Do you all eat as healthful as your dog does?

The dogs win this one. I'm a poor college student. I spend about $50 a week on groceries. I eat a lot of cheese, lean turkey, and whole wheat wheat thins. I enjoy eating healthy, but with a lack of time and money...i dont really get to cook often. I also try and tell myself that it's okay if i eat some fries, i'll just stay at the gym a little longer...i know i'm lying to myself. What can i say, i'm addicted to wendy's!!

Yes there is a well established link between obesity and poverty for many of the reasons stated here. Poverty is actually a public health risk factor for obesity. Remember - I'm the obnoxious public health student. It goes well beyond simple laziness.

1. access to good food.
2. access to affordable good food.
3. time
4. environment - neighborhoods that are too dirty or too dangerous to be outside in.

These are some of the reasons poverty is a risk factor for obesity.

Paula

 
if one can make it to mcd's to spend  2 bucks on a cheesburger and fries they can make it to the store to buy a bag of frozen veggies for the same 2 bucks. if they are actually impoverished im assuming they have no job, therefor would have plenty of time to make it there and back with enough time to microwave those frozen veggies. and whats wrong with doing aerobics in your own home? i still chalk it up to lack of ambition. theres no such thing as im too poor to be healthy, not in the united states anyway, we have government assistance programs that provide more than enough funds to buy healthy foods. the michigan food assistance rogram provides a family my size with more food assistance er month than i spend for my family a month and like i said, my family eats healthy meals. actually being poor will not make a person overweight. unless they have a medical condition i think there is no excuse for it other than plain old laziness. it takes just as much time to pull a carrot stick out of the fridge as it does a bag of  chips...and the carrots are cheaper!

Yeah, I think for the most part we do eat as healthy as do the dogs.  Now and then, yep, I'll give in to something looking wonderful and eat something I shouldn't, but all in all, I behave.
 
Somewhere along the line folks forgot how to cook.  So much of the food that we eat (general we) comes out of a box, the freezer case, a can or is take out. Yep, Lean Cusine is more expensive than Banquet, but neither one is GOOD for us.  I feel like an ancient relic because I still cook 99% of everything we eat myself.  I always have multiple meals in my freezer because if I make a sauce, soup, stew or whatever, I make enough to freeze....after all, making more doesn't make a larger mess or really take anymore time.  And I LIKE to cook....I like to chop and dice and do all those old lady type things.
 
I totally agree that poverty has a major impact on obesity.  And while I can't completely disagree with LIMITING the junk that a food stamp will buy,  I believe that it is an unfair generalization to basically say that  folks on welfare sit around watching TV and eating junk 24/7.  Just because a parents financial situation is horrid, doesn't mean that the child should NEVER have a treat, or maybe a birthday cake and ice cream.
 
What I would love to see is warehouses, stocked with almost nothing but healthy foods and limits on the amount of "junk" anyone could buy....and food stamps not accepted anyplace BUT the warehouse....but, that's not gonna happen so I might as well stop wishing for it.....but I would also like to see nutrition classes and COOKING classes offered to the folks that need financial assistance and food stamps.

ORIGINAL: ron2
In Rosenberg, Tx., northwest of Houston, there is a restaraunt called the Texan Bar & Grill. Full service bar. Ashtrays at every table. In the bathroom, ashtrays at every urinal and commode stall. You can have anything on the menu that you want, as long as you want it fried. I think of it as the Cholesterol Cafe. You may die, but you've had a big meal, a drink, and a smoke.[]

That's all well and good, but if - heaven forbid - you were to get lung cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or emphysema, your medical bills would be causing my insurance costs to go up (actually, I can't afford health insurance so scratch that), when you got older I would be paying for your prescriptions and doctor's visits, and if you were my family member I would also probably be helping care for you physically and financially at the expense of my own prosperity - and I didn't get to have the big meal, drink, and smoke! (Well, I probably had the drink []). I know you were just being humorous, but that's the attitude a lot of people take and it's just not realistic... your choices do affect other people.

Oh and by the way, between postings I am cooking a pot of pasta and a pot of sauce with fresh onions and garlic and asparagus and some tofu - total cost approximately $2.50, total time to cook 20 minutes, and I will have leftovers for tomorrow!

