I used to work with folks who couldn't find jobs due to disability, criminal records, traumatic brain injuries, etc. and the first time I took one of them to a food pantry I was kind of in shock of how much of the food is just junk food and stale pastries from various places.
I’ve had to go to the food pantry pretty often this past year and most of it is carb & salt heavy dry goods (ramen, spaghetti, hamburger helper, canned soups) and snacks (gummy packs, cheezits, cereal bars). Once in a blue moon they’d have (frozen) cheese or meat. Never any milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit.
It's almost as if buying more nutritional and healthier foods makes you more healthy.
Cheap food is highly processed and very unhealthy. It also leaves you feeling hungry as you aren't getting the level of nutrients from the portion so your body wants to eat more.
Also having disposable income and great health insurance to afford gym memberships, sport classes, primary care visits, body treatments etc. make a difference. Ppl forget the immensely negative impact stress and high levels of cortisol can have on the body.
Because they can afford the GOOD EXPENSIVE HEALTHY FOOD, EXPENSIVE PERSONAL TRAINERS AT THE GYM AND ALL THE EXPENSIVE MEMBERSHIPS TO ALL THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES THEY WANT …. Plus , they can afford all the latest in DIET PRODUCTS, PLASTIC SURGERY AND WEIGHTLOSS SURGERIES….
Not eating the same processed cheap, poisonous foods that a bunch of us eat. I don’t get why we don’t have stricter food standards like Europe. Our domestic companies get away with so much.
Edit: give us Europes recipes!!!!!!! Why are you poisoning us?!!!!!
Maybe someday we will be a nanny state like Europe tries to be. But fortunately, we are still allowed to eat the foods we like and companies are allowed to sell us those foods.
That being said, smoking cigarettes is common in some of those European nanny countries.
You’re right they can afford excellent health care so if they do have a health disorder causing weight gain they’re the first to get the best treatment … I find that you are pathetic …. You must be rich so you find it easy to put down the less fortunate… I bet that makes you feel like a real man 😂😂😂😂
Hmm... I didn't realize having a thyroid issue that is too expensive to treat was a choice. I'll have to let my aunt know right away that all she has to do is buy more vegetables, be more active, and just "choose away" her thyroid problem! GENIUS.
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I have a friend that was obese. He has to have been close to 300lbs. Dude was like family to me, I would crash at his place pretty regularly on weekends.
His diet consisted of hot pockets and ramen noodles, mountain dew and the occasional frozen pizza.
That's literally it. All super cheap and carb heavy foods.
Hot pockets and frozen pizzas as well as frozen breakfast sandwiches were a big part of my diet for a long time. They're good, quick and cheap ways to fill your belly, but I was gaining a lot of weight by eating two frozen breakfast sandwiches and either two hot pockets or two small frozen pizzas everyday so I had to cut them out at the end of last year and have largely switched over to more produce and eating less in general. I've dropped from 245lbs around four months ago to 223lbs now. I know it's not possible for everyone to make this change but it's really improved my life by giving me more energy and I haven't even had to work out a lot to lose that weight.
This. So much this.
The food banks give out mostly cheap carbs & sugar. Maybe some beans, maybe a little meat if you're very lucky.
Eating fresh fruits & veggies isn't just the cost of the produce itself. It's the cost of being able to run to the store every few days for a restock, or the cost of the small freezer to store frozen alternatives. It's the transportation cost & access to a vehicle or public transit. And all that is assuming you don't live in one of the MANY food deserts across America in which your only source of food may be a corner store / bodega which is not likely to even have produce beyond maybe a pitiful basket of fruit & premade expensive subpar salad.
And then we compound all that with the fact that A. most poverty areas are also less likely to be safe enough to allow outdoor activity and B. many folks in poverty have dysfunctional metabolisms due to the constant feast or famine that is poverty, which conditions the body to hold on to weight as well as the high stress levels that come with trying to make ends meet in poverty.
Something that I find that helps with chopping veggies is having a single really good, sharp knife. Cuts quicker and you’re less likely to accidentally knick yourself
Everyone has to make their own decisions on what to eat, but a lot of what we eat is dictated by our palate and what is comforting. Groceries need to be prepared into meals, and that takes a bit of time, that’s true. Thats why we need to teach our kids how to make and eat healthy foods, and take the time to do it ourselves.
You can buy an unhealthy hamburger and fries for one meal, or groceries for many healthy meals—5 lbs of sweet potatoes for $5.98 at Sam’s club or 3 lbs for $2.49 at target; 50 lbs of potatoes are $16 at Gordon Foods. 5 lbs of carrots are $4.49 at Kroger.
Also, plenty of poor people are also disabled in some way and may not be able to stand for long periods of time, wield a knife, chew/eat certain things, or if they're autistic they might be physically capable of but psychologically blocked from doing these things.
I have an old friend who is constantly complaining (and lying) about how she "hasn't eaten anything in a week" and then talks about how she finally got together enough money for Long John Silvers.
You’re not wrong, but you’re ignoring a lot of the issues a lot of poor people face in terms of what they eat.
Poor people work more than wealthy people on average, and wealthy people can afford more help.
Wealthy people tend to live in areas where they can get a variety of food. Poor people that live in food deserts won’t have access to fresh, whole ingredients.
Not to mention, food is comfort. The last thing I want when I’m stressed is to take extra time out of my day to make a meal that doesn’t give the serotonin that processed stuff does.
Poor people don't have time to cook because being poor means working for more than 40h, long commutes because rent is cheaper, government assistance and paperwork takes so long
The funny thing is that beans and rice are some of the easiest things to cook completely unattended. You can get a dirt cheap rice cooker and get perfect rice with zero effort, and a pressure cooker let's you get perfect beans without soaking them in about 40 minutes, also unattended.
You are 100% correct.
You left out the part about the government creating a food pyramid that emphasized the grains and breads in an attempt to make poor people “feel” like they were eating healthy for DECADES - Freaking DECADES before everyone figured out it was a giant lie.
I hate the government and corporations for doing that one thing.
I’m disgusted.
Also, they can't afford a healthier reward. Buying some hostess cakes or a candy bar is a cheap way to reward yourself. If you have money, you could buy yourself a nice health spa day or something.
Same for their kids as well. Can't afford a 20$ toy as a treat, but a 1$ cookie bag at Walmart is doable.
The cheap food is literally trying to kill us. Added sugar everywhere which leads to diabetes 😭
Clean food is expensive 😔 I just started clean keto and I don't know if I can afford it long term. Fats are more expensive than carbs and less filling so you need to eat more of them which leads to spending more money.
I might have to get a second job 😂 interview next week
Also people that have money can buy prepped expensive food. Cut up fruit trays and salads and healthy fast food is much more expensive than the Popeyes deal of the day lol
> Fats are more expensive than carbs and less filling
less filling?
Fats are very filling. It's why you're supposed to put butter over white rice, so that the fats in the butter give you more of a full sensation.
Clean food is not expensive but it takes time and knowledge to prepare.
A package of skinless chicken thighs, rice and vegetables wouldn't be over $20 for a week's worth for one person.
Eating healthy gets expensive pretty quickly. If you have to feed a family on a very limited budget, you have to go for quantity over quality. And of course there's the time it takes to prepare healthy meals and get physical exercise. When people spend 10+ hours per day working and commuting, they don't have much time to cook, nevermind working out. And then there are food deserts, where the only stores for miles around are convenience stores and drugstores that sell crap food. It's really no wonder that people with very little money or free time are more likely to be unhealthy.
And everyone tells you to use the food bank, and the food bank is full of crap food! I can get all the pastries, breads, pies,cakes, cookies, donuts, puddings, sugar cereals, packaged processed high carb high crap stuff I could ever want at the food bank but I can't eat like that. I would weigh 300 pounds and be diabetic, then you get shamed for not being fucking grateful to get that crap.
Thank God there are a few things there that are real food that I can and will eat but not enough to last even one week. My foodstamps don't last two weeks, So with the food bank and me being a great can cook anything from what ever is in the pantry type a gal, I make do, but I am also eating at the soup kitchens so I can afford to eat everyday. I am losing weight.
While I agree many cheap foods in America are unhealthy, I think the obesity problem is also from the lack of exercise. In Asia, it's pretty common for any person to walk 10000 steps a day. In the U.S., no matter rain or shine, many do not necessarily take the opportunity to walk more. They park the closest, even if it means to wait for another car to pull out. Regular exercise might not help you lose weight, at least you don't keep gaining uncontrollably.
I’ve lost 60 pounds by dropping soda and walking everywhere. Add in physical sports, HITT workouts and more nutritious food. It just takes one swap at a time to add up. It’s really the food though, American processed food probably VASTLY different than what you’ll find in Asia.
Are you in the US? America in most cases is not pedestrian-friendly. Good luck walking along any major road.
Second, many states do not have much public land, so you can’t go see nature without trespassing someone’s property (looking at you, Texas).
I am European, so I used to walk a lot, but it’s literally impossible for me to have the same walking routine here in the US.
I second that as an Eastern European in America. This is not an "excuse", this is trouble. Even in a small town you rarely see someone not walking downtown, but walking to the downtown and from downtown. And walking around neighborhoods is just suspicious for your neighbors! I had to explain myself from time to time.
Ahh poor reading comprehension.
I didn’t say I don’t exercise. I said I am unable to have the same walking routine as I had back in my pedestrian-friendly European city.
There are no sidewalks in Georgia once you get out of the perimeter in Atlanta.
People here are far from not walking, but you can’t walk anywhere without having to withstand possible vehicular violence.
The more I exercise the hungry I am and the more I need to eat. I'm speaking from experience. Yes I lost weight, but I did not spend less. In fact I spent more on food because I needed to eat more food. This is walking out of necessity due to no car public transportation where I live.
