Are the poor fat?

KimiSteinbach

I just came across this post on a thread, "Why is eating healthy so darn expensive?"

"This is why poor people are usually the fat ones. Takes discipline to cut down on unimportant living expenses and buy healthy food, which is much more expensive (MUCH, MUCH MORE - if the farmers weren't subsidized) to grow, produce. Also, the cost if you are determined to eat healthy (and exercise) is a very good reason to grow your own. Even if you only have a patio, I grew tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., in pots on my sundeck."

I agree in a lot of ways.

Thoughts?

msf74

I think that being poor certainly increases your likelihood of being fat for a myriad of reasons. It is a big public health concern in the UK.

The reasons are less to do with some misguided idea of lack of discipline (which is usually nothing more than a moral stick to beat the poor with) as opposed to access to more suitable food options, shops which supply them, transport to reach these places, education about how to construct a healthy and balanced diet and meals.

It's a skills, education and means problem as opposed to a "they just don't want it bad enough bro" problem.

tyrsnbdr

The "truely" poor can not afford to buy food, plus they usually have very physical jobs like farmers and construction. They need high caloritic food to survive.

There is very few "truely" poor people in the US.

Go to a third world country, see real poverty.

MagicalLeopleurodon

Ill weigh in. We live below the national poverty level. I can buy a economy pack (100) honeybuns for the same price as three d'anjou pears. I can buy 25 tacos for the price of one uncooked, unseasoned pork tenderloin.

However- i live in a rural area. We saved and scrounged and went hungry to make an investment. We bought chickens and heirloom seeds. Now, i get 38 eggs a day (at $0.02/per egg) and up to 400lbs of produce a season (ex. Zuchinni ends up being under $0.01). It was a $300 investment and takes about 10 hours out of my day. We plan on hatching eggs to raise meat birds (they'll end up about $0.03/lb) and are going to invest in milk goats or a dairy cow.

$300 wouldnt have bought my family a months worth of healthy food in a store.

Eta- we ended up saving enough for the gun im holding in my pic-a hunting rifle. Another investment to bag meat for the cost of a bullet

twixlepennie

I was poor growing up (like as in dumpster diving poor), and my dad and I were thin, while my mom and sisters were overweight.

Now my family has a very tight budget (one income family, plus working on paying off debt), and we have a grocery budget of $90 a week, for the five of us (this includes non-food items like tp and also stuff to pack school lunches-plus one of my kid's is lactose intolerant so she needs different foods, like almond milk)). We do not get any type of assistance for food (or anything else). We're all thin, healthy and we eat a pretty well balanced diet, (we do eat out several times a week, and that's budgeted separately, but if we added that to our grocery budget it would bump it up to around $130 a week).

Also-I tried the whole container garden thing and it cost a lot of money to set up, and then nothing grew (we got a grand total of three strawberries and one tomato from it ). Definitely cheaper to just go to the store and buy veggies/fruit on sale, or buy frozen.

ChrisS30V

I know a few people that use the "I'm too poor to afford 'healthy' food" card as an excuse for being overweight. True, not everyone can afford to eat grass-fed beef and organic quinoa at every meal, but their being overweight is an obvious testament to the notion that they can afford to eat enough to put themselves in caloric excess. You'd think that being truly poor would result in being underweight/malnourished, instead of the opposite. Just because you can't afford the aforementioned grass fed beef and organic quinoa, that doesn't mean you can't adhere to reasonable eating and exercise habits.

msf74

but their being overweight is an obvious testament to the notion that they can afford to eat enough to put themselves in caloric excess. You'd think that being truly poor would result in being underweight/malnourished, instead of the opposite.

All it show is they have access to cheap calories although not necessarily cheap nutrition. I suspect if you look at the diets of many poor people they will be very high in carbs and fat but low in protein without even considering micros. They may be overweight but that does not necessarily mean they are properly nourished or have anything near approaching access to a basic balanced diet.

I cannot speak for the States but in the UK there certainly are poor people who struggle to make even a basic standard of living. Sure, they are not poor in comparison to people in developing countries but that is not to say they do not struggle tremendously.

