Obesity and poverty...
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justjayce
Posts: 11
I was reading through the thread about who is to blame for obese children. The unanimous consensus is that it's the parents' fault. While I agree to a certain extent, I think people are forgetting a few key pieces of info. Let's take a look at Mississippi. It's the #1 poorest state in the nation. It's also the #1 most obese state in the nation. It's also the #1 most hunger stricken state in the nation. How could that be? How can people be starving AND obese!? It doesn't make sense. Or does it?
If you go to the grocery and buy enough fresh, whole food to feed a family of four for a week, you'll likely spend no less than $200. Good, fresh, real food is terribly expensive. Crap food is not! A cheeseburger, fries, and coke at McDonalds cost $3. A salad at McDonalds cost $6. Fresh produce and meat is expensive compared to ramen noodles and Vienna sausages. It's next to impossible for people living in poverty to eat healthy food!
I don't know how to fix that, but I know that something needs to change if we're going to solve the obesity epidemic in this country!
If you go to the grocery and buy enough fresh, whole food to feed a family of four for a week, you'll likely spend no less than $200. Good, fresh, real food is terribly expensive. Crap food is not! A cheeseburger, fries, and coke at McDonalds cost $3. A salad at McDonalds cost $6. Fresh produce and meat is expensive compared to ramen noodles and Vienna sausages. It's next to impossible for people living in poverty to eat healthy food!
I don't know how to fix that, but I know that something needs to change if we're going to solve the obesity epidemic in this country!
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I aree with this. I also think that in impoverished communities, there is less knowledge about health, wellness and nutrition, which contributes also. It's hard for parents to teach their children healthy eating habits if they don't know about them either!0
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While i agree with you to an extent i'll also argue that yes you can feed a family of 4 for less than $200 a week. My Weekly grocery budget is 1/2 of that! I buy in bulk and also shop seasonal fruits and veggies. I also shop at farmers markets and a little amish shop that is in my neighborhood. Its not just what they are eating, but the quantity.0
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I will probably be bashed for this... HOWEVER, I'm putting it out there anyway.
I agree with you 110% and have thought for a very long time, that we need to find a way to help the people we have living here in our own country, and slow down on helping the other countries. Part of the reason we are falling apart as a country is because we have stopped looking inside and taking care of our own. We MUST fix the things that are broken here before we can go to other countries and fix what is broken.
When we were a stronger country, helping others was vitally important, but in doing so we have lost sight of our own countries needs! I find it extremely sad.
Ok, I'm going to get off of my soap box, because I could go on forever with this :sad:0 -
Some of the problem is education. People, even college educated, are not educated on nutrition. They rely on what the box says. Hey no Trans fats that must be good. Added fiber "I don't have to eat fruits". People are not educated.
Yes money plays a part. But at the same time so does the AMOUNT people eat. You are talking about the south were frying food is the way to go. I had family down in mississippi and they fried everyting.
Yes eating all fresh foods can be more expensive. But farmers markets (often take food stamps) are cheaper. It is very much an excuse. A person on food stamps can make better choices. Maybe not as good as those who have money but there are better choices a person can make. I think it would be helpful to give those getting food stamps go through a nutrition class. It is something that everyone would benefit from. However, if someone would show the people on food stamps what healthier stuff that could be bought some people would go that way.0 -
I watched an interesting show about obesity on HBO about a year ago. I think it was titled, "Weight of the Nation" . It stated that in a lot of cases, it is hard to find fresh fruits and vegetables in poorer neighborhoods. They don't have the grocery stores, or the grocery store just don't carry those items. Also, junk food tends to cost less in these poor neighborhoods making it more affordable for people there to buy. For instance an item (I forgot what) in a convenience market cost less in a poor neighborhood that the same item cost in a more upscale neighborhood. Some organizations are trying to change things by having "mobile" grocery stores come into those places once a week, so people can get healthier food.0
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I will probably be bashed for this... HOWEVER, I'm putting it out there anyway.
I agree with you 110% and have thought for a very long time, that we need to find a way to help the people we have living here in our own country, and slow down on helping the other countries. Part of the reason we are falling apart as a country is because we have stopped looking inside and taking care of our own. We MUST fix the things that are broken here before we can go to other countries and fix what is broken.
When we were a stronger country, helping others was vitally important, but in doing so we have lost sight of our own countries needs! I find it extremely sad.
Ok, I'm going to get off of my soap box, because I could go on forever with this :sad:
No bashing from me, well said and I agree with you 200%!!0 -
I recently went to a talk about food security. Basically, it talked about the ability of people living at or below the poverty level, and their ability to feed themselves and their families. Basically what it came down to is this: if a single mother with two kids is on income assistance, she receives $1124 a month.
Now by my calculations:
Monthly income: $1124
Rent: $ 700
Basic telephone/cable: $ 65
Electricity: $ 40
Bus passes $ 122
So that leaves Mom with $197 a month to feed herself and her two kids. That's $49.25 a week, or $7.04 a day.
Where I live, 4 liters of milk costs $7.49. A 2 liter of pop is $1.49. A loaf of bread costs $2.29. A box of Kraft dinner is $1.09.