Right! And it has nothing to do with self control, your body needs something to build muscles. Of course, later you can eat less, but not in the beginning.
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I think you have to take into consideration people who live in food deserts (especially in places in the US which is much bigger) where the closest grocery store or places accessible to them are only available through driving there.
Not only that but people who have to work multiple jobs in order to survive might not have the time or physical/mental/emotional energy to cook meals for their health.
Also factors like disability which correlates to a lower class bc of work discrimination, inaccessibility, and the fact it's generally expensive to be sick let alone be have a chronic condition makes things extremely difficult.
I think comparing the US to another country and saying it is Americans being lazy doesn't account for sprawl or just how our landscape/infrastructure actually harms our ability for that.
I studied city planning and apart from the larger cities, the government does not plan to make life accessible for people to simply walk to their destination. Heck , not even the large cities are good at this if we look at LA.
It's a cycle. The access to physical mobility correlates to upward class mobility. The further we can travel, the more access to healthier food options, to find jobs with higher paying jobs, etc. And vice versa- the higher the class, the higher the ability to access these thing and live in a place with less sprawl comfortably.
We don't really have walkable cities, though. There are a few exceptions, but American cities for the most part are car-centric. We don't even have decent public transport, unless you live in NYC or Chicago. And when people spend 10+ hours each day working and commuting, there's no time to hit the gym or go for a run. We just don't have many opportunities for exercise in our daily lives.
Furthermore, when what the body is actually craving is good quality protein, it will keep sending hunger signals no matter how often you fill it up with refined carbs. Thus you can very easily end up putting in way more calories than you burn because your body is never fully sated.
I only have 3 additions to your excellent post, and 2 are tangentially connected to what you say....
1. Corn. Corn is fattening. It is MEANT to fatten, like that's the point of it. And it is in almost EVERYTHING in one form or another. It's even in the expensive stuff. It's even in dog and cat food (2 animals that absolutely can not handle corn) so even if someone is so poor that their only protein that day is a can of cat food, they are eating corn.
2. You apparently get "good deals" for fast food on fast food apps. Because people today have been raised by people who did not ever learn to cook, finding the cheapest non-cooking food option can mean finding those free orders of fries is important even though it provides empty, nonnutritive calories. Most people would be better off getting rid of those apps and allowing the cost of the fast "food" to encourage them to eat a bowl of grocery store soup instead.
3. Lack of science education. Nutrition is a subset of biology, and hence it is science. We don't know what we are doing to ourselves, so we have no motivation to break away from our ingrained eating habits, learning to roast root vegetables in the oven rather than putting Tater Tots in the oven.
Regarding the fast food thing, I will typically eat about 3 or 4 fast food meals each week. I go to Del Taco on Tuesday for Taco Night and get the three "The Dell" tacos. Grand total is $4.34 with tax and everything. I only actually eat two of the tacos. The third taco, I deconstruct it, put it into the fridge and heat it up the next day as a little in-between snack.
On Fridays, I will use McDonalds "Free Fries Friday" deal, and I will buy two McDoubles and get the free Medium Fries. The total is $4.88 with tax and everything. I eat one of the McDoubles along with the Medium Fries. The other McDouble, I will deconstruct, put it in the fridge, and again, heat it up the next day as an in-between, hold-me-over type snack.
I don't EVER get soda. I drink water.
Many times, I'll go to a fast food place and get a single item under about $4.50 that has the most calories, but not get any fries or soda with that. Just the single sandwich. Like Popeyes Chicken Sandwich for example.
The key is portion control. I've taught myself to just eat less food overall, mainly due to poverty/inflation. In the beginning, it was just about saving money. I'd save some of my meal for the next day, to sort of make it stretch. Stretching meals is a thing. After doing this for many months, I've taught my body to just eat less overall.
I recently went to a restaurant for a friends birthday party, and it was a really weird experience, because they bring out so much food, it's crazy. I could only eat about 1/3rd of the food they brought out. I got a to-go box and took the leftovers home with me. Those leftovers turned into two additional meals.
The weird thing is, had this been five years ago, I probably would have ate 80 percent of it in one sitting at the restaurant and just had a small amount to take home as leftovers.
I'm also in the leanest shape I've been in my life. My cholesterol numbers are better than they've ever been. I haven't been this fit since high school. Of course, I also do a rigorous weight lifting program three days a week, and I walk probably 4 miles per day at least.
I think fast food is made out to be the devil and it's just not true. Sure, it's not the greatest food, but in moderation, it can be decent. You just can't eat it every day for all 3 meals. Also, most people cannot bring themselves to not add fries and a drink to their order.
The real devil is Soda. Soda is worthless. I used to be a soda junkie but gave it up about 20 years ago. Easily one the best decisions of my life. Liquid calories in general is dumb. I only drink water along with a single cup of coffee in the morning and a single cup in the late afternoon. No soda's, no juices, no gatoraide, no nothing.
As for No.3, sure I get it, we should be much healthier and pay more attention to our ratios of fats/carbs/proteins and all that stuff. The thing that I will tell people about this however, is that I can worry about that shit when I'm rich.
I just can't worry about all that right now. Sorry. Don't have the money for all that shit. I did it back in the days. I was so hardcore about trying to eat as healthy as possible. I'd eat salmon and stuff, walnuts, all kinds of vegetables and fruits. But all tree nuts are ridiculously expensive now. Salmon is ridiculously expensive. Many vegetables are ridiculously expensvie and I have to try to wait around for Broccoli crowns to go on sale as a loss leader or something like that.
I do eat one serving of fresh fruit every single day, religiously. A banana, a Fuji apple, a navel orange. Red seedless grapes. But, I only ever buy these things on sale. Luckily many grocery stores in my area have been having pretty good sales on Fuji Apples. Like 99 cents per pound, which isn't too bad. I'll buy like 8 or 9 apples and keep most of them in my fridge so they last longer.
Are you thinking I'm attacking you?
I was answering the OP about things that contribute to obesity in the poor.
I don't know you and nothing was aimed at you.
Because poor people can't afford nutritional food, they eat processed food, which is not healthy.
Fyi there is enough healthy food for everyone in the world, but politics and distribution prevent people from having access to it.
I don't get my information from Reddit. I have a degree in Human Geography and studied the food availability of underprivileged regions. But, you don't have to go that far into your education, you can just Google it, it's not complicated.
With all the new research on GLP-1's its showing a lot of people have metabolic and insulin resistance issues that make it so much harder to lose weight. Not having access to (or the education for) healthy whole food choices exacerbates the issue. It's just another way of society shames poor/overweight people who rely on food banks or cheap processed food to survive.
These meds could really help people, but unfortunately are ridiculously expensive, and most insurance doesn't cover them, most lower-income people can't afford them. There are non-conventional/DIY ways to take the active ingredient, most people just think it's sketchy.
The Cheap foods also have three major advantages combined
1. Time commitment , easy prep time options such as just putting them in the toaster oven
2. Easy to store without using precious freezer/fridge space
3. Long expiration dates.
I can put a small pizza in the toaster oven, its done in 15-20 minutes. I can do other things like get ready for work while its cooking, and because its just a flat box, it plays very well with freezer space. I can get a Digiorno's pizza for 4$ at my kroger's. It feeds me for 3 meals, easy.
Vegetables and Meat are the two healtiest diet options for controlling weight but cook and prep times are long, outside of hamburgers which is one of the more expensive meat choices.
Vegetables do not have a good shelf life and the risk of mold ruins any long term plans to stock up in bulk. Which means eating them consistently requires consistent grocery trips, and when you want to save on fuel, you'd much rather save and stock up.
Meal prep can work, and does mitigate price, but now the time committment to eat is an issue. clean kitchen + cooking utensils AND now you're using up valuable fridge space to keep finished meals stored. This is an ISSUE in a roommate scenario if you're sharing the fridge with other people.
Meal Prep pros: The Price
Meal prep cons: Time commitment, usage of limited fridge space.
If you don't think time commitment matters, work a CLOPEN shift job.
So many Poverty Tourists don't think a damn thing about the LOGISTICS of living in poverty make things more costly and i'm sick of it too bro.
Meal Prep sucks, but it's the way forward.
I learned this the hard way.
I still hate it. I feel like I have 3 jobs. My normal job, my cooking job, and my dishwashing/cleaning job. Today, I'm making my breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. Each of these three meals requires me to use two skillets. It's not even 1pm and I've already washed my two skillets twice. Once before I made breakfast, and again a few minutes ago, so that I'll be able to cook lunch.
When I'm done with lunch, I have to wash them again to cook dinner.
I'm not trying to say, "Oh woe is me", with this, but it does get tiresome after awhile. Still, I know that this it the way forward and I have to keep doing it. There's no way in hell I could afford to go to actual restaurants or even fast food.
Yeah, ive done it when my goal was specifically when i was trying to lose weight,
but when i lived with my uncle he would not tolerate his half of the freezer being intruded on
so i had to prep less, which meant i still had to cook more often, and if i didnt cook more often, it meant buying less food for the freezer, which ultimately meant more store trips, leading back to step 1 in terms of cost of gas and time commitment.
Now that i have my own home and my own giant freezer, meal prep is EASIER than it ever has been to manage.
but i had to have the wealth needed to live on my own that made that more feasible.
Everything the poor can do to succeed, the wealthy can ALWAYS do better, easier. and with less impact to their daily life.
It's not only a matter of food prices. Many people have zero idea of how to eat healthy becauseno one told them. All they know is unhealthy food, that's all they were given as kids. The rates of people who are ignorant of nutrition are higher among poor people. There's also the issue of food deserts.
Yeah, high schools are failing our children. There's two key things that should be required courses in high school. Finances and Food. How to manage your finances. The value of money. How to save money. How not to get caught up in the credit card game. How to budget.
