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What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?
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VeroniqueBoilard wrote: »All those people claiming to be libertatian are suddenly all fine targeting poor people with punitive mesure for buying treats or finding a work around ot get cash (wow, so much cash.. a few dollars at most)... I'm disgusted.
People are underestimating the role of "unhealhty" (read high calorie and fat content = efficient) food in poorer people life. It's an antidepressant. It's often THE ONLY treat you will ever get. It makes your brain happy when you have to skip meal often and send you in vicious circle.
Fast food is fast, no planning (information + shopping list), no shopping, no prepping, no cooking, no cleaning dishes. If you work a hard physical job (like under educated people often do) or long hours (like poor people often do, 2 or 3 part time job), the choice is easy.
Can't poor people never lose weight OF COURSE NOT. I was poor but I was freaking LUCKY to be smartish and have access to higher education, ability to understand nutritional information, etc.
But for us, pizza night or mcdonald lunch were amazing treat.
We need more to support mental health. Just like we found out addict need MORE social interaction to kick their habit, obese person need HELP and SUPPORT...
http://theconversation.com/do-poor-people-eat-more-junk-food-than-wealthier-americans-79154
"We found that people who said they checked ingredients before eating new foods had lower fast-food intake. This suggests that making it easier for Americans to learn what is in their food could help sway consumers away from fast food and toward healthier eating options.
Another finding was that working more hours raises fast-food consumption, regardless of income level. People eat it because it’s fast and convenient. This suggests policies that make nutritious foods more readily available, quickly, could help offset the lure of fast food. For example, reducing the red tape for approving food trucks that serve meals containing fresh fruits and vegetables could promote healthier, convenient eating."
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-singh-food-deserts-nutritional-disparities-20180207-story.html
"Why do poor Americans eat so unhealthfully? Because junk food is the only indulgence they can afford"
https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2016/dec/13/mental-illness-and-poverty-you-cant-tackle-one-without-the-other
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-true-connection-between-class-and-obesity-isnt-what-you-probably-think/2018/07/19/8d3a61e4-8ac8-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.18e892b9c02c
Thank you. It's true. College educated libs routinely grandstand that "poor" people are overweight and choose fast food because they don't "understand" the importance of making healthier food choices. Or the "underprivileged" don't "understand" cause and effect, i.e., too much low cost, delicious food = fatness. Wrong. Condescendingly wrong to be exact. Thank you for clarifying.
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tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.1 -
What taxes does the cyclist not pay? I'm sorry, I've apparently lost track of the discussion.1
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autumnblade75 wrote: »
Never mind that @NorthCascades has a car...the most Northwest of cars, a Subaru
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Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.1
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
Well perceived danger is just that, perceived. In terms of getting producers out to areas that are low income, that difficulty is going to be very much based on location. There are multiple thriving farmers markets in parts of the Portland metro area that are lower income. If anything it's actually significantly easier for farmers/producers to get to these places because there's less traffic than downtown and the parking is significantly better than in most of the middle to upper class areas.
There are a number of farmers markets in Oregon that take SNAP benefits (EBT falls into this). The ones that do match it, typically up to $5 or $10.2 -
What is the benefit of mostly empty buses and trains?
If employers are benefiting, send them the bill.
I just find it laughable that people complain about the 50-100 miles I might ride my bike over the course of a week, all 240# of me and my bike, suggesting that the 50k miles per year the four 1.5-2 ton vehicles in my household drive, burning motor fuels doesn't pay enough for the riding I do during the summer.
Not to mention the various taxes for tags, maintenance and repair items, as well as the taxes paid when the vehicles were purchased, and so on.
And as I said, even a cyclist that doesn't own a car will pay motor fuel taxes that are rolled into the prices of the goods and services he buys.FireOpalCO wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »
In my locale, fares pay about 20% of the costs to run the system. The other 80% is paid by taxpayers. I don't think 80% of them use the buses and light rail.
But they do benefit from the reduced traffic congestion from other people using lightrail and buses. Plus the draw to potential employers considering setting up shop in that city/state.
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.
And you prove my point, the cyclist HAS paid those taxes, just like everybody else, and has the same rights to the road as a taxpayer as anybody else.
