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Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor - Healthier choices will be even more out of reach...
Philly.com ^

Posted on 05/06/2008 12:11:49 PM PDT by Sub-Driver

Food costs likely to boost obesity in poor Healthier choices will be even more out of reach, experts say.

By Alfred Lubrano

Inquirer Staff Writer Some of the fattest people in America are among the poorest.

And with food prices rising, the problem is likely to get worse.

Tianna Gaines, who describes herself as impoverished and obese, knows this. At 5-foot-3 and 242 pounds, she lives on public assistance in Frankford and eats junk food because it's cheap and more readily available in her neighborhood than carrots and apples.

Besides, said Gaines, 28, and a mother of three, "I don't have the money for Bally's fitness clubs. And I can't run here. They shoot you."

More poor people may suffer Gaines' fate, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting food prices will be up 4.5 percent throughout the year, due to high fuel costs, weather problems, and the growing diversion of corn crops to make ethanol. Globally, prices will rise nearly 50 percent, according to the president's Council of Economic Advisers.

"The food crisis will make obesity and attendant diabetes even more rampant," said University of Washington epidemiologist Adam Drewnowski. "Fruits, vegetables and fish are becoming luxury goods completely out of reach of many people. Consumption of cheap food will only grow.

"Obesity is the toxic consequence of a failing economy."

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigfood; fat; lazy; obesity; poverty
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To: cdga5for4

Heck. you would have a tale to tell... a folktale. lol

reality and fiction are just blurred all over this story.

Wonder if Jimmah is handing out Pringles in Africa?


101 posted on 05/06/2008 1:31:13 PM PDT by fishhound (Boycott the Olympics in China.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Time for the election to ressurrect something.

We should be hearing “two chickens in every pot” soon.

Or cheesewiz for everyone!


102 posted on 05/06/2008 1:33:02 PM PDT by fishhound (Boycott the Olympics in China.)
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To: Sub-Driver
"'The food crisis will make obesity and attendant diabetes even more rampant,' said University of Washington epidemiologist Adam Drewnowski. 'Fruits, vegetables and fish are becoming luxury goods completely out of reach of many people. Consumption of cheap food will only grow.

'Obesity is the toxic consequence of a failing economy.'
"

Our employers are so wise to be sending money and advice to your university, Dr. Drewnowski. I admire you so much. See my tag-line.

If you would rather that my comment weren't bloated to bleeding with ugly irony and sarcasm, though, I'll level with your superior kind. Meat, frozen vegetables, fruit, flour, rice and other healthy foods, all-in-all, cost far less than junk food. Some people are simply too lazy to learn, cook or exercise (examples being Jabba-the-Hutt-looking school, government and administrative office workers).


103 posted on 05/06/2008 1:36:00 PM PDT by familyop (Worthless male weekend warrior has-been trash with no degree.)
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To: ctdonath2

That’s what I was thinking. That’s what I stock up on.

If they did start buying these healthy things would there be more “food Shortage” like at Costco?


104 posted on 05/06/2008 1:36:10 PM PDT by fishhound (Boycott the Olympics in China.)
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To: ctdonath2
Two words: COPE. MOVE.

You got that right- one of the reasons poor people stay that way is that they lack the skills for the former and the ambition for the latter. I've done both; the worst neighbourhoods I've lived in had public transit and were also within cycling distance of a decent supermarket.

Access to supermarkets isn't the only issue. I've noticed that one of the things that keeps a lot of people jobless is the fact that they only look for work within walking distance of their homes. It seems they'd rather be poor than spend a couple of hours a day riding the bus.

105 posted on 05/06/2008 1:37:05 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (TSA and DHS are jobs programs for people who are not smart enough to flip burgers)
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To: astounded
These are “poor” people? Give me a break. The “poor” in Africa starve to death, the “poor” in the USA get fat.

You have to understand, that almost the definition of sophomoric is "if it's counterintuitive it must be true."

106 posted on 05/06/2008 1:38:34 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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To: Joe 6-pack
From the looks of this pic, I'm guessing she spends a fair amount of time on her back...

And the rest of her time on her back... watching TV etc.

107 posted on 05/06/2008 1:39:20 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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To: Sub-Driver

At least this is one thing the US has to brag about: we have the fattest poor people in the world!!


108 posted on 05/06/2008 1:42:23 PM PDT by MissEdie (On the Sixth Day God created Spurrier)
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To: Slapshot68

But like that’s anything new? No, something else has been going on the last 10 years, I don’t know what it is.


109 posted on 05/06/2008 1:42:55 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Probably not, but there’s nothing stopping her hefty ass from getting on the floor of her apartment and doing a few sit ups.


110 posted on 05/06/2008 1:44:19 PM PDT by MissEdie (On the Sixth Day God created Spurrier)
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To: Sub-Driver

More Socialist/Marxist rhetoric.

If the poor are overweight, they must not be very “poor”. And they mostly have Big Screen HD TV’s, a comfortable roof over their head. a vehicle and all paid for by the American taxpayer. They should go to a Third World country where the real poor live.

But then again, the Left never ceases to amaze me with their ridiculous and complete lack of logical thought.


111 posted on 05/06/2008 1:46:45 PM PDT by PSYCHO-FREEP (Juan McCain....The lesser of Three Liberals.")
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To: ichabod1

“No, something else has been going on the last 10 years, I don’t know what it is.”

Well, really it’s been going on longer than that. As we moved out of post WW2 society and inventions came along that made our lives easier, manual labor became less and less. If we still had to wash our clothes by hand, or chop wood for fires to keep us warm, etc...we’d be in a lot better shape.


112 posted on 05/06/2008 1:46:50 PM PDT by Slapshot68
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To: dead
Poor people are fat for the same reason they're poor - they're lazy and they make stupid decisions.

You can't handle the truth!

113 posted on 05/06/2008 1:47:17 PM PDT by MooseMan
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To: Slapshot68

Fruzen dinners can be very inexpensive, and they provide portion control. In fact, one of the main cost points is what they DON’T put in.


114 posted on 05/06/2008 1:47:44 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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To: fishhound
I can never get used to that Ramen stuff.

I can never get enough of it. (chicken)

115 posted on 05/06/2008 1:48:15 PM PDT by processing please hold ( "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.")
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To: ichabod1

It depends on what it is, obviously. Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, etc....but still they have an awful lot of sodium...not good for weight loss.


116 posted on 05/06/2008 1:49:28 PM PDT by Slapshot68
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To: Sub-Driver

I mean, have you seen the price of Arugula down at Whole Foods?!?


117 posted on 05/06/2008 1:52:57 PM PDT by gridlock (The natural state of the world is Darfur. The freakish aberration is America - - Ann Coulter)
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To: SueRae

Going lowfat doesn’t make a bit of difference. You can get fat as a pig without any fat at all at all.


118 posted on 05/06/2008 1:54:07 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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To: Judith Anne
I wonder if this is the thread about the dog food diet joke?

One of my favorite jokes....

When someone asks you a dumb question wouldn't you like to respond like this?.....

Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for Athena the wonder dog at Wal-Mart and was about to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired, with little to do, on impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina Diet again.

Although I probably shouldn't, because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified , she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no; I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard!

WAL-MART won't let me shop there anymore.

119 posted on 05/06/2008 2:02:44 PM PDT by aberaussie
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To: cdga5for4

She Has A Tactic: Overuse of the Colon in Pseudoscientific papers


120 posted on 05/06/2008 2:06:59 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I know the diff between right and wrong. Right: What I Am. Wrong: What You Are)
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