Why are so many "poor" Americans SO FAT?

reply to post by grapesofraft


But sometimes they really can't afford it. Would you rather pay $5 for a couple of grapefruit, or $2 for a jumbo bag of sugary cereal?

If I was low on cash, and especially if I had kids, I would get the cereal. Doesn't go bad, it's more filling (has carbs), and is much cheaper.

reply to post by ravenshadow13


Yes, healthier foods don't keep as long and require electricity and appliances that many unfortunate people don't have.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
reply to post by grapesofraft

 

But sometimes they really can't afford it. Would you rather pay $5 for a couple of grapefruit, or $2 for a jumbo bag of sugary cereal?

If I was low on cash, and especially if I had kids, I would get the cereal. Doesn't go bad, it's more filling (has carbs), and is much cheaper.

I disagree about the difference in costs. You can buy grapefruit for 99cents. You have to shop wisely. You buy stuff when it is on sale and you shop at stores like Aldi where things are cheaper. So for that $2 I can get two grapefruit and they still havent bought milk for their cereal yet.

I still say that eating healthy is only marginally more expensive than eating healthy if at all, but I could be wrong.. That is just my experience from shopping weekly for my family.

reply to post by Tartarspoon


Ok so you are saying the government puts them in housing that has no refrigerator or stove. I highly doubt that. Section 8 housing has very strict requirements for property.

reply to post by grapesofraft


not everyone gets section 8. And yes a lot of poor folks do not have electricity or many luxuries we take for granted.

reply to post by Tartarspoon


Well then they can walk to the store daily and get what they need for the day. More exercise.

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


I disagree. A prime symptom of hypothyroidism is lack of protien. Many hypothyroidal people have lack luster thinning hair due to protien diffeciency. Most of the fat people I see have lack luster thin hair ;this is indicative of malnutrition. Where exactly is a hypothyroidal person getting the fat from if he or she is on a low fat low calorie diet?

If you pay attention to what fat people say, many of them will tell you they exercise and diet. In fact, many of them exercise and diet more than their skinny friends. Many of the fat people, will tell you they ate more and exercised less when they where thinner.

The problem is a low functioning thyroid will shut down if a hypothyroidal person eats soy , wheat grass ,kelp and cabbage. The thyroid controls the metabolism; if the metabolism does not work weight loss is impossible. Because wheat grass is bad for the thyroid, it is more than likely bread will also not be helpful for people with hypothyroidism. In addition to all this many of them crave carbohydrates. Unfortunately many diet gurus will tell hypothyroidal to eat garbage such as kelp and soy guaranteed fatten hypothyroidals.

The only side effect of getting to much thyroid medicine is longevity. This is the main reason some Doctors are economical with the dosages. Telling a person with a low thyroid to exercise five times as much as everyone else when a little medicine along with a proper diet and moderate exercise will take the weight off is cruel and inhumane.




[edit on 30-7-2009 by eradown]

Too bad we don't live in a perfect world. People do the strangest things and we will never know why. As the old saying goes " you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". It's just the way it is.

Originally posted by eradown
reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd

 

Where exactly is a hypothyroidal person getting the fat from if he or she is on a low fat diet low calorie diet?

Dietary fat does not make you fat. Eating a low calorie diet is part of the reason for the hypothyroidism. When you eat less food, your body adapts by slowing the metabolism. If you exercise more, the body slows down the metabolism if you don't eat.

A low fat diet is sort of oxymoronic. Low fat diets are inherently high carb diets and excess carbohydrates turn to body fat.

-Dev

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd
No ,actually there are foods such as fish and egg whites which are low fat and low calorie but incredibly nutritious and high in protien. Vegetables such as spinache actually force the body to work harder in order to digest them which makes spinache an ideal diet food.People who want to lose weight will still need to eat low calorie diets ,even with things such as diabetes and hypothyroidism taken into account. Most of the empty calories come from breads and grains.

[edit on 30-7-2009 by eradown]

Originally posted by Tartarspoon
Too bad we don't live in a perfect world. People do the strangest things and we will never know why. As the old saying goes " you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". It's just the way it is.

I wish I could star on BTS. You're certainly right.

What the OP seems to be upset about is his tax money paying for people to live lifestyles that he doesn't approve of/condone and whatnot. As I think many people probably are now.

I'm not particularly concerned about it myself, as I don't make much. I understand why people who pay more taxes would be peeved like the OP though, especially since it's hard even for people who earn a moderate income to get by these days.

[edit on 7/30/2009 by eMachine]

Originally posted by BenIndaSun




Define "so many"

Drive down MLK in any city and you'll see for yourself.
You won't need stats to see the fatsoes and the fairly new cars in the driveways and the color tv's. Step in to the nearest convenience to see them buying the not-cheap cigarettes and food that costs 10-25% more than the grocery store.
No, we don't have poor. Go to Brazil to see poor.

reply to post by grapesofraft


I agree with you, And it isn't true that healthy foods cost more, fresh produce is by far cheaper than most junk foods, also, you can always find meats that are quaility cuts on sale, I got real good steaks at winn dixie at buy 1 get 1 free, boneless chicken breasts at buy 1 get 1 free; Yeah You may have to do soem leg work go to other places and comparison shop, but I do not buy into the mentality that it's cheaper to buy fattening foods that's really ridiculous, and I have been shopping for 20 years, I have always found fresh produce cheaper, and frozen comes in second. I think it is just plain laziness. They get that way cause they sit on their A**** and eat the tv dinners and twinkies. Seriously that is the truth!

reply to post by ldyserenity


Great post. I agree that if you shop around you can eat healthy and still keep the grocery bill under control. I think a person is foolish if they dont shop around for good prices and buy when things are on sale.

