Beginners and Beyond

An excellent reason to read labels on what you eat/drink (Read 609 times)

Docket_Rocket


    Well said.

     

    I'm late to the party as usual (and btw, it's DD for straight coffee, but SBUX for my fancy-schmancy latte drinks) but here it goes anyway -

     

    I'm a teacher and work with a low-income population, many of whom speak either no or very little English.  These kids parents work 2-3 jobs and are struggling to get by.  You can call them stupid all you want, but when they either don't read the language, do speak English but have low literacy skills, or are half dead asleep on their feet by the time they make it to the grocery store, you can't tell me that it's their own fault for being duped by the food & beverage companies.  They're just hoping and praying to be able to afford something to nourish their children, and when there's a coupon for $2 off that cereal that says it's made with whole grain, and there was a nifty commercial on tv talking all about how it was heart-healthy...what do you think they're going to choose?

     

    Not because they're stupid, but because they're poor and exhausted and busy and illiterate.  And the food & beverage companies know these things perfectly well and are preying on them.

    Damaris

     

    As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

    Fundraising Page

      Indeed. It costs more to eat healthily than it does to eat poorly. The food and beverage industries do exploit the poor with the aid of government subsidies. Cheap, unhealthy food is cheap because the government is artificially sustaining it.

       

       

      This is debatable. There are studies that debunk this as a myth. There is an issue with access to healthy foods. There are definitely low income areas where people don't have the same choices/supermarkets/etc. However I have read where this may be overstated as well. I just believe that eating a more healthy diet does not cost more. At least at our house.

       

       

       


      Sloooow.

         

        This is debatable. There are studies that debunk this as a myth. There is an issue with access to healthy foods. There are definitely low income areas where people don't have the same choices/supermarkets/etc. However I have read where this may be overstated as well. I just believe that eating a more healthy diet does not cost more. At least at our house.

         

        We live in a rural area, and the nearest town to us is generally low income. Our closest store is the Walmart 14 miles away, and the produce section is pitiful. Apart from usually carrots, most produce is wilted, bruised, some of it even rotting on the shelves. I've seen rutabaga's so shriveled they look like scrotums. We drive nearly 40 miles to the closest Fresh Market or farmers market, and once a month or so we will drive 70 miles to Whole Foods. I budget closely to be able to afford healthy foods for our family, but it is expensive.

         

        I have seen shows where the family will complain that broccoli is $1.89 a pound, and they just can't afford to cook healthy meals. Then they will drop $15 at McDonalds for their family dinner. I can cook plenty of healthy meals for $15, and I'll have leftovers. Most meals cost less than that.

        meaghansketch


           

          This is debatable. There are studies that debunk this as a myth. There is an issue with access to healthy foods. There are definitely low income areas where people don't have the same choices/supermarkets/etc. However I have read where this may be overstated as well. I just believe that eating a more healthy diet does not cost more. At least at our house.

           

          I don't have access to the journals where the studies were published, but I've read about the studies-- Here is a NYTimes article about some of the research if anyone is interested.  The conclusion of the research seems to be that within a couple miles of a 'food desert' you could get any type of food, but I think that overlooks the nature of many of those areas.

           

          I lived in Harlem, in NYC, for a couple of years in the early 2000s, what I would consider the epitome of a food desert.  The first thing you have to consider is that most people don't have cars.  "A couple of miles" is a lot to travel with enough groceries to feed a kid or two when you have to walk.  When I first moved in to my apartment there, there were two grocery stores within a convenient, short walk.  Both had relatively miserable produce sections.  One was closed by the health dept. during the time I lived there.  There were good grocery stores a little further away, but they were too far to go often-- it meant at least a 2-hr round trip when you considered the time to walk there, shop, stand in a long line, and walk back, laden with groceries.

           

          From the article:

          She used census tracts to define neighborhoods because they tend to have economically homogeneous populations. Poor neighborhoods, Dr. Lee found, had nearly twice as many fast food restaurants and convenience stores as wealthier ones, and they had more than three times as many corner stores per square mile. But they also had nearly twice as many supermarkets and large-scale grocers per square mile. Her study, financed by the institute, was published in the March issue of Social Science and Medicine.