There is no special privilege afforded to the driver because he pays the taxes directly over the cyclist who paid them indirectly through the costs rolled into the goods and services purchased.
So, unlike what was said before, you are now saying the cyclist, like everyone else, pays motor fuel taxes.
Ergo, the cyclist has the same right to the road as anyone else.3 -
tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.
And you prove my point, the cyclist HAS paid those taxes, just like everybody else, and has the same rights to the road as a taxpayer as anybody else.
There is no special privilege afforded to the driver because he pays the taxes directly over the cyclist who paid them indirectly through the costs rolled into the goods and services purchased.
So, unlike what was said before, you are now saying the cyclist, like everyone else, pays motor fuel taxes.
Ergo, the cyclist has the same right to the road as anyone else.
not proportionate to the benefit received.
ETA: your argument would be like me arguing that if I pay a toll on one road, I should get to drive on all the other roads for free.4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
There are already farmers markets in the hood in Chicago, it's not farther from farms than other parts of the city, and they take SNAP (and there's additional benefits if you use SNAP in farmers markets).
List for all IL: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=441723 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.
Are you saying that I don't pay tax, or that everybody pays tax? This is confusing.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.
And you prove my point, the cyclist HAS paid those taxes, just like everybody else, and has the same rights to the road as a taxpayer as anybody else.
There is no special privilege afforded to the driver because he pays the taxes directly over the cyclist who paid them indirectly through the costs rolled into the goods and services purchased.
So, unlike what was said before, you are now saying the cyclist, like everyone else, pays motor fuel taxes.
Ergo, the cyclist has the same right to the road as anyone else.
not proportionate to the benefit received.
ETA: your argument would be like me arguing that if I pay a toll on one road, I should get to drive on all the other roads for free.
Your argument is like saying if you haven't paid taxes the police and fire fighters shouldn't help you.0 -
tbright1965 wrote: »What is the benefit of mostly empty buses and trains?
If employers are benefiting, send them the bill.
I just find it laughable that people complain about the 50-100 miles I might ride my bike over the course of a week, all 240# of me and my bike, suggesting that the 50k miles per year the four 1.5-2 ton vehicles in my household drive, burning motor fuels doesn't pay enough for the riding I do during the summer.
Not to mention the various taxes for tags, maintenance and repair items, as well as the taxes paid when the vehicles were purchased, and so on.
And as I said, even a cyclist that doesn't own a car will pay motor fuel taxes that are rolled into the prices of the goods and services he buys.FireOpalCO wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »
In my locale, fares pay about 20% of the costs to run the system. The other 80% is paid by taxpayers. I don't think 80% of them use the buses and light rail.
But they do benefit from the reduced traffic congestion from other people using lightrail and buses. Plus the draw to potential employers considering setting up shop in that city/state.
Where do you live that trains and buses are mostly empty? During rush hour I drive past the park-n-ride and there are lines of people waiting to get on the bus (when I road it for work I had to stand and sometimes wait for the next one). I see the light rail and it’s also full. The only time I’ve ridden light rail and it was empty was on the weekend.
Our problem here is our light rail doesn’t cover enough territory and there are entire commuter areas that don’t get service. I wish I could take a train to work.3 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
There are already farmers markets in the hood in Chicago, it's not farther from farms than other parts of the city, and they take SNAP (and there's additional benefits if you use SNAP in farmers markets).
List for all IL: https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=44172
I've approached Chicago from all directions that are drivable. I guarantee there are more affluent and safer parts of the metropolitan area that are closer to farms than the hood.
It's great farmers are willing to serve that population though.
One of the worst areas of Chicago is the far west side. Some of the bad areas on the south side are much closer to Indiana than where I live (on the north side). You can get to farms from Chicago in multiple directions (every side but the lake), so it's not like any one area is particularly closer than anywhere else.
It's pretty common for green markets in the city to have farms from IN, southwestern MI, WI, and other parts of IL.
There are urban farming programs on the southside too: http://growinghomeinc.org/our-farms/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-chicago-urban-farming-year-ahead-1222-biz-20161220-story.html4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »FireOpalCO wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »What is the benefit of mostly empty buses and trains?
If employers are benefiting, send them the bill.
