email (half of which comes from the schools), have a bath and bedtime routine etc.
Luckily, my kids are not obese. Only my second daughter is a bit on the heavy side (maybe mildly overweight on the BMI, nowhere near obese though), and she's been like that since she was 3 months old as an exclusively breastfed infant. My others range from normal to skinny. All were breastfed, fed the same diet, same level of exercise generally (actually, my heavier daughter is the athletic one who is always exercising and my skinny one is the junk food eating couch potato). Perhaps the reason they are not is I was a stay at home parent for the first years of their lives and wasn't divorced and had money for good food.
I would never judge a parent who is trying to make ends meet, who doesn't have adequate child care so her preteen or teen has to stay at home alone while the parent works, and they are instructed to stay inside because it's not safe to be outside alone. I wouldn't judge if that parent bought a lot of cheap carbs because they didn't have the money for less filling food like raw fresh fruits and vegetables. It's easy for people who haven't been there to pontificate. Heck, sometimes people who were able to do it will get on their soapbox, forgetting that everyone is not like them, don't have the same support/background/resources.
I think they are going about this whole childhood obesity thing wrong. All wrong.
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Start there fools. 
