Are the poor fat?

Greytfish · March 2014

Rice, however, for example, is cheap.... and healthier than fries, cheap burgers and the other products high in saturated fat. This however, is an example of lifestyle choice which is generally ignored. Other cuts of chicken, different veg, etc. are also cheap.

Finally, someone actually mentions rice. More digestible than ramen, cheaper, and no sodium overload.

Confuzzled4ever · March 2014

I'm not missing the point. You're just picking and choosing what you want to respond to. The very poor will sacrifice nutrition for cost. It's very hard to find any *decent* cut of meat for cheap. The ones that are cheap are fatty and low quality. Cheap is relative to how much you have to spend too. If I have 2 dollars i'm not buying meat period. Chicken salad? That would have been a dream when I was living out of my car. You're ignoring the simple truth that if a person is hungry, really hungry, They are not going to care if the food is healthy. They just want to eat. When that was me and someone said "free donuts in the break room" you better believe my butt was there before everyone else and I ate as many as I could stuff in or get away with. And there was often free donuts/pastries/cookies/etc in the break room. I never once recall someone saying "free salad in the break room", but if they had, i'd have been in there just a quick. If someone offered me something to eat, I took it. McDonalds, Taco Bell, Homemade something or other.. didn't matter.. I ate it. I didn't care about nutrition, I didn't care about portion size, I would never have turned it down because it wasn't going meet my nutritional need that day. I don't know that I was obese but I certainly wasn't skinny.

Oh and I didn't go on about eating organic. I mentioned it.. once.

When I was a store manager, we used to have BBQs for our employees every 6 months or so if we made whatever goal we were aiming toward. We used the cheapest highest fat burgers you could find and cheapest buns, cheap pre made potato or macaroni salad, chips and stuff like that. And I can tell you who of my employees were really struggling and who weren't just by who ate what. And those employees came in all shapes and sizes.

There's a whole side of this that is mental. If you don't know that you will be able to eat tomorrow, you bet your butt i'm eating as much as I can today. Then if you get to eat again tomorrow, you'll eat as much as you can again for the same reason. That's an extremely hard lesson to unlearn.

Greytfish · March 2014

There's no reason one cannot or should not eat cheaper cuts of meat. In fact, that's what the rest of the world's population does generally because they pay more for those cuts of meat than a North American pays for a trimmed chicken breast or an everage grade sirloin. Then....horor of horrors....they prepare it themselves.

If at no other time, this is a pretty good time of year to remember how many people are so poor they go more than a day without food on a routine basis - and how many of them are Americans, and under age 6.

Confuzzled4ever · March 2014

I didn't say that cheaper cuts of meat shouldn't be eaten. But they are not *healthy* as it is being used in this thread. They prepare it themselves.. means they have the means and ability too. When i had the means to prep food for myself. I did it. When I didn't, how was I supposed to? Osmosis? I live in a city, I see the homeless/poor/hungry everyday. I was basically one of them years ago. i would like to know how the people I see on the streets would buy meat and be able to cook it? I lived in a motel room for two months years ago too. I had a microwave, no stove and a teeny fridge, which I was overly grateful for. Makes it extremely difficult to eat healthy, although easier then my situation before that. Although nutrition and health wasn't my focus. Eating cheap was. Same with the people you reference. They cook and prep whatever food they are given or able to get, because they are hungry. They don't check portion sizes or nutrition. They only want to eat.

This thread is about why are the poor fat. I'm telling you, from experience, the poor who are fat are fat because they are eating what in their mind, might be their last meal for awhile. So they are eating a lot and it's rarely healthy high quality foods. Once you've really lived through that, it's very hard to shake. You're always afraid you'll end up back there. The mental ramifications are much harder to overcome then the any thing else. It's been years since I was in that situation and I still have to remind myself that I don't have to hoard food just in case anymore.

Greytfish · March 2014

I didn't say that cheaper cuts of meat shouldn't be eaten. But they are not *healthy* as it is being used in this thread.

Pray tell, why?

They prepare it themselves.. means they have the means and ability too.

To a certain extent, you are correct. But, the local homeless cooking or heating foor over a small fire of branches and newspaper would have killed for your microwave.

This thread is about why are the poor fat. I'm telling you, from experience, the poor who are fat are fat because they are eating what in their mind, might be their last meal for awhile. So they are eating a lot and it's rarely healthy high quality foods. Once you've really lived through that, it's very hard to shake. You're always afraid you'll end up back there. The mental ramifications are much harder to overcome then the any thing else. It's been years since I was in that situation and I still have to remind myself that I don't have to hoard food just in case anymore.

I don't know any truly poor people who are fat. I do know less advantaged people who are fat and rationalize it based on poverty, but that's different. You are correct, however, that people who have done without will have a tendency to hoard when an abundance is available, but that's not poverty making someone fat.

WendyTerry420 · March 2014

I didn't say that cheaper cuts of meat shouldn't be eaten. But they are not *healthy* as it is being used in this thread. ...

^^ This has been my point from the beginning. This should be corrected to indicate it is your own subjective opinion because the fact is, the nutritional differences between one cut of meat from another from the same animal is negligible. The "healthier" aspect is just your own perception and entirely unrelated to nutrients.

ETA: The real different in cuts of meat is *taste*

Greytfish · March 2014

I didn't say that cheaper cuts of meat shouldn't be eaten. But they are not *healthy* as it is being used in this thread. ...

^^ This has been my point from the beginning. This should be corrected to indicate it is your own subjective opinion because the fact is, the nutritional differences between one cut of meat from another from the same animal is negligible. The "healthier" aspect is just your own perception and entirely unrelated to nutrients.

ETA: The real different in cuts of meat is *taste*

This.

And perhaps texture...

Thinking something like a neatly trimmed chicken breast is healthier than say, bone-in thighs is merely cultural (and sometimes socio-economical) bias.

WendyTerry420 · March 2014

I didn't say that cheaper cuts of meat shouldn't be eaten. But they are not *healthy* as it is being used in this thread. ...

^^ This has been my point from the beginning. This should be corrected to indicate it is your own subjective opinion because the fact is, the nutritional differences between one cut of meat from another from the same animal is negligible. The "healthier" aspect is just your own perception and entirely unrelated to nutrients.

ETA: The real different in cuts of meat is *taste*

This.

And perhaps texture...

Thinking something like a neatly trimmed chicken breast is healthier than say, bone-in thighs is merely cultural (and sometimes socio-economical) bias.

At least we agree on something.

Greytfish · March 2014

There's a first time for everything.

katielauren2001 · March 2014

Bad food is cheaper. In supermarkets foods like ready meals, microwaveable burgers and processed food are always on offer and/or cheaper. For someone in poverty it is hard to afford to buy nutritious food, when you can get cheap, easy to prepare food that is specifically targeted for busy low-income families.

Are the poor fat?

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