Obesity and poverty...
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Some don't care. Claiming otherwise is naive. Sorry, but if you have the experience you claim, you know this. I've seen way too much of it firsthand.
Besides, read what I wrote. "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." Note the word "either."
I agree with you, some don't care. But not most. Most people are just trying to do the best that they can. That means feeding their kids calorically dense nutritionally void foods.
It just saddens me so to see all people who live in poverty painted with this brush. Poverty is such an overarching term for some many social issues, and it just makes me really, really sad to see a group of people characterized in such a way because they live at or below the poverty line.0 -
I have never been obese nor have I lived in poverty. I don't think I have any right to speculate on something I have only ever read about.
It's an interesting topic, but I think the key to finding a solution is to ask the people who live this way why they are unable to cook nutritious meals. Is it a lack of readily available ingredients? Is it lack of knowing how to prepare healthy foods? Is it because they actually DO think they are making healthy meals?
As for exercise, perhaps one reason why they are obese is that they are reluctant to go out in their neighbourhood, unless they have to, because they are afraid.
All too often, people make decision for others without ever actually understanding what they need to help them with.0 -
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!
So,............are you from Mississippi or near by?
Just wanted to leave this here.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-south-fattest.html0 -
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.
^ Definately this...I can't tell you how many times I have stood in grocery store lines and watched cart fulls of junk food be checked out, only to see the person buying them paid for them with a "Lonestar" card. (Texas' version). There are tons of other inexpensive healtier options but they choose to buy junk food. Self control on both the children and parents part as well as lack of nutritional education is the biggest culprit.0 -
:flowerforyou:0
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As someone who actually came from a poverty-stricken background, allow me to shed a little light on a lot of people's situation. I'm not going to give my opinion on the topic itself, just some information for other people to consider before they do. If you haven't been horribly poor you really do not have any idea of how to guess what you'd do in the situation.
1) Sometimes your family has no way to get to a grocery store often, so you shop at what's nearby, usually at convenience stores. Most convenience stores do not sell fruits and vegetables, only non-perishable items. Sometimes the nearest grocery store sucks, and you can't afford any better.
1.5) When you have little money, you want your food to feed many mouths and/or last a long time. With most perishables being at a week or so, the incentive to buy is very low.
2) Sometimes there is literally no yard or even a patio/balcony. You are apartment 15F in a 20-story building full of people just like you. No one is doing any gardening.
2.5) No grocery store owner in is right mind wants to open a grocery store in your neighborhood because he doesn't want to be robbed, or have people steal his merchandise.
3) Your live with your mother who works 2 jobs.
4) Your dad pays no child support and doesn't pick you up to have dinner or go to the park for a run.
5) When your mom wants to make you smile, she buys you candy and "treats". The neighbors give you candy and treats, too, because you and your friends are good kids, and candy is cheap.
6) You're not taught nutrition in school. You go to a school that sucks because it gets almost no funding because the students do poorly on their tests, and your teacher spends half the day disciplining other students. He or she spends one third of the school year preparing you for standardized tests that most students will fail.
6.5) Schools themselves are serving students things that are not healthful. Pizza (recently deemed a vegetable in the US, by the way) tater tots, and brown meat served with instant potatoes isn't setting the best example.
7) People in poverty usually have very little education. Don't assume they should know they need to eat healthier.
8) They are raised to keep hunger away (just as our public school food system continues to model), not to be nutritionally balanced. Think of comfort foods, and remember why they bring comfort. They're filling and swimming in salt and butter or grease, and they make you feel good.
9) Your brain associates hunger with stress. Your mom can't afford to buy a better car, a couch that has all 4 legs and no rips in it, a coffee maker to replace her old one, but she will be damned if she can't feed you and you have to feel what she felt when she was a hungry little kid living just like you do now.
You're right about a lot of this - there was a period of time when I grew up that was a lot like this. We slept in one bed because there was no heat. A lot of meals were PB&J because that's all we had. We didn't have nice tennis shoes or new clothes, but we could often scrounge up 50 cents to go buy a candy bar at the gas station.
I can't speak to what it's like in other areas. Where I live in rural Indiana, there are lots of resources for food. We have 3 large grocery stores in town, one within walking distance of most homes. We also have an Aldi's and 3 ethnic grocery stores. We have a farmer's market. We have 3 food pantries and a "buddy bags" program in the local schools. We have 5-6 parks in a town of 16000 people. We are ideally set up to promote a healthier lifestyle.
It's an impoverished community. We spend 50% more on "benefits" every month than other surrounding communities. In our school system, 75% of the kids are on free lunches. A lot of them eat the free breakfast every day as well. Our economy was based in manufacturing and when the recession it, it hit us hard.
