[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-battles-obesity-amid-dearth-of-good-food/2014/08/27/e757909a-2da0-11e4-be9e-60cc44c01e7f_story.html[/url]
[QUOTE]BOGOTA, Colombia — Venezuela’s socialist government is sounding the alarm about growing waistlines in a country where record food shortages are making it harder to put healthy meals on the table, prompting many people to fill up on empty calories.
Authorities launched a public relations campaign Tuesday to halt a steady rise in obesity that threatens to lead to a costly, public health crisis if left unchecked.
Under the slogan “Get informed, eat healthy” President Nicolas Maduro’s government hopes over the next five years to cut in half the nearly 40 percent rate of obesity among Venezuelans, a condition putting them at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes.
According to the World Health Organization, 67.5 percent of Venezuelans over age 20 are overweight, more than in any country in South America and nearly equal to the 69 percent rate in the United States.[/QUOTE]
America will be defeated.
I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't), then you just eat less of the unhealthy food.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45819511]I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't), then you just eat less of the unhealthy food.[/QUOTE]
It's literally right there in the quoted bit of the article:
Healthy food more expensive, rubbish food cheaper. People eating smaller amounts of healthy foods and 'filling up' on rubbish foods. People eating empty calories (cheap noodles, etc, etc) instead of nutritious stuff.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45819511]I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't), then you just eat less of the unhealthy food.[/QUOTE]
Food high in carbohydrates is generally cheaper when compared against high protein'n'stuff foods.
You have to have a daily calories intake, X quantity.
If you get poor, you will have to replace vegetables and meat with processed food and pasta, and we're not talking about Cecco style pasta, but rather, shitty style pasta.
A scene I saw with my own eyes last year:
A line wraps around the inside of a normal looking grocery store. A guard doles out bags of corn flour from a pallet, checking IDs to make sure no one gets more than their fair share. Meanwhile in the front of the store there is a fully stocked display for Doritos with several towers full of large bags. Not a single bag has been purchased.
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;45819482]America will be defeated.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/america-fattest-obese-un-144341236.html"]Too late[/URL].
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AWLLQzU.png[/IMG]
As someone who has been losing weight since 2012 and buys their own food on quite a small budget, I can understand this completely. Like, for example, in Tesco and all supermarkets I've been into, stuff like fruit is usually between £1-2, whereas chocolate bars are half price. When you're shopping on a budget, you need to keep in mind what is going to be most filling, because otherwise chances are you'll end up with a sore stomach late at night and not much you can really do about it.
Also you need to take into consideration that not everyone can cook, either.
[QUOTE=NiandraLades;45819814]
Also you need to take into consideration that not everyone can cook, either.[/QUOTE]
And even if you can, the choice between expensive ingredients that are going to expire before you can use them, against unhealthy shit that will last for years is pretty easy on a tight budget
[QUOTE=Maloof?;45819549]It's literally right there in the quoted bit of the article:
Healthy food more expensive, rubbish food cheaper. People eating smaller amounts of healthy foods and 'filling up' on rubbish foods. People eating empty calories (cheap noodles, etc, etc) instead of nutritious stuff.[/QUOTE]
Reminds me of the stuff my granparents parents would eat back then. They were pretty poor, so they'd eat stuff comparable to something being deep fried 3 times in a row, and then deep fried again, or just stuff dripping with salt or grease. I think it used to be bread soaked in olive oil or grease from pork based food.
I can eat a lot of nasty stuff, but I once tried some of that pork food (called rojões, looks like a chunk of meat) dripping in grease, and I could feel the power of a million strokes corsing through my heart.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45819511]I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't)[/QUOTE]
Ramen noodles, stupidly cheap and unhealthy as fuck.
As someone who shops for himself on a tight budget, I've found that junk food is more expensive and less filling and anyone, at least in the US, buying junk food instead of whole foods are doing themselves a huge disservice. I know far too many of my contemporary fellow students that if they were hungry, would grab a bag of doritos and eat the entire bag, being left with no real nutrients for a $4 bag or doritos. The same person wouldn't even contemplate of making a bowl of oatmeal, or rice and a small portion of meat and a vegetable or fruit, even though that would be the same price and better for them. The price of an $8 case of soda could buy you a half gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, oats and bananas. I routinely see poor people with cases of soda, frozen pizzas, TV dinners and boxes of cereal filling their carts.
Basically, if you're poor, stick to whole foods and cook.
Not even McDonalds or any of those fast food chains have ever accomplished that.
muh automerge
[QUOTE=Ajacks;45819899]As someone who shops for himself on a tight budget, I've found that junk food is more expensive and less filling and anyone, at least in the US, buying junk food instead of whole foods are doing themselves a huge disservice. I know far too many of my contemporary fellow students that if they were hungry, would grab a bag of doritos and eat the entire bag, being left with no real nutrients for a $4 bag or doritos. The same person wouldn't even contemplate of making a bowl of oatmeal, or rice and a small portion of meat and a vegetable or fruit, even though that would be the same price and better for them. The price of an $8 case of soda could buy you a half gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, oats and bananas. I routinely see poor people with cases of soda, frozen pizzas, TV dinners and boxes of cereal filling their carts.
