Why the Poor are FAT

GracieRuth said:
This is what caused my diabetes. My body simply doesn't "do" high carb diets. My doc put me on the paleo diet, and I'm not supposed to eat rice/grains or lentils/legumes. I still do a little, sometimes because I don't feel good and want a comfort food, but too often because that's what I can afford that week. Basically, while rice, beans, and flour can keep someone from starving, they simply aren't nutritious and cause long term damage.
Click to expand...

Well, while beans and rice do contain carbohydrates, they contain almost no sugar. I'd be highly suspicious of a doctor that would pin the cause on this type of a diet alone. There would be several hundreds of millions of people throughout the Eastern and ancient worlds suffering from diabetes for generations if this were the case; those two foods alone have been the staple of countless civilizations.

One thing I would question though, is how much milk and other dairy foods were also a part of your diet. Those actually do contain sugars, not just carbohydrates and if you follow the link, you can also see lots of research linking them to diabetes.
 
I think the poor in america are fat because so many americans are fat anyway, with metabolisms that have been messed up due to the processed foods they eat. Even many rich people in the states don't know how or want to be healthy, so now with the recession and people becoming poorer, they are forced out of eating what healthy foods they had been eating before, causing them to be even fatter.

Another reason poor people are seen as fatter than rich people in the states: latino and black people are genetically inclined to be bulkier than caucasians (although, this sort of additional fat/muscle is perfectly healthy) - and because of what's happened historically, they have been poorer until quite recently in america.
 
Unfortunately, government subsidies to the agricultural industry are focused on the types of foods that are making Americans unhealthy. Without subsidies, there would not be such a price difference between healthy and non-healthy diets. (Grains are the most subsidized directly, but meat is the most subsidized overall as the grains are largely used to fatten up cows and pigs. In a true free market, most people would probably not be able to afford to eat a hamburger every week or even month. Tobacco subsidies also remain huge, while fresh produce is not subsidized except for insurance programs that go to all farmers. I believe that the sugar industry is supported mostly by protectionist tariffs rather than subsidies on production, but the corn subsidies make high fructose corn syrup one of the cheapest products in the world.)


Beans are mostly carbohydrates but most are slow release and considered very healthy for diabetics. The common white rice has very little nutritional value, but there are more exotic varieties that are very healthy. (The rare black rice is nutritionally rich and considered very good for preventing diabetes.) The South American (pseudo-)grain called Quinoa can provide all the protein humans need.



Are you sure that Blacks and Hispanics are genetically inclined to be bulkier? I was under the impression that the cold climates of northern Europe encouraged bulk, and that tropical body plans of Africans tends to be quite lean. (Bulk makes sense for Hispanics, as most have substantial Native American ancestry and the Native American body plan developed in the bitter cold of Siberia before their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait.) The genes that cause obesity and hypertension are apparently beneficial to surviving a long hard ocean voyages though, and may have been selected for by the slave trade (and, to a lesser degree, by the voyages that brought early American colonists here). While the descendants of slaves are more likely than other Americans to be overweight and have heart problems, recent African immigrants are much less likely.
 
Last edited:
magister343 said:
Unfortunately, government subsidies to the agricultural industry are focused on the types of foods that are making Americans unhealthy. Without subsidies, there would not be such a price difference between healthy and non-healthy diets. (Grains are the most subsidized directly, but meat is the most subsidized overall as the grains are largely used to fatten up cows and pigs. Tobacco subsidies also remain huge, while fresh produce is not subsidized except for insurance programs that go to all farmers.)
Click to expand...

mhm mhm
 
Find a grocery store that uses regular old dumpsters instead of a trash compactor and go shopping there at night with a flashlight.
 
GracieRuth, you have such interesting thoughts.
I'm usually always wowed by your assertions.
 
And here is one solution:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63529896/Delta-Rising

We have some of the most fertile farmland in the world, right in some of the areas with the highest poverty and worst nutrition. It seems obvious that community/church gardens, or individuals in their neighborhoods with small plots of land, would help tremendously. Most middle-class people can grow lots of vegetables cheaply and with little effort, and eat them themselves or donate to food banks, because usually there is extra produce when you do this.

People are doing it, and they are doing it from within their own communities. I wish this sort of thing would spread.
 
Something that I think needs to be done is to get rid of laws that say you can not plant crop in your front lawn.
 
I shouldnt have to get around laws to live off of things I own, but yes I agree thank you.
 
Aaaaalriiiiight... I shall be the voice of the cynic on this topic.

On this forum, we are all fairly well educated people who are not afraid to think, work, and struggle. We make decently good decisions, I'd think, but is that the same for the poor?

I have a great aunt who cannot live alone. She cannot manage her money. She's never been able to. She is getting social security right now, and used to live alone. She'd get her check at the beginning of the month and see how much it was, then go out and buy jewelry, clothes, and all manner of luxuries before running out of money halfway through the month and calling her sister (my grandmother) to ask for money for food. The situation resolved itself now, and she lives in a community home where she allows the landlord to collect the social security and provide her with food, cigarettes, and other required items.

We are animals, and are subject to our less admirable qualities. It's easy to look past them and pretend they don't exist. If you're smart, you can buy healthy food and cook it up on the cheap! Bananas cost about $0.35 each. Pasta is cheap. Ingredients for salads are relatively cheap. Carrots, beans, rice - cheap, cheap, cheap!

