Obesity and poverty ?

[modeller]

Whenever poverty in the US is in the news most of those interviewed and those filmed at free food centres are overweight and many are obese . There is a similar situation in the UK and western Europe. Can anyone explain this apparent contradiction. ?

[Sqad]

LOL........no .....sorry.......I suppose it is a matter of relativity.......what is "poverty" in the modern world.

One didn't see m,any fat inmates emerging from Auschwitz.........that was poverty.

[B00]

Probably partly due to the fact it's easier to buy ready made and takeaway foods than it is to buy ingredients to make proper meals with the right amount of nutrients etc.

[mazie]

I think, but don't know, that a lot of people buy cheap processed food for several reasons.

1. It's cheap
2. They probably don't know how to cook wholesome inexpensive food from scratch.
3. They can't be ar$ed to get up early to plan their meals and cook the food.

I could be wrong. they are just my observations

[mazie]

I'm really not sure we know what poverty is in this country. I know sqad has worked in the middle east, as have I. Seen a lot of real poverty over there 30 odd years ago

[douglas9401]

Something to do with jumbo drinks and buckets of fried chicken? As long as your teeth are white you're in.

[NoMercy]

Poverty is rife across India but you don't see much obesity there.

[Buenchico]

Simply take a look in any supermarket. Frozen pizza is cheap, fresh fruit is expensive. Burgers and frozen chips are cheap, 'healthy foods' are expensive. It's a lot easier to survive on a small budget if you only eat (heavily advertised) junk food.

Similarly, while some forms of exercise (e.g. walking or jogging) are free, it costs a lot of money to get your kids involved in many forms of sport, so families in poverty often get less exercise than those with money.

Chris

[B00]

http://naturalhealthd...-are-poor-people-fat/

[mazie]

Fresh fruit and veg at Aldi are not expensive at all. I bought 2 pineapples for 89p each, a punnet of plums for 49p and a bag of granny smiths (7 apples, I think) for £1.49. New potatoes were 69p. and so it goes on. No excuse for buying fresh fruit and veg

[B00]

for that price Mazie you can pie a large pizza and a bag of frozen chips.

[Kerosene]

"free food centres" ? No, surely they're not reduced to that in the "Land of the Free + the Home of the Brave", or whatever they call themselves?

If they spent half as much in welfare on their population as they do on their armed forces they'd all look like the back ends of buses - instead of just half of them???

[Buenchico]

Kerosene:
46.7 million US citizens used the 'food stamp program' (now officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in June.

[237SJ]

In the US, junk food is quite cheap whereas fresh produce in supermarkets is quite expensive. There could be a school of thought that says that where there is poverty, there is a lack of education and where there is a lack of education, there is ignorance about healthy choices. You don`t see many fat people in Manhattan.

[mazie]

LOL, I know B00, but that fruit will last all week, not just for one meal. Don't get me started ;o)

[B00]

The answer I guess is education then? You and I and no doubt most other people know how to make food out of those ingredients Mazie, but sadly there's all too many who don't.

If you're on a limited income, and you have X amount of money and zero cooking skills, you're going to plumb for the cheap, carbohydrated (sp?)foodstuffs, that aren't necessarily good for you, but will fill you up nonetheless.

[joggerjayne]

But obesity is (putting aside medical conditions) caused by two things ...

(1) Eating bad food, which is fattening and not nutritious.

(2) Eating lots and lots and lots of food ... which costs lots and lots of money.

When you see the lard arses on the telly, they sit at home and eat mountains of breakfast, then snacks, then drinks, then more snacks, then lunch, then pudding, then cakes, then snacks, then tea, then dinner, then supper, then a late night take away, etc ...

How in the name of god do they AFFORD all that food? They sure as heck don't work for it.

[mazie]

I know B00 and I totally agree with you. It's educating the kids. I had this crazy idea the other month about Nana's and how they ought to adopt a couple of young families and pass on the cooking and budgeting skills... Then I thought maybe not :o(

[B00]

I'd prefer to see basic cooking skills taught at schools. It'd be far more important in later life, than giving them pointless sexual education lessons which quite frankly don't appear to be working!

But I'm getting away, slightly, from the topic aren't I? LOL

[mazie]

No, I don't think you are B00. I think this whole problem is about the education of our youngsters. Did you do cookery at school? I did, from the age of eleven and we were also taught the nutritional value of most foods and how to budget. I think it's one of the major factors of the problem today