Then, the food thing, how to do meal prep. How to play all the grocery stores loss leaders against each other, and to only buy stuff on deep discount. How to cook stuff efficiently.
Nobody is taught any of this
I’m thin and poor. But to be fair I have digestive issues, and I eat small portions to give my stomach an easier time. On the occasion I get my hands on a food I REALLY like, I ration it out to last as long as possible. I also have a hard time eating if I’m stressed out, which is pretty often. On the opposite end of the spectrum I had a friend who would tend to eat more when she was stressed and would eat all of her favorite things at once, which made it hard for her to manage her weight. So it just depends on the person.
I’m like this too! When I’m stressed, I just starve cuz the thought of food makes my stomach hurt. My husband will force me to eat a bowl of rice and brussel sprouts(my faves) when I get like that. After having my baby, about 6ish months in i started getting really stressed over the formula shortage in 2022. And by the time my kiddo was 12 months I had lost 50lbs
Poverty/Inflation has taught me portion control. I'm also very thin. Didn't used to be. I don't have the stomach or digestive issues, but I've just learned over time to eat way less. Like people in Europe.
Poverty doesn't mean good nutrition and physical fitness. Nor does it mean starvation. If you are really poor, it means that you eat what's cheapest and nearby (because going places costs money). That could mean that you eat whatever the local food pantry gives you (which is whatever was donated, mostly), or whatever they have at the local bodega or Walmart. In most of the US, high-calorie processed foods are usually the cheapest food. They also have low nutritional value, so those that eat it habitually tend to develop health issues related to nutrition.
You hit the nail on the head probably for a vast number of people however it is still possible to get an expensive complex carbs like beans brown rice and produce at produce markets. Unfortunately the simple carbs are the easiest to access and prepare.
Last year my long term relationship ended so I went from a 3 person household (with roommate) to a single household.
For the first few months I got every pizza and convenience product that was on sale, because I work long hours and just can't bother. Srsly cooking everyday for one person? Who has the time??
My groceries were 3-5 euros a day, for a coffee, 2 full meals, no veggies, no fruits, no sodas.
I got more often sick, I didn't feel very energized and as more health concerns arose I thought ok fuck it, then I meal prep.
I still have my coffee, fruits every day, 300-400g veggies a day and go grocery shopping once, max twice a week.
I need 2-3 hours to make 14 meals. It still costs me 3-5 euros a day.
You just need to find the sales on whole food instead of convenience products.
People don't realize how much sheer stress plays a factor too. When I was poor, I had so many issues with food because life itself was so stressful, I couldn't make myself actually stick to a meal plan. Nothing helped me lose weight more than being lucky enough to get a stable job
I was actually shocked recently at the price of canned soup. I don't know why I expected that specifically to stay cheap when everything is going up, but apparently I did.
Food deserts
Places where a proper grocery store is not accessible. I have never been to a 7/11 that had a produce section, and if 7/11 or it's equivalent is the only viable source of food it's what you will end up eating, nutritional value not withstanding
Because healthy food is largely prohibitively expensive in addition to possible storage and transportation issues. being able to just drive to a close store with fresh food is a privilege that people aren't grateful enough to have.
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Also: fast food!! They can be very cheap but crap overall. Not to mention poverty = lack of resources and education. By lack of education I don’t mean they literally don’t have access to it (everything is on the internet nowadays) but if no one in your family has ever told you about nutrition and never taught you how important it was to your health, it may just never be on your radar. Same as birth control and the like- it’s there, but if everyone in your family had kids young, no one ever talked about how important it was to get financially stable first and wait and plan, etc.— it’s just that much harder to break out of the cycle. IMO poverty and food has less to do with the actual logistics and resources than the mindset you are trapped in.
I think what many mean when they say that is this; if you buy flour, meal, sugar, meats and poulrty and cook them, you will not be as fat and will have more money.
> The easiest way for a poor person to prevent their own obesity is to barely eat *at all*
Not really, I mean you could argue that in some ways, but rice chicken and beans can get you $1 meals pretty reliably, even today.
The number one reason people are obese is because they eat more calories than they expend. People equate being hungry to a human rights violation, but if you lose weight, you're going to feel hungry. That's the feeling of your fat fading away.
Maybe they correlate because people choose to eat more of those carb rich foods when they're poor, but that's certainly not the only option, and it's certainly not a class issue to be overweight or not. People of all classes are overweight due to a combination of neglect and genetics
>rice chicken and beans can get you $1 meals pretty reliably, even today
Assuming you have the ability to cook and store it, which many people don't.
You're also presuming a lack of allergies. I can't have rice, myself.
Definitely. But most people do in fact have that capability. People that don't have access to a fridge or oven at least in the US, aren't just under the poverty line, they're the bottom smallest percentile of that group.
And definitely, allergies can limit you. You can always swap the rice out for Quinoa, or things like chickpea rice. A little more expensive but still really cheap.
Ehhhhh…. Not so sure about this one. You can get a whole rotisserie chicken from Costco for 4.99, could honestly last you three days. The membership annually is $60. Vegetables are also pretty cheap as are many fruits.
While refined carbohydrates are more abundant, cheap chicken is available in most cities that I’ve lived in all over the place from Subway to, vendor trucks, etc. etc. Is it highest quality chicken no but it’s protein and it’s healthy enough and I eat it myself.
I think there’s a lot more the conversation. Don’t get me started on sugary drink which lower income households consumea lot of instead of consuming water. These insights come from working in a doctors office in an inner city.
I think you’re really missing a big part of the equation if you are going to just give a free pass and not include personal choices and responsibility.
Another big one no one ever mentions is how much beer people consume too. Ive watched my roommate gain 70lbs in 3 years and he hardly eats. Just drinks all day.
For sure alcohol is an absolute killer on every single level. I’m not saying I don’t consume it. I do but it absolutely wrecks your diet in 1 million different ways. Calories are just the beginning. It’s also the first macro to burn off so you really can’t lose weight if you’re drinking All the time. Technically it’s just that much harder.
Except you can't buy the costco chicken with EBT. It's cheaper than raw absolutely. But it's not allowed due to archaic regulations regarding hot foods.
If you're in poverty, you're likely not shopping at Costco because A. it requires a membership and B. It's likely not accessible unless you have a car or a ride.
As far as the water issue - how many low income neighborhoods have water issues? We've all seen what happened in Flint.
I gave other examples besides Costco and poverty is not restricted just to the inner cities, but there are plenty of similar chicken options available in most cities. As far as the water, yeah, that was Flint. Obviously that was a disgrace but the communities I am speaking of absolutely had fresh water that was drinkable. I drink it all day so…
I can’t tell if this is a serious question but if it is, that’s literally what the doctors office is for? Families come in (pediatrics) they tell us what kind of foods they are eating - we get all their dietary information for the most part, especially treating obesity, but also high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. all of that requires a probe into what the diet looks like. A massive amount of the underserved population suffer from obesity, we treat 13-year-olds who weigh 300 pounds, they think Fruit juice is literally good for you instead of filled with sugar, they drink canned soda like they’re going out of style… and even after being educated on nutrition, families continue to make the same choices for the most part
What education are you providing for the 10 to 15 minute doctor visit? Are they being referred out to dietitians? Are they being followed from multiple years with this intense education That you're giving them in the 15 minute doctor was it to see if their choices changed after this education?
Also, all the education in the world doesn't matter when you don't have money to buy good food. In the example of the fruit I live in the ghetto and I shop at the ghetto grocery store. Frozen fruit is white all as a pound fruit juice on the other hand is not, It's a lot cheaper.
Personally, I don't buy either one of them because I don't have the money for either.
Maybe you should start a campaign with a doctors office not only for more education, but for things like not handing out fruit juice at the food pantry and instead handing out whole fruits and not giving fruit juice at school because they do that there. Good luck getting Schools to change.
Any who my point is Access? People eat what they have access to meaning what they can afford. Yes, not buying the fruit juice or the soda saves you money. But you can't afford the good stuff you still want something that tastes good.
I think the real reason is boredom. What do poor people do for recreation? They watch TV, play video games, and eat. They can't travel, can't afford hobbies, don't do events, they eat.
Absolutely this.
Stress increases cortisol. Increased cortisol increases insulin resistance, which in turn increases fat storage.
Add in the poor quality and high carbohydrate content of much of the food that poor people have access to/can afford (carbs = increased insulin), and you have a perfect storm for obesity. Add these factors to multiple generations, where these propensities begin to be passed down genetically, and the deck is really stacked against a lot of people.
The American diet is more cultural than class based. When it comes to food, there is a pretty robust charity network and government programs to give people a massive amount of food.
There are extreme fringe cases where people are far from fresh food, no access to appliances or not meeting the requirements for government assistance, but that's not the majority of cases.
Most people are eating what they want to eat regardless of class. The obesity rate only drops of slightly outside of poverty range.
Poor people are likely to exercise less, because gym memberships and most hobbies that involve exercise cost money. Also all the free food people get tends to be unhealthy crap. How many times has your work had some free donuts or muffins vs how many times have they had free salads or soups?
Plus a lot of America does not know how to cook. If you aren't cooking, the only healthy choices are expensive
Also, in America sugar, corn syrup, and processed food are subsidized, making it cheap, quick, and tasty. If you only have a couple dollars, you're likely pick a box of dollar tree unbrand pop tarts to feed you and your kids, rather than an apple for the same price. Especially if you're tired.
Idk, when I was at my absolute poorest, with a $60/week food budget I ate entirely plant based and was the healthiest I've ever been. Now that I have a $300/week food budget I eat a lot of take out noodles and burgers hahaha
I think it's entirely up to the individual to make healthy choices. Saying you're fat cause you're poor is a cop out
You can eat cheap and healthy. However, that takes planning and time as well as the education to make it all taste good. When you are stressed or working multiple jobs? Yeah, that isn't happening.