ThatCatholicGirl

Here in the UK, anything that is "half-fat" or has the word "healthy" on it is 50% more expensive than it's less healthy alternative. It hacks me off no end...

MagicalLeopleurodon

I was poor growing up (like as in dumpster diving poor), and my dad and I were thin, while my mom and sisters were overweight.

Now my family has a very tight budget (one income family, plus working on paying off debt), and we have a grocery budget of $90 a week, for the five of us (this includes non-food items like tp and also stuff to pack school lunches-plus one of my kid's is lactose intolerant so she needs different foods, like almond milk)). We do not get any type of assistance for food (or anything else). We're all thin, healthy and we eat a pretty well balanced diet, (we do eat out several times a week, and that's budgeted separately, but if we added that to our grocery budget it would bump it up to around $130 a week).

Also-I tried the whole container garden thing and it cost a lot of money to set up, and then nothing grew (we got a grand total of three strawberries and one tomato from it ). Definitely cheaper to just go to the store and buy veggies/fruit on sale, or buy frozen.

I can grow ANYTHING.....until i put it in a container. I can murder the healthiest plants in two days in a stupid pot.

Unknown

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RllyGudTweetr

I can see no way this thread can go badly, so I'm tagging in to follow it.

Sovictorrious

I thought it was lack of education?

OllyReeves

The "truely" poor can not afford to buy food, plus they usually have very physical jobs like farmers and construction. They need high caloritic food to survive.

There is very few "truely" poor people in the US.

Go to a third world country, see real poverty.

Wow, what rubbish!

rml_16

I really believe it's a lack of education more than anything else.

I have known people who came from geneations of poverty and people who were "poor" for a short time while attending college or starting their careers after having children young. Both sets of people were on food stamps at some point. The people who came from educated, middle-class backgrounds ate healthy, nutritious, balanced diets while the people who came from a lower-class background ate more junk food.

I don't know if they truly don't know better or they don't care.

PrincessCris

Just the tittle of this post made me lol so much.

amfmmama

I work in a low income, urban school district. It is definitely cheaper to buy less nutritious food. In addition, people who do not have cars, shop close to home. There are not many supermarkets in the inner city, and the ones that are there, do not carry quality fresh products. The children of these families are fed two of there 3 (3 if they are lucky) at school. The options at school are not the healthiest options either.

There are many factors here and math will not give you all of the answers.

usmcmp

I'm poor. We barely make ends meet (and some months we don't make ends meet). I'm not fat.

I know how to cut back on things we don't need to spend on things we do. We don't have cable or internet. We don't go out to eat unless someone else pays. I've learned to exchange services and my spare time for extra cash to spend on health. (I also have sponsors that pay for my competitions or I would not be able to compete, I exchange services and advertising for entry fees).

It's about priorities and education, not opportunities.

Grumpsandwich

We went through a spell after college where my family of 3 lived off LESS then 18k a year. Now when you have less than $5 left to feed your family for a cpl days to you A buy a head of lettuce n perhaps chicken breast and have 1 meal or spend 99cents per pack of 8 hotdogs and a bag of potatoes. What do you when you want to keep your family fed n sated. Its not always easy times actually get tough when there is no work, no money coming in. And yes there were times we were taking cans back to get money for that pack of hotdogs. Let me tell ya a diet of hotdogs n hamburger helper doenst bode well on the body lol

dshalbert

Many times it it also a lack of access. Many poorer neigborhoods have what is called food deserts. Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, farmer's markets, these communities may have no food access without a car or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options. The lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.

This combined with lack of education about healthy food choices can be a problem.

amfmmama

Many times it it also a lack of access. Many poorer neigborhoods have what is called food deserts. Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, farmer's markets, these communities may have no food access without a car or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options. The lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.

This combined with lack of education about healthy food choices can be a problem.

I think we were typing at the same time! You put it much better than me!

Zomoniac

Here (UK) it's true that to buy the ingredients to make a fresh salad for a couple of people (let's say the most basic garden salad, a lettuce, a pepper, a few tomatoes, a cucumber), you can buy around 200 biscuits or 30 chocolate bars. Which suggests something has gone badly wrong.

