Cost of Food & Obesity Amongst Poorer People

breadlinebetty

aliasojo wrote: »

In Tesco the other day, a cauli was 95p, a lettuce was 80p, a bag of satsumas or tangerines (can't remember what small kind it was) was £1.50. That's £3.25 for nothing much really. Certainly not a week's worth. More like a day and a half.

My OH is a fruit fiend. He takes several pieces to work with him every day. Tbh, it's his healthy eating that kills our budget.

I've said this before on MSE and got royally shot down because other people can get 'bags of apples for 2p' and 'fruit and veg isn't that dear'. That's great, but unless you have access to the places that sell cheap foods and the means to get them home, then you don't have the same options as everyone else.

I would imagine the the poorer areas of society just don't have the same choices.

Neither do the richer areas!

Try buying a week's woth of veg in Waitrose for £3!:p

And farm shops are even more expensive!

Maybe some market stalls sell veg at rock bottom pices, but where on earth do you find them besides in Calcutta??

gfplux

There is an awful amount of energy being put into this discussion. Perhaps the less fat amongst us just get on with eating reasonably OK without thinking too much about it and looking for excuses.
How many "fat" family's do not eat together around a table at least once a day. How many of those same family's are eating food on their lap in front of the TV.
Perhaps those people who try to keep themselves healthy actually think about the future and want to live longer and healthier.
There are no easy answers but those with the most time available do not spent enough of that time thinking healthily.

CLAPTON

breadlinebetty wrote: »

You need protein with those vegetables........you can't live on vegetables alone. Though you can neve eat too many vegetables in my opinion - I always have at least 7 different veggies with my Sunday roast for example : roast potatoes, roasted butternut squash, mashed carrots and parsnips, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and either cabbage, spring greens or peas - a whole rainbow of colour and taste!:)

As for eating foie gras - some people would lynch you for that! But it IS gorgeous...........:)

And pork crackling with gravy and apple sauce - oooh - temptation!:p

vegetarians live long and healthy lives without eating meat.

breadlinebetty

lobbyludd wrote: »

If you are interested "good calories, bad calories" by gary taube is an interesting summary (from a lay-person/journalist rather than a scientist) regarding why people, - independent of their activity levels, lay down fat when they eat primarily carbohydrate dense/nutritionally low value food, and have been documented to do so through history.

Was it the ONS who did a comparison of price per calorie for food containing some nutritional value versus sugar+fat+salt (i.e. all cakes/biscuits/pizza/ frozen lasgne etc)? - worth a look, try and find it.

salt+sugar+fat as a combination triggers "happy chemicals" to flood in your brain -

Untreated mental health problems are more concentrated in more deprived areas (deprivation leads to mental health issues and mental heath issues lead to deprivation). salt+sugar+fat can be a quick and cheap way to manage a mental health problem.

There's also a potential addiction element ongoing here.

Nutritional advice can be complex, or overly simplistic, contradictory, not evidence based, and often has the opposite effect to that intended because it's based on "common sense" that sounds right rather than evidence that it actually is good for you.

Have you read the book "Good Omens"? in it the fast-food industry is the work of the devil, where people are conned (by advertising) into eating nutritionally empty high calorie food, so that they become both obese and malnourished, dying of starvation and obesity at the same time. See first point.

OP: why do you want to know? are you planning to do something to help? or to invest in a scheme that would help or asking for advice for a friend and why ask on this forum in particular? or was it yet another chance to open a "debate" where posters pass judgement on the decisions, oportunities and capabilities of others and find them woefully lacking.

Because given that being poor and obese does not offer enough challenges to mental well-being it is important to ensure that those at the bottom of the pile know that:

a) it is all their own fault
b) they are lazy/stupid/selfish/slothful/greedy
c) the rest of the hard-working/intelligent/philanthropic/energetic/sharing people are fed up of paying for their shiftless existence.



Because crap food per calorie costs much less, and it makes you feel good, and full, but not for long. That's both of yor questions answered.

Perhaps instead those obese poorer people could make themselves feel better by belittling others?

My bias is this: My first degree was in human biochemistry. I work full-time in health, and am a single parent. I spent the first 31 years of my life underweight. Marriage to an untreated alcoholic saw me increasingly eating rubbish to cope with very difficult circumstances and battling depression, the last 6 months, I have become obese. My divorce has left me financially in difficulties despite earning much more than the national average.

I am neither lazy, nor stupid nor genetically slothful. I eat a lot of rubbish because the endorphin flood rescues me from intrusive thoughts that threaten to crush me. Doing so keeps me a productive tax paying "wealth generating" member of society. I pay for private therapy that is helping me to find better ways of dealing with this. (not available on the NHS).

You obviously didn't understand my original question : I asked how poorer people can afford to eat so much junk food? And they must eat a lot of it to maintain their weight.

I don't agree that all junk food is cheaper than fresh food - and I've aleady set out examples - as have others.:)

This wasn't started to just discuss nutrition ( it was money orientated) but as with many theads it's digressed and moved along. Nothing wrong in that!

