Obesity and poverty ?

[modeller]

Whenever poverty in the US is in the news most of those interviewed and those filmed at free food centres are overweight and many are obese . There is a similar situation in the UK and western Europe. Can anyone explain this apparent contradiction. ?

[B00]

Yes, I was, but it didn't go beyond making pointless things like fruit salad (I mean- really???) and biscuits.

I'm thinking of plain, cheap foods like stews, shepherds pies, basic pies, and how to buy and cook cheaper cuts of meat.

[mazie]

I think I maybe a little older than you B00...It was very "old school" in my day. I'm thinking the same as you. Wholesome plain food that's tasty and cheap. We should start a campaign

[douglas9401]

Can I be a taster? :)

[joggerjayne]

Someone asked me that in the PV on Sunday, LOL !

[Graham-W]

We went to Orlando last March and at "Sizzlers" you could get an all you can eat breakfast for $3.99. Yes, there was fruit and cereals available, but very few eating them. Bacon, hash browns, eggs, sausages, pancakes & maple syrup, mushrooms, beans, etc. etc. and several trips to the buffet. Some people were even drinking diet coke LOL.
Not many skinny people in Sizzlers. Doesn't explain why people need handouts when food, however unhealthy, is that cheap.

[joggerjayne]

sorry, bit naughty ... and off topic

[mazie]

Of course you can douglas. Tomorrow I'm using the rest of the chicken to make a chicken and leek pie with new potatoes and veg... fresh fruit for afters. I do have home made ice cream if you prefer that ;o)

[B00]

s'ok Jayne, don't think anyone understood it, so we ignored it :P

That's other thing Mazie, learning how to stretch food. I'm assuming you're chicken is a rubber one? ;-)

[mazie]

Yep... Roast chicken tonight, pie tomorrow and soup for lunch on Thursday :o) Not bad for £3.50. Do you buy the rubber chickens as well?

[B00]

Indeed I do Mazie, I have to!

Apologies modeller, ive a feeling me and Mazie are taking this thread to where you didn't expect or want it to.

[thenry]

Forget all the diets and the calorie counting. True poverty would surely bring about weight loss fairly quickly !

[jomifl]

Mazie, I agee with you completely. Poverty and obesity are connected, people who can't get a job, can't be @rsed or are too dumb to manage their lives. Thats my non PC moment. :-)

[DaisyNonna]

Cookery, Laundry and Sewing got upgraded to Home Economics. No more practical lessons, boring theory and designing packets for advertising.
Every child should be given basic cookery lessons.

[pastafreak]

Food-all food-is a LOT cheaper in the US,as compared to here.The obesity epidemic started there-due to cheap,bad food. Foof that is loaded with excessive amounts of salt,sugar...and an over-use of wheat and grains. It's grains that are used to fatten animals-grains fatten us also.
The salt and sugar is almost addictive,and western palates are used to the flavours in processed food.
All this-along with a certain amount of ignorance and laziness,added to restricted budgets-equals obesity.

[mazie]

I don't we are B00 modeller wanted an explanation and I think we have tried to give that. It's education and to a bit of "can't be bothered" attitude.

I don't think it's a question of being dumb jomifl, I think it's a question of lack of basic education and parental guidance

[EDDIE51]

The cheapest food contain a very high proportion of sugar and fat. Baked beans for example are over 20% sugar.I have just looked at a bottle of tomato ketchup it is 21.5% sugar. Breakfast cereals can be very high sugar Frosties are over 35% sugar. Sausages burgers all contain sugar and it is the consumption of sugar that caused obesity. Before the 1970s the price of sugar was too high to be used in great quantity , so we were healthier then.

[EDDIE51]

Further to my last answer look at this link , very recent research
http://www.princeton....archive/S26/91/22K07/
Back in the early 1970s Japanese scientists found a way to convert wheat and maize to corn syrup , a form of sugar. This was a bonanza for farmers, in particular USA farmers who turned to farming huge areas of wheat and maize to be turned into corn syrup. Corn syrup is far more profitable than grain , it is used in almost all food production in place of normal sugar. ( it is 30% cheaper) corn syrup can be labeled as 'sugars' on the ingredient list so people do not know it is there. Almost all 'sugars' in modern (junk) food is corn syrup as it is so much cheaper. This one fact is responsible in a very large part for the obesity epidemic. Read the link, corn syrup can 'fool' the brain so that you still feel hungry even when you have already eaten enough. (see link again)

[pastafreak]

The history of the modern obesity crises was covered in a recent BBC documentary series-"The Men Who Made Us Fat"...this included an in depth study of how HFCS-high fructose corn syrup-got into every thing we eat-particularly in the States. Also have a look at the work of Dr Robert Lustig-who has done a lot of recearch into the effects of sugar on weight and other health issues.

[modeller]

One thing is clear, the word poverty as applied in the western world is nonsense. It's being trotted out in abundance by the presidental canvassers. In the states there is officially 46 million below their poverty line. What is surprising that presenters and producers churn out this nonsense but then maybe they can't find any thin people to interview.