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 ...
That's why we had all the fat people back during the 1930's!
“Bingo, Slapshot! How about a “Ho-Ho”?”
lol, I prefer those Little Debbie swiss rolls. ;)
I must say she doesn’t look 252 lbs. and those two on her lap must be twins. I can empathize with her plight somewhat as I have struggled with my own daughter over obesity but the formula is still the same, eat less fat and move more, something she will be doing more of when those babies start walking. Obesity hits all economic classes, so the article is just another backhand to blame something else on the econony, and therefore, Bush. Another stellar piece by the idiots in the media.
5. The victimization attitude produces a mindset where they think and plan only in 30-minute intervals. Why worry about your health when “I’m probably going to get shot in the next year and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Our whole country could benefit from a big dose of
“he who will not work, nor shall he eat”
I really find it hard to believe that junk food is cheaper than real food. Yesterday I picked up two chicken leg quarters for $2.40 and four pork rib chops for $2.55. Add veggies and rice or potatoes, and I have four good meals for about $7.50.
No need even to read this. As if the quality of food causes obesity-BS flag thrown!
Eating too many calories compared to output causes fatness.
And I did not get one red cent from the gov. to do that research.
God Bless!
The article notes that part of the problem is that the only food store in such areas is usually a “convenience mart” which hardly stocks anything healthy.
Two words: COPE. MOVE.
Your just being “foodist”. /S
“Can’t we all just get along”...and eat some (insert any junk food here).
maybe pork rinds,
twinkies,
ring dings....etc/
What’s pathetic is she’s on public assistance so she has plenty of time to be standing in front of a stove cooking up nutritious, low-cost meals from scratch.
I know food prices are up but staples are still relatively cheap. Rice, beans, canned veggies, ground beef and some cheap cuts of pork or chicken are not out of her reach.
It blows me away to see some lard-ass, welfare slurping American stand in front of a camera and blubber on about how junk food is all they can manage to feed their children.
Disgraceful.
If she could muster up the strength to get off the couch and actually cook, she could feed her family like kings on $125 a week. Note the article doesn’t mention the amount of public assistance she’s receiving.
Proverbs 28:19 “He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread…”
Bull. Veggies, rice, pasta, tuna, etc. are all cheaper than junk food.
This is a true story, not the joke I mentioned earlier:
I went to Kroger after work to pick up some canned Alpo that I put on top the kibble for my mastiff, he loves it. I also needed a box of Alka Seltzer.
So, I was checking out my items, and said to the cashier, with a straight face: “I’m going to neeed that Alka after eating all that dog food.”
She just looked at me. I laughed, and said, “Just joking!” and then she laughed...
Some days you just have to wonder.
PS, Honestly, the Alpo does look pretty good, with the meat and gravy. :D
Or hop on the bus with a backpack and ride to a real grocery store. Two hands free for grocery bags and the backpack for more.
Speak out against the culture that puts up with the criminal element that makes putting a grocery store in your neighborhood economically unfeasible.
Forget about what’s cheaper or more expensive. To be poor in many instance (not all) means to have a short time horizon. If you are hungry, then you eat what’s on hand without planning or without looking at the long-term consequences.
A short time horizon among the poor is responsible for a majority of the social pathologies we see today.
ROTFLOL! I remember a time when Aldi's was all we could afford and you're right, it was nothing but processed carbs.
I get a tremenous chuckle out of the fact that this Drexel professor’s degree is from Penn in...FOLKLORE. No, I’m not kidding. Her Dissertation: An Ethics of Care: Politics and Religion in American Indian Health.
That's the real problem with this lady. She probably doesn't know how to cook. If you gave her a chicken, some water, a celery stick, carrot and an onion, she would have no idea that she could make a decent healthy soup with it... and it'd be cheaper than the crap she's buying but that would take WORK and some creativity.
AMEN!
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