super sized

[tulip]

I saw seriously obese people, and alot of them, in rural Canada. I was pretty stunned...I guess it's a North American thing (I can't speak for Mexico, though), not just the US. I've never been to the rural midwest US, though, just the northeast, mid-atlantic, southeast, and southwest (lots of tall skinny cowboys).

[GLC1968]

I know that American's are generally more overweight that in most countries, but I routinely observed some oddities when we lived in FL. We had free anual passes to Busch Gardens (a huge amusement park with rides and live animals for those unfamiliar with it) and we also often made the trip to Disney and Universal Studios for the weekend getaway.

Every single time we went, I was surprised by the sheer overweightness (is that a word?) and lack of fitness of the other patrons. All of them, it seemed...and kids too. And these weren't just people who were big but possibly fit/athletic...these were people who were often wheezing just standing in line. But the part that blew my mind the most? They weren't always Americans. Often times, they were visiting on vacation from some other country (as evidenced by their language or clothing). Maybe it speaks to the type of people who plan vacations around amusement parks, but to me, it seems like while the poorest people on this planet are starving, the weathiest are getting fatter.

[OakLeaf]

while the poorest people on this planet are starving, the weathiest are getting fatter.

It's more like the poorest are starving, the next poorest are getting obese, and only the relatively wealthy are fit and healthy.

As GLC posted, most of the issue in developed nations has to do with agriculture subsidies, cash cropping, HFCS and the like. A large portion of vegetables at the grocery store has maybe 2-300 calories and costs as much as an entire meal at McD's. So the family gets frozen or canned vegies, or none at all.

Then, many of the poor work two or three jobs just to survive. (And those on food stamps are required to work them off at sub-minimum wage, thanks to the welfare repeal of the 1990s.) They come home from work exhausted, and spending even an hour on food prep (which doesn't sound like much to most of us) is just too much. There's no room in their TIME budget for visiting farmers' markets even when they are in season locally, especially with the limited hours that most markets run. So they buy processed foods. Cheap, quick, deadly calories.

[Biciclista]

Oakleaf, you're right. In India the middle class is suffering from diabetes problems while the poor are starving.
In our country; no one starves, our poor are suffering from an epidemic of diabetes.

[Eden]

I personally think the idea that buying healthy is more expensive is a myth..... granted there are places where the supply of veggies is dismal to non-existent, but that's a different problem.

You just have to pick and choose your veggies carefully - Cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, greens - yes! healthy, cheap, plentiful and filling. Just avoid the "specialty veggies" unless they are on sale and it really not very expensive at all. If you cut a lot of meat from your diet, it gets even cheaper - meat is super expensive, beans and tofu not at all - even canned beans are cheap, cheap, cheap compared to meat. When you think about how little you get with a freezer meal - there's no comparison to what is less expensive...

[papaver]

I personally think the idea that buying healthy is more expensive is a myth..... granted there are places where the supply of veggies is dismal to non-existent, but that's a different problem.

You just have to pick and choose your veggies carefully - Cabbage, sweet potatoes, carrots, greens - yes! healthy, cheap, plentiful and filling. Just avoid the "specialty veggies" unless they are on sale and it really not very expensive at all. If you cut a lot of meat from your diet, it gets even cheaper - meat is super expensive, beans and tofu not at all - even canned beans are cheap, cheap, cheap compared to meat. When you think about how little you get with a freezer meal - there's no comparison to what is less expensive...

You know what the problem with veggies is? You have to clean and cook them. For a lot of people it's a waste of time. It's easier to open a pack and throw the content it in a frying pan... Second problem, young kids are not so keen on veggies, so the parents aren't even bothered to give them vegetables...

It has a lot to do with lazyness...

[gilly]

11 years ago I went to SF on business. When the girls collected me from the airport they took me to dinner. They recommended and so I ordered a burger, I couldn't believe the size! I think I ate around a 1/4 of the burger and not much of anything else on the plate - two weeks later the took me to the same place, I ate 3/4 of the burger !! I decided it was very definitely time to go home

During my stay there I was taken to lunch and dinner a lot! I was impressed by the fact that you could order one meal and two plates, and was really impressed by the fact that almost every meal I went to with colleagues, one of them would ask for the leftovers to be wrapped to take home - unheard of here.

All in all, no matter what the restaurant serve, it's personal choice in the end, as to how much of it you eat

[shootingstar]

You know what the problem with veggies is? You have to clean and cook them. For a lot of people it's a waste of time. It's easier to open a pack and throw the content it in a frying pan... Second problem, young kids are not so keen on veggies, so the parents aren't even bothered to give them vegetables...

It has a lot to do with lazyness...

Methinks this is part of the problem, is taking time to clean and cut veggies instead of just precut veggies (but better than no veggies) and fast food options. It does require considerable time and patience for any parent to encourage their children to eat veggies in the beginning. But once used it, they will eat them without thinking nor commenting with dislike, etc.

I read somewhere one shouldn't take their children grocery shopping because they will ask for unhealthy stuff, etc. When they are very young, it's probably not great (though not impossible).

But I disagree...this is how I learned about pricing, choosing veggies, fruits and meats at the store, from my mother, when I accompanied her ..more often to carry the groceries or pull buggy cart behind because we didn't have a car the whole of my teen years. Granted, children must be initially disciplined at the beginning, to even begin to take them shopping maybe after age 7-8 yrs.

of course from a good nutrition standpoint, my mother had good approaches/choices to pass on to kiddies. Not all parents are like this.

No, we were not vegetarian. Just...poor. The thought of buying fast food or alot of processed food was something not considered much at all, because of lack of income. yea, sure the processed food we had as kids were: Cheez Whiz, cheese slices, baloney, sliced ham, wieners and dried pasta.

It also MIGHT make a difference on home diet, if a family member worked in a restaurant. Which my father did for his whole working life. Yes, he would comment about reused oil for deep frying, amount of oil for frying, etc. It certainly influenced how much he wanted healthier food at home.

So I also agree with Eden, that being poor, can still mean eating healthy, but the onus lies on the home food cooks to make an effort to prepare food properly, think of/find recipes that are healthier. Latter also takes time and experimentation,..which some people don't want to but some people seem to lack..imagination..and risk in their cooking styles.

[Trek420]

You know what the problem with veggies is? You have to clean and cook them. For a lot of people it's a waste of time. It's easier to open a pack and throw the content it in a frying pan...

What? Besides being fun to do (I <3 to prep vegies) opening and disposing of all the packaging takes me longer than almost any prep. Give me a French knife and a cutting board and I'll make salsa almost as fast as you can open the jar

Have you ever been given the hairy eye-ball by the waitstaff for sharing a dessert after a meal? The arched eyebrow of:
"we'll split the cheesecake"
"we'll bring you two cheesecakes"
"no, no, just bring two plates, we'll fight it out who gets the last bite"
"but don't you both want ..."
"do we look like we want two desserts"
"well no but most people"
"do we look like we neeeeeeed to cut back on dessert"
"well no, it's just ..."

[Zen]

maybe 2-300 calories and costs as much as an entire meal at McD's. So the family gets frozen or canned vegies, or none at all.

You have to buy seasonally and shop the specials. I got a bunch of broccoli yesterday for a dollar and today I'm going back for collards at the same price