Basically, if you're poor, stick to whole foods and cook.[/QUOTE]
I don't understand very well how poor people behave or operate based on their time, but there must be a reason for them being so careless on their food choice.
It's like...you have this line (Income -> Weight/Health), and I'm not trying to be ironic funny nor edgy, but realistic:
You start off with starvation, Africa-level.
Then you move onto badly nourished populations
And suddenly....you have obese people
A little step further and it follows the logical line we saw at the start (getting less thinner but slowly)
If you come to Argentina and take a trip round poor neighbourhoods in the Conurbano Bonaerense, ALL THE GIRLS, like, ALL THE GIRLS are FAT. Really, FAT. As in extremely OBESE.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45819511]I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't), then you just eat less of the unhealthy food.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Cutthecrap;45819965]I don't understand very well how poor people behave or operate based on their time, but there must be a reason for them being so careless on their food choice.
It's like...you have this line (Income -> Weight/Health), and I'm not trying to be ironic funny nor edgy, but realistic:
You start off with starvation, Africa-level.
Then you move onto badly nourished populations
And suddenly....you have obese people
A little step further and it follows the logical line we saw at the start (getting less thinner but slowly)[/QUOTE]
You have 100 dollars.
You need to eat for 14 days.
You work for 15 hours, including travel time to/from your jobs. No time to exercise.
Shopping for cheapest food for 14 days, 3 meals a day: 86 dollars
Shopping for healthy food for 14 days, 3 meals a day: 193 dollars
[i]Remember, you have 100 dollars.[/i]
[QUOTE=Maloof?;45819549]It's literally right there in the quoted bit of the article:
Healthy food more expensive, rubbish food cheaper. People eating smaller amounts of healthy foods and 'filling up' on rubbish foods. People eating empty calories (cheap noodles, etc, etc) instead of nutritious stuff.[/QUOTE]
At least where I live (Southern California) healthy food is literally cheaper than unhealthy food if you are choosy with where you shop. I can get most veggies anywhere from $1/lb to $0.10/lb. Rice and beans are even cheaper and if you want some protein, then chicken thighs/legs are less than $1/lb. The only fast food type stuff I would be able to eat this cheap are like Del Taco bean and cheese burritos.
My point isn't about that though. Let's say all healthy food is expensive and all unhealthy food is cheap. That just means you eat less for the same amount of calories. There's nothing forcing people to eat more than they need. A cheeseburger at McDonalds may be high in calories, but it also has a decent balance. It's got carbs, fat, protein, etc. All you have to do is not eat a lot of it.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45820158]At least where I live (Southern California) healthy food is literally cheaper than unhealthy food if you are choosy with where you shop. I can get most veggies anywhere from $1/lb to $0.10/lb. Rice and beans are even cheaper and if you want some protein, then chicken thighs/legs are less than $1/lb. The only fast food type stuff I would be able to eat this cheap are like Del Taco bean and cheese burritos.
My point isn't about that though. Let's say all healthy food is expensive and all unhealthy food is cheap. That just means you eat less for the same amount of calories. There's nothing forcing people to eat more than they need. A cheeseburger at McDonalds may be high in calories, but it also has a decent balance. It's got carbs, fat, protein, etc. All you have to do is not eat a lot of it.[/QUOTE]
Its not really fast food that people are talking about (although fast food really does not help).
Its cheap unhealthy food you get in grocery stores that cause the most harm.
Frozen dinners, candies, prepackaged cookies, fruit drinks (even orange juice is often times really unhealthy, a lot are just about as bad as soda), dairies. A lot of food is unhealthy and a lot of food that would seem to be healthy are not.
Not only that, but most of this unhealthy food is specifically engineered in order to trick your tastebuds and make you feel less full than you really are.
One example of this is zombie orange juice, which is part of what this cracked article talks about. [URL]http://www.cracked.com/article_19433_the-6-most-horrifying-lies-food-industry-feeding-you.html[/URL]
If people are in poverty they may not have access to proper cooking utensils to prepare healthier meals. Healthy foods are also occasionally given a higher price than alternatives (eg any product which is labelled as gluten free, organic etc).
How funny though that the "socialist" (if you consider them socialist) country suffers regular supply shortages that disadvantages its citizens.
[QUOTE=NiandraLades;45819814]
Also you need to take into consideration that not everyone can cook, either.[/QUOTE]
Cooking is a basic life skill that needs to be learned.
[editline]28th August 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=RAG Frag;45819856]And even if you can, the choice between expensive ingredients that are going to expire before you can use them, against unhealthy shit that will last for years is pretty easy on a tight budget[/QUOTE]
I don't think you people are looking in the right areas.
