Are the poor fat?
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Yes poor people are fat.
Not because food is expensive (although it is)
But because it's not readily available in the same way as McDonalds. Come to 125th street in Harlem and I'll point out 5 fast food places in one square block and not one grocery store. within 10 blocks either direction
How can they afford that? I keep hearing this, but I don't understand how they can even buy McD's every day. I am a bit above the federal poverty line, and I sure can't pay for all that. Bread, ground beef, and a squeeze bottle of Heinz is much cheaper. Ten blocks you say? Don't they have buses and a subway up there? We have buses here, not especially convenient, but they do just fine for people without vehicles.
How is it cheaper???
Burger patti's 1 for 1 dollar or ground beef 5.99 lb = 4 4oz burgers
1 package hamburger rolls - 1.50
ketchup - 2 dollars (or steal teh squeeze packets from mcdonalds)
= $7.50 for 4 burgers (or if you get the ready made patti's $5.50)
and you still have to cook it so add in butter/oil/pam
and no lettuce or anything right?
assuming you have access to a stove of course...
McDonalds - 4 bucks for 4 burgers. they come with everything you need and I believe even lettuce and you don't have to cook it..
Sometimes they are even cheaper then a dollar and you can take the extra dollar and get a small bag of fries.
even if you buy premade frozen patti's 6.99 for 8 that's still more expensive then McDonalds and you are assuming they have a way to store and cook the meat.
My prices listed above are less then what I have to pay for it meat. I can get 80/20 patti's 10 for 10 bucks, but you have to buy 10.
Ok, so you don't buy "burger patties." *EVER* They are expensive. You buy *ground beef* 5 pounds at a time for $2.5/pound. Then you use your hands and *make* patties, at 3 ounces per patty. And for the price of one Mc'Ds french fry, you can get the generic frozen fries, or *better yet* get potatoes and cut them yourself. Three medium-sized potatoes will be enough fries for four people, plus 12 ounces of meat, plus a slice of cheese, and then you use bread instead of a bun.
When my my family gets fast food, it runs us about $35 for four. Whereas, I can get a week's worth of groceries for about $80 for all four of us. It blows my mind that anyone would whine about being poor, then pay someone to cook for them. I wish I had a personal chef too, but not being wealthy precludes that idea.
It makes no sense that any poor person would eat fast food every day, unless they are single with no kids. A single person could probably manage it.0 -
Again, if we went to McDonald's it was a rare special treat trip for them.
^^ Same here. When I was a middle class teen, I would ride my bike to McD's and buy just for me. I had no rent or bills to pay. Now with two teens of my own, a disabled husband, and being working class, I *wish to GOD* that I could go to McD's or somewhere so I didn't have to cook every night. But I can not rationalize spending money that needs to go to bills.0 -
I do enjoy all these people posting as if they know what it's like to live below the poverty line in New York City or any other major metropolitan area.
smh.0 -
Also, why do people insist on equating 'healthy' with 'organic'?!
^^^ These folks are the worst about claiming that "healthy" is expensive. Yes, "organic" foods are expensive, but you don't have to eat them to have a healthy diet.0 -
I do enjoy all these people posting as if they know what it's like to live below the poverty line in New York City or any other major metropolitan area.
smh.
I'm in a metropolitan area, dude. I don't live below the poverty line now because I got a promotion last year that bumped me up. But trust me, all through my twenties and most of my thirties, I was below the poverty line, living in this same metro area.
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maybe not fat. but unhealthy.
when I was a student I ate a ton of pasta and rice.. why??? because they are inexpensive foods. This contributes to the "freshman 15" you hear of.. along with stress eating because of tests,and of couse the number 1 cause... alcohol0 -
I do enjoy all these people posting as if they know what it's like to live below the poverty line in New York City or any other major metropolitan area.
smh.