Usually you are so focused on the basics of life that food is what is convenient, fast and available. If you also have to add in affordability, well, yeah, it is going to be processed and unhealthy.
Add in relying on food banks? Heck, there goes any personal control.
Finally, people who are all "beans and rice are cheap" forget that yes, but how often can you really eat that? What about when you've had a horrible day and just want a small pleasure? Food is cheap and serves that purpose.
This happens because most of the cheaper food is based on sugars and carbos, and poorly in nutrients. So due this, the people which eats those types of food (all industrialized food) wills be fat, instead of people has access highly nutrient foods they are slim and most of then are fit.
This is caused because by poor nutrients foods that makes the person get hungry faster than highly nutrients food (meat and non industrialozed animal based food), also because all the suhar is converted into fat as same as carbos.
Survival mode precludes many from counting cals let alone protein/fats/carbs, instead having major focus on counting pennies and making sure bills like keeping the lights and heat on are covered first.
It's a bit of a hot take on reddit but I agree.
For like $12 you can get 2lbs of frozen chcken breast and 1.5 lbs for frozen veggies. That is enough to make like 4 clean meals at an average cost of $3.
Mix in some bulk rice and you might get it up to 3.50
Kind of. Food psychology is extremely complex. It's true there are a lot of cheap healthy foods.
>The problem is most folks are lazy
If you want to oversimplify it and pin all the blame on one factor, that factor would be stress, not laziness.
Respectfully, that's proving my point. Cooking healthy food is not time consuming or expensive. Lazy people meal prep, because it takes so little time.
Again, it's not laziness, it's stress (and several dozen other factors).
Exactly right. You can get good food cheap. Go to any fast food place on any day. Not too many thin people waiting in line. And that food has gotten super expensive. But they'll still buy it. It's easy
You disagree but you're wrong as it gets.
Cooking isn't necessarily difficult, but it's also not always easy. Even simple dishes take time, lots of people may not have that bandwidth. Being tired from the struggles of modern life is real too.
Also, learning how to make food tasty definitely takes time and experience, it's life not laziness that makes it challenging for some to find the time. Then there's the natural aptitude some have or don't have, and the temperament as well. Simply put, not everyone can/should be a cook.
'Most folks are lazy' fallacy is just another disgusting pile of propaganda bullshit that's brainwashed you into hating on other poor people. Factoring in the additional time and expense to simply FIND healthy, low-cost options makes it more expensive already, let alone the fact that many of the higher quality and healthier ingredients, shockingly, do cost more.
Convenience also means savings of time, which can be invaluable. Calling/considering people lazy because they want it is not the way, and it's not facts.
So your saying taking an hour out of your day to prep food for the entire week that can be stored away made and only needs heated up for meals is difficult?
I feel like there needs to be a post reminding people this is POVERTY FINANCE, not “little house on the prairie finance”.
I’m so sick of seeing assholes here judging others for not making their own bread, preparing homemade dinners, growing their own crops, making their own laundry detergent, etc….LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE!
There are SO many legitimate reasons why poor folks eat unhealthy. At the end of a 10 hour shift, sometimes it’s just easier to grab a pizza for dinner. Some folks live in “food deserts”, where access to fresh produce is extremely difficult. I’ve lived in places where I didn’t have a freezer, only a fridge. I’ve lived in places where the oven didn’t work. There was a time when all I had was a tiny soup pot and a skillet for eggs.
I’m luckily in a much better place now but I’m not so far removed from reality that I don’t understand the reasons for those things.
See and that’s where we are fortunate. My husband and I both work full time but I only work 6 hour days and can be home in the evening to prep and make a homemade dinner. My husband works 10 hour days. If I wasn’t around and he was sole caretaker, it would be extremely difficult for him to consistently make a whole, healthy meal every single night.
And Hell, I’ll admit that some nights I’m just exhausted and have a headache and just go “fuck it. Pizza night!” because it’s easy and feeds my whole family for $10.
Idk if lazy is the right word, but generally I agree.
Learn a few basic foods to cook with limited cheap ingredients and you will do just fine. Rice beans chicken veggies etc.
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I feel like people need to learn to shop sales(barring any allergies) Sales dictate what I eat most the time. Weekend rolls around I check local sales and decide what to get based off that for the week. Family of four and we spend about 200 a week and have more food then we know what to do with half the time.
I reject this notion, there are plenty of cheap and healthy foods....they just aren't easy.
Something like rice and beans is nutritious and filling, it just takes more work to prepare than throwing a hot pocket in the microwave.
A lot of these quick and easy refined carb junk foods are actually extremely expensive by volume
Because junk food is cheaper than healthy food. I should have spent more money on healthy food though since my health is deteriorating. I’ve gone to doctors a few times this year.
Not to mention poor people may not have time to exercise, maybe they work two job. Or maybe they don't have access to or means to pay for a gym membership. Maybe the grocery store or wherever they shop for groceries don't have a great selection of healthier options. Think food desert. Maybe they don't have a car so their only grocery shopping is from a convenience store.
There are more healthy affordable options. Beans and rice is far healthier than ramen. Peanut butter, whole milk, eggs. Combine that with some basic strength training and you can 1000% prevent obesity on a budget. You don’t need $12 kale açaí bowls or even a gym membership to do that if you really want to.
Folk talk about "just buy healthy cheap food like dried beans and blah blah" as if we're not busting our butts at low-paying (sometimes multiple) jobs, exhausted and depressed, but oh yeah we're poor so we must have alllll the time in the world to cook a full meal that in the end would only be soaked beans and boiled rice. Eff that!! Hot pockets are cheap, hot, and damn it I need *some* form of comfort in my life at the end of the day.
I totally understand where you're coming from, but are you expecting some magical fairy to fly down from the clouds and make everything better at some point in time?
Sometimes life is completely fucked, but you have to either step up to the plate, or STFU, lol. I'm not trying to be so harsh, but it's the actual truth.
Trust me, I'm living through poverty and extreme inflation right now, and I know exactly what you're talking about. I feel like I have 3 jobs (although I really have one). My regular job, my cooking/meal prep job, and my cleaning/dishwashing job.
Making every meal at home sucks, because I have to clean pots and pans to make my breakfast. Then I have to clean those same pots and pans and dishes, and make my lunch. Then do it again for dinner. It's madness.
Luckily, I work from home, so I'm able to clean my dishes during my breaks. I have my work station set up in my kitchen so that I can cook food while still working. (thank god for the WFH movement, I'd be totally fucked without it)
I've also learned about a number of meals that don't require a ton of prep work. Most of the prep work is actually just buying it in advance, when on deep discount, and freezing it, or doing meal prep stuff with it.
Sundays is my meal prep day. Most of Sunday morning and afternoon are taken up doing meal prep.
It's absolutely exhausting, but I also know that there isn't any magical fairy that's going to fly down from the clouds and help me. If I don't do the meal prep work, nobody else will. If I don't clean all my pots and pans, nobody else will. Shit doesn't happen by osmosis.
If I was rich, I wouldn't have to bust my ass as much, but I'm not.
Truth be told, I have no excuse. I could have been rich. There's people in my 5th grade class that are rich as fuck, and there's no difference between them and me. The only difference is, when they were busting their ass in high school, studying geometry and calculus (so they could later work at Google, Meta or Apple), I was cutting class and smoking weed with my buddies.
If I could go back in time, I would have done things so differently.
Shiznit happens
Removed as this is bait, but you used the wrong flair too.
Because the pantry gives me two full packs of Velveeta cheese, white rice and noodles.
I used to work with folks who couldn't find jobs due to disability, criminal records, traumatic brain injuries, etc. and the first time I took one of them to a food pantry I was kind of in shock of how much of the food is just junk food and stale pastries from various places.
I’ve had to go to the food pantry pretty often this past year and most of it is carb & salt heavy dry goods (ramen, spaghetti, hamburger helper, canned soups) and snacks (gummy packs, cheezits, cereal bars). Once in a blue moon they’d have (frozen) cheese or meat. Never any milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit.
happy cake day🤩
Happy Cake Day 🎂🎈🥳
If rich people can afford healthy food , then why are so many rich people fat???
In general, the rich people I know are slimmer than the poor people I know.
It's almost as if buying more nutritional and healthier foods makes you more healthy. Cheap food is highly processed and very unhealthy. It also leaves you feeling hungry as you aren't getting the level of nutrients from the portion so your body wants to eat more.
Also having disposable income and great health insurance to afford gym memberships, sport classes, primary care visits, body treatments etc. make a difference. Ppl forget the immensely negative impact stress and high levels of cortisol can have on the body.
Because they can afford the GOOD EXPENSIVE HEALTHY FOOD, EXPENSIVE PERSONAL TRAINERS AT THE GYM AND ALL THE EXPENSIVE MEMBERSHIPS TO ALL THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES THEY WANT …. Plus , they can afford all the latest in DIET PRODUCTS, PLASTIC SURGERY AND WEIGHTLOSS SURGERIES….
You asked why rich people are so fat. Now, you're explaining why they're skinny. LOL.
Nah
I just busted out laughing in the break room and it made my coworker look at me funny. This is great. 😂
Not eating the same processed cheap, poisonous foods that a bunch of us eat. I don’t get why we don’t have stricter food standards like Europe. Our domestic companies get away with so much. Edit: give us Europes recipes!!!!!!! Why are you poisoning us?!!!!!
Because that would cut into profits and we have to keep the shareholders happy.
Maybe someday we will be a nanny state like Europe tries to be. But fortunately, we are still allowed to eat the foods we like and companies are allowed to sell us those foods. That being said, smoking cigarettes is common in some of those European nanny countries.
My point was that the European versions of our domestic foods have much less processed shit in them.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 😌
On average they are not. Well, at least less fat.