When I was making $5.15/hr workig full going to school full time and could barly aford to pay rent I applied for food stamps. Guess what, I did not qualify because I made to much money! WTF! Now if I had a kid I would qulify for over $200/month. I don't want to have a kid but it's so tempthing with the amount of money the government would give me...

I see thoes people on food stamps useing them to buy nothing but junk and it makes me so upset. Here I am struggling to eat healthy with the little I have and if it wasn't for my parents sending me money I would not be able to aford food at all. Then I'm standing in line ans see someone paying for 20 bags of chips, cand bars and soda with food stamps. It's not that poor people on wellfair can't afford it, they just choose not to.

My cousin works at a dentist office that accepts government assistance and she tells me that thoes people feed their babies cola in the bottles and by age 2 they are already loosing teeth! Not all are that way but so many are and it just drives me crazy.

I totally agree that poverty has a major impact on obesity. And while I can't completely disagree with LIMITING the junk that a food stamp will buy, I believe that it is an unfair generalization to basically say that folks on welfare sit around watching TV and eating junk 24/7. Just because a parents financial situation is horrid, doesn't mean that the child should NEVER have a treat, or maybe a birthday cake and ice cream.

I couldn't agree more with this quote.

You know, it's been a year into this 4 year public health program and I can't help but notice a cultural insensitivity to poverty. I don't know if it's a holdover from puritan roots but we seem to have a collective contempt for poor people. They're lazy, shiftless, stupid, addled, etc. Basically it's their fault they're in the situation they're in. I have theory that part of that contempt comes from fear - if poor people are shiftless and lazy, then I can avoid poverty by never being shiftless and lazy. It's kind of like that belief that if you don't dress like a whore you won't get raped. Neither belief is true of course, but they are both comforting.

Here's the reality about who is poor. You work with them every day. There are people who hold jobs, and dress well who don't know how they're going to pay their heating bill and put food on the table at the same time.

How many of us use our credit cards to meet expenses before the nex t pay check.

Financial experts always say you should have 6 months salary put away for a rainy day. I don't have six months salary in the bank, do you?

How many of us would be living in our cars in less time than those six months if we lost our jobs tomorrow?

That is the reality of living in America. So mind where you fling your contempt about poor people being lazy and sitting on their asses.

Having said all that - poverty is an established risk factor for obesity for all the reasons stated here. Food stamps by certain foods in stores. Not all stores accept food stamps. So imagine that you are poor, living in an urban environment and either the store you can walk or bus to doesn't take food stamps or doesn't sell a lot of fresh foods?

Forget about the destitute. Do you know why people by Mc Donalds all the time? Because they are run off their feet working sometimes two jobs just to make ends meet. Where I work in Frederick, MD the median houseprice is about 300k. Do you know who can afford to live in Frederick? People who work in DC. Rent in Frederick for a 1 bedr apartment - and I had to look this up for a paper some time ago - is about $800.00 a month. Do you see how a person could be working for a living and unable to afford a place to live and not be lazy or stupid or otherwise beneath contempt? Do you see that this person would be hard pressed to keep himself in fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and chicken?  One poster recommended frozen veg - excellent idea.

As another poster said; it would be nice for classes in nutrition and eating on the cheap to come with food stamps. 

Oh and let me tell you about who is too poor to eat well. I did, as an assignment, an interview of the dietician responsible for the WIC  (women, infants, and children) program and she said an significant portion of her families are those of enlisted military.

So keep that in mind.
Okay I'm off the soapbox.
Paula

I think here in America we live this sedentary, gluttonous lifestyle - everything in excess with minimal work involved, and this is a major contributor to the obesity problem.  And that goes for the poor and the rich. I've been to European cities where EVERYONE was thin, and I mean everyone.  I am 5' 3", 108 lbs and I was considered average when I was there.  And it certainly had nothing to do with the food.  Everything in the restaurants was made with butter and cheese and bread.  The main difference?  Everyone WALKED to their destinations.  And the funny thing was that you would never see people jogging or working out there, that is not a big practice there.  Just simply walking or riding a bike instead of hopping in the car does wonders. 
 
