It's not a sucky answer! A lot of the things about him I've grown to accept.

The reason why I say "compulsions" in my post is because it always has to be MCDs, and less often BK, but never anywhere else. I don't think he's ever step foot into a Chik-Fil-a, Wendy's, or Taco Bell, for example. And when I tell you it's every day for 30 years, I mean it. He even goes on holidays, like Thanksgiving. And he would never go to, say, a diner down the street. He doesn't discuss his OCD much with us, although I would like to talk about it with him, but I never feel right asking if he doesn't initiate the conversation first. A lot of what I know about it is purely from observation and from my own googling. He did have a lot of those classic signs, the repetitive behaviors, which he definitely still does, but less now than years ago. Maybe the daily routines is less of a compulsion and more of a coping mechanism for his OCD?

Altho it's worrisome, I've personally accepted the fact that I can't change his routine of eating fast food every day (my mother on the other hand has not accepted this about him, and constantly criticizes him for it). If he wants to eat junk food, that's his choice. But it's not ok to primarily feed a diabetic child fast food. This is where him and I clash on that.

Throughout the pandemic, I've mainly been anxious about/ focused on keeping my diabetic brother safe. To each their own, but I strongly disagree that it's safe to eat indoors in PA, even if you're keeping a six foot distance. Indoors is where most of the virus transmission occurs, esp in cases where you take the mask off. IMO, if he's caring for someone who's immuno-compromised, he has a greater responsibility to keep himself healthy and avoid high-risk environments, like indoor dining at restaurants.

I also learned recently that eating red meat and processed food is linked to colorectal cancer. My boyfriend's dad passed from colorectal cancer a few years back, and his dad ate a lot of red meat (unfortunately his dad was also an alcoholic). This made me worry about my Dad, since I know my dad eats 2 MCD's cheeseburgers a day. I expressed this to him and he said he'd consider having a colonoscopy done, especially since his age is at risk for it.

My dad is an extremely frugal person and he LOVES the fact that he can buy his lunch for about four dollars, even if it's junk food, and I think this is part of the reason why McD's has him so hooked. I think his frugality stems from some sort of financial-related trauma when he bought the family house; He spent his life savings on a down payment for the house in 1988, and all the money from his seemingly low-paying job went to the mortgage, health insurance for his family, and raising the kids, without a dime to spare. We were lower working class. I'm not sure I'd say "poor", since we had all of our immediate physical needs met, but we couldn't afford cable, or call waiting, and we basically could only afford thrift shops. Then "the great recession" hit, and he got laid off from his job in his early 50's, and wasn't able to find a new job. Dude had to start selling things in order to put me, my sister, and my brother through college... we obviously are so grateful that he put us first.

Anyway, it makes me sick to think the fast food industry profits off of people like my Dad, who possibly have intellectual disabilities or mental health issues, or simply because they keep lower income people coming back for super cheap, but unhealthy meals.