Overweight poor people are undeserving?
I was watching the show "Secret Millionare" where this millionare goes aroud to see who helps out in poor communities and then gives away a bunch of money. When she was doing the soup kitchen and meal delivery (to people who cant afford food) I couldn't help but notice majority of them were overweight.
I feel LIKE A TERRIBLE person for thinking this. But why are they fat if they can barely afford food? Shouldn't they look pretty thin? To be honest I wouldn't give my money or make food for people who could live off there fat storages for awhile.
Has anyone else ever thought this? I've noticed it a lot of times I've seen documentaries/shows on poor areas and soup kitchens.
Reason: moved to the Lounge as more appropriate
Original Post by lisabug79:
UMMMM......have you ever priced food out at the store??? $2 will sure buy a LOT more boxed mac and cheese and top ramen than it will fresh fruit! I swear-some people!!
Newsflash: Ramen and Mac & Cheese aren't the only cheap foods. Try canned tuna or canned veggies for practically pennies (at a discount store, even less). The only downside to canned food is usually a higher sodium level, but that's certainly less than you'll find in Ramen. This "healthy food is too expensive" notion is getting old.
Do the research and you will find there are plenty of options aside from fresh fruits & veggies.
Where did I make a spelling error? Here is your post below in [brackets], the corrections on spelling are beside your misspelled words:
[I was watching the show "Secret Millionare (Millionaire)" where this millionare (millionaire) goes aroud (around) to see who helps out in poor communities and then gives away a bunch of money. When she was doing the soup kitchen and meal delivery (to people who cant (can't) afford food) I couldn't help but notice (the) majority of them were overweight.
I feel LIKE A TERRIBLE person for thinking this. But why are they fat if they can barely afford food? Shouldn't they look pretty thin? To be honest I wouldn't give my money or make food for people who could live off there (their) fat storages for awhile.
Has anyone else ever thought this? I've noticed it a lot of times I've seen documentaries/shows on poor areas and soup kitchens.]
Those are the items I saw.
Additionally, I am only repeating what many have already said, simply put, fatty food is cheap food. How ridiculous to say to live off of their fat storage for a while. I guess everyone who has a weight problem should just "live off of their fat storage". There. Problem solved. Thanks so much for such caring, thoughtful insight. By the way, a little compassion goes a long way.
Original Post by jenniferelliott:
Original Post by lisabug79:
UMMMM......have you ever priced food out at the store??? $2 will sure buy a LOT more boxed mac and cheese and top ramen than it will fresh fruit! I swear-some people!!
Newsflash: Ramen and Mac & Cheese aren't the only cheap foods. Try canned tuna or canned veggies for practically pennies (at a discount store, even less). The only downside to canned food is usually a higher sodium level, but that's certainly less than you'll find in Ramen. This "healthy food is too expensive" notion is getting old.
Do the research and you will find there are plenty of options aside from fresh fruits & veggies.
You can't eat tuna everyday because of Mercury levels. Canned veggies and canned tuna aren't practically pennies either.
Original Post by barnycat:
Just wow. Uneducated, small minded, judgmental and you were thinking you "felt" like a terrible person...well you opened your mouth and proved it.
Actually you are the one being judgmental. It is a legitimate question, that I believe all of us have wondered. Healthy foods need to become more affordable, and the question we all need to ask "is why aren't they". Does it acually cost more to make healthy foods? Or are the food companies cashing in on the healthy food push?
Original Post by jencain:
i am not poor, but we struggle from pay check to pay check. most of the time we are several hundred dollars short in the bank when it is time to get paid. going on a diet and trying to lose weight is very hard. we dont have the luxury of buying fruits and veggies. Can foods, yes, but not raw. also, cookies, and sodas and alcohol etc, are so much cheaper than good food. it is cheaper here to buy soda than it is to buy water.
i'll accept that maybe canned veggies are cheaper than fresh (maybe), but nowhere in the western world are sodas and alcohol cheaper than tap water.
For those on a tight, tight budget, but equipped with power, water & pans:
I had a huge food expenditure for a family of five and cut it almost in half by cooking from scratch. I found this site while looking for facts about food budgeting. I was interested in our government's opinion about the minimum amount of money needed to survive.