When my husband and I were first married, I was 17 and he was 19, he was in the Navy and posted in Philadelphia. We lived just outside Wilmington, DE. Everything between Philly and Wilmington is a major metropolitan area. Our first year, when we claimed our income, for the year it was just a hair over $10,000 (1990). that was below the poverty line. We took a calculator to the grocery store with us. When he was at sea, I stayed home or walked because we couldn't afford car insurance and you had to have proof of insurance to get your DE license, so I couldn't drive. So yeah, I do know what it's like to live below the poverty line. That's why Wendy's was our anniversary dinner. Then we went home and ate the wedding cake we'd saved frozen from our wedding for dessert.0 -
maybe not fat. but unhealthy.
when I was a student I ate a ton of pasta and rice.. why??? because they are inexpensive foods. This contributes to the "freshman 15" you hear of.. along with stress eating because of tests,and of couse the number 1 cause... alcohol
Alcohol has ruined a great many figures, not to mention college careers and families.0 -
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?
Yes, poorer people in America can be fat because of food stamps. Otherwise they really would be starving. My husband had some health issues the past two years and we had around 1000 or less a month to live on for rent, utilities, car payment, and everything else.. We would haves starved without food stamps or had to just eat beans and rice for months on end. We got around 400 a month for food and even that had to be budgeted well. It is not like you can get anything you want. 100 for a family of three for all of their food needs each week is not much really.
Even as it is there is a lot of stress to being poor and I think that in itself contributes to fatness, but even that would cancel out if they had nothing to eat. Yeah, and it is harder to be active as well. You can walk and do free things but actually doing paid activities is pretty much out of the budget.0 -
I do enjoy all these people posting as if they know what it's like to live below the poverty line in New York City or any other major metropolitan area.
smh.
When my husband and I were first married, I was 17 and he was 19, he was in the Navy and posted in Philadelphia. We lived just outside Wilmington, DE. Everything between Philly and Wilmington is a major metropolitan area. Our first year, when we claimed our income, for the year it was just a hair over $10,000 (1990). that was below the poverty line. We took a calculator to the grocery store with us. When he was at sea, I stayed home or walked because we couldn't afford car insurance and you had to have proof of insurance to get your DE license, so I couldn't drive. So yeah, I do know what it's like to live below the poverty line. That's why Wendy's was our anniversary dinner. Then we went home and ate the wedding cake we'd saved frozen from our wedding for dessert.
sorry to break it to you but the cost of living in Wilmington DE compared to NYC? really?0 -
Yes poor people are fat.
Not because food is expensive (although it is)
But because it's not readily available in the same way as McDonalds. Come to 125th street in Harlem and I'll point out 5 fast food places in one square block and not one grocery store. within 10 blocks either direction
How can they afford that? I keep hearing this, but I don't understand how they can even buy McD's every day. I am a bit above the federal poverty line, and I sure can't pay for all that. Bread, ground beef, and a squeeze bottle of Heinz is much cheaper. Ten blocks you say? Don't they have buses and a subway up there? We have buses here, not especially convenient, but they do just fine for people without vehicles.
How is it cheaper???
Burger patti's 1 for 1 dollar or ground beef 5.99 lb = 4 4oz burgers
1 package hamburger rolls - 1.50
ketchup - 2 dollars (or steal teh squeeze packets from mcdonalds)
= $7.50 for 4 burgers (or if you get the ready made patti's $5.50)
and you still have to cook it so add in butter/oil/pam
and no lettuce or anything right?
assuming you have access to a stove of course...
McDonalds - 4 bucks for 4 burgers. they come with everything you need and I believe even lettuce and you don't have to cook it..
Sometimes they are even cheaper then a dollar and you can take the extra dollar and get a small bag of fries.
even if you buy premade frozen patti's 6.99 for 8 that's still more expensive then McDonalds and you are assuming they have a way to store and cook the meat.
My prices listed above are less then what I have to pay for it meat. I can get 80/20 patti's 10 for 10 bucks, but you have to buy 10.
Ok, so you don't buy "burger patties." *EVER* They are expensive. You buy *ground beef* 5 pounds at a time for $2.5/pound. Then you use your hands and *make* patties, at 3 ounces per patty. And for the price of one Mc'Ds french fry, you can get the generic frozen fries, or *better yet* get potatoes and cut them yourself. Three medium-sized potatoes will be enough fries for four people, plus 12 ounces of meat, plus a slice of cheese, and then you use bread instead of a bun.