But as I said, efforts to improve nutrition and combat obesity are falling on deaf ears around here. People literally do not want to change, even though it would be easy for them to do so - in this setting (not speaking for other areas). With the available services, access to stores and parks, and the layout of the community (and the relative safety of the community as well....we have a lot of drug problems, but not a lot of violent crime), it wouldn't be as difficult to make good decisions with the benefits received as it might be somewhere else.
That's why I say - for here, anyway - it's a matter of choice.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.
Agreed. It's all about choice and accountability.0 -
Fresh fruits and produce can be expensive if they are not in season and do perish but you can get the same things in the frozen food aisle for about $1 a bag if you get the store brand.
I'd like to also add that people on WIC and Food stamps are given materials to educate them on healthy foods. Heck, for WIC, you can only get healthy foods! We have one grocery store in our area that is surrounded by government subsidized housing and it's a nightmare to go shopping there. It's exactly how the "generalizations" would seem. Lots of overweight people buying overloaded carts of junk. Chips, pop, sweets, etc. If I had $200 a month in free food, I can't even imagine how much produce and lean meat I could buy!
Do you think that most of these people don't have internet or internet access? It takes 5 minutes to get on google or pinterest and find loads of healthy, cheap recipes.0 -
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.
(No, I don't think everyone here is in the US, but that's what I'm going to talk about, because it's where I live, and what I know. )
You're brushing over the fact that many truly impoverished people have little access to transportation, either. If it's difficult to get to the store, then keeping on replenishing fresh food may simply not be an option. At the least, it is a lot more work than buying packaged stuff that will last all month (until you get your next check or supply of food stamps). Not everyone has access to public transportation, either.
I don't know where you live, but when I lived in the South, I never saw a farmer's market. There were roadside stands, yes, and maybe it was just that my family didn't look for farmer's markets, but, I never saw one. Now that I live in New England, they're everywhere. And they're NOT cheaper, at least, not in my experience. I have no idea about farmer's markets in the rest of the country, but I would imagine that unless it's in his/her neighborhood, a person living in poverty in the middle of a city would not be quick go to a farmer's market that may or may not even take food stamps.
I am not in poverty, but I do live in a house with limited space, and a regular small refrigerator/freezer. I'd like to buy in bulk more often, but living alone, it's not always cheaper (ie it goes bad), and I don't have much space to put things or a lot of area to cook. If I don't have room, I can only imagine what it's like for a family living in a small apartment. And, I know how to cook, and can afford to have the internet and cookbooks at my disposal. Not everyone does.
It's not just a lack of money, but sometimes a complete & utter lack of access to resources. It's also exhausting, worrying everyday about where your next meal may come from. And combine that with lack of education (for some, definitely not all), it's no wonder some of those in poverty just don't know where to turn or what to do.
whoops - I just realized I edited out the part where the original poster of this quoted comment was referring to the South.
Sorry if I prattled on... I just have a lot of mixed feelings about poverty and it really worries me that people could be going through this right next door.0 -
If you spent $3 on a cheeseburger, fries and a coke at McDonald's you have gotten yourself a kid's meal which would have more calories, less nutrition than one of there $6 salads. I think what it boils down to is laziness. Yes it is easier to swing through a drive through, but if you buy a pound of hamburger meat ($3.50), some buns (usually can find on sale for $1 for 8), a sack of potatoes ($3) you can cook all of it yourself and have left over food for what it would cost to feed a family of four at McDonald's.0
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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!
agreed!!!0 -
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:
I agree 100%0 -
We don't know why obesity has risen so dramatically. We can hypothesize, and people do. Obesity is a hotbed of medical research because affects a lot of people, the implications are dramatic, and the contributing causes seem to be complex and varied, with roots in social changes, possible environmental triggers, and human physiology.0
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Its very complicated,
I can feed my family of four for less than $100 a week.
It takes time to figure out what to buy and what not to buy and how to save money, cant go buying processed foods. Bananas are 59 cents a lbs, that's for a few dollars that's a good part of a meal.
I do understand poverty and being obese, because its also about teaching people how to eat, not so much if they may not have so much money.
There should be more community courses on how to cook healthy and the schools need to feed the kids healthy meals.
And ultimately its up to the individual if they can help it. I grew up in a household where we lived in a one bedroom apartment when I was young, we hardly ever ate out and my mom cooked everyday.0 -
I agree with the original post--poverty a lot of times does pay a major factor in why a lot of impoverished families are not able to feed their children/familes "healthy" food. Though there are ways to "cut cost" (i.e. coupons, fresh market, etc.) a lot of impoverished families are not aware of these resources. It's sad but true.0
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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!