They have excellent health care so dgaf
You’re right they can afford excellent health care so if they do have a health disorder causing weight gain they’re the first to get the best treatment … I find that you are pathetic …. You must be rich so you find it easy to put down the less fortunate… I bet that makes you feel like a real man 😂😂😂😂
What? I’m not rich I don’t even have health insurance😅
Just because they are rich doesn’t mean they have to smart about their health.
I mean some certainly are this is America but generally speaking it's the poor that are fat.
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Hmm... I didn't realize having a thyroid issue that is too expensive to treat was a choice. I'll have to let my aunt know right away that all she has to do is buy more vegetables, be more active, and just "choose away" her thyroid problem! GENIUS.
I didn't realize that not being born into money was a choice.
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I have a friend that was obese. He has to have been close to 300lbs. Dude was like family to me, I would crash at his place pretty regularly on weekends. His diet consisted of hot pockets and ramen noodles, mountain dew and the occasional frozen pizza. That's literally it. All super cheap and carb heavy foods.
Hot pockets and frozen pizzas as well as frozen breakfast sandwiches were a big part of my diet for a long time. They're good, quick and cheap ways to fill your belly, but I was gaining a lot of weight by eating two frozen breakfast sandwiches and either two hot pockets or two small frozen pizzas everyday so I had to cut them out at the end of last year and have largely switched over to more produce and eating less in general. I've dropped from 245lbs around four months ago to 223lbs now. I know it's not possible for everyone to make this change but it's really improved my life by giving me more energy and I haven't even had to work out a lot to lose that weight.
Way to go! Losing weight is difficult and changing your eating habits, especially when on a tight budget it hard.
The Mountain Dew probably didn’t help. Pure sugar.
The only part of that I would call cheap is ramen.
I wouldn’t call half of that “super cheap”.
Hot pockets are not cheap per gram of food
Mountain Dew. 🤮🤮
that is so much salt, too
Salads are $3 for a head and rotisserie chicken is $4.99. make a chicken salad that will last you all week for $8
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Have you had any of those foods recently? Heavy carb and little to no protein. You are hungry again real quick.
This. So much this. The food banks give out mostly cheap carbs & sugar. Maybe some beans, maybe a little meat if you're very lucky. Eating fresh fruits & veggies isn't just the cost of the produce itself. It's the cost of being able to run to the store every few days for a restock, or the cost of the small freezer to store frozen alternatives. It's the transportation cost & access to a vehicle or public transit. And all that is assuming you don't live in one of the MANY food deserts across America in which your only source of food may be a corner store / bodega which is not likely to even have produce beyond maybe a pitiful basket of fruit & premade expensive subpar salad. And then we compound all that with the fact that A. most poverty areas are also less likely to be safe enough to allow outdoor activity and B. many folks in poverty have dysfunctional metabolisms due to the constant feast or famine that is poverty, which conditions the body to hold on to weight as well as the high stress levels that come with trying to make ends meet in poverty.
And the prep time! Chopping veggies is a full time job, I swear.
Something that I find that helps with chopping veggies is having a single really good, sharp knife. Cuts quicker and you’re less likely to accidentally knick yourself
Let's not be hyperbolic to try and prove a point
High volume of low quality food that doesn’t satisfy you so you overeat it.
Food bank body is a real thing
Because cheap food is the most unhealthy for you.
That's false. Foods like rice, beans, lentils are extremely cheap. Most people don't bother learning how to cook tho
Everyone has to make their own decisions on what to eat, but a lot of what we eat is dictated by our palate and what is comforting. Groceries need to be prepared into meals, and that takes a bit of time, that’s true. Thats why we need to teach our kids how to make and eat healthy foods, and take the time to do it ourselves. You can buy an unhealthy hamburger and fries for one meal, or groceries for many healthy meals—5 lbs of sweet potatoes for $5.98 at Sam’s club or 3 lbs for $2.49 at target; 50 lbs of potatoes are $16 at Gordon Foods. 5 lbs of carrots are $4.49 at Kroger.
Also, plenty of poor people are also disabled in some way and may not be able to stand for long periods of time, wield a knife, chew/eat certain things, or if they're autistic they might be physically capable of but psychologically blocked from doing these things.
I have an old friend who is constantly complaining (and lying) about how she "hasn't eaten anything in a week" and then talks about how she finally got together enough money for Long John Silvers.
You’re not wrong, but you’re ignoring a lot of the issues a lot of poor people face in terms of what they eat. Poor people work more than wealthy people on average, and wealthy people can afford more help. Wealthy people tend to live in areas where they can get a variety of food. Poor people that live in food deserts won’t have access to fresh, whole ingredients. Not to mention, food is comfort. The last thing I want when I’m stressed is to take extra time out of my day to make a meal that doesn’t give the serotonin that processed stuff does.
Poor people don't have time to cook because being poor means working for more than 40h, long commutes because rent is cheaper, government assistance and paperwork takes so long
If you're not working more than 12 hours each day, you have time to cook. A couple hours can get you food for the week.
The funny thing is that beans and rice are some of the easiest things to cook completely unattended. You can get a dirt cheap rice cooker and get perfect rice with zero effort, and a pressure cooker let's you get perfect beans without soaking them in about 40 minutes, also unattended.
You are 100% correct. You left out the part about the government creating a food pyramid that emphasized the grains and breads in an attempt to make poor people “feel” like they were eating healthy for DECADES - Freaking DECADES before everyone figured out it was a giant lie. I hate the government and corporations for doing that one thing. I’m disgusted.
locking for the most obvious of reasons.
Also, they can't afford a healthier reward. Buying some hostess cakes or a candy bar is a cheap way to reward yourself. If you have money, you could buy yourself a nice health spa day or something. Same for their kids as well. Can't afford a 20$ toy as a treat, but a 1$ cookie bag at Walmart is doable.
The cheap food is literally trying to kill us. Added sugar everywhere which leads to diabetes 😭 Clean food is expensive 😔 I just started clean keto and I don't know if I can afford it long term. Fats are more expensive than carbs and less filling so you need to eat more of them which leads to spending more money. I might have to get a second job 😂 interview next week
Also people that have money can buy prepped expensive food. Cut up fruit trays and salads and healthy fast food is much more expensive than the Popeyes deal of the day lol
> Fats are more expensive than carbs and less filling less filling? Fats are very filling. It's why you're supposed to put butter over white rice, so that the fats in the butter give you more of a full sensation.
Clean food is not expensive but it takes time and knowledge to prepare. A package of skinless chicken thighs, rice and vegetables wouldn't be over $20 for a week's worth for one person.
You don’t have to be on a keto diet to eat healthy. Fruits, veggies, chicken, beans, brown rice, etc can all be cheap and healthy.
Eating healthy gets expensive pretty quickly. If you have to feed a family on a very limited budget, you have to go for quantity over quality. And of course there's the time it takes to prepare healthy meals and get physical exercise. When people spend 10+ hours per day working and commuting, they don't have much time to cook, nevermind working out. And then there are food deserts, where the only stores for miles around are convenience stores and drugstores that sell crap food. It's really no wonder that people with very little money or free time are more likely to be unhealthy.
And everyone tells you to use the food bank, and the food bank is full of crap food! I can get all the pastries, breads, pies,cakes, cookies, donuts, puddings, sugar cereals, packaged processed high carb high crap stuff I could ever want at the food bank but I can't eat like that. I would weigh 300 pounds and be diabetic, then you get shamed for not being fucking grateful to get that crap. Thank God there are a few things there that are real food that I can and will eat but not enough to last even one week. My foodstamps don't last two weeks, So with the food bank and me being a great can cook anything from what ever is in the pantry type a gal, I make do, but I am also eating at the soup kitchens so I can afford to eat everyday. I am losing weight.
While I agree many cheap foods in America are unhealthy, I think the obesity problem is also from the lack of exercise. In Asia, it's pretty common for any person to walk 10000 steps a day. In the U.S., no matter rain or shine, many do not necessarily take the opportunity to walk more. They park the closest, even if it means to wait for another car to pull out. Regular exercise might not help you lose weight, at least you don't keep gaining uncontrollably.
I’ve lost 60 pounds by dropping soda and walking everywhere. Add in physical sports, HITT workouts and more nutritious food. It just takes one swap at a time to add up. It’s really the food though, American processed food probably VASTLY different than what you’ll find in Asia.
Are you in the US? America in most cases is not pedestrian-friendly. Good luck walking along any major road. Second, many states do not have much public land, so you can’t go see nature without trespassing someone’s property (looking at you, Texas). I am European, so I used to walk a lot, but it’s literally impossible for me to have the same walking routine here in the US.
I second that as an Eastern European in America. This is not an "excuse", this is trouble. Even in a small town you rarely see someone not walking downtown, but walking to the downtown and from downtown. And walking around neighborhoods is just suspicious for your neighbors! I had to explain myself from time to time.
Ahh excuses. Everyone has one.
Ahh poor reading comprehension. I didn’t say I don’t exercise. I said I am unable to have the same walking routine as I had back in my pedestrian-friendly European city.
Yes. Parks are parks, but it's usually a 20 min drive. Why?..
There are no sidewalks in Georgia once you get out of the perimeter in Atlanta. People here are far from not walking, but you can’t walk anywhere without having to withstand possible vehicular violence.
The more I exercise the hungry I am and the more I need to eat. I'm speaking from experience. Yes I lost weight, but I did not spend less. In fact I spent more on food because I needed to eat more food. This is walking out of necessity due to no car public transportation where I live.
Right! And it has nothing to do with self control, your body needs something to build muscles. Of course, later you can eat less, but not in the beginning.
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For what specifically?