I just find it laughable that people complain about the 50-100 miles I might ride my bike over the course of a week, all 240# of me and my bike, suggesting that the 50k miles per year the four 1.5-2 ton vehicles in my household drive, burning motor fuels doesn't pay enough for the riding I do during the summer.
Not to mention the various taxes for tags, maintenance and repair items, as well as the taxes paid when the vehicles were purchased, and so on.
And as I said, even a cyclist that doesn't own a car will pay motor fuel taxes that are rolled into the prices of the goods and services he buys.FireOpalCO wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »
In my locale, fares pay about 20% of the costs to run the system. The other 80% is paid by taxpayers. I don't think 80% of them use the buses and light rail.
But they do benefit from the reduced traffic congestion from other people using lightrail and buses. Plus the draw to potential employers considering setting up shop in that city/state.
Where do you live that trains and buses are mostly empty? During rush hour I drive past the park-n-ride and there are lines of people waiting to get on the bus (when I road it for work I had to stand and sometimes wait for the next one). I see the light rail and it’s also full. The only time I’ve ridden light rail and it was empty was on the weekend.
Our problem here is our light rail doesn’t cover enough territory and there are entire commuter areas that don’t get service. I wish I could take a train to work.
Don't know about @tbright1965 but in my smaller city of about 150,000 the 60 passenger buses drive around with 5 or fewer people. The only route that seems to have fuller buses is a shuttle around the university campus (the students have to buy an unlimited bus pass in their fees). The routes are fairly limited and don't go near nicer neighborhoods. It's not like a big city where affluent individuals use public transit.
The campus shuttle seems like a travesty to me. I went to this university and there was no shuttle when I attended (except for handicapped students) and the school had the same physical layout (i.e, no large expansion of sq area). Guess what, the students waiting for the bus and playing on their phones are heavier then when we were walking to class.
The only busses in my city that aren't ridden extensively are ones that are in areas that have always been upper-middle and upper class with regards to SES (as opposed to the ones that are currently primarily upper-middle/upper class but got that way via gentrification). The public transportation company has responded to this by cutting lines in these areas or cutting the number of busses that serve those lines.
Daily ridership across the tri-county area that the public transportation system serves apparently averages 310,000 and includes high school and college students (and some middle school students) across buses, light rail, and commuter rail. A few of the colleges/universities have shuttles, but they aren't the sort of shuttles you're referring to. You can't easily walk between the locations that the shuttles go to (would entail hours of walking and in some cases the walking wouldn't be safe due to the lack of sidewalks/shoulders).
There are a few busses that I ride on a regular basis that don't have a lot of people, but that's primarily an issue of when I take the bus vs the actual route. Part of it is what area of the route I get on and off in. I can pretty easily predict how busy the streetcar I take will be based on where it's at.1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »tbright1965 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
You use the road when you're on your bike, and taxes on motor fuels support the building and maintenance of roads. Why should other people have to pay higher gas taxes to pay for your use of the roads?
Are we sure motor fuel taxes cover the costs of the roads?
Do other taxes also go into the fund?
Don't I pay the motor fuel taxes of the trucks that deliver food and bicycles to the stores where I shop?
It is highly unlikely a cyclist doesn't pay taxes and hasn't paid the motor fuels taxes passed on in the costs of shipping goods and services to his home or the stores where he shops.
Yes, but everybody pays those. It doesn't make up for the taxes you don't pay to say you pay these other taxes that everyone else pays.
Are you saying that I don't pay tax, or that everybody pays tax? This is confusing.
I'm saying everybody (which includes you) pay the taxes that you say you pay (pass through on goods shipped by road, taxes on motor fuel they actually buy), but you use the road for an additional purpose beyond those related to the taxes you pay.
I'll try again. Say there is a lake at a dam that the public is allowed to use for various purposes, most of which have a fee or permit price attached to them (fishing, boating, etc.). Let's say you have purchased a day-permit for fishing in the past. Now you want to go and just hike on the trails around the lake and someone suggests you should be paid to do that because of the public benefits that accrue from your getting cardio exercise (which is where this subthread started). Someone says you're already being allowed to get in to the parkland and use it for free for the hiking, because there's no specific fee just to walk on the land, which is overseen and maintained by some kind of staff. You say that because you paid the one-day fishing permit, you've somehow already paid for any operational costs imposed by your hiking, and implicitly support the idea that you should be paid for hiking. But the fishing permit covered the costs related to fishing (e.g., restocking the lake). It doesn't cover costs related to your hiking (someone to do head counts on people in and out, look for stragglers at the end of the day, locate lost or injured hikers, rope off trails that have become dangerous due to erosion, etc.)