[QUOTE=Vasili;45820775]Cooking is a basic life skill that needs to be learned.[/QUOTE]
Cooking healthy isn't even hard or expensive actually, but this relates to Australia and I'm not sure about the rest of the world. For example, later this week I'll be doing a pasta dinner with $3 (500g) of beef mince, a $2 jar of pasta sauce and $2 (250g) of pasta. $7, but I can get three or four feeds out of that, so I'll have one bowl the night I cook it, then put the rest in the fridge and reheat when I want within the next few days. $2.33 per dinner, that's like cheaper than most burgers on the menu at Maccas and it's not filled with preservatives and fats.
Of course, that kind of stuff might not be as cheap in Venezuela, nor would the people in poverty there have proper cooking utensils such as pots, stoves and microwaves. But in the western world, it's not that hard to cook good food and yes cooking is a necessary life skill.
I can make a huge pot of tomato sauce that beats any jarred sauce going, cheaper too. Cooking well and cheap just takes some brains on how you're going to use your ingredients for different meals - and you know there's literally hundreds (if not thousands) of videos on youtube now showing tons of ways to cook new recipes, tips on cooking and advice for shopping cheaply. My most common items I buy are tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, beans, big bags of lentils, rice and potatoes. I buy cheap veg at the markets like big bags of onions and garlic that's half the price of that in the super markets (or if I can't? I buy the basic brands), I'll even buy frozen veg like spinach or peas as well. When it comes to meats I like to bulk buy frozen fish and turn them into all kinds of dishes, along with frozen chicken and sausages. Sometimes I'll buy some pork or mince if its on offer.
I can live very well on around £30-40 a month.
[QUOTE=Vasili;45820967]I can make a huge pot of tomato sauce that beats any jarred sauce going, cheaper too. Cooking well and cheap just takes some brains on how you're going to use your ingredients for different meals - and you know there's literally hundreds (if not thousands) of videos on youtube now showing tons of ways to cook new recipes, tips on cooking and advice for shopping cheaply. My most common items I buy are tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, beans, big bags of lentils, rice and potatoes. I buy cheap veg at the markets like big bags of onions and garlic that's half the price of that in the super markets (or if I can't? I buy the basic brands), I'll even buy frozen veg like spinach or peas as well. When it comes to meats I like to bulk buy frozen fish and turn them into all kinds of dishes, along with frozen chicken and sausages. Sometimes I'll buy some pork or mince if its on offer.
I can live very well on around £30-40 a month.[/QUOTE]Okay, but you have free time to do that and to go out and find these cheap sources of raw ingredients. Being poor usually means having little free time or little mobility, usually both. If I didn't live in the sticks I could not have survived all those times when I was carefully juggling debts and bullshitting about being able to pay for stuff. Plus finding free shit/junk online to fix up and sell helped a lot too.
[QUOTE=sgman91;45819511]I still don't understand how poverty can cause obesity. Even if less healthy food is cheaper (which it really isn't), then you just eat less of the unhealthy food.[/QUOTE]
When the poor go shopping, usually two factors decide what they buy
how cheap the food is
and how long it keeps before spoiling (saves gas money or time).
The result is a lot of disgustingly unhealthy shit, e.g, canned shit, or frozen shit. And not even good frozen shit, like, hungry man tier frozen shit.
[QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;45821246]Okay, but you have free time to do that and to go out and find these cheap sources of raw ingredients. Being poor usually means having little free time or little mobility, usually both. If I didn't live in the sticks I could not have survived all those times when I was carefully juggling debts and bullshitting about being able to pay for stuff. Plus finding free shit/junk online to fix up and sell helped a lot too.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I'm generally poor too, and I used to work as a chef. Our romanticized food such as many French and Italian dishes were also born from peasants, especially ones suffering in a famine.
The real reason is a lack of knowledge or commitment to what they eat.
I was so poor I couldn't afford tv dinners or crisps or any of that shit, I always went to bed hungry. Then I got my first job in a Chinese restaurant and learned how to cook rice and other dishes. Since then I could be homeless and stay well fed, although I'm probably missing out on tons of vitamins.
The job also had this cool added benefit of learning some basic Chinese and some mannerisms so whenever I meet Chinese people it's stupidly easy to be friends with them.
This is rubbish. Unhealthy food is EQUALLY as expensive as a restaurant food. The reason why these people are becoming more fat is not just because the food they eat is unhealthy but also because they are becoming too fucking lazy to exercise. I can assure you that if I eat nothing but McDonald for one month while going on a rigorous active exercise regime, I would not get fat at all.
Obesity is not just caused by overeating but from a lack of activity.
It also doesn't help when all the bullshit health mags are saying EAT ORGANIC EAT ORGANIC! Its fucking expensive to eat organic. Nobody is gonna spend that extra $5 or $8 for Free Range Eggs or Chicken.
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