Has anyone watched Food Inc? Worthwhile to watch as are some of the books written by Michael Pollan. The movie argues that fast food IS cheaper to eat than if you were to buy healthy food and cook it yourself. This family could feed a family of 4 or 5 on a fast food dollar menu for say $7 a meal.
The correlation between poverty and obesity is high. I do believe it is very challenging for a family at poverty or near it can find it difficult to afford fresh food.
Many people are ignorant when it comes to what is healthy. There is also a huge laziness factor and I also believe that people like instant gratification. Just like we have a problem in our society with overconsumption of material goods, people overconsume food they feel tastes good. The same lack of discipline is pervasive in all aspects of their life.
They think that eating a highly processed frozen dinner with the marketing that its “Lean” is actually healthier than say eating a very lean piece of grass fed beef.
For those folks who don’t fall into the poverty category, there are people who are just cheap, or are not willing to pay for healthy food. I hear people say all the time they cannot afford organic vegetables for instance or grass fed meat. I ask them how much fruit and veggies they actually eat. Lets say its $15-20 of their weekly budget for 2 people. I ask them if they are willing to spend an extra $5-10 on that food. Forget the organic argument, people somehow feel adverse to spend $100 on raw veggies, fruit and meat/fish, but would rather spend $100 on processed, premade food or eating out.
Its affordable to some people, people just choose not to spend money on it. Some people are lazy and dont’ want to cook. So they justify that they cannot afford to eat so healthy. However those same people will spend $100/month on cable TV or their iPhone bills, but they wont’ buy healthy food.
I also believe you have to be self aware of what your body type is and what you easily digest and cannot. Stop eating the things that irritate you or make you gain weight. Some people cannot eat a lot of starches such as wheat or rice, highly processed or not. They gain weight, it raises their blood sugar, they get bloated, they have acid problems or IBS. Stop taking a pill and start listening to your body. If you stopped eating and just lived off an IV drip for a few weeks, IBS or whatever stomach/digesting issues would stop plaguing you because there is nothing in your stomach/colon to irritate it. People just aren’t always self aware to figure out what food types work for them and which ones dont.
Carbs are not bad, nor are starches, there are healthier ones than others such as quinoa, buckwheat, sweet potatoes, etc. Some agree with people, others dont’. Farm fed salmon is not necessarily healthier for you than meat. People need to better understand what they are eating, what the animal they are eating ate, and how their veggies/fruit were grown.
There are a lot of people who can eat a crapload of carbs, who eat more than the average person, but also work out regularly and are thin, fit people. I don’t believe in a “diet”. Its about moderation, eating what your body can process and feeds your metabolism versus slowing it down, and about burning more than you eat.