Frozen veg is cheaper than fresh, only slightly more expensive than canned and a little better for you. Frozen fruit, as well.
ETA: Non seasonal frozen veg that is. If you know how to process fresh: usually blanching and freezing does it, you can save money on fresh veggies. Fresh fruit is also pretty easy to process.
If you have ever gone to a Food Pantry or the Salvation Army to get food, you would see that most of the stuff that they have to give away is left over pastry, bagels, breads, dessert from the local stores. There is very little fresh fruit or vegetables. Most of the items help fill them up but are not the healthiest food choices. They take what they can get, and they use what little money they have to get things which fill them up. Pasta, cereal, rice, cheap food not fresh items which are expensive.
The spellings error I noticed was "aroud" should be around. cant should be can not or can't. Use spell check next time. Do Not judge people so quickly. You have no idea of why a person is over weight until you know them personally and then only if you know them really well. They may have a medical condition or a physical problem not just that they over eat.
I did notice that you evidently don't know the difference between there as in a place and their as belonging to someone. (their fat)
"Why Ike, whatever do you mean? Maybe poker's just not your game Ike. I know! Let's have a spelling contest!"
I feel sort of conflicted because this thread is ostensibly about feeling unwilling to help poor people who are also fat.
Yet there are so many posts complaining about spelling and grammar, or in reference to the same, that I'm wondering if I need to add this one to my collection.
*frets*
A little off topic, but I have observed at the grocery store people using their "food stamp" card to purchase soda, energy drinks, frozen pizzas, and more. I think food assistance should only be able to be used to purchase milk, cheese, bread, fruits, veggies, pasta, etc. At least not soda and energy drinks.
In areas where there are farmers markets, inseason produce is less expensive there than in small groceries. Large grocery stores charge higher because the amount of waste between farm and store is huge and they know that they can up their profit margin because the consumer has no other place to purchase for less. Canneries and frozen food producers take the produce straight from the farm to their plants to be processed eliminating much of the spoilage and selling their processed foods to large distributors or chain stores allowing them to keep their prices lower. This is a vicious cycle that contributes to the weight problems for many in this country. Myself, I have started doing a small garden and it is amazing just how much one can augment their diet with home grown veggies. Many of my neighbors do the same and when we have more squash or tomatoes or whatever we have put in than can be frozen or canned, we share. Also our town here has started a community garden where people may get shares of the produce by contributing labor. Don't have land for a garden? 5 gallon cleaned paint buckets make wonderful places to grow tomatoes, peppers, pole beans (with an old broomstick inserted), and have the advantage of being able to be brought inside when it begins to get cold. I had a couple of jalopeno pepper plants that continued producing for 2 years. That's a lot of peppers for the price of 2 plants. As resources become scarcer, we have to start thinking outside the box. No one in this country should go hungry or be unable to get nutritious food for theirself or their family. Mrs. Obama has been trying to teach people how important this is and I agree 100%. The poor should be enabled to help themselves whenever possible and that may mean that they be allowed to have community gardens in the cities and elsewhere. For most people, they gain a sense of pride when they are able to provide food for themselves and their loved ones.
Enough said. Probably too long an explanation or lecture, but something to think about.
In poor areas there are often no reasonably priced grocery stores (not enough profit?) - only variety stores where "groceries" are limited to chips and pop, etc., not nutritional items.
We expect to practice for achievement in most fields but not in health and well-being - I wonder why?
I am not sure how to take this post you have displayed. I have always had a issues with my weight, thinking and seeing that I was much bigger than reality. Comments like the post above makes my insecurities kick in once again.
I find it completely unfair to generalize that overweight people shouldn't be considered at a soup kitchen. Something I have learned throughout my childhood and the bumps in the road in my adult life, cheaper food is less expensive. So who cares if the person is overweight and going to get help and nutrients they deserve. Not everybody can afford to be living off of organic farms or healthier options at a grocery store. Hell, even now, my fiance and I have hard times trying to budget what we can and cannot get at the store based on what is in our accounts. Everybody has a different story and their genes shouldn't be something that they are discriminated against.