I visited this site after I typed up the above paragraph. How awesome am I!
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-cheapest-healthiest-foods-money-can.html

I've heard it said before: "They need education! They don't know how to eat healthy! They don't know how to save their money!" ...but let's say you included a simple pamphlet of "Healthy Food - Unhealthy Food" and "Inexpensive Food - Expensive Food" when you gave them their card. What would they do? We're led so often to believe that they would do better if they were given knowledge, but don't we all foresee them glancing at the pamphlet and then tossing it away because they don't want any of that stuff. They, and their children, want candy, chips, soda, fries, and microwave food. Healthy food doesn't taste as good, and in order to get it cheap you have to spend time cooking it. Many don't want fruit - even if it's cheap. They'd rather have some McDonalds.

I'm not so much talking about those poor who are that way temporarily because they lost their job, got into an accident, or are in college. I'm talking about the perpetually poor. Those who never sought to advance in anything nor improve themselves or their situation. I do not expect those in that mindset to make an effort to better their health. They'll continue to do what they're used to: Taking the quick, easy way out and not thinking about it for a moment. When I hear many of the perpetually poor saying "We need more money so we can get healthier food. I can only afford to buy my kids nutty bars and TV dinners because they're cheap. I would eat healthier if I could"... all I see is that homeless man with his dog holding a "Will work for food" sign, collecting what he can get based on others' pity and then trotting off to the gas station to get a 40 of King Cobra.

Granted, there are a lot out there who are trying. I don't want to stereotype, but there are a LOT out there who sit and spin a good story, but never do anything to effectively better themselves.

I have one last personal example that is suddenly coming to mind:
A year ago, one of my friends was telling me how hard it was to get a job. He needed a job because he was going to be kicked out of his house. He'd been living with his girlfriend for a few years, off of her income. They'd broken up. He'd always been trying to get a job, but somehow it just evaded him. The time had come when he HAD to get a job. I advised him to go and apply to everywhere that he could, and to speak to the managers and tell them that he'd be the best damn worker they'd ever hired. He said that he's been trying to reapply, and that maybe he'd actually go into the store in a while - it turns out he was doing it all online. It just amazed me. He'd been applying to the 5% of stores that have online applications - and I'm SURE they get discarded in favor of those who actually go into the store. He found reason after reason to justify how he hadn't actually gone into other stores and talked to managers and manually filled out applications. He's been really busy. He's been depressed. It's strange how he was such a happy guy and fun to be around until he started job searching. Always drinking and partying and having fun, but suddenly it all changed the moment he realized that he needed to sustain it by working himself, and his mood would shift from normal to being a wreck whenever he was supposed to apply himself to it.

I asked him why he didn't go out further and maybe try other places - but he said he could only walk. He said he needed a driver's license but couldn't get to the DMV to take his test. I offered to drop him off there - but he found a way to decline that too.

So it goes, there's always a good story. What actually lies underneath that story though? Are we willing to look at it and honestly see those who do try and those who don't? And are we willing to say to those that don't try "Alright, we are not going to try to help you anymore. You need to do this on your own" and let them sink or swim? The story is so much easier to believe... it feels so much better... And how many of them are just stories, compared to the realities of struggle? Quite a few are stories, I'd imagine.

To quote Machiavelli - "Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are."

Mind you - I am not an elitist. I'm giving a different perspective, one that I see quite often. I am a cross, fickle person... but I know it. I am honest with myself, and I desire honesty from others. It's not a less-than-perfect reality that offends me, it's anything aside from reality attempting to be played off as it.
 
Are you really this dumb or are you just trolling?



GracieRuth every time I read this thread I just shake
my head. Good people donating food did not make you
diabetic. If you have medical proof of this please present
the evidence. You need to eat more cakes and eggs for
this to be the cause of diabetes and heart disease in
the poor. If this were the case then every person who
ever ate this diet would be in the state of health you are.
My guess is that you have a genetic inclination or you've
eaten much unhealthier on your own than you're willing to admit.
 
Soulful said:
*whistle*

Bananas here are $0.69, at best. Usually somewhere between $0.69-$0.99.
Click to expand...

Yeah, food in Canada is way more expensive in the USA. In fact, I'd say everything is more expensive. Aside from healthcare of course.
 
Vocal said:
I think she's nuts, every-time she posts a thought, i get the impression that she's depressed.
Click to expand...
I'm bipolar, have lupus, chronic migraines, and something is rotting my short term memory -- I lost several jobs because I couldn't remember instructions. The person I was is slowly slipping away -- I often wonder if ten years from now if I'll have any mind left. I'm trying to learn web design so that I can get off assistance with a job that I can work around my disabilities. But honestly, there is not much for me to do every day except to think about stuff, as I'm usually in too much pain to work in my garden or whatever.
 
GracieRuth said:
I'm bipolar, have lupus, chronic migraines, and something is rotting my short term memory -- I lost several jobs because I couldn't remember instructions. The person I was is slowly slipping away -- I often wonder if ten years from now if I'll have any mind left. I'm trying to learn web design so that I can get off assistance with a job that I can work around my disabilities. But honestly, there is not much for me to do every day except to think about stuff, as I'm usually in too much pain to work in my garden or whatever.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear this GracieRuth. :hug:
 
Bird: maybe I am just that dumb and getting dumber. But I don't troll. I'm repeating what my doctor told me: that my particular biology has not evolved to handle the agricultural revolution. Another factor was the psychotropic meds I was on -- it is well known that many psych meds cause metabolic disorder. Geodon and Ability were like poison to my body. Paxil and Depakote also caused weight gain. I ended up choosing to go off these meds, even though it means the mood swings coming back, simply because I felt they were doing a kind of slow motion suicide from diabetes.
 
what role does Gluttony play? What is it to be gluttonous?

I gotta believe that many of the obesse are trying to divert the focus of their lives away from something. Gluttony, obesity and poverty may be the symptoms of a greater travail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top