How does cheap food cause obesity? You gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn, if you are gaining weight from cheap food it just means you are eating too much of it.
And regardless I'm pretty sure foods like rice and potatoes are much cheaper than fast food, and are healthy. They are more expensive in terms of the time it takes to prepare them though.
“More expensive in the time it takes to prepare” is more expensive for large numbers of working class families, and it’s often a worse kind of expensive than a strictly monetary difference.
Sure but couldn't a person just serve smaller portions? Like if your kid is getting fat just take what your normally serve him and throw part of it in the trash (or refrigerator). If he's still getting fat take a bigger part from it next week and so on. I don't understand how this technique could elude anyone rich or poor.
And leave a child to suffer from the many thoroughly documented problems of obesity?
I'm not sure what you're getting at. Your proposal is that you should keep stuffing a fat kid with unhealthy food because he wants more? Plenty of poor people living in food deserts manage to raise kids of a healthy weight.
I can’t imagine the astounding disconnect it would take for someone to post a comment like that.
I'm limited to empty calories because of money and digestion/insulin-spiking reasons. Because the latter is hard, I went keto again since yesterday, and literally starve my body into accepting ketogenesis and glucogenesis as the primary energy pathways for the brain cells.
The hard part is a near total shunning of (metabolically useful) carbohydrates. This is however rewarded by a near total lack of importance regarding meal timing. Aminoacids and electrolytes are the only macronutrients I have to balance needs with intake on a timescale of less than a week. After that there are vitamins, and calories in the shape of triglycerides only need to balance enough to prevent structural fat from being fed to brain and muscles and to prevent irreversible tissue stretching from gaining weight too fast (and practically also to ensure jeans etc. fit properly).
>you do realize that the body feels satiated not by calories but by quantity?
Not really. It's common sense that your body can tell the difference between a pound of boiled cabbage and a pound of steak. You're satiated when you have all the nutrients you need - calories, yes, but also fats and other essentials. If the food you eat is deficient in some nutrients, you might eat more of it to compensate.
Anecdotally, if I make a vegetarian chili, and forget to fortify it with some form of fat, I can eat two whole plates of it and feel bloated but unsatisfied.
A rice cooker at goodwill is maybe $10.00. A slow cooker let’s say another $10.00. Throw another 20 at a bag of rice and dried beans then you have a minimal effort super cheap “won’t make you fat” meal.
I think its that people don’t know how to cook even these basic staples anymore. And when you work a shit job, a large soda is a welcomed mini vacation
I remember reading Orwell's "Road to Wigan Pier" (a bit dated) and one of his observations was that a lower class supermarket would have nothing but white bread. However a middle class supermarket would have brown bread and healthier foods as well. His conclusion was, very roughly, that eating healthy was a luxury of those who were well off. Whereas the poor were struggling so much day to day that they needed short-term gratification just to get through.
Cheap food causes obesity insofar that if you have money you can buy nutrient dense food that tastes good and spend zero time preparing it. With cheap food you're constantly expending willpower to eat food that tastes like crap, expending more time making it, or are sacrificing health value. Eating pots of unappetizing starches (which really aren't as healthy as you make them out to be relative to smart fast food picks) takes time and willpower. Those are actually limited resources. Attempting to do difficult unpleasant things one after another does actually wear you down and cause negative mental health effects which unravel your plans. A starch heavy diet means you're going to get rocked by insulin spikes regularly for your troubles. Whereas if you can afford to eat leafy greens and a big hunk of fish your mental stamina will increase.
In my mind the key to a healthy diet isn't buying potatoes and rice in bulk. It's $$$. FWIW my favorite poverty meal was chili... Good mix of time effiency/cost efficiency/taste.
People who are poor and find that they are pregnant (planned or unplanned) - have many things they worry about, I doubt that 'my kid could be fat' is on the list of things they worry about and weigh on the decision to seek abortion or adoption.
Maybe your comment is meant as sarcasm, or to make people think about what they are saying could be construed as what you are saying, but sadly there are many people who think poor people have the same knowledge and forethought as them, and therefore are making terrible decisions that cost them and their kids in ways that perhaps should lead to them not having their kids.
There are so many things that people need to worry about, and added things that poor people are likely to consider. I don't see how obesity is likely a top concern. Maybe there are some situations where one or both parents are obese and they project concerns, and given that so many people are, that may indeed be a factor, I just don't think it's a top worry among people in most cases.
Of course there are plenty of parents that likely think most of the kids drinks from big brands that have pictures of fruit on the label actually have fruit or juice in them - and it seems that many or most do not ( https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bestselling-fruit-drinks-for... )
So poor and non-poor alike or more likely being fooled by our food companies, and making assumptions that (mis)place trust in our brands and stores and govt regulations.
At least that how it appears from my limited view of the world these days.