And I'm certainly not belittling anyone. I can see how a quick fix of a chocolate bar can soothe and comfort - I've done it myself with all sorts of food and drink But if I felt the need to eat rubbish food every day I would be concerned....

A quick fix a chocolate or a bag of chips may be - but going for a nice half hour walk through the park will release the same amount of endorphins as a deep fried Mars Bar - and costs a lot less too. And the feelgood effect will stay with you longer.

In your case you seem to have all the answers and know exactly why you binge eat on junk food...which begs the question: if you know the cause of your problems why aren't you addressing them?

breadlinebetty

gfplux wrote: »

There is an awful amount of energy being put into this discussion. Perhaps the less fat amongst us just get on with eating reasonably OK without thinking too much about it and looking for excuses.
How many "fat" family's do not eat together around a table at least once a day. How many of those same family's are eating food on their lap in front of the TV.
Perhaps those people who try to keep themselves healthy actually think about the future and want to live longer and healthier.
There are no easy answers but those with the most time available do not spent enough of that time thinking healthily.

"There is an awful amount of energy being put into this discussion"


Maybe the sloths have found a lazy way to burn off some excess calories.

Tiglath

breadlinebetty wrote: »

In your case you seem to have all the answers and know exactly why you binge eat on junk food...which begs the question: if you know the cause of your problems why aren't you addressing them?

I think the other poster is addressing the issue by having therapy? Sometimes there's a timelag between knowing the answer and putting it into action perfectly.

breadlinebetty

CLAPTON wrote: »

vegetarians live long and healthy lives without eating meat.

Who says?

Thee's plenty of vegetarians who get ill and die - just look at the late Linda McCartney who sadly died of cancer.

Being vegetarian doesn't guarantee good health and freedom fom illness. Indeed, some vegetables are laden with carciogenic pesticides.....

So whilst we all know fuit and vegetables are necessary for good health, it doesn't mean to say you're not eating ones which undo all that goodness by the chemicals they coat them in, and it doesn't mean to say you won't get ill.

michaels

adouglasmhor wrote: »

You also have the skinny-fat AKA Metabollicaly Obese Normal Weight. In the healthy weight range but carrying too high a fat ratio. More prone to heart disease or osteo-porosis etc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/skinny-fat_b_1799797.html

This is me

gallygirl

bossymoo wrote: »

Indeed! I am a single mum (and btw not all single mums are "on benefits" ) and I cook for my children, we don't do takeaway here!

:eek::o:eek::o:eek: OMG that is not what I meant at all :eek::o:eek::o:eek:

I know this thread has moved on but I didn't want anyone thinking that was what I thought . What I said was:

gallygirl wrote: »

There are distinct groups of people who would find it hard to eat healthily - e.g. single mums or diabled folk living on benefits in flats on council estates with no nearby supermarkets. I can afford to eat healthy and well - I can drive round to various supermarkets and markets to get good deals, when chldren were young I would buy a sack of spuds etc. But if your food budget is £10-15 for the week you can't afford to spend 1/2 of that on potatoes, and then try to get upstairs and find somewhere to store. Same with genuine good offers or supermarket glitches - you can't afford to take advantage of them (if you have the internet to find out about them in the 1st place). Same with companies like Approved Foods - massive tins of tomatoes etc very cheap, also packet rice & cous cous (not that healthy but better than egg fried!) but not much good if you can't afford the minimum order etc.

What I was clumsily trying to say that if it takes a long and relatively expensive bus journey with a couple of kids in tow it's not easy to buy fresh stuff and cart it home, then there may not be enough room to store it etc. I wasn't for one minute trying to say that applies to all singke mothers - I'm one myself, as are my friends and when our kids were little we all cooked from scratch and served up healthy meals (aduki bean shepherds pie anyone ).

chewmylegoff wrote: »

the trouble is that the internet is full of complete and utter drivel (you only need to read my posting history to see that), and unless you know what you are reading is drivel, you can't tell that it is not. thus if you type cheap healthy meals into google, and you don't already actually have rudimentary understanding of what is healthy, you'll end up stuffing yourself with pasta and thinking you're doing rather well.

There's nothing wrong with stuffing yourself with pasta - in preference to fatty meals full of rubbish. I've lost 3 stones on slimming world where you can eat as much pasta as you want.

Off to read the rest of the posts now I've defended my reputation .

chewmylegoff

gallygirl wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with stuffing yourself with pasta - in preference to fatty meals full of rubbish. I've lost 3 stones on slimming world where you can eat as much pasta as you want.

Off to read the rest of the posts now I've defended my reputation .

Fat doesn't necessarily make you fat, pasta does if you eat too much of it, so any diet that tells you that you can eat as much pasta as you want should be regarded with some suspicion. If you lost 3 stone eating that diet then I can only concluded that "as much pasta as you want" was "not very much pasta" in your case. If I ate as much pasta as I wanted I wouldn't be losing weight anytime soon...