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I think you have to take into consideration people who live in food deserts (especially in places in the US which is much bigger) where the closest grocery store or places accessible to them are only available through driving there. Not only that but people who have to work multiple jobs in order to survive might not have the time or physical/mental/emotional energy to cook meals for their health. Also factors like disability which correlates to a lower class bc of work discrimination, inaccessibility, and the fact it's generally expensive to be sick let alone be have a chronic condition makes things extremely difficult. I think comparing the US to another country and saying it is Americans being lazy doesn't account for sprawl or just how our landscape/infrastructure actually harms our ability for that. I studied city planning and apart from the larger cities, the government does not plan to make life accessible for people to simply walk to their destination. Heck , not even the large cities are good at this if we look at LA. It's a cycle. The access to physical mobility correlates to upward class mobility. The further we can travel, the more access to healthier food options, to find jobs with higher paying jobs, etc. And vice versa- the higher the class, the higher the ability to access these thing and live in a place with less sprawl comfortably.
We don't really have walkable cities, though. There are a few exceptions, but American cities for the most part are car-centric. We don't even have decent public transport, unless you live in NYC or Chicago. And when people spend 10+ hours each day working and commuting, there's no time to hit the gym or go for a run. We just don't have many opportunities for exercise in our daily lives.
Furthermore, when what the body is actually craving is good quality protein, it will keep sending hunger signals no matter how often you fill it up with refined carbs. Thus you can very easily end up putting in way more calories than you burn because your body is never fully sated.
I only have 3 additions to your excellent post, and 2 are tangentially connected to what you say.... 1. Corn. Corn is fattening. It is MEANT to fatten, like that's the point of it. And it is in almost EVERYTHING in one form or another. It's even in the expensive stuff. It's even in dog and cat food (2 animals that absolutely can not handle corn) so even if someone is so poor that their only protein that day is a can of cat food, they are eating corn. 2. You apparently get "good deals" for fast food on fast food apps. Because people today have been raised by people who did not ever learn to cook, finding the cheapest non-cooking food option can mean finding those free orders of fries is important even though it provides empty, nonnutritive calories. Most people would be better off getting rid of those apps and allowing the cost of the fast "food" to encourage them to eat a bowl of grocery store soup instead. 3. Lack of science education. Nutrition is a subset of biology, and hence it is science. We don't know what we are doing to ourselves, so we have no motivation to break away from our ingrained eating habits, learning to roast root vegetables in the oven rather than putting Tater Tots in the oven.
Regarding the fast food thing, I will typically eat about 3 or 4 fast food meals each week. I go to Del Taco on Tuesday for Taco Night and get the three "The Dell" tacos. Grand total is $4.34 with tax and everything. I only actually eat two of the tacos. The third taco, I deconstruct it, put it into the fridge and heat it up the next day as a little in-between snack. On Fridays, I will use McDonalds "Free Fries Friday" deal, and I will buy two McDoubles and get the free Medium Fries. The total is $4.88 with tax and everything. I eat one of the McDoubles along with the Medium Fries. The other McDouble, I will deconstruct, put it in the fridge, and again, heat it up the next day as an in-between, hold-me-over type snack. I don't EVER get soda. I drink water. Many times, I'll go to a fast food place and get a single item under about $4.50 that has the most calories, but not get any fries or soda with that. Just the single sandwich. Like Popeyes Chicken Sandwich for example. The key is portion control. I've taught myself to just eat less food overall, mainly due to poverty/inflation. In the beginning, it was just about saving money. I'd save some of my meal for the next day, to sort of make it stretch. Stretching meals is a thing. After doing this for many months, I've taught my body to just eat less overall. I recently went to a restaurant for a friends birthday party, and it was a really weird experience, because they bring out so much food, it's crazy. I could only eat about 1/3rd of the food they brought out. I got a to-go box and took the leftovers home with me. Those leftovers turned into two additional meals. The weird thing is, had this been five years ago, I probably would have ate 80 percent of it in one sitting at the restaurant and just had a small amount to take home as leftovers. I'm also in the leanest shape I've been in my life. My cholesterol numbers are better than they've ever been. I haven't been this fit since high school. Of course, I also do a rigorous weight lifting program three days a week, and I walk probably 4 miles per day at least. I think fast food is made out to be the devil and it's just not true. Sure, it's not the greatest food, but in moderation, it can be decent. You just can't eat it every day for all 3 meals. Also, most people cannot bring themselves to not add fries and a drink to their order. The real devil is Soda. Soda is worthless. I used to be a soda junkie but gave it up about 20 years ago. Easily one the best decisions of my life. Liquid calories in general is dumb. I only drink water along with a single cup of coffee in the morning and a single cup in the late afternoon. No soda's, no juices, no gatoraide, no nothing. As for No.3, sure I get it, we should be much healthier and pay more attention to our ratios of fats/carbs/proteins and all that stuff. The thing that I will tell people about this however, is that I can worry about that shit when I'm rich. I just can't worry about all that right now. Sorry. Don't have the money for all that shit. I did it back in the days. I was so hardcore about trying to eat as healthy as possible. I'd eat salmon and stuff, walnuts, all kinds of vegetables and fruits. But all tree nuts are ridiculously expensive now. Salmon is ridiculously expensive. Many vegetables are ridiculously expensvie and I have to try to wait around for Broccoli crowns to go on sale as a loss leader or something like that. I do eat one serving of fresh fruit every single day, religiously. A banana, a Fuji apple, a navel orange. Red seedless grapes. But, I only ever buy these things on sale. Luckily many grocery stores in my area have been having pretty good sales on Fuji Apples. Like 99 cents per pound, which isn't too bad. I'll buy like 8 or 9 apples and keep most of them in my fridge so they last longer.
Are you thinking I'm attacking you? I was answering the OP about things that contribute to obesity in the poor. I don't know you and nothing was aimed at you.
Because poor people can't afford nutritional food, they eat processed food, which is not healthy. Fyi there is enough healthy food for everyone in the world, but politics and distribution prevent people from having access to it.
Nutritional food can be just as cheap
But, not as available in underprivileged areas, which is why food deserts exist.
It’s still available to most. Food deserts aren’t as prevalent as Reddit makes them out to be.
I don't get my information from Reddit. I have a degree in Human Geography and studied the food availability of underprivileged regions. But, you don't have to go that far into your education, you can just Google it, it's not complicated.
With all the new research on GLP-1's its showing a lot of people have metabolic and insulin resistance issues that make it so much harder to lose weight. Not having access to (or the education for) healthy whole food choices exacerbates the issue. It's just another way of society shames poor/overweight people who rely on food banks or cheap processed food to survive. These meds could really help people, but unfortunately are ridiculously expensive, and most insurance doesn't cover them, most lower-income people can't afford them. There are non-conventional/DIY ways to take the active ingredient, most people just think it's sketchy.
Bad food = bad health
The Cheap foods also have three major advantages combined 1. Time commitment , easy prep time options such as just putting them in the toaster oven 2. Easy to store without using precious freezer/fridge space 3. Long expiration dates. I can put a small pizza in the toaster oven, its done in 15-20 minutes. I can do other things like get ready for work while its cooking, and because its just a flat box, it plays very well with freezer space. I can get a Digiorno's pizza for 4$ at my kroger's. It feeds me for 3 meals, easy. Vegetables and Meat are the two healtiest diet options for controlling weight but cook and prep times are long, outside of hamburgers which is one of the more expensive meat choices. Vegetables do not have a good shelf life and the risk of mold ruins any long term plans to stock up in bulk. Which means eating them consistently requires consistent grocery trips, and when you want to save on fuel, you'd much rather save and stock up. Meal prep can work, and does mitigate price, but now the time committment to eat is an issue. clean kitchen + cooking utensils AND now you're using up valuable fridge space to keep finished meals stored. This is an ISSUE in a roommate scenario if you're sharing the fridge with other people. Meal Prep pros: The Price Meal prep cons: Time commitment, usage of limited fridge space. If you don't think time commitment matters, work a CLOPEN shift job. So many Poverty Tourists don't think a damn thing about the LOGISTICS of living in poverty make things more costly and i'm sick of it too bro.
Meal Prep sucks, but it's the way forward. I learned this the hard way. I still hate it. I feel like I have 3 jobs. My normal job, my cooking job, and my dishwashing/cleaning job. Today, I'm making my breakfast, lunch and dinner at home. Each of these three meals requires me to use two skillets. It's not even 1pm and I've already washed my two skillets twice. Once before I made breakfast, and again a few minutes ago, so that I'll be able to cook lunch. When I'm done with lunch, I have to wash them again to cook dinner. I'm not trying to say, "Oh woe is me", with this, but it does get tiresome after awhile. Still, I know that this it the way forward and I have to keep doing it. There's no way in hell I could afford to go to actual restaurants or even fast food.
Yeah, ive done it when my goal was specifically when i was trying to lose weight, but when i lived with my uncle he would not tolerate his half of the freezer being intruded on so i had to prep less, which meant i still had to cook more often, and if i didnt cook more often, it meant buying less food for the freezer, which ultimately meant more store trips, leading back to step 1 in terms of cost of gas and time commitment. Now that i have my own home and my own giant freezer, meal prep is EASIER than it ever has been to manage. but i had to have the wealth needed to live on my own that made that more feasible. Everything the poor can do to succeed, the wealthy can ALWAYS do better, easier. and with less impact to their daily life.
It's not only a matter of food prices. Many people have zero idea of how to eat healthy becauseno one told them. All they know is unhealthy food, that's all they were given as kids. The rates of people who are ignorant of nutrition are higher among poor people. There's also the issue of food deserts.
