Chris' diet as a child.

[Tiresome]

Bob must have had unbelievably good genes, basically spending, what, the last decade of his life having a Burger King Croissandwich or whatever for breakfast every day, and who knows what frozen meals for lunch and dinner.

 

[Tubular Monkey]

For the first ten years of Chris's life, he was nourished exclusively on a diet of green protein liquid. At precise intervals throughout the day, pennies were thrown at his feet, and it was explained to him that Sonic was dead. At the end of the day, he would be returned to his incubation chamber or Djarbtle (from Norway). After a decade, the process was halted and he was deemed perfectly and irretrievably autistic.

 

[Watcher]

I might have to plead ignorance. What is the Spaghetti incident everyone is referring to?

 

[Batman VS Tony Danza]

when you're in school half of your waking day, you have to walk from class to class, and you can't just raid a fridge whenever you're bored. And if you're eating school prepared lunches, they have to be marginally nutritious.

Once you're out, you can sit in your room like a lump and stuff your face full of whatever shit you feel like, whenever the mood strikes you. Which is obviously what Chris has been doing steadily since he left high-school.

This.

Also I doubt he ever ate that well. If you look at pictures of him as a kid you see him slowly getting fatter. We don't see a skinny Chris until the high school video class project. I think he just hit a big growth spurt so it took a while before his usual diet started to catch up with him once again. Then school ended, he didn't need to walk as much, metabolism slowing down a bit, depression from post-graduation life, easy access to microwavable food, God hating him, etc

 

[rosechuismywaifu]

"Christian did not have any salad; lettuce or tomatoes (and a few other vegetables) alone makes him feel green in the face"

I think that might shed a bit of light on the situation.

Also, it was pretty shitty of Chris to refuse to eat Barb's spaghetti just because he didn't feel like it that night. Sure, she overreacted, but it was fairly rude of him considering she did go to the effort of preparing him a meal. When I lived at home you just ate what was given to you, regardless of how much you wanted it or not. A little lesson in gratitude might do Chris some good.

 

[Drawets Rednaxela]

Chris looked conciderably healthier as a child. Even now I'm amazed how well he's holding up concidering his complete lack of diet and exercise. By which I mean what normal people would concider exercise, not just standing up.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Chris also has a very conspicuous lack of experience in mid-to-high end/non-fast food restaurants. That's usually a big childhood experience, the first fancy restaurant. Whether this was because these places were out of the Chandlers' price range or deathly embarrassment over Chris (or both) is unknown.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

I wonder if Bob's spell in the military instilled some basic cooking and decent eating ethic in him, and I know I sound like a broken record, but the spaghetti grudge reminds me just how like Barb Chris is, he carries a whole catalogue of grudges and vendettas over insignificant things.
At least at school Chris would have had a structured routine and proper eating habits, but that went out the window the moment he became responsible for his own meals.

One thing worth noting is that Chris would probably be fatter if he lived a more normal lifestyle in the sense that if he and Barb did a weekly shop, they'd come home with bags of crap they don't need from buy one, get one free offers and the like. They'd fill the cupboards and fridge, and spend the rest of the week gorging themselves on snack food that's readily at hand. Right now, it seems Chris has to drag himself away from his vidya and leave the house every time they want to eat, so despite the fact he still eats terrible food, he probably does it less often than if it was in the house.

 

[Henry Bemis]

I wonder if Bob's spell in the military instilled some basic cooking and decent eating ethic in him...

Barb likely had a good education in kitchen-keeping, too, considering that's all women were good for in her high school days.

 

[SlowInTheMinds]

I think he ate better when, you know, Barb gave a shit.
Barb got lazy as she got older. Chris never had any real responsibilities so he never thought to take over the food stuff. That's why I think the McDonalds thing is pretty recent. Up until high school I think Chris ate like a normal person.

It's also worth noting that Barb threw a tantrum over Bob and Chris not wanting spaghetti and presumably didn't cook for them after that. If it's true that she essentially stopped cooking over a fucking stupid grudge, then she essentially condoned Bob's heart disease getting worse and Chris gaining more weight over her little hurt feelings from one spaghetti dinner.

Reading more and more about Barb makes me realize from whose genes are responsible for the mess that is CWC (except maybe the autism)...

Barb.

However, that doesn't explain Cole, since he's relatively normal when compared to Chris and Barb. Maybe his biological father's genes were more dominant than Barb's (which implies that Bob's genes are less dominant than Barb's)

 

[CatParty]

he eats like an unsupervised child now.

 

[milkshark]

I'm guessing Chris ate a lot better as a kid. Chris was even more helpless and dim back then, and hadn't yet developed such a piss poor attitude. Bob and Barb were still looking out for him, changing his name and getting him local press for it, probably hoping down the line he would become an exceptionally talented Autistic role model. If we can assume Barb can make average home cooked dinners like spaghetti, then it's likely she cooked other easy dishes like shake and bake chicken, Hamburger Helper, salisbury steak, and some basic sides like mashed potatoes or baked beans. When Chris lived with Bob they may have started down the Hungry Man road, but I bet they also ate things like hot dogs or Red Baron pizza. It's probably safe to assume that he was eating at least a little better back then.