All this funding is put into research to find this "obesity" gene, just a way for money to be made and people to have excuses to be overweight or to get thin without putting any effort into it.

All this funding is put into research to find this "obesity" gene, just a way for money to be made and people to have excuses to be overweight or to get thin without putting any effort into it.

I agree.

I also agree about the gluttony thing.  I think people eat out of boredom, or the fact that it's "time to eat," rather than out of necessity.

ORIGINAL: jenns

I think here in America we live this sedentary, gluttonous lifestyle - everything in excess with minimal work involved, and this is a major contributor to the obesity problem.  And that goes for the poor and the rich. I've been to European cities where EVERYONE was thin, and I mean everyone.  I am 5' 3", 108 lbs and I was considered average when I was there.  And it certainly had nothing to do with the food.  Everything in the restaurants was made with butter and cheese and bread.  The main difference?  Everyone WALKED to their destinations.  And the funny thing was that you would never see people jogging or working out there, that is not a big practice there.  Just simply walking or riding a bike instead of hopping in the car does wonders. 

All this funding is put into research to find this "obesity" gene, just a way for money to be made and people to have excuses to be overweight or to get thin without putting any effort into it.

You are absolutely right about walking. We don't do that enough, and cities aren't usually designed to be conducive to it. Here's a favorite example of mine (architecture is a side obsession), The Golden Mile in Frederick, Maryland. It is a great example of a mixed use community; within walking distance there are homes, apartments, malls, restaurants, movie houses, grocery stores, etc. Except that walking the Golden Mile is taking your life into your own hands. There are 4 lanes of traffic going each way separated by a grassy median and a speed limit of 45mph. The intersections are never at a full stop - so when you're crossing you have to keep an eye out for filter lanes. It is actually safer to cross in the middle of the road instead of at crosswalks, but people are hit all the time. HUH? No walk overs, sidewalks are not everywhere, yet here is a community where literally everything you can possibly want is within a mile. It's the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

New suburban communities are being designed with walking paths and greenspaces because in bedroom communities like Frederick - where people sleep but work elsewhere - there's no bicycling to D.C. So the new developments have great walking paths.

Paula

For me it's the chocoloate. First and foremost. Sometimes it's candy in general, but for now it's chocolate. I'm so bad about it. I don't eat fast food but I love chocolate. I hate that I'm so into it right now but I haven't been "ready" to settle down and really take care of myself the way I know I should and deserve to. There's a little knob missing that will allow me to open that door up.
 
I walk, I bike, I lift weights and I'm pretty active overall. I used to be even more active, but really, I'm not doing too bad.
 
If only I could STOP with the chocolate!

When my dog is good while we eat (no begging, whining, etc), she's rewarded just the tiniest taste of what we were eating... the reason she doesn't get a more substantial portion of our scraps is because I don't want her eating the "crap" that we eat!

This is gonna sound horrible as i could stand to drop 10 pounds and hubby could drop 20 pounds.  We go to the beach and he says "There are more whales on the beach than in the water"    Nothing like a 5'4", 220 pound woman in a bikini!We go out on the gambling boat and it is amazing the number of HUGE people that have to be pushed up on a wheel chair because they are to fat to walk up the gangplank.  Get around okay once inside....sure make it upstairs to the buffet with no problems.   Some use two stools at a machine.  Hubby refers to himself as a piglet and to them as porkers and super porkers.  I am always after him about dropping weight, but he does have a point.  He sits in that rig hours on end and shuts it down only to eat and to take his 10 hour break, which means eatting and getting his sleep.  He pulls haz mat and can't just stop anywhere and most places he HAS to stop at is limited to friend meats, fries, and salad.  he loves it when he can hit one that has a super soup and salad bar.  He is usully out two weeks and h ome a couple of days.  But he has been out as long as 4 1/2 wqeeks when great loads kept coming up.
 