In this lecture, they talked about the "basic food basket" which is the food that one would need to buy to follow Canada's food guide for healthy eating. The cost in our community to meet those basic requirements was over $80/week for this hypothetical mother and her two kids.
If a parent is trying to feed herself and her kids on less than $50 a week, of course they are going to eat a lot of boxed meals.
Another issue addressed was the fact that in the cycle of poverty, a lot of times parents just don't know or have the skills to prepare healthful meals, so even though you might be able to cook a healthy stew for $15 that would feed them for three days, Mom might not have the skills or the tools available.
So my point, after this rather long post, is that I do agree, poverty certainly plays a role.0 -
Lets take your McDonald meal and times by 4 so you have enough for your family. That's $12.
Or you could buy: Hamburger helper ($2), pound of 70/30 hamburger ($3), bag of peas (or frozen veggies of your choice $3), a head of lettuce ($2), salad dressing ($2.50), croutons ($1.50), and single tomato ($1) to feed your family of 4 for $15 (and I was rounding up on prices). And you will still have part of the: Lettuce, salad dressing, croutons, and frozen veggies for other meals.
While the second meal is certainly NOT the ideal in health and weight loss, it absolutely kicks the McDonald's meal in the *kitten*.
I don't think its a money issue. It's more about knowledge of proper health and nutrition- which those living in impoverished communities don't get enough of.0 -
I also agree. I'm from the UK and there is the same problem here. Most people don't take into account social and class and location factors when massively generalising unhealthy people into "too lazy and uneducated and not bothered to change". Sure if you have a car and can afford fuel to drive to a variety of shops for the healthiest foods for the cheapest price, good for you. And if you have time. And if you don't work several jobs to make ends meet so have time to spend long preparing instead of constantly having to just serve convenience foods. I get angry when people say that any reason to not eat right is one big excuse. It just makes so many assumptions about peoples' lives and makes people look ignorant when they assume that everyone lives near a market or has a working oven or has the time to cook batches of healthy meals.
(Just to clarify I'm not talking about myself I am lucky that I live near a market and have the time to shop around and to cook and make sure my family eats healthily but I am talking about other people I know).
That being said, my mum was poor and I grew up in a house with not much money and we ate super healthily because she had time to cook and we lived near a market. She actually said that the reason we didn't have much junk or convenience food was because she couldn't afford it really. Which is interesting. But the thing is, we lived on lentils and chickpeas and beans and rice and vegetable soup type dishes so if you've got children who won't eat the only healthy stuff you can afford, you're screwed.0 -
While i agree with you to an extent i'll also argue that yes you can feed a family of 4 for less than $200 a week. My Weekly grocery budget is 1/2 of that! I buy in bulk and also shop seasonal fruits and veggies. I also shop at farmers markets and a little amish shop that is in my neighborhood. Its not just what they are eating, but the quantity.
I agree with this. Are there problems? Absolutely. But, it still comes down to personal responsibility.
Rice, eggs, frozen veggies, beans, frozen chicken, apples, lettuce and bananas are all pretty inexpensive. And people could garden. Seeds are dirt cheap. If you have a backyard, you *could* grow some veggies.
My community received a grant to provide nutrition and cooking education to food-stamp recipients. They offered classes that focused on how to budget your food stamps, how to cook whole meals, and where to shop for the best deals. Attendance and participation were so poor that we didn't receive funding for a second year. Some people don't want to learn to change - which is true of any economic status. There are plenty of fat rich people too - they don't want to give up the drive-through or high calorie foods either.0 -
Part of the other problem is cooking skills. Great a bag of chickpeas is cheap, but if you don't know what to do with them what good are they?? People aren't taught how to COOK nutritious meals these days. Kale, another super yummy and nutritious food, but again...if you don't have a clue how to prepare it in a way that you and your family would enjoy...it would just go to waste.0
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While i agree with you to an extent i'll also argue that yes you can feed a family of 4 for less than $200 a week. My Weekly grocery budget is 1/2 of that! I buy in bulk and also shop seasonal fruits and veggies. I also shop at farmers markets and a little amish shop that is in my neighborhood. Its not just what they are eating, but the quantity.
Out in the country, they don't have farmer's markets and bulk stores. :frown: Where I grew up in Alabama, you had to drive about 30 mins. to get to the one tiny grocery store in the nearest town, and I didn't even know what a farmer's market was until I moved to a big city.0 -
Obesity is a matter of too many calories and not enough exercise. Poverty is not going to cause that. Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and obesity in some countries, but that doesn't equal causation.
I'd put my money on a lack of self control (which all children naturally have), combined with parents who either don't care, or who lack the ability to say "no" to their children, along with the parents modeling poor eating behavior.0 -
While i agree with you to an extent i'll also argue that yes you can feed a family of 4 for less than $200 a week. My Weekly grocery budget is 1/2 of that! I buy in bulk and also shop seasonal fruits and veggies. I also shop at farmers markets and a little amish shop that is in my neighborhood. Its not just what they are eating, but the quantity.
I agree with this. Are there problems? Absolutely. But, it still comes down to personal responsibility.