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »I'll try again. Say there is a lake at a dam that the public is allowed to use for various purposes, most of which have a fee or permit price attached to them (fishing, boating, etc.). Let's say you have purchased a day-permit for fishing in the past. Now you want to go and just hike on the trails around the lake and someone suggests you should be paid to do that because of the public benefits that accrue from your getting cardio exercise (which is where this subthread started). Someone says you're already being allowed to get in to the parkland and use it for free for the hiking, because there's no specific fee just to walk on the land, which is overseen and maintained by some kind of staff. You say that because you paid the one-day fishing permit, you've somehow already paid for any operational costs imposed by your hiking, and implicitly support the idea that you should be paid for hiking. But the fishing permit covered the costs related to fishing (e.g., restocking the lake). It doesn't cover costs related to your hiking (someone to do head counts on people in and out, look for stragglers at the end of the day, locate lost or injured hikers, rope off trails that have become dangerous due to erosion, etc.)
Does the lake receive no tax funded maintenance money - it totally is able to be run by the user fees for the various activities?1 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
In the city closest to where I live, there is a "mobile farmer's market" that is set up like a bunch of food trucks. They buy "ugly" produce (stuff with blemishes or misshapen but still good) and surplus/extra food directly from farmers for free or dirt cheap, then drive around selling it in the city. You get 50% off if you're using an EBT card (food stamps) so it's especially helpful for those in need. More cities should implement the same!5 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »I'll try again. Say there is a lake at a dam that the public is allowed to use for various purposes, most of which have a fee or permit price attached to them (fishing, boating, etc.). Let's say you have purchased a day-permit for fishing in the past. Now you want to go and just hike on the trails around the lake and someone suggests you should be paid to do that because of the public benefits that accrue from your getting cardio exercise (which is where this subthread started). Someone says you're already being allowed to get in to the parkland and use it for free for the hiking, because there's no specific fee just to walk on the land, which is overseen and maintained by some kind of staff. You say that because you paid the one-day fishing permit, you've somehow already paid for any operational costs imposed by your hiking, and implicitly support the idea that you should be paid for hiking. But the fishing permit covered the costs related to fishing (e.g., restocking the lake). It doesn't cover costs related to your hiking (someone to do head counts on people in and out, look for stragglers at the end of the day, locate lost or injured hikers, rope off trails that have become dangerous due to erosion, etc.)
Does the lake receive no tax funded maintenance money - it totally is able to be run by the user fees for the various activities?
How is that relevant? If X% of costs are funded by user fees x1, x2, and x3, and someone says they should get an incentive payment for some fourth use that is already being subsidized by the other user fees and whatever general use taxes are allocated to it, how does the fact that they are paying taxes the same as everyone else and paying whatever user fees they incur like everybody else somehow eradicate the fact that the use they want to get an incentive payment for is already being subsidized?2 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »I'll try again. Say there is a lake at a dam that the public is allowed to use for various purposes, most of which have a fee or permit price attached to them (fishing, boating, etc.). Let's say you have purchased a day-permit for fishing in the past. Now you want to go and just hike on the trails around the lake and someone suggests you should be paid to do that because of the public benefits that accrue from your getting cardio exercise (which is where this subthread started). Someone says you're already being allowed to get in to the parkland and use it for free for the hiking, because there's no specific fee just to walk on the land, which is overseen and maintained by some kind of staff. You say that because you paid the one-day fishing permit, you've somehow already paid for any operational costs imposed by your hiking, and implicitly support the idea that you should be paid for hiking. But the fishing permit covered the costs related to fishing (e.g., restocking the lake). It doesn't cover costs related to your hiking (someone to do head counts on people in and out, look for stragglers at the end of the day, locate lost or injured hikers, rope off trails that have become dangerous due to erosion, etc.)
Does the lake receive no tax funded maintenance money - it totally is able to be run by the user fees for the various activities?