My biggest fear is that my daughter is going to grow up generalizing like that or be judged in that fashion based on her looks. I tell my fiance constantly how my fear of her taking after me in my childhood years. I don't want her to go through the torment that I had to throughout my middle school and high school career. I do understand that others may not know what it is like to be in either situation, I even work with somebody who makes comments about the members we help and their weight. I have always been defensive on weight issues, so this post and other comments I have heard in my past towards others really sits with me wrong.
No matter what size you are, it doesn't mean that you are healthy or unhealthy, poor or well off. We all need help every now and again, no matter what the issue may be.
you are right, tap water is cheaper, and that is what i drink, but not everyone has that available to them. when you are homeless, you don't have running water. Besides, i was just using that as proof that crap is a lot cheaper than healthy food.
Gee how fast the grammar, spelling and "judgement" police sure come running when someone posts something different.
When I see poor , hungry and homeless people I visualize people in foreign countries that are downright down and out. Most of them are underweight, anorexic and definitely starving. Those advertisements for "Save the children" come to mind. That's probably something to the effect of what the author was thinking when he/she wrote the article.
Btw I'm not trying to judge homeless people however I did have a conversation once and some of them tell me that they refuse to get a job because most of them that beg for money make like $100 or more a day in the hot sun. They told me "can you beat that?".
You dont know how many times I've offered food instead of money and been refused yet some reek of alcohol and a lot of them are overweight. I presume that the fat storages are from alcohol calories and from sitting down most of the day. I'm not saying that all homeless people are like this but this is one of the few observations I've seen in my experiences. Out of so many people I've seen homeless there actually was one years ago who literally didnt want money and simply asked if I could buy them something to eat. This brought a tear to my eye. I happily took him to a breakfast shop where the owner immediately told him to get out and I told the owner to PIPE DOWN and brought him a whole meal. I offered to get him extra food to take to his family or soemthing he could carry out but he kindly refused more. I will never ever forget that day. I'd do it again and again in a heartbeat. He didnt look overweight nor did he look underweight. He looked normal.
I am just glad that i didnt have to consistently give money wondering where it's going to(drugs, alcohol etc?).
Okay you can send the grammar , spelling , punctuation and moral majority police now. :)
Maybe at least limit the amount that can be purchased in junk food or soda, but then the producers of these items would call foul as I venture to say that they would highly object because then their sales could be affected.
I seriously think that if healthier foods would be more cost effective than junk food and unhealthy foods that people will lose weight. I think when it affects people's wallet they will more easily choose the healthier alternative than those crappy foods. Of course at first there will be plenty of people who will pay more for the bad stuff(like energy drinks and donuts) but eventually people would make smarter choices no matter what. Even if the cycle continues it will still be less and less or just "on occasion".
I mean really how often does someone purchase a double mocha frappuccino at Starbucks? lol
Many people on this thread are being very elitist in their thinking including the original poster. Being poor and overweight is a correlation but not always a direct correlation. There are many wealthy overweight individuals which disproves the myth - over 60% of Americans are overweight from all socio and economic statuses.
There are many reasons why poorer individuals are overweight which includes the access to healthy sustainable foods. I believe someone asked the question what type of foods were the soup kitchens and the like actually feeding these individuals - usually processed, processed and very processed. Processed foods are cheap as already noted but also are very addictive as most of them contain sugar and salt. Once your palate becomes accustomed to that sugary/salty combination, it isn't always easy to break from the addiction. (As a side, Kellogg just announced its new project called Share Your Breakfast. Kellogg will generously donate boxes of Frosted Flakes, nutri-grain bars and Corn Flakes to needy school aged children - not oatmeal, eggs, fresh fruit, yogurt - the real healthy stuff that probably is cheaper. But hell we are feeding them besides if we can get them young, consumers for life.)
Yes , there are healthier options and yes, it is a myth that you can't eat healthy on a limited budget however this knowledge requires education on food overall, the effects of certain foods and how to cook them that poorer uneducated individuals may not be aware of. The limited selection of fresh foods that are usually available at the neighborhood "bodega" doesn't help either. Let's not even get into the need to move and the lack of parks and continual cuts to physical education programs and recess from schools.
We all need to think a little bit and .... this idea that "I did it now so can you" is shameful and silly. More needs to be done on the educational front on all levels. Once you know better, you usually can do better. Be the change you want to see in others.
Yes - spelling and grammar police, I have made errors in both. However, I wanted to get my point across and was also rushing.