I'd imagine Chris current diet is abysmal, and it may have been years since he willingly ate a vegetable. Healthy McWraps have lettuce and tomato in them, does he pull that stuff out? I wonder if the Hungry Man's he eats ever make him mad when they give him just a few small wings and no real meaty pieces, that happens a lot.

 

[CatParty]

he also always seemed to have a huge soda with him at all times. not really healthy.

 

[champthom]

I'm going to do something I normally don't like doing and totally speculate. It's possible that Chris ate school lunches when he was in school which, while not super healthy, are probably healthier than McDonald's and the stuff he eats now (the key word here, of course, is "healthier" not "healthy). Also he'd be in PE and even if he did "special" PE, he was at least doing some form of exercise, compared to standing up to play Guitar Hero.

 

[SodomyRocket]

I think he ate better when, you know, Barb gave a shit.
Barb got lazy as she got older. Chris never had any real responsibilities so he never thought to take over the food stuff. That's why I think the McDonalds thing is pretty recent. Up until high school I think Chris ate like a normal person.

It's also worth noting that Barb threw a tantrum over Bob and Chris not wanting spaghetti and presumably didn't cook for them after that. If it's true that she essentially stopped cooking over a fucking stupid grudge, then she essentially condoned Bob's heart disease getting worse and Chris gaining more weight over her little hurt feelings from one spaghetti dinner.

Reading more and more about Barb makes me realize from whose genes are responsible for the mess that is CWC (except maybe the autism)...

Barb.

However, that doesn't explain Coleslaw, since he's relatively normal when compared to Chris and Barb. Maybe his biological father's genes were more dominant than Barb's (which implies that Bob's genes are less dominant than Barb's)

It is'nt genes its being around barb. Cole left at eighteen and has been away for years. He could of been really messed up for all we know, but he had plenty of time to become more normal.

 

[Henry Bemis]

I'm going to do something I normally don't like doing and totally speculate. It's possible that Chris ate school lunches when he was in school which, while not super healthy, are probably healthier than McDonald's and the stuff he eats now (the key word here, of course, is "healthier" not "healthy).

Though odds are good that if Bob 'n' Barb gave him money for lunch, he spent it all (or a good amount) in candy/soda machines.

 

[Some JERK]

I wonder if Bob's spell in the military instilled some basic cooking and decent eating ethic in him, and I know I sound like a broken record, but the spaghetti grudge reminds me just how like Barb Chris is, he carries a whole catalogue of grudges and vendettas over insignificant things.
At least at school Chris would have had a structured routine and proper eating habits, but that went out the window the moment he became responsible for his own meals.

One thing worth noting is that Chris would probably be fatter if he lived a more normal lifestyle in the sense that if he and Barb did a weekly shop, they'd come home with bags of crap they don't need from buy one, get one free offers and the like. They'd fill the cupboards and fridge, and spend the rest of the week gorging themselves on snack food that's readily at hand. Right now, it seems Chris has to drag himself away from his vidya and leave the house every time they want to eat, so despite the fact he still eats terrible food, he probably does it less often than if it was in the house.

"The Spaghetti Grudge" sounds like the title of a Judy Blume novel.

 

[José Mourinho]

Probably mostly on Macaroni and Cheese or school meals.

 

[Sakamoto]

I'm going to do something I normally don't like doing and totally speculate. It's possible that Chris ate school lunches when he was in school which, while not super healthy, are probably healthier than McDonald's and the stuff he eats now (the key word here, of course, is "healthier" not "healthy). Also he'd be in PE and even if he did "special" PE, he was at least doing some form of exercise, compared to standing up to play Guitar Hero.

I think Chris played the autism card to get out of real P.E. and being the water boy for the basketball team counted as his P.E. credits.

Barb gave up cooking after the novelty of being a "mommy" again wore off, the spaghetti incident being a convenient excuse. Bob probably made some simple but decent meals back before he was too old to be bothered with it, he spent some time as a single man between marriages, so even if he felt women belong in the kitchen he would have had to cook for himself before. But he probably did start taking young Chris for fast food when he didn't feel up to cooking. Compared to Bob's cooking, this was probably a real treat to young Chris and the beginning of a life long love for fast food.

While Chris was still in school he would still be getting at least one decent meal a day, plus some minimal exercise just from walking around. By the time he graduated, his diet and lack of exercise that we are familiar with became the norm.

 

[CalmMyTits]

I would think that Chris' diet was not the best when he was little (soda has been mentioned here) but I think he did have some more variety in his diet. Bob also remained fairly light, he did get a belly but then lots of older men do even without eating like crap. He didn't even get fat near the end, so he managed to stay ahead of Barb and Chris in that aspect.

Chris in high school wasn't skinny, he had a bit of a tummy. I have noticed this is a common trend among many autistics and mentally disabled children, even if they're not fat, you can tell their bodies are not in the best of shape because they don't do specific exercises needed to tone various parts of the body, and their exercise is usually limited to walking. Walking is a great way to be heart-healthy and maintain your weight if you do enough of it, but it's not going to flatten your stomach or make your biceps bigger.

Having a schedule obviously benefited Chris in high school and kept him from making q-sand runs, but once high school was over and they moved back to Ruckersville, that's when the decline really started. I imagine in high school he and Bob lived in a more suburban area and there was more to do, and more places that one could easily walk to, and I imagine Bob would have made Chris walk Patti. Just my .02 about his high school years. it really is too bad the spaghetti incident happened.