How is that relevant? If X% of costs are funded by user fees x1, x2, and x3, and someone says they should get an incentive payment for some fourth use that is already being subsidized by the other user fees and whatever general use taxes are allocated to it, how does the fact that they are paying taxes the same as everyone else and paying whatever user fees they incur like everybody else somehow eradicate the fact that the use they want to get an incentive payment for is already being subsidized?
Agreed for being paid to be hiking. As relevant to this sub-thread.
Just thought you had a good example regarding what appears to be other sub-thread regarding the walker being charged at all. For the aspect of some of the uses being covered by general tax payer $ for which walker already paid in directly or indirectly through taxes - just not direct payment to the park owner (gov't?).1 -
Speaking of calorie disclosure, there is NO POINT in putting 'nutritional values per 100g' information on a snack pack that is clearly not 100g, and not telling me how big the snack pack is, I'm looking at you Starbucks.
(You can find the information on the website, but why not on the pack?!)
Ultimately, though, I don't think there's much you can do to legislate people's choices. You can only legislate to make some choices easier, or to make the choices more informed.
I see that in European products (which I get in snack subscription boxes) all the time. I don't find it useful either. I even saw it on a spice jar being sold on Amazon once. People were oohing and aahing over the 100% of vitamin C in some red pepper flakes and I'm like "do you know how many jars you would have to eat to get all that vitamin C?"1 -
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FinntheVeggie wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
In the city closest to where I live, there is a "mobile farmer's market" that is set up like a bunch of food trucks. They buy "ugly" produce (stuff with blemishes or misshapen but still good) and surplus/extra food directly from farmers for free or dirt cheap, then drive around selling it in the city. You get 50% off if you're using an EBT card (food stamps) so it's especially helpful for those in need. More cities should implement the same!
Nice. Because Whole Foods Amazon Prime delivery is expensive and not accessible to everyone. I love the idea of a mobile farmers market. Growing up low-income, I remember my mother used to buy half-off ugly produce and day-old bread. Now I think how smart she was. Once I had a sleep-over and my friends threw away uneaten peaches in the trash. Next morning they were cut up in our oatmeal. Lol. Waste not want not.5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Farmers markets in the hood where people could use their food vouchers instead of those "you buy, we fry" places. These unhealthy places are classified as "Convenience stores" by government and so they accept food subsidy cards (foodstamps). People then pay $1 to have the food fried for them on site, so it's really a fast-food restaurant.
How are you going to get producers to go to the hood when in most cases it is further from their farm than other parts of an urban area where they could sell their products. Plus a higher level (real or percieved) of danger.
Where I live (mid-Michigan) farm trucks come from the urban areas out to other areas to sell produce to outlying communities, from urban farms in Detroit and Flint. In part, this is a side effect of the depopulation of those urban areas with the decline of the auto industry (as well as other population-reducing pressures that create cheap urban land, or cheap buildings available for indoor food culture).
Not a huge force yet, but growing . . . and little backwards from what you're perceiving, eh?
Good stuff they grow, too.
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UK based and relevant to me would be elimination of multi-portion snacks, and a complete revision of the working hours of the week for fewer hours . So much of the year is spent going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark so to be able to fit exercise in (naturally active time, not "going to the gym" exercise) you have to either have an active job or use your lunch time. Plenty of people work longer hours than I do, but I find 7.5hours stuck at a desk really frustrating.1
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I LOVE restaurants that include calorie counts on their menus. More need to provide that info.2
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The more the USA government has gotten involved on telling people how the eat the fatter people have become it seems to me.9
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GaleHawkins wrote: »The more the USA government has gotten involved on telling people how the eat the fatter people have become it seems to me.
...other way around...4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »The more the USA government has gotten involved on telling people how the eat the fatter people have become it seems to me.
I disagree. If people followed the Dietary Guidelines for Americans the overweight/obesity level would be significantly lower.
https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/
And since people don't follow the guidelines, the government efforts have largely been ineffective.
In some ways, the guidelines have been flawed as we had a generation or so where people were convinced fat was the enemy. The federal government played a part in this.
I'm not about to put on my tin foil hat and blame big government. However, I do believe they can be lead around by the most effective lobby, and that doesn't always work out well for the American people.
Funny how we have more information than ever, at our fingertips, but most of us don't use it.8
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