I think this is key. Yes it is tougher to eat healthy on a tight budget but I don't believe it's more expensive than junk if you shop right. Some weeks I go to the store and buy enough healthy food to feed me for the next week, and then during that week I never have to get fast food. Other weeks, I don't go to the grocery store (too busy, too broke, etc) and I eat most of my meals from places like McDonalds. The interesting thing? The weeks I spend eating fast food are ALWAYS more expensive than the ones when I get groceries and eat at home!
I think it's easy to fall into the "eating healthy is expensive" trap because like OP said, you think "I could get a full meal at Taco Bell for $3" but the fact is, if you cook at home your meals probably come out to that amount or less. I make lentils with veggies all the time at home, it's incredibly healthy and comes out to less than $1 per serving. I buy frozen bags of chicken, it's $10 for a bag but it's enough chicken to last me for a week or two. If I make grilled chicken it also comes out to less than $1 per serving. Slap it on some bread and it's just over $1 per serving. A grilled chicken sandwich at McDonalds is like $3.
I don't think it's EASY to eat healthy when you're poor, but I definitely think it's possible.0 -
I was raised in the 70's 80's by a single mom who worked at GC Murphy company. (a retail store like K-mart) She made very little money. we were considered poor by todays standards.
She knew absolutely nothing about nutrition. She was raised in the South so the meals she COOKED for me were southern. She cooked with lard and butter and Crisco in the big ole can that she used to store the bacon grease in when it was empty. We ate a lot of greens, fresh I might add, she used to snap the green beans and we ate collard greens with corn bread one of her specialties. She also cooked a lot of fried chicken. She would smother pork chops in batter and my school lunches consisted of bologna and tuna fish. Vienna sausages I ate for snacks and my drink of choice was kool aid
I say that to say this. Neither one of us were obese. Mama was a little over weight but I was stick thin. Why??? Because I rode my bike all summer and roller skated (indoors) in the winter. Obesity has not so much to do with income level as it does activity level. These kids are fat because they eat too much and move too little. Generally speaking. Of course there are exceptions.0 -
I think it is a combination of factors:
In many impoverished countries people are thin, and I think a big part of that is: 1) highly processed foods aren't available 2) people cook because they have to.
A lb of beans isn't expensive...they are very nutritious. But, if you don't know how to make them, you don't know how long they'll keep...you aren't going to make them.
My parents were working poor and we lived on beans, low fat hamburgers my mom made and froze over the weekends, oatmeal and vegetables from her garden which she canned for the winter months. But, all of this takes some basic knowledge of cooking/cooking science which most of us (rich and poor alike) lack.
I detest it when people "blame" parents. I'm a parent, I know lots of other parents...rich, poor or in the middle you do the very best you can with what you are given. Walk in the shoes of someone who is living paycheck to paycheck, who can't take her kids to the park because of drug deals and gang wars,whose kids can't play outside cause they'll get caught in gang crossfire or be sexually assaulted or recruited as a runner for a drug lord, who isn't using her stove because the slum lord turned off the utilities... Many families are hanging by their fingers just trying to survive...
If you are living in a constant state of threat, you're not clipping coupons and doing menu planning...being poor is a full time job which leave you in a state of exhaustion.0 -
If poverty was the cause of obesity, then 3rd would countries should be having the same issues.
While some of the stats are legit, you would think that making less and having less meant one would eat less. Unfortunately that's usually not the case. And lots of people would rather have "fun" stuff like computers and phones to spend their money on rather than actual whole food.
Before the cell phone boom (I'm not against them), how did families keep in touch or safe if they were away from each other? What's my point? Lots of families have phones and pay well over $150 a month for them rather than actual food.
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No, sorry, but in third world countries there is an overall lack of food. No one is saying the people in poverty starve. They don't. They eat poorly. I have a very tight budget as a single mother. I have had to coupon clip and scrimp to feed my family. I can tell you without a doubt there have been times when I have bought things that I would not normally eat just to make sure my children have full bellies. As an example I had coupons for frozen family dinners and it made them free. I was broke so I bought it, or rather got if for free. I have learned how to shop with sales and use coupons to cook healthy meals however, it is not always that simple. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. In the last 5years food cost has increased while incomes have not, people sometimes just don't have enough.0 -
But as I said, efforts to improve nutrition and combat obesity are falling on deaf ears around here. People literally do not want to change, even though it would be easy for them to do so - in this setting (not speaking for other areas).
Though it may be easier where you are than elsewhere, no, change is never easy. Especially when you're talking about changing the entire way your whole family eats. We've all seen just here on MFP how hard it is - there are daily struggles with eating the right things! You're asking people with even fewer resources to do what I, and many other people on here, only manage with difficulty.0
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