When my my family gets fast food, it runs us about $35 for four. Whereas, I can get a week's worth of groceries for about $80 for all four of us. It blows my mind that anyone would whine about being poor, then pay someone to cook for them. I wish I had a personal chef too, but not being wealthy precludes that idea.
It makes no sense that any poor person would eat fast food every day, unless they are single with no kids. A single person could probably manage it.
Ok, I hate to admit this, but if you get inexpensive foods for most meals and eat off the dollar menu at fast food places you can eat for pretty cheap. We have gotten hamburgers at Mcdonalds for all of us for $7. it is still way cheaper to buy your own food and healthier.0 -
I have been poor and never been fat. Ate Ramen noodles(10 for $1.00) and a cuccumber everyday for lunch when I HAD to. Thankfully, those days are behind me. But being poor doesn't always=being fat.
Were you poor with a family?0 -
I've gone through moments, especially as a single mom, when money was so tight I had to get creative. It's not hard to spend $20 on enough food to get you through pay day, especially when you buy store-brand.
Whole wheat bread 2.99¢
Peanut butter $3.99
Brown rice in a bag 1.99¢
Banana 89¢ a lbs
Beans 99¢ per 8oz can (maybe 10oz) or .99 for the bagged kind you have to soak (but I've not actually seen them this cheap..)
Block of cheese $4.29
2 cans tuna $2.50
4 bag of frozen veggies $6
Bag of frozen boneless chicken breast $8.99
$31 grocery list. assuming you purchase 1 of each item listed above only.
ETA: I never see people on food stamps buy healthy food and the program doesn't really give them any reason to.. Indiana just reduced food stamps a bit and people were outraged... people who get between $400 and $700 a month in food stamps. HOW THE HELL do you spend that much on food a month? Even my family of 3, with big appetites, spends about $250 a MONTH on food and we budget loosely. For people who get WIC, it's not hard for them to follow a list of approved items such as bread, milk, beans and cheese.. Why can't the food stamps program ALSO have a list of approved items? Things like $6-7 frozen DiGiorno pizzas don't belong in a cart of someone on assistance when they are buying 5 at a time. That's money that could be well spent on many other meals.
Fixed it for you..
I'm trying very hard to get and stay under 400 a month for food. That's for a family of 2. and I'm struggling. and we eat healthy and I do not purchase junk. I do buy a lot of store brands and from the markdown bins.
Really, my husband, son, and I lived on that for all three of us for a time during our marriage. We have gotten of food stamps now. Now that was pretty hard. For just my husband and I after we got married, we usually just spent about $2-250 a month.0 -
Prisoners eat 3 terrible meals a day, many do not have access to weights. Many of these same people have incredible physiques. With poverty comes stress, with stress comes depression and poor choices. Whether these choices include overeating, over indulgence, addiction to intoxicants etc... Many "poor" people feel hopeless, and are therefore more likely to have less regard for their health and fitness. I cannot blame anyone for wanting to eat cake when their life is filled with worry. Poverty is the biggest crime in all of humanity, we are all to blame.
This is so true. That is exactly what causes more fatness among poor people, and yes if my life is not really very pleasant outside of my family and food because of worry and stress. I really do want to eat more food for comfort.0 -
Our grocery bill has stayed pretty much the same from going to a buy whatever we wanted to eating healthy. Instead of doritos/cookies/icecream/junk food we put that money into whole foods and we still stay around $100 a week and that includes buying organic foods for 3 people0
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There is a big difference between living in poverty (at a low socioeconomic status on the American scale) and being poor. There are many people who can't afford to have cable television, or a television, for that matter. There are many people who work minimum wage job many back-breaking hours to barely (or not) pay the bills they have.
The problem with judging those people solely by their weight is this: some of them receive food assistance in the fom of EBT or food stamps. That program gives a large amount of money based on what it estimates the family needs to buy healthy fresh food for itself, but then it does not educate the family on how to shop or cook said healthy fresh food.