Rice, eggs, frozen veggies, beans, frozen chicken, apples, lettuce and bananas are all pretty inexpensive. And people could garden. Seeds are dirt cheap. If you have a backyard, you *could* grow some veggies.
My community received a grant to provide nutrition and cooking education to food-stamp recipients. They offered classes that focused on how to budget your food stamps, how to cook whole meals, and where to shop for the best deals. Attendance and participation were so poor that we didn't receive funding for a second year. Some people don't want to learn to change - which is true of any economic status. There are plenty of fat rich people too - they don't want to give up the drive-through or high calorie foods either.
Just to play devil's advocate, they offered those classes where I live as well, to recipients of social assistance. The classes were offered at 9 am and 2 pm. The attendance was exceedingly poor.
The organizers went out to ask people why they didn't come, and the overwhelming answer was that most of the people wanted to come, but at those times of day they were trying to catch public transit to get their kids to school and weren't able to afford to pay a sitter to watch their other child(ren) so they could attend.
The times of the classes were changed and free babysitting was provided. We now have a wait list.0 -
Just bought food to feed my family of 3 (big appetites) for $110 and it will last us about 10 days. Cart was full of nothing but meat, produce and a couple dairy products (milk and cheese).
So not true if you are a frugal shopper.0 -
I think it has to do with nutritional education and willingness to find a bargain. a lot of people don't realize how cheap fresh can actually be and the benefits to it. I have exactly 238 dollars left to purchase food with after bills. I can feed a family of 4 on that for a month. Our meals aren't huge, but they are filling. I budget 50 a week for food and the 38 goes towards toiletries and milk. I ad-match and coupon everything though. If more people used coupons they'd have a lot more money even on SNAP. It's not like they cost you anything to clip either.
edit: this includes all of our meat and produce.0 -
Obesity is a matter of too many calories and not enough exercise. Poverty is not going to cause that. Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and obesity in some countries, but that doesn't equal causation.
I'd put my money on a lack of self control (which all children naturally have), combined with parents who either don't care, or who lack the ability to say "no" to their children, along with the parents modeling poor eating behavior.
I'm sorry, but do you know how elitist this sounds? I do a lot of advocacy work with the poor in my community particularly around food security for families. We live in a middle class neighbourhood on the edge of an impoverished area and I was shocked to find out that most of the kids my son goes to school work don't get any meals other than the ones provided by the breakfast program. It's not a lack of care from their parents, it's a complete and total lack of resources. A lot of people are also too ashamed to ask for help because they face discrimination and shaming, as so eloquently modeled in your post above.0 -
I think it is offensive to equate poverty with lack of knowledge and education. Due to the struggling economy, even people with PhDs can be under the poverty line. I know of many intellectuals that have had trouble making ends meet. This type of thinking is stereotyping plain and simple and it is sadly quite prevalent in this entire thread.
On the other hand, I do agree with the interesting posts about this topic.0 -
Obesity is a matter of too many calories and not enough exercise. Poverty is not going to cause that. Yes, there is a correlation between poverty and obesity in some countries, but that doesn't equal causation.
I'd put my money on a lack of self control (which all children naturally have), combined with parents who either don't care, or who lack the ability to say "no" to their children, along with the parents modeling poor eating behavior.
I'm sorry, but do you know how elitist this sounds? I do a lot of advocacy work with the poor in my community particularly around food security for families. We live in a middle class neighbourhood on the edge of an impoverished area and I was shocked to find out that most of the kids my son goes to school work don't get any meals other than the ones provided by the breakfast program. It's not a lack of care from their parents, it's a complete and total lack of resources. A lot of people are also too ashamed to ask for help because they face discrimination and shaming, as so eloquently modeled in your post above.
Yes, thank you, my thoughts exactly!! It is hard enough for people to be struggling under the poverty line, when especially in expensive urban centres many companies are barely paying a living wage even for positions requiring advanced degrees. To be labelled as uneducated and ignorant simply due to low income is outrageous!0 -
This makes sense for the US and Canada and other countries, but....
I live part of the year in the Dominican Republic. I rarely see over weight, fat, obese people there. The usual monthly income is around 200-300 dollars or less! But people aren't starving, they are a healthy weight.
Not to mention that Dominican people spend a huge part of their monthly income on things like their hair, cell phones and other things.
How do they do it?
Well...rice and beans is cheap and healthy. Veggies actually only cost a little bit less or the same as here in Canada in the summer time, but they eat them regularly. A chicken there is about three dollars. But when you look at the cost of living, that is still more than the 6 dollars I spend on a chicken here ( all things adjusted)
They very rarely crap or processed food. Those things are imported and very expensive.
Not to mention that most of my Dominican friends are a lot less active than we are....they all hate to walk anywhere and I have never seen one exercise on purpose.
The point is...you can be poor and eat properly, it is cheaper to eat properly if you eat the basics and stay away from processed food.
I have learned a lot from the Dominican people on how to live healthy, that is for sure.
You can be poor and not be fat. A bag of rice is a few dollars, a bag of beans is a few dollars...a chicken is a few dollars, basics that you actually cook into meals that are healthy, can be pretty cheap.0
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