Obesity and poverty...

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:




^^^^ This ~ just so you know you are not the only one who feels this way, I could not agree more!!!

I disagree for three reasons.

1. I know a family of 4 on food stamps, they receive $760 a month in food stamps. That is less than what I spend on food for my family of 4 and my kids are older.

2. I can think of a dozens fairly inexpensive meals/snacks/lunches.

3. It is calories in and calories out. I could lose weight on Mcdonalds if I wanted to.

OK, so here goes with my soap box. Here in Oklahoma if you don't have enough money you get food stamps AND your kids get free and reduced lunches AND you have access to food pantries. BUT NO ONE MAKES THE PARENTS GET UP AND GET THINGS DONE. One family that I know reported that the father moved out (he did threaten to do so but never actually did) and so Mom and three kids got $600 a month in food stamps. Excuse me but I have never spent that kind of money on food (maybe the fact that it's my own money that had to be earned played into it) and my husband and I raised five kids. Three boys working hard through their teenage years and eating like teenage boys. Beans, potatoes and oatmeal are pretty cheap compared to pop and chips. Yeah, pop is cheaper than milk--but water is WAY cheaper (at least as it comes out of the tap). We had all the milk, meat, eggs and fresh produce that we needed. But we didn't buy cookies (we made them) or chips (we just didn't eat them) or pop (only for special occasions). The mother of some children that we fostered for over a year also afforded many niceties that we never considered--like little individual serving packages of ice cream. Her children ate mostly candy and drank mostly juice (from WIC--extra food stamps for children). She NEVER prepared a meal--only prepackaged foods were on the menu at her house--even though she had NO JOB AT ALL. When we got them they were overweight and malnourished. One moved from the 34th percentile for height to the 90th in 6 months at our house. I'm sorry, the problem isn't poverty--they are linked because the same things that cause obesity in children cause poverty. Giving them more money and more food (and more education even) won't help until they decide they want to change. It doesn't take a government program--unless that program might require an effort to be put forth by it's recipients--it will take change in the communities and a willingness to work with these people in meaningful ways. Can you pick up one of these children and take them to church? to Boy Scouts? to 4H? can you be a Big Brother/Big Sister? do yard work with them or help out on a community project? just be a friend (and mentor)? They came from homes where hard work didn't happen and they don't have a way to learn how to make things work unless someone reaches out. It's risky, but worthwhile. If a person waits to have children until after finishing high school and getting married they have a 98% LOWER RISK of EVER living in poverty. And I think it will also have a very direct effect on the lives of those children also.

About 16% of Americans are below the poverty line. But more than twice that number are obese, and that's not even counting the "merely" overweight.
There are definitely a lot of obese Americans who are so poor that they simply cannot afford or access good choices. But that is not the whole story. The numbers just don't support that conclusion.

Part of it is home economics though. Things like beans, cabbage and rice are cheaper than eating at McDonad's, but you have to know how to cook them.

I think poverty plays a role in poor eating choices but it isn't the only factor. I almost cried at the grocery store last week because I watched the couple in front of me who were the same age as my boyfriend and I and they were both overweight buy 200 dollars worth of groceries (mostly junk like pop, frozen meals, white bread, etc.) with a bridge card (food stamps). I bought 20 dollars worth of produce and basic things with my own money and I am crazy broke. I go to school full time, work 3 jobs, and have plenty of bills to pay. I buy whats on sale, use coupons when I can, and try to make healthy choices. I wanted to cry because it wasn't fair! I'd love to be able to spend that much on food without caring about the prices but I'd buy healthy organic things. I know it was selfish of me to think that way because obviously I was just judging them for that one moment which is wrong but it definitely supports the idea that people choose to eat unhealthy while being poor. =/

OK I have to disagree with this 100%. Do you know how much a bag of Doritos costs? $3-5. A happy meal is like $2.50-$3.00.

A bag of frozen veggies is like $1.50 if you get the generic. Bulk beans and brown rice is also very cheap. Food stamps will cover milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt and the like... so you make lots of casseroles and maybe you don't get meat in every meal... maybe you use beans instead which are also a good source of Protein.

It's totally possible to eat better on a budget. Bananas are like 40cents/lb people... its possible if they TRY A LITTLE HARDER. Not to mention, I grew up in a poor community... and the parents always found $$ for beer didn't they? Yep.

I'm glad we all agree that the problem is people shouldn't drop out babies if they can't afford to feed them.

Wow.. That's a thought.. But it ain't gonna happen as long as children are so lucrative for some. :frown:

I'm glad we all agree that the problem is people shouldn't drop out babies if they can't afford to feed them.

I'm glad we can solve all of our social issues so easily. Just don't "drop out babies" and buy healthy food. Gotcha. Because there aren't a whole host of other factors that come into play with either of these issues.