I know my food bill is pretty high, but that's because I eat a lot of meat and I have personal moral issues about not buying free range. But if you're ok with battery you can generally eat pretty cheap, if you stick to budget own brand stuff vs premium branded (in my local Asda it's 50 pence for a giant box of Smartprice bran flakes, over £3 for the equivalent Kellogg's box, they both taste of much the same amount of flavourless cardboard to me, I'm not poor but I see no reason to pay over the odds for things if I don't need to). Do Tesco still do two whole chickens for £4? Whilst the very thought of how that is viable makes me feel quite sick, it shows the options for cheap food exist.

Enigmatica

Based on my own experience, it's much more expensive to buy high quality nutrient dense foods than high calorie nutrient deficient foods. I could fill my cart up with wheat/corn/soy/dairy based products that can be mass produced and it would cost me less than I spend on a few bags of organic veggies and meats, sprouted seed proteins, and the gluten-free/dairy-free my health requires. Carbs and fats are relatively inexpensive - and people have learned to be happy with them. Clean high quality proteins are usually rather pricey. So I totally understand how people on a tight budget end up buying high carb/unhealthy fat laden products that make them feel like they're getting more for their dollars. Unfortunately there's a lot of evidence that those cheap foods usually lack nutrients and contain chemicals intentionally added to make people want to eat MORE, too. People in this situation may be more fairly considered trapped in a vicious circle, than lazy or undisciplined.

knra_grl

Depends on where you shop and what you buy. If you buy the basics and stay out of the pre-packaged foods groceries can be relatively cheap - you have to watch the prices of things and watch the sale flyers and you can save a lot of money. I usually buy fruit, veg, meats and dairy according to what's on sale - if you shop once or twice a week and buy what's on sale you can usually eat healthy on the cheap - it's the taxable non food and pre-packaged convenience foods that push my grocery bill up. Minute Rice is way more expensive than regular long grain rice and doesn't taste as good either.

Try keeping food and personal hygiene/cleaning products/paper products in different categories and see what your actual food budget is. I try to stock up when personal hygeine items and other taxable items go on sale.

I will admit though I had to do a double take when I went out and bought cheese the other day (I bought 3 different varieties and it was expensive). Good thing I am eating that in moderation now! But I also went yesterday and bought enough salad stuff for approximately 4 meals for 2 people with $8 which I think is pretty damn cheap.

edit because my spelling sucks :P

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Ill weigh in. We live below the national poverty level. I can buy a economy pack (100) honeybuns for the same price as three d'anjou pears. I can buy 25 tacos for the price of one uncooked, unseasoned pork tenderloin.

However- i live in a rural area. We saved and scrounged and went hungry to make an investment. We bought chickens and heirloom seeds. Now, i get 38 eggs a day (at $0.02/per egg) and up to 400lbs of produce a season (ex. Zuchinni ends up being under $0.01). It was a $300 investment and takes about 10 hours out of my day. We plan on hatching eggs to raise meat birds (they'll end up about $0.03/lb) and are going to invest in milk goats or a dairy cow.

$300 wouldnt have bought my family a months worth of healthy food in a store.

Eta- we ended up saving enough for the gun im holding in my pic-a hunting rifle. Another investment to bag meat for the cost of a bullet

Really impressive!

rml_16

Many times it it also a lack of access. Many poorer neigborhoods have what is called food deserts. Food deserts are defined as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, farmer's markets, these communities may have no food access without a car or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options. The lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.

This combined with lack of education about healthy food choices can be a problem.

I can see this being the case in many places, but there are other places where it's the opposite.