          The 'poor neighborhoods' in the study were full of restaurants and grocery stores as measured on a per-square mile basis.  Now, of course Harlem had more grocery stores per square mile than the suburban neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina I had moved from-- but the population density was much, much greater, and the percentage of car owners was much smaller.  You could look at Harlem and say, 'oh, they had plenty of grocery stores' and look at Raleigh, NC and say 'they hardly had any grocery stores (per square mile) but it ignores the basic question-- how easy is it for the average person who lives in this neighborhood to buy decent groceries?  You can't ignore the fact that in one place, the average person owns a car, and in the other place, that's not at all the case.

           

          I don't think eating healthy has to necessarily cost more, but I do think that having a combination of no time and no money inevitably affects how well you can eat.  If you have time, you can buy relatively cheap lettuce, prep your own veggies, buy skin-on, bone-in poultry you have to prepare yourself, buy dried beans, buy things on sale, etc.  If you have money, you can cut a lot of the prep time by buying stuff that's somewhat prepared: cut veggies, boneless skinless chicken breasts (or ready-to-eat cutlets), prewashed greens in a bag, etc.  If you have neither time nor money... Well, that's where stuff like fast food can start to get tempting.

          Awood_Runner


          Smaller By The Day

            For some reason, I don't think Vitamin Water is a big seller in low income areas.  I don't think poverty and Vitamin Water are really related.  I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I'd bet the amount of food stamp money spent on Vitamin Water is negligible.

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            Better I Leave


              Try Cuban or Puerto Rican coffee. You'll grow hairs when you don't have any.

               

               

              My wife is Puerto Rican and her uncle has a plantation on the island. We've visited San German (family has a home that is a historical site in San German) more than a few times. I brew my coffee....STRONG. Heh. Marina (my wife) loves my coffee and we've just bought an espresso machine so I can make her Cafe con Leche.

               

              Love Puerto Rican beans (much better than even Jamaican Blue Mountain) and many Central Americans. South American beans are waaay overrated IMO.

              Better I Leave


                 

                This is debatable. There are studies that debunk this as a myth. There is an issue with access to healthy foods. There are definitely low income areas where people don't have the same choices/supermarkets/etc. However I have read where this may be overstated as well. I just believe that eating a more healthy diet does not cost more. At least at our house.

                I do the food shopping and I am a great "comparison shopper". I know which markets have which products. For example, I buy organic milk and it typically costs ~1 dollar more per gallon than your regular non-organic milk. Organic broccoli for example is ~50 cents more per pound than broccoli full of pesticides and whatnot. Meat? Organic, grass fed beef is more expensive than hormone/antibiotic laden corn fed beef.

                 

                And then...one box of hamburger helper and one pound of fat laden ground beef which can feed a family of four is more expensive than salad fixins, an easily prepared balsamic viniagrette, and say a few boneless skinless chicken breasts.

                 

                So you can get grass fed organic beef for less than hormone laden beef? Your organic milk is less expensive than typical hormone laden milk? OK....I won't argue that, but again...I do the shopping and I see the difference in costs with my own eyes...not a study. I'll take pics on my nest shopping run to show the difference. The poor, at least here in Amador County cannot eat as healthily as those of us fortunate enough to afford good, wholesome food(s).

                Better I Leave


                  And again, I reiterate that much of the "cheaper", unhealthy foodstuffs are subsidized by the Federal government. "King Corn" baby...Keep that HFCS flowing!!! Wink


                  Sloooow.

                    And again, I reiterate that much of the "cheaper", unhealthy foodstuffs are subsidized by the Federal government. "King Corn" baby...Keep that HFCS flowing!!! Wink

                     

                    It's frightening when you look into it, so many people are turning into corn on legs. Soy and corn is in everything. It's sad to me that cows and chickens are all fed corn. They're not supposed to eat corn. I saw a Perdue commercial a few days a go that talked about their "vegetarian" fed chickens. Chickens aren't vegetarians.