And when you are poor, and cannot afford to reward yourself with high-dollar items like TVs or nice clothes, you reward yourself with some tasty food when you can. It's a broken system, where the only answer is education.
Yes you can blame lack of education but when you are gorging on pizzas, burgers, ice cream and the lot every day and your weight is ballooning, does it really require education to notice where one is going wrong. This is fundamentally ignored.
People who are more poor cannot gorge on pizza, burgers and ice cream everyday. I never have and I am still majorly overweight.0 -
i don't know about this... if you are "poor " you generally can receive Gov. assistance such as ( in TX) TANF and food stamps. considering that; it is just poor choice in foods because the financial burden has been lifted.0
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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.
^^QFT.
My mom and dad grew up during the Depression. No one was fat back then.
It would have been hard for them to get fat when they didn't eat. No one had money for food so no one ate. People literally starved to death. Just as they do in third-world countries, and in poverty-stricken areas of our own country.
That was my point. In The Depression, people truly were poor and did not know where their next meal was coming from. They also didn't spend what little money they had on cigarettes, beer, iPhones, etc. Nor did they go to McDonalds and buy 5 hamburgers and 2 fries off of the dollar menu, just for one person. (Yes, I saw this just the other day)
You get fat from eating more calories than your body needs. You do not have to have the money to buy Organic meats and veggies to eat within your calorie budget. It is all about choices, for ALL of us.
Most people, no matter what their economic status is, tend to have eating habits that mirror those that are around them. This is what they consider 'normal'. But it doesn't take a PHD or a 6 figure income to understand that if you are fat, you need to eat less.
So again, it comes down to choices. Using poverty as an excuse for being overweight, is a cop-out. There are many excuses that rich people use as well, that are also cop-outs. So no stereotyping or prejudices here, just the honest truth.
Very poor people do not have money for things like i-phones, cable, or health insurance. It is hard enough just to have the basics.0 -
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'm not even poor, I make minimum wage, but I eat for about a dollar a day so spending $1.50 on ONE MEAL sounds completely revolting when i can get a box of easymac for 79 cents, which is about 1100 calories. I'm not completely unhealthy; I eat a lot of peanut butter and sweet potatoes and eggs and oatmeal but meats and vegetables are off the menu for the time being so in that way eating healthy is DEFINITELY more expensive.
I agree with what other people are saying here about poor people being fat because they are stressed. Rich people can feel fulfilled and happy with their jobs and vacations or art or whatever but poor people know they will never be able to afford any of that so they find comfort in food.0 -
I've gone through moments, especially as a single mom, when money was so tight I had to get creative. It's not hard to spend $20 on enough food to get you through pay day, especially when you buy store-brand.
Whole wheat bread 99¢
Peanut butter $2
Brown rice in a bag 99¢
Banana 89¢ a bundle
Beans 99¢
Block of cheese $2
2 cans tuna $1
4 bag of frozen veggies $4
Bag of frozen boneless chicken breast $7
$20 grocery list.
ETA: I never see people on food stamps buy healthy food and the program doesn't really give them any reason to.. Indiana just reduced food stamps a bit and people were outraged... people who get between $400 and $700 a month in food stamps. HOW THE HELL do you spend that much on food a month? Even my family of 3, with big appetites, spends about $250 a MONTH on food and we budget loosely. For people who get WIC, it's not hard for them to follow a list of approved items such as bread, milk, beans and cheese.. Why can't the food stamps program ALSO have a list of approved items? Things like $6-7 frozen DiGiorno pizzas don't belong in a cart of someone on assistance when they are buying 5 at a time. That's money that could be well spent on many other meals.
Where do you live? The prices here are not that cheap. Even at Walmart whole wheat bread is around $3, good peanut butter is $3-4 for a small jar, bananas are about the same as you listed, a block of cheese is also around $3-6, tuna is $1 a can, frozen chicken breast is $11 or more. 1Where do you shop? The only really cheap items I know of are beans and rice. Eating vegan can save a lot of money too. I have gone through a whole month eating vegan and only spent $300 for my family.0
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