I am of two minds when it comes to food stamps.  I have resented times (lay off, strikes, slow times over the 41 years we have been married) when we had to live on tuna and other extremely cheap stuff, no treats whatsoever, but I would be behind someone buying candy, cokes, chips, top cuts of meat, name brands, etc...and pay with food stamps, then pay for cigarettes and beer with cash.  That just didn't seem right to me.  ONE TIME we applied for food stamps and were turned down because we had a brand new car.  Told us to sell the car and buy a cheap one and then we could qualify.  We would not have gotten for the car what we owned on it at the time. Luckily things picked up soon afterwards and we were okay.
 
My one DIL's family has spent it's entire life "on the dole" and when the compnay my son worked for closed down, she made a bee-line to get food stamps and medicaid for the the kids, et their rent partially paid, help with utilities.  I would not have known where to start. But that was the norm in her family.  My son hated having to use the food stamps, or the Texas card as is  used here now.
 
My nephew drives for FedEx andhe was saying he will go thru neighborhoods where he knows lots of kids live and won't see a single child outside playing.  They lived across the street from us when we lived in Austin and there were several other kids on our little short street and during the summer, on weekends year round, etc, they would all be outside riding their bikes on the street, playing ball, etc, etc.  He said no wonder kids are so fat today--they spend all their time on computers or those TV game things.
 
No exercise, even when it is possible, jumk food instead of good stuff (how many kids would take an orange over a candy bar) is responsible for so much of the obesity here.

here the food you can buy using government assistance (WIC/food stamps) is somewhat limited. my daughter-in-law was on WIC when she was pregnant. she was limited to buying mostly nutritious foods (milk, fruit juice, veggies, cereal-but healthy ones like cheerios or wheaties, etc.). she couldnt even buy meat with the food stamps, and definitely no soft drinks or alcohol.

maybe different where you live, but this is just my own personal experience. WIC sent her a list of approved foods, so i have seen what is acceptable for government assistance in our area. i dont mind my tax money helping out families that are truly in need, but i wouldnt want to be providing them with junk food either.

I would be behind someone buying candy, cokes, chips, top cuts of meat, name brands, etc...and pay with food stamps, then pay for cigarettes and beer with cash.  That just didn't seem right to me.  ONE TIME we applied for food stamps and were turned down because we had a brand new car.  Told us to sell the car and buy a cheap one and then we could qualify. 

Thats exactly what I see all the time, people paying for junk with food stamps and buying beer with cash.

For me I didn't qulifiy because I'm not married and don't have a kid... My income was only $5.15/hr as a life guard and for me that was the best job I could get at the time because I was also a full time college student. I was more healthy then than I am now, since I worked at a pool I swam on my breaks. I was headed in the right direction and by no means was lazy at all. I was doing something with my life and I only wanted food stamps temporaly to at least help me live till I was more finacily stable. But no, some how making $400/month was too much, rent was $360, how could they exspect me to live on that! If it wasn't for my parents helping me out and scholoerships I would have had to drop out of college to support myself or be in serious debt.

I wish they monertered what these people bought so the money goes to the right people. Give the money to people who are trying to get out of being poor, help thoes who need it. Not feed the behavor. It should not be ment for a person to live their whole life on government assistasnce, the government should be helping thoes people find a job, get the edication they need. Not give them everything for free and then not ask for anything in return.

ORIGINAL: cyclefiend2000

here the food you can buy using government assistance (WIC/food stamps) is somewhat limited. my daughter-in-law was on WIC when she was pregnant. she was limited to buying mostly nutritious foods (milk, fruit juice, veggies, cereal-but healthy ones like cheerios or wheaties, etc.). she couldnt even buy meat with the food stamps, and definitely no soft drinks or alcohol.

maybe different where you live, but this is just my own personal experience. WIC sent her a list of approved foods, so i have seen what is acceptable for government assistance in our area. i dont mind my tax money helping out families that are truly in need, but i wouldnt want to be providing them with junk food either.

When I was in college a friend of mine got pregnant and because of assistance from the government she was able to stay in school and still raise a healthy, well -adjusted daughter who is now herself about to graduate college. If it wasn't for government help she would have had to drop out of school and her daughter would have been at risk being a poor, young mother herself. As far as I am concerned they can have all my tax dollars to serve this purpose. I am less interested in the virtue of those on the dole, I am more interested in breaking the cycle of poverty and all poverty entails.

Paula