Are the poor fat?

yes, for a myriad of reasons. First, they are more likely to be uneducated. This is not always true of course (I'm pretty poor and I have a Bachelors degree)but overall. So they might not understand as much about nutrition, and may fall victim more often to the bogus claims on food packages. Secondly, they are going to buy what is cheap and fills you up. Ramen is super cheap! Its also caloric as hell. They are also more likely to have been raised on that kind of food, so its what they know and grew to like. If you grow up on hamburger helper and blue box mac n cheese, real homemade food and fresh vegetables taste weird and are so unfamiliar. Finally, they usually are pretty busy, working multiple jobs etc as well as having inadequate living space. So they dont have as much time to spend preparing food and planning meals,and they may not have great equipment to cook with or space for prepping food or storing food. I know a lot of people who only can go shopping every two weeks so they buy a lot of frozen and boxed food because it keeps.

As for the poor, well - in america its VERY expensive to eat properly for alot of people

Not true. Anyone who thinks it's expensive to eat "properly" has a skewed definition of "proper" eating. My family of four has a healthy diet on about $80 a week. I simply buy things when they are on sale, and I don't buy any of the expensive, pre-prepared foods such as frozen dinners and pizza rolls, etc. I review the weekly ads and buy the loss leaders at three to four different stores. For someone not willing to plan, the food that I get might cost them nearly twice what I pay.

They may also not have the time, the transportation, or the organizational skills to do so.

As for the poor, well - in america its VERY expensive to eat properly for alot of people

Not true. Anyone who thinks it's expensive to eat "properly" has a skewed definition of "proper" eating. My family of four has a healthy diet on about $80 a week. I simply buy things when they are on sale, and I don't buy any of the expensive, pre-prepared foods such as frozen dinners and pizza rolls, etc. I review the weekly ads and buy the loss leaders at three to four different stores. For someone not willing to plan, the food that I get might cost them nearly twice what I pay.

They may also not have the time, the transportation, or the organizational skills to do so.

Excuses that translate into: "I really don't think eating healthy is very important."

yes, for a myriad of reasons. First, they are more likely to be uneducated. This is not always true of course (I'm pretty poor and I have a Bachelors degree)but overall. So they might not understand as much about nutrition, and may fall victim more often to the bogus claims on food packages. Secondly, they are going to buy what is cheap and fills you up. Ramen is super cheap! Its also caloric as hell. They are also more likely to have been raised on that kind of food, so its what they know and grew to like. If you grow up on hamburger helper and blue box mac n cheese, real homemade food and fresh vegetables taste weird and are so unfamiliar. Finally, they usually are pretty busy, working multiple jobs etc as well as having inadequate living space. So they dont have as much time to spend preparing food and planning meals,and they may not have great equipment to cook with or space for prepping food or storing food. I know a lot of people who only can go shopping every two weeks so they buy a lot of frozen and boxed food because it keeps.

There is nothing inherently unhealthy about Ramen or mac n cheese. Both of these cheap items are regulars on my grocery list. This is part of what I meant by a skewed sense of "proper" or "healthy." One box of mac n cheese split between four people makes a great side dish for a well-balanced meal. One person eating the whole box for a meal...might not be so healthy.

And i've no doubt you are an excellent mum, and have worked your *kitten* off to provide the best for her, not taking anything away from that - i think its amazing! whilst 80 dollars to eat well sounds cheap to some people try telling that to someone who brings home 200dollars a week - when their rent is 100 dollars - bills might be 30 and .. oh you know what i mean?

Do you have any CLUE how many social programs that person qualifies for?

I Juice 2 meals a day and eat the middle one solid food, Juicing costs me about £70-£90 a week and eating lunch (I live in a very health conscious area) so its pretty easy to eat properly at lunch can run me £10 a day easily but im happy to spend money eating properly, but alot of people wouldn't be able to do that

You say that as though juicing is necessary and someone can't pack a lunch at home for way cheaper than $10 or 10 pounds or whatever ...

And i've no doubt you are an excellent mum, and have worked your *kitten* off to provide the best for her, not taking anything away from that - i think its amazing! whilst 80 dollars to eat well sounds cheap to some people try telling that to someone who brings home 200dollars a week - when their rent is 100 dollars - bills might be 30 and .. oh you know what i mean?

Do you have any CLUE how many social programs that person qualifies for?