If they are not working I dont understand why they cant spend all of this free time shopping, cutting coupons, reading up on nutrition, etc...

reply to post by grapesofraft


I agree, these days you have to shop wisely. I can feed my family for $100 a week easy, with no complaints from the family. I on the other hand can live on a few items, Bread, peanut butter, water and a knife. My wife and kids will hate me though because they want a variety.

It seems so many have given up trying and give in to convenience and laziness. Twinkies and tv dinners taste so much better than a salad and grilled chicken breast. It's a luxury to some and many look forward to eating something tasty after depressing day of doing nothing.

I have one friend who is an out of work single mom, she is a medical office assistant who was laid off last Sept. One child. She is allowed just over 200 a month in stamps right now, no help with her rent or utililies, gas or insurance. Her child support, if you can call it that, is 200 a month. If he pays it. They live mostly on Ramen noodles, you gotta figure that is 50 a week for 2 people, a growing teenager and a mom. Mom certianly would and does sacrifice food for her child. Yet they are both currently becoming overweight, since Sept. I think it is because the less expensive meals are high in fat and carbohydrates, anything else is too high to purchase and still eat each day at least 2 meals.

Originally posted by eradown
reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd

 

No ,actually there are foods such as fish and egg whites which are low fat and low calorie but incredibly nutritious and high in protien. Vegetables such as spinache actually force the body to work harder in order to digest them which makes spinache an ideal diet food.

Egg whites? Why not the whole egg? What is wrong with fat and cholesterol? Eggs, fish and green vegetables are great. A high protein/high fat diet will do just fine in reducing body fat, regardless of total calories consumed. Without carbohydrates, and/or insulin, the body can't store fat.

People who want to lose weight will still need to eat low calorie diets ,even with things such as diabetes and hypothyroidism taken into account.

Unfortunately, this is not observed.

Most of the empty calories come from breads and grains.

[edit on 30-7-2009 by eradown]

These are carbohydrates, not "empty" calories.

Let me ask you....Do you think those foods(Fish, chicken and eggs) are successful in reducing body fat because of their lack of fat content or because of their lack of carbohydrate content?

-Dev

Originally posted by space cadet
I have one friend who is an out of work single mom, she is a medical office assistant who was laid off last Sept. One child. She is allowed just over 200 a month in stamps right now, no help with her rent or utililies, gas or insurance. Her child support, if you can call it that, is 200 a month. If he pays it. They live mostly on Ramen noodles, you gotta figure that is 50 a week for 2 people, a growing teenager and a mom. Mom certianly would and does sacrifice food for her child. Yet they are both currently becoming overweight, since Sept. I think it is because the less expensive meals are high in fat and carbohydrates, anything else is too high to purchase and still eat each day at least 2 meals.

1 serving of Ramen Noodles has 27g of carbohydrates compared to 7g of fat. The dietary fat has nothing to do with the increase in body fat. As I pointed out, it's because the less expensive meals are high in carbohydrates.

Good God, so much Animal Instinct from some in this thread.

Money is a disgusting thing it's a system based on our perception of reality, which mainly though human history is based on Survival, Territory, Mating, Dominance, Pack Status, Fight or Flight

The reality is we have the technology and production methods with 10% of our society employed at it to Feed Everyone, House Everyone and provide everything we all need to NOT exist in an Animal survival mode...

This is why there are no jobs

It's not LESS Welfare that is needed it's more... No one should ever make decisions particularly in America based on if they will EAT the next day in a Nation that provides 33% of the worlds food...

These poor people Stock up on cheap foods that make them Fat out of Fear... like a Hamster that went without feed for a week once...

Then we JUDGE them and talk about how much smarter and better we are and how LAZY they are?

They aren't Lazy... they have never known some of them anything but fear of survival...

It is disgusting that we treat people as if there is no way to feed or house them...

Money

LOL

Money doesn't even Exist

It's a construct that defines how we look at the Universe and it reveals everything about us.... That we are still rooted as Animals in our Behavior, that we do not see am Abundant Universe where anything is possible but a small patch of woods where the frost might kill the berries and we must defend them even with our lives and dominate each other in order to survive.


It's not less welfare... it's more that would leave these people FREE to not FEAR but rather live and I guarantee if we flex our HUMAN NATURE we will find people are not Lazy but rather dynamic and capable of amazing things

reply to post by mopusvindictus


My good friend I usually agree with you, but have you lost your mind or have you been grabbing the wrong pills out of the medicine cabinet?

The reality is we have the technology and production methods with 10% of our society employed at it to Feed Everyone, House Everyone and provide everything we all need to NOT exist in an Animal survival mode...

Show me this technology please. All these Zeitgeist type people always say we can do this, but it is total BS!