I grew up in a really small town where the richest people pretty much lived across the street from the poorest, or at least within a block. I mean, you're in the "good" part of town and you cross the street and you're in the "bad" part. Anyway, there were a few major grocery stores and they were mostly built close to where there was more poverty and pretty much everything was in walking distance.

gamagem

Let's see ... I can get 4 lbs of boneless/skinless chicken for $8 at the supermarket. For another $4 I can get a container of seasoned breadcrumbs and an 8-pack of whole wheat rolls. For $1.50 each I can have 8 sizeable, high-protein, low-fat chicken sandwiches (roughly 420 calories, 55g of protein, 7g fat, 30g carbs). Now the Spicy Chicken Sandwich at McDonald's apparently costs $1 in most of the country (I had to Google that) and gives me 380 calories, 15g protein, 17g fat, and 41g carbs (along with nearly half a day's worth of sodium). So for an extra 50 cents I can have nearly 4x the protein, less than half the fat, 3/4 of the carbs, and more net calories which all adds up to a meal that is going to leave me satiated for longer and thereby inclined to eat less. Tell me again how eating healthy has to be more expensive ... Bulls**t.

Stop buying into the low fat, reduced sugar, less this, less that marketing gimmicks that actually require you to pay more for less (often smaller portions) and simply make better dietary choices.

I second this! I wait for chicken breasts to go on sale (about once a month) and stock up. I bought a used freezer ($50) to store all of that meat and any containers of homemade spaghetti sauce, and homemade beans in. I buy my quinoa in bulk on amazon and it's much cheaper per oz then buying it in the grocery store, same with zero sodium chicken and beef bouillons. I also shop at a local vegetable market for most of my fruits and vegetables, which costs nearly half less then buying it at the grocery store. My grocery bill really didn't change and since I rarely eat out, I actually spend less to eat healthy then I did to eat unhealthy. So, personally my opinion is that the excuse of being poor keeps you from eating healthy is just that, an excuse.

somefitsomefat

I thought it was lack of education?

Ding ding ding.

SpeSHul_SnoflEHk

I agree with much of what has been said here. There are a lot of poor in industrialized nations who are living way above the truly impoverished. I see many of these poor here in the States doing things such as paying $5-6 for a pcak of cigarettes, or people on the program formerly known as food stamps, and they have bags and bags of fast food in their car.

Play the voyeur, and you can see that they are not eating at a reasonable rate either. I saw a receipt in a "poor" friend's car the other day. Apparently she had 2 McDouble's and a large fry with a shake. I said, "McDonald's is so gross" and she said, yeah, but it's cheap and I can afford it. Did she really need two cheeseburgers and a large fry? Could she have gotten away with one cheeseburger and a small fry with a water? My guess is yes.

I think there is something to the fact that some cheap foods are higher calories, even those bought in the grocery store. Yet, I think with a little prior planning, one can still develop a nutritious calorie appropriate diet on a budget.

I think obesity is more a matter of choices than circumstance neccessarily. We have people who come in our clinic, for obesity classes, and they learn quite a bit, and guess what? Their incomes don't change, and nothing else other than being armed with eduation change either. Yet, they usually will lose weight and keep it off.

parkscs

Cheap food is generally unhealthy and in my experience you see many more obese poor people than obese affluent people. It doesn't mean you definitely will get fat when poor and it doesn't mean you can find ways to eat healthy without a lot of income. But as a general matter, I'd say it's accurate that you see more poor people getting fat.

UsedToBeHusky

First off, only in first world countries are poor people fat. Secondly, people, in general, have a tendency to turn for food in comfort.

nccarolb

I can tell you from experience that it is much cheaper to eat junk than to eat healthy foods. I am careful about what I purchase but I eat almost no meat because I can't afford it. And, have you ever noticed that a healthy cereal is twice as much as a sugar laden, tooth rotting cereal? I will also say that I have a son with Celiac disease and is lactose intolerant along with other health issues, so I spend most of my grocery allotment on food for him. That being said, I do manage to eat reasonably healthy by eating lots of beans and lots of veggie based soups. And, it takes a fair amount of effort because I work two jobs to make ends meet which makes it more difficult to prepare home made, healthier foods.

I am lucky enough to have the knowledge to make healthier decisions than some others do. However, if you have never been the parent choosing to buy two packs of 88 cent hot dogs instead of the $10 pack of chicken because you can get the same number of meals out of each item, get off your high horse. And, by the way, for those of you advocating cutting out extras, I do that, too. Some folks are just genuinely less wealthy than others.