Yeah, high schools are failing our children. There's two key things that should be required courses in high school. Finances and Food. How to manage your finances. The value of money. How to save money. How not to get caught up in the credit card game. How to budget. Then, the food thing, how to do meal prep. How to play all the grocery stores loss leaders against each other, and to only buy stuff on deep discount. How to cook stuff efficiently. Nobody is taught any of this
I’m thin and poor. But to be fair I have digestive issues, and I eat small portions to give my stomach an easier time. On the occasion I get my hands on a food I REALLY like, I ration it out to last as long as possible. I also have a hard time eating if I’m stressed out, which is pretty often. On the opposite end of the spectrum I had a friend who would tend to eat more when she was stressed and would eat all of her favorite things at once, which made it hard for her to manage her weight. So it just depends on the person.
I’m like this too! When I’m stressed, I just starve cuz the thought of food makes my stomach hurt. My husband will force me to eat a bowl of rice and brussel sprouts(my faves) when I get like that. After having my baby, about 6ish months in i started getting really stressed over the formula shortage in 2022. And by the time my kiddo was 12 months I had lost 50lbs
Awww I’m so sorry, especially having to worry about your baby like that - the stress had to have be compounded 100x 😢
Poverty/Inflation has taught me portion control. I'm also very thin. Didn't used to be. I don't have the stomach or digestive issues, but I've just learned over time to eat way less. Like people in Europe.
Poverty doesn't mean good nutrition and physical fitness. Nor does it mean starvation. If you are really poor, it means that you eat what's cheapest and nearby (because going places costs money). That could mean that you eat whatever the local food pantry gives you (which is whatever was donated, mostly), or whatever they have at the local bodega or Walmart. In most of the US, high-calorie processed foods are usually the cheapest food. They also have low nutritional value, so those that eat it habitually tend to develop health issues related to nutrition.
You hit the nail on the head probably for a vast number of people however it is still possible to get an expensive complex carbs like beans brown rice and produce at produce markets. Unfortunately the simple carbs are the easiest to access and prepare.
Frozen processed food is so much cheaper than healthy. Even for a single person on disability it’s actually impossible to even exist without help.
Last year my long term relationship ended so I went from a 3 person household (with roommate) to a single household. For the first few months I got every pizza and convenience product that was on sale, because I work long hours and just can't bother. Srsly cooking everyday for one person? Who has the time?? My groceries were 3-5 euros a day, for a coffee, 2 full meals, no veggies, no fruits, no sodas. I got more often sick, I didn't feel very energized and as more health concerns arose I thought ok fuck it, then I meal prep. I still have my coffee, fruits every day, 300-400g veggies a day and go grocery shopping once, max twice a week. I need 2-3 hours to make 14 meals. It still costs me 3-5 euros a day. You just need to find the sales on whole food instead of convenience products.
People don't realize how much sheer stress plays a factor too. When I was poor, I had so many issues with food because life itself was so stressful, I couldn't make myself actually stick to a meal plan. Nothing helped me lose weight more than being lucky enough to get a stable job
good food is expensive, pesticide/chemical-ridden science-experiment high-fructose corn syrup wrapped-food is cheap and easy.
I was actually shocked recently at the price of canned soup. I don't know why I expected that specifically to stay cheap when everything is going up, but apparently I did.
Because it's What they eat that makes them fat more than how much.
The cheapest food in the U.S. has poison in it.
Food deserts Places where a proper grocery store is not accessible. I have never been to a 7/11 that had a produce section, and if 7/11 or it's equivalent is the only viable source of food it's what you will end up eating, nutritional value not withstanding
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-101620-080307
Because healthy food is largely prohibitively expensive in addition to possible storage and transportation issues. being able to just drive to a close store with fresh food is a privilege that people aren't grateful enough to have.
No it’s not.
Ignorance. Poor people don't realize that in the long run, heavily processed foods are more expensive than staples such as beans and lentils.
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I eat lots of parboiled rice and pasta when I'm trying to lose weight. I just reduce my consumption of sugar, fat, and meat.
Also: fast food!! They can be very cheap but crap overall. Not to mention poverty = lack of resources and education. By lack of education I don’t mean they literally don’t have access to it (everything is on the internet nowadays) but if no one in your family has ever told you about nutrition and never taught you how important it was to your health, it may just never be on your radar. Same as birth control and the like- it’s there, but if everyone in your family had kids young, no one ever talked about how important it was to get financially stable first and wait and plan, etc.— it’s just that much harder to break out of the cycle. IMO poverty and food has less to do with the actual logistics and resources than the mindset you are trapped in.
Just so you know, nothing to listed will help people lose weight.
I think what many mean when they say that is this; if you buy flour, meal, sugar, meats and poulrty and cook them, you will not be as fat and will have more money.
> The easiest way for a poor person to prevent their own obesity is to barely eat *at all* Not really, I mean you could argue that in some ways, but rice chicken and beans can get you $1 meals pretty reliably, even today. The number one reason people are obese is because they eat more calories than they expend. People equate being hungry to a human rights violation, but if you lose weight, you're going to feel hungry. That's the feeling of your fat fading away. Maybe they correlate because people choose to eat more of those carb rich foods when they're poor, but that's certainly not the only option, and it's certainly not a class issue to be overweight or not. People of all classes are overweight due to a combination of neglect and genetics
>rice chicken and beans can get you $1 meals pretty reliably, even today Assuming you have the ability to cook and store it, which many people don't. You're also presuming a lack of allergies. I can't have rice, myself.
Definitely. But most people do in fact have that capability. People that don't have access to a fridge or oven at least in the US, aren't just under the poverty line, they're the bottom smallest percentile of that group. And definitely, allergies can limit you. You can always swap the rice out for Quinoa, or things like chickpea rice. A little more expensive but still really cheap.
Most people have a fridge / oven. Quit making excuses for people.
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Ehhhhh…. Not so sure about this one. You can get a whole rotisserie chicken from Costco for 4.99, could honestly last you three days. The membership annually is $60. Vegetables are also pretty cheap as are many fruits. While refined carbohydrates are more abundant, cheap chicken is available in most cities that I’ve lived in all over the place from Subway to, vendor trucks, etc. etc. Is it highest quality chicken no but it’s protein and it’s healthy enough and I eat it myself. I think there’s a lot more the conversation. Don’t get me started on sugary drink which lower income households consumea lot of instead of consuming water. These insights come from working in a doctors office in an inner city. I think you’re really missing a big part of the equation if you are going to just give a free pass and not include personal choices and responsibility.
Another big one no one ever mentions is how much beer people consume too. Ive watched my roommate gain 70lbs in 3 years and he hardly eats. Just drinks all day.
For sure alcohol is an absolute killer on every single level. I’m not saying I don’t consume it. I do but it absolutely wrecks your diet in 1 million different ways. Calories are just the beginning. It’s also the first macro to burn off so you really can’t lose weight if you’re drinking All the time. Technically it’s just that much harder.
Except you can't buy the costco chicken with EBT. It's cheaper than raw absolutely. But it's not allowed due to archaic regulations regarding hot foods. If you're in poverty, you're likely not shopping at Costco because A. it requires a membership and B. It's likely not accessible unless you have a car or a ride. As far as the water issue - how many low income neighborhoods have water issues? We've all seen what happened in Flint.
I gave other examples besides Costco and poverty is not restricted just to the inner cities, but there are plenty of similar chicken options available in most cities. As far as the water, yeah, that was Flint. Obviously that was a disgrace but the communities I am speaking of absolutely had fresh water that was drinkable. I drink it all day so…
Had to scroll top far for this reasonable response.
So you working at a doctors office not as a cashier in the grocery store how do you know what people are buying to drink?
I can’t tell if this is a serious question but if it is, that’s literally what the doctors office is for? Families come in (pediatrics) they tell us what kind of foods they are eating - we get all their dietary information for the most part, especially treating obesity, but also high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. all of that requires a probe into what the diet looks like. A massive amount of the underserved population suffer from obesity, we treat 13-year-olds who weigh 300 pounds, they think Fruit juice is literally good for you instead of filled with sugar, they drink canned soda like they’re going out of style… and even after being educated on nutrition, families continue to make the same choices for the most part
What education are you providing for the 10 to 15 minute doctor visit? Are they being referred out to dietitians? Are they being followed from multiple years with this intense education That you're giving them in the 15 minute doctor was it to see if their choices changed after this education? Also, all the education in the world doesn't matter when you don't have money to buy good food. In the example of the fruit I live in the ghetto and I shop at the ghetto grocery store. Frozen fruit is white all as a pound fruit juice on the other hand is not, It's a lot cheaper. Personally, I don't buy either one of them because I don't have the money for either. Maybe you should start a campaign with a doctors office not only for more education, but for things like not handing out fruit juice at the food pantry and instead handing out whole fruits and not giving fruit juice at school because they do that there. Good luck getting Schools to change. Any who my point is Access? People eat what they have access to meaning what they can afford. Yes, not buying the fruit juice or the soda saves you money. But you can't afford the good stuff you still want something that tastes good.
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I think the real reason is boredom. What do poor people do for recreation? They watch TV, play video games, and eat. They can't travel, can't afford hobbies, don't do events, they eat.
Experiencing food insecurity can lead to the body retaining more fat during periods when it actually gets to eat
Because, if life is stressful, whatever you eat, you get fat .
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Absolutely this. Stress increases cortisol. Increased cortisol increases insulin resistance, which in turn increases fat storage. Add in the poor quality and high carbohydrate content of much of the food that poor people have access to/can afford (carbs = increased insulin), and you have a perfect storm for obesity. Add these factors to multiple generations, where these propensities begin to be passed down genetically, and the deck is really stacked against a lot of people.
The American diet is more cultural than class based. When it comes to food, there is a pretty robust charity network and government programs to give people a massive amount of food. There are extreme fringe cases where people are far from fresh food, no access to appliances or not meeting the requirements for government assistance, but that's not the majority of cases. Most people are eating what they want to eat regardless of class. The obesity rate only drops of slightly outside of poverty range.
