I’m beginning to believe that poverty and obesity are connected.
Healthy food, including fresh produce, non-processed, and organic options, are generally more expensive then all the pre-packaged choices. I get downright frustrated at the grocery store. I’m buying for ONE person (well, sometimes two since Troy seems to always be hungry when visiting my place and three if you count all the dog food Tilly chows down on) yet I almost always go over what I have allotted for my grocery budget. Why? I don’t buy more than I need to but I do try to buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies and healthier options. It’s no wonder people are overweight with the unemployment rates of our country. And it’s no wonder health care is such a hot topic because people are needing to deal with the complications of obesity! What a vicious cycle.
Now, keep in mind that all this rambling is strictly MY opinion, stemming from how much it costs me to eat right. I am not stating that you have to be rich to eat healthy nor am I saying that only poor people deal with weight problems. I am simply complaining that I think it’s a crime to charge me $3 for 4 oranges or $4 for organic soy milk. Don’t even get me started on $1 menus. I have found tricks to saving money and still eating healthy options but I can still dream that one day the word “organic” won’t be one that I automatically exchange for dollar signs. Wouldn’t it be nice if products full of partially hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup would be the most expensive thing on the shelf? I’m not asking for solutions. Just venting.
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(another example of irony = compare this post to my last post :))
pff, amen. have you read animal vegetable miracle?
It isn’t always the case, honest! I live in an area with a green grocer. It sells lots of local, good quality, and organic foods. Somehow it manages to be cheaper then most of the grocery stores. What you are hoping for actually does exist in some places. Come live in Victoria with me!
Of course that is the case. It’s the capital city of BC. Even here there are people starving and unable to make ends meet. We have a lot more access but that does not always translate.
I think you are right. There does seem to be a connection between obesity and poverty. Although there are other connections you can draw. My current theory in situations where there is availability is lack of knowledge. We have a generation of people who do not know how to cook. What would they do with organic spinach? They don’t even realise spinach comes in leaf form!
It could also be from the other side. People who are a little better off have access to knowledge and get good ideas like organic and local foods but also get bad ideas like anorexia. Some of the better off people aren’t thin in a good way.
There is a definite connection between obesity and poverty, and a connection between diseases accompanying obesity (diabetes, in particular) and poverty.
When I worked on the Native American Reservation two summers ago, they talked about this a lot- it sucks even more when the government programs like food stamps only support purchasing junk food. Seriously, their food stamps wouldn’t buy bread, milk, nothing…. chips and soda is what they worked for.
Money is the root of all evil?
It’s so true. The only reason I ever started drinking soda again was because I couldn’t afford anything else with flavor in college. Beyond that, think about how cheap it is to fry eggs, eat snack food, and order those $1 trashy food items. The connection is prevalent, but it doesn’t seem that many people within the government are concerned about American’s being so ridiculously obese.
Steph, your last statement is definitely a conversation in and of itself. Is money the root of all evil, or is our free will to spend it however we desire the real root?