                     

                    We're going to the farmers market in the morning, as they are going to have a free range chicken, and grass fed cow vendor there. Will be interesting to see how much it costs.  I've spent $7.99 a lb for ground grass-fed beef at Whole Foods. It's about $8 for 2.25lbs of conventional ground beef at Walmart. And that's the flat pack one as those sausage shaped packages weird me out.

                    Better I Leave


                        I've spent $7.99 a lb for ground grass-fed beef at Whole Foods. It's about $8 for 2.25lbs of conventional ground beef at Walmart. And that's the flat pack one as those sausage shaped packages weird me out.

                       

                      This! I too, with my own eyes and experience, don't see how eating healthily is less expensive. Thank you. I'm going to begin a campaign and posting on my FB page an "apples to apples" comparison of organic/healthy foodstuffs vs. their "traditional" gov't subsidized counterparts.

                      StepbyStep-SH


                        I doubt the studies are using organic produce/dairy/meat as their "healthy" comparison. I'm sure they are probably comparing conventional produce vs. highly processed convenience foods.

                        20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.

                        Docket_Rocket


                          I knew I liked you for a reason.  I'm PRican too.  Unfortunately, I'm in the minority of them that do not like coffee.  So, when I need some caffeine, I have Starbucks because it's light and nothing like our coffee, haha.  The Cuban one is 10 times stronger than PRican coffee and it's the one that is served at my office.  There is a reason why the serving of it is only 1oz.  LOL.Shocked

                           

                           

                          My wife is Puerto Rican and her uncle has a plantation on the island. We've visited San German (family has a home that is a historical site in San German) more than a few times. I brew my coffee....STRONG. Heh. Marina (my wife) loves my coffee and we've just bought an espresso machine so I can make her Cafe con Leche.

                           

                          Love Puerto Rican beans (much better than even Jamaican Blue Mountain) and many Central Americans. South American beans are waaay overrated IMO.

                          Damaris

                           

                          As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

                          Fundraising Page

                          Docket_Rocket


                            About those studies and the desert area concept, remember also that low income people sometimes have no other transportation than the bus service and the food deserts sometimes contribute to them buying their groceries at 7-Eleven and other not so healthy places closer to home.  In addition, some of them are working 2-3 jobs every day and they don't have time to ride their bus for 30 minutes to an hour to find a supermarket.  It is not only about costs but about how life is.  It is sometimes not easy to be healthy when you don't have sufficient income or time to go shop.

                            Damaris

                             

                            As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

                            Fundraising Page

                            Better I Leave


                              I knew I liked you for a reason.  I'm PRican too.  Unfortunately, I'm in the minority of them that do not like coffee.  So, when I need some caffeine, I have Starbucks because it's light and nothing like our coffee, haha.  The Cuban one is 10 times stronger than PRican coffee and it's the one that is served at my office.  There is a reason why the serving of it is only 1oz.  LOL.Shocked

                               

                               

                              Smile

                              notimeforthat


                                Dunkin Sour Cream Donuts

                                SBuX at home in the french press (Sumatra-I don't care about the caffeine content and I like the taste)

                                 

                                Kroger has the best produce and deals on all foods, regardless.

                                 

                                You can save money buying store brand frozen veggies and berries. You don't have to spend a fortune. I cook all but 1 night a week for a family of 5 and we spend around $300 every 2 weeks on groceries. It can be done.

                                None of us are obese, the kids are actually teetering on underweight because they are so thin and lanky, DH is 6'4" at 195 and I am 5'9" at 132 (for reference purposes).

                                 

                                We live in a rural area, we have a fair amount of illiterate folks here that probably eat better than most because they grow their own foods and raise their own livestock.

                                The grocery stores here buy local meats and produce, there are more than enough good, inexpensive foods out there that are fine to eat.

                                 

                                I get tired of people vilifying food groups and sugar. It is misguided and does not do poor families any favors by insisting that they are killing their children if they don't shop at Whole Foods.

                                 

                                Oh, and plain Fage 2% FTMFW.