I Juice 2 meals a day and eat the middle one solid food, Juicing costs me about £70-£90 a week and eating lunch (I live in a very health conscious area) so its pretty easy to eat properly at lunch can run me £10 a day easily but im happy to spend money eating properly, but alot of people wouldn't be able to do that

You say that as though juicing is necessary and someone can't pack a lunch at home for way cheaper than $10 or 10 pounds or whatever ...

Yeah, if you only bring home $200 per week, then you qualify for all sorts of help, especially with food. I spend $80 because I make too much to qualify for assistance, but don't have much left after the bills are paid.

I think it is a combination of many factors with education being a very important key. Not just educating on making healthy choices, but learning how to prepare the foods. I used to work with pregnant teens and one of the exercises I would have them do is go to the grocery store with $10.00. It was an exercise to help teach healthy food choices on a limited budget. Most of my girls went for the pre-packaged foods. This is what was familiar to them. Their lack of education was knowing how to prepare a meal that didn't come out of a box or a bag.

Yeah ... having kids increases the household size, so you qualify with a larger income. But if you're only making $200 a month, even if you're a one-person household, you qualify. Food stamps (EBT) is a federal program and must abide by federal laws, mostly. States only have limited leeway.

I read $200 per week

Yeah ... having kids increases the household size, so you qualify with a larger income. But if you're only making $200 a month, even if you're a one-person household, you qualify. Food stamps (EBT) is a federal program and must abide by federal laws, mostly. States only have limited leeway.

I read $200 per week

You're right. I misread.

Either way, $800 a month should still qualify. The standard is 150% or 200% above the FPL (depending on the program). At $10,400 a year, even a one-person household is well below that level. And if it's in a state with EIC, that person's income (with only one child) would end up being closer to $16,000 or $17,000 at the end of the year, plus benefits.

I'm not saying you're going to live high on the hog on that amount of money, but it's still more than I had working a full-time job when I started out after college.

Yeah ... having kids increases the household size, so you qualify with a larger income. But if you're only making $200 a month, even if you're a one-person household, you qualify. Food stamps (EBT) is a federal program and must abide by federal laws, mostly. States only have limited leeway.

I read $200 per week

You're right. I misread.

Either way, $800 a month should still qualify. The standard is 150% or 200% above the FPL (depending on the program). At $10,400 a year, even a one-person household is well below that level. And if it's in a state with EIC, that person's income (with only one child) would end up being closer to $16,000 or $17,000 at the end of the year, plus benefits.

I'm not saying you're going to live high on the hog on that amount of money, but it's still more than I had working a full-time job when I started out after college.

I dont know how old you are now or how long ago you went to college so only have my own experience to draw upon on this one - so forgive any disparities etc etc - when i went to work first i survived on £220 a week - the wages doing those kind of jobs have not changed even a tiny bit - but rent has inflated 400-900% depending on where you live in the last 12yrs, house prices have uncoupled themselves from reality - and are now running 1.1million and more - the average salary is 22k where as the average house price has just tipped 250k - so 10x salary in a normal area, in london this price increased somewhere in the high 8-900k whilst the average only jumps to 35k - so we are talking about 30x salary mortgages.. the only people buying are the assett rich, and crooks!

these crazy prices have been allowed by the elite and a corrupt government to run up who own them - which were bought for 80k a decade ago, peanuts basically!

Food prices easily go up 6-10% a year - EASILY! 5p here, 10p there - 5yrs ago £60 got me a decent trolley of food - one of the big ones! - now £60 barely gets you 2 bags of produce - a few steaks, some eggs some veg but it wouldn't last you a week.

Petrol prices have gone from 83p a litre or £3.20 a gallon ish - to £1.43 a litre or £6.43 a gallon - a rough translation is your looking at a 10 dollar gallon right now for gas in the UK.

Living on £220 a week here in the UK would put you out of commission pretty much, any notion of healthy eating would be the first thing to go when your rent swallows more than 60% of your paycheck .. the only release people have is to get help with their rent and go onto welfare schemes instead of making employers pay a decent working wage - we wouldn't want to have vodafone pay their tax bill in full now would we, that would be terrible!! whilst crooks like starbucks, vodafone, apple, and other corporations get away with paying no capital gains tax whatsoever on billions in UK profits ordinary peoples living costs are going through the roof and we are picking up the tab -

i liken it this way: we are basically being taken to the cash coverters by our paymasters and pawning ourselves in return for basic subsistence!