I am a blessed poor married mother of 6. I am blessed because I have a huge garden and yard. At the end of the summer I can and freeze everything. I spent the money to buy fruit trees and berry bushes. I grow all organic. Doing this has saved me $1000's for the couple of hundred I spent on the trees. I have 2 apple trees, 3 cherries, this year I am adding pears and plums. I also have elderberries, red white pink and black currents, strawberries, red and yellow raspberries gooseberries and 3 huge rhubarbs. In the garden I grow every year corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, pumpkins and okra. I then start all the herbs I can grow here in Minnesota which are basil, oregano, fennel, cilantro, thyme, mints garlic and lavender. So I don't have to spend on fresh fruits and veggies for 90% of the year. We buy 1 cow 2 hogs and about 50 chickens a year from a local farmer. I do all of this and some years we have been down to 12,500 a year and not 1 of my kids have ever missed a meal and we have a family of 8.
The problem is that we have gotten away from the basics. Nobody has a clue where their food is coming from and they aren't educated enough to know to care. If you are given food stamps you can go to the store and buy what you want. That includes pop candy, boxed meals. They walk past the produce isle and go straight for the chips and cookies. The best thing they could do is limit what people can buy. It's time to say no you can't buy anything prepared. Just because you have to take it home and toss it in the microwave or the oven means no you can't buy it. Wonder why you run out of money on your EBT card at the end of the month? It's because you went to the gas station and bought a 4 dollar burrito every day, or a $10 take and bake pizza a couple of times a week. That money goes way faster than it should. My sister in-law gets food stamps about $ 1000.00 and runs through them in a weeks because of what she buys.
People in HUD housing have to pay $150 to start a garden that is only 10x10. Funny part is you could grow $1000 worth of food in that every year.Which would save the government money in food stamps and medcaid in the health benifits. Because they would be outside working and eating better food.
The problem is lack of education about nutrition, availablity of chemical laden processed prepackage crap, instead of real food!

I am a blessed poor married mother of 6. I am blessed because I have a huge garden and yard. At the end of the summer I can and freeze everything. I spent the money to buy fruit trees and berry bushes. I grow all organic. Doing this has saved me $1000's for the couple of hundred I spent on the trees. I have 2 apple trees, 3 cherries, this year I am adding pears and plums. I also have elderberries, red white pink and black currents, strawberries, red and yellow raspberries gooseberries and 3 huge rhubarbs. In the garden I grow every year corn, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, onions, squash, zucchini, pumpkins and okra. I then start all the herbs I can grow here in Minnesota which are basil, oregano, fennel, cilantro, thyme, mints garlic and lavender. So I don't have to spend on fresh fruits and veggies for 90% of the year. We buy 1 cow 2 hogs and about 50 chickens a year from a local farmer. I do all of this and some years we have been down to 12,500 a year and not 1 of my kids have ever missed a meal and we have a family of 8.

OK I have to disagree with this 100%. Do you know how much a bag of Doritos costs? $3-5. A happy meal is like $2.50-$3.00.

A bag of frozen veggies is like $1.50 if you get the generic. Bulk beans and brown rice is also very cheap. Food stamps will cover milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt and the like... so you make lots of casseroles and maybe you don't get meat in every meal... maybe you use beans instead which are also a good source of Protein.

It's totally possible to eat better on a budget. Bananas are like 40cents/lb people... its possible if they TRY A LITTLE HARDER. Not to mention, I grew up in a poor community... and the parents always found $$ for beer didn't they? Yep.

Plus a big turkey makes a lot of sandwiches and is pretty cheap too.

Edited to add: I used to help take around meals to the poor and almost every one of them had more electronics, nicer TVs and better cars than me.

I'm glad we all agree that the problem is people shouldn't drop out babies if they can't afford to feed them.

Wow.. That's a thought.. But it ain't gonna happen as long as children are so lucrative for some. :frown:

When I was at the Social Security office getting my card, the dude at the booth beside me was asking how much the payouts would increase if he had 1 more kid, 2 more kids, 3 more kids... and he was taking notes on all the different things that would boost the payout and the SS employee was more than happy to oblige.

My mom in law retired from the state welfare office. The stories she told were incredible, and quite sad.. The waste and abuse of the system is legendary. The ones who need it a lot of the time don't qualify. and the ones who do, abuse it. You aren't allowed to question even though Ms Jones is telling you her children's father ran out on them, but you know for a fact he is in the waiting room waiting for them. Or the woman who gets emergency assistance and you see her an hour later getting her nails done. You still can't question them. Many choose that lifestyle because it pays well. Why try to do better if you don't need to.. Unfortunately the kids are the ones who suffer.