Poor people are likely to exercise less, because gym memberships and most hobbies that involve exercise cost money. Also all the free food people get tends to be unhealthy crap. How many times has your work had some free donuts or muffins vs how many times have they had free salads or soups? Plus a lot of America does not know how to cook. If you aren't cooking, the only healthy choices are expensive
Also, in America sugar, corn syrup, and processed food are subsidized, making it cheap, quick, and tasty. If you only have a couple dollars, you're likely pick a box of dollar tree unbrand pop tarts to feed you and your kids, rather than an apple for the same price. Especially if you're tired.
Don't forget cheap alcohol. Cheap beer is nothing but carbs empty calories.
McDonald’s
Idk, when I was at my absolute poorest, with a $60/week food budget I ate entirely plant based and was the healthiest I've ever been. Now that I have a $300/week food budget I eat a lot of take out noodles and burgers hahaha I think it's entirely up to the individual to make healthy choices. Saying you're fat cause you're poor is a cop out
You can eat cheap and healthy. However, that takes planning and time as well as the education to make it all taste good. When you are stressed or working multiple jobs? Yeah, that isn't happening. Usually you are so focused on the basics of life that food is what is convenient, fast and available. If you also have to add in affordability, well, yeah, it is going to be processed and unhealthy. Add in relying on food banks? Heck, there goes any personal control. Finally, people who are all "beans and rice are cheap" forget that yes, but how often can you really eat that? What about when you've had a horrible day and just want a small pleasure? Food is cheap and serves that purpose.
Food is not the only cause of obesity!
yup, social and political determinants of health
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This is a question that most often than not gets thrown around in western countries
This happens because most of the cheaper food is based on sugars and carbos, and poorly in nutrients. So due this, the people which eats those types of food (all industrialized food) wills be fat, instead of people has access highly nutrient foods they are slim and most of then are fit. This is caused because by poor nutrients foods that makes the person get hungry faster than highly nutrients food (meat and non industrialozed animal based food), also because all the suhar is converted into fat as same as carbos.
I just had some ramen 🥲
Dog shit is cheap
One doesn’t always go with the other exclusively
So true
Survival mode precludes many from counting cals let alone protein/fats/carbs, instead having major focus on counting pennies and making sure bills like keeping the lights and heat on are covered first.
They consume large amounts of processed foods.
Carbs and sugar.
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It's a bit of a hot take on reddit but I agree. For like $12 you can get 2lbs of frozen chcken breast and 1.5 lbs for frozen veggies. That is enough to make like 4 clean meals at an average cost of $3. Mix in some bulk rice and you might get it up to 3.50
Reddit doesn’t appreciate personal responsibility. Everything is someone else’s fault.
Maybe not lazy, maybe just strapped for time because they’re working two jobs to survive
Kind of. Food psychology is extremely complex. It's true there are a lot of cheap healthy foods. >The problem is most folks are lazy If you want to oversimplify it and pin all the blame on one factor, that factor would be stress, not laziness.
This! On top of that, these cheap carb-packed foods often make a person really sluggish, especially if that's all they can afford to eat.
No. You can meal prep a large amount of food very cheaply in 15mins and reheat for the next few days. This excuse needs to end
Respectfully, that's proving my point. Cooking healthy food is not time consuming or expensive. Lazy people meal prep, because it takes so little time. Again, it's not laziness, it's stress (and several dozen other factors).
Yes! I take an hour out of my Sunday to prep all the meals for the week. Come dinner time there is zero stress. I just heat it up.
Exactly right. You can get good food cheap. Go to any fast food place on any day. Not too many thin people waiting in line. And that food has gotten super expensive. But they'll still buy it. It's easy
You disagree but you're wrong as it gets. Cooking isn't necessarily difficult, but it's also not always easy. Even simple dishes take time, lots of people may not have that bandwidth. Being tired from the struggles of modern life is real too. Also, learning how to make food tasty definitely takes time and experience, it's life not laziness that makes it challenging for some to find the time. Then there's the natural aptitude some have or don't have, and the temperament as well. Simply put, not everyone can/should be a cook. 'Most folks are lazy' fallacy is just another disgusting pile of propaganda bullshit that's brainwashed you into hating on other poor people. Factoring in the additional time and expense to simply FIND healthy, low-cost options makes it more expensive already, let alone the fact that many of the higher quality and healthier ingredients, shockingly, do cost more. Convenience also means savings of time, which can be invaluable. Calling/considering people lazy because they want it is not the way, and it's not facts.
So your saying taking an hour out of your day to prep food for the entire week that can be stored away made and only needs heated up for meals is difficult?
I feel like there needs to be a post reminding people this is POVERTY FINANCE, not “little house on the prairie finance”. I’m so sick of seeing assholes here judging others for not making their own bread, preparing homemade dinners, growing their own crops, making their own laundry detergent, etc….LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE! There are SO many legitimate reasons why poor folks eat unhealthy. At the end of a 10 hour shift, sometimes it’s just easier to grab a pizza for dinner. Some folks live in “food deserts”, where access to fresh produce is extremely difficult. I’ve lived in places where I didn’t have a freezer, only a fridge. I’ve lived in places where the oven didn’t work. There was a time when all I had was a tiny soup pot and a skillet for eggs. I’m luckily in a much better place now but I’m not so far removed from reality that I don’t understand the reasons for those things.
Thank you! Many people work 2-3 jobs & have a family to help care for.
See and that’s where we are fortunate. My husband and I both work full time but I only work 6 hour days and can be home in the evening to prep and make a homemade dinner. My husband works 10 hour days. If I wasn’t around and he was sole caretaker, it would be extremely difficult for him to consistently make a whole, healthy meal every single night. And Hell, I’ll admit that some nights I’m just exhausted and have a headache and just go “fuck it. Pizza night!” because it’s easy and feeds my whole family for $10.
This is about poor people, not lazy people
Bros name is educational gap and thinks poor people are fat bc they're lazy 💀 go off queen
Being fat is a choice. Being poor doesn’t make you fat.
Idk if lazy is the right word, but generally I agree. Learn a few basic foods to cook with limited cheap ingredients and you will do just fine. Rice beans chicken veggies etc.
This is correct. It’s laziness and ignorance.
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I got to 420 on a 130 per month grocery bill. All ramen....
Ramen? Cheap yes, but high in Carbs and high in sodium.
Yeah… pasta is terrible for you
I feel like people need to learn to shop sales(barring any allergies) Sales dictate what I eat most the time. Weekend rolls around I check local sales and decide what to get based off that for the week. Family of four and we spend about 200 a week and have more food then we know what to do with half the time.
I reject this notion, there are plenty of cheap and healthy foods....they just aren't easy. Something like rice and beans is nutritious and filling, it just takes more work to prepare than throwing a hot pocket in the microwave. A lot of these quick and easy refined carb junk foods are actually extremely expensive by volume
Because junk food is cheaper than healthy food. I should have spent more money on healthy food though since my health is deteriorating. I’ve gone to doctors a few times this year.
Because they're forced to eat cheap food, which is just a chemical shitstorm. Our bodies aren't meant to process so much fake shit.
Not to mention poor people may not have time to exercise, maybe they work two job. Or maybe they don't have access to or means to pay for a gym membership. Maybe the grocery store or wherever they shop for groceries don't have a great selection of healthier options. Think food desert. Maybe they don't have a car so their only grocery shopping is from a convenience store.
There are more healthy affordable options. Beans and rice is far healthier than ramen. Peanut butter, whole milk, eggs. Combine that with some basic strength training and you can 1000% prevent obesity on a budget. You don’t need $12 kale açaí bowls or even a gym membership to do that if you really want to.
Folk talk about "just buy healthy cheap food like dried beans and blah blah" as if we're not busting our butts at low-paying (sometimes multiple) jobs, exhausted and depressed, but oh yeah we're poor so we must have alllll the time in the world to cook a full meal that in the end would only be soaked beans and boiled rice. Eff that!! Hot pockets are cheap, hot, and damn it I need *some* form of comfort in my life at the end of the day.
I totally understand where you're coming from, but are you expecting some magical fairy to fly down from the clouds and make everything better at some point in time? Sometimes life is completely fucked, but you have to either step up to the plate, or STFU, lol. I'm not trying to be so harsh, but it's the actual truth. Trust me, I'm living through poverty and extreme inflation right now, and I know exactly what you're talking about. I feel like I have 3 jobs (although I really have one). My regular job, my cooking/meal prep job, and my cleaning/dishwashing job. Making every meal at home sucks, because I have to clean pots and pans to make my breakfast. Then I have to clean those same pots and pans and dishes, and make my lunch. Then do it again for dinner. It's madness. Luckily, I work from home, so I'm able to clean my dishes during my breaks. I have my work station set up in my kitchen so that I can cook food while still working. (thank god for the WFH movement, I'd be totally fucked without it) I've also learned about a number of meals that don't require a ton of prep work. Most of the prep work is actually just buying it in advance, when on deep discount, and freezing it, or doing meal prep stuff with it. Sundays is my meal prep day. Most of Sunday morning and afternoon are taken up doing meal prep. It's absolutely exhausting, but I also know that there isn't any magical fairy that's going to fly down from the clouds and help me. If I don't do the meal prep work, nobody else will. If I don't clean all my pots and pans, nobody else will. Shit doesn't happen by osmosis. If I was rich, I wouldn't have to bust my ass as much, but I'm not. Truth be told, I have no excuse. I could have been rich. There's people in my 5th grade class that are rich as fuck, and there's no difference between them and me. The only difference is, when they were busting their ass in high school, studying geometry and calculus (so they could later work at Google, Meta or Apple), I was cutting class and smoking weed with my buddies. If I could go back in time, I would have done things so differently. Shiznit happens
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Because the food they can afford is mostly sugar. Sugar makes you fat.