I keep reading about this and I'm not convinced.

Here's a link to some of the facts and figures: www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/ja...obesity-poverty-link

Is it really more expensive to eat healthy food? In all honesty, processed junk seems to be more expensive than fresh vegetables.

For example, shopping this week included:

Bag of carrots - £1.00
Bag of parsnips - £1.00
Bag of leeks - £1.00
Bag of onions - £1.00
Green beans x2- £1.00 each
2 x 3 packs of peppers - £3.50
Bag of split peas - 55p
Quorn mince 2x500g bags - £5.00

Obviously you'd have bits and bobs in your store cupboard to add to that. You've got ingredients for soups, pasta sauces, stews and all kinds of meals. It's not expensive either. A packet of crappy biscuits costs £1.00, admittedly nice ones would cost more. When I buy crap - that's what bumps my shopping list up. I get a free range chicken once a fortnight for about a tenner, but I boil the carcass to make stock and then turn it into a massive vat of soup which does us all a couple of days - just chuck in some veg and beans or split peas. So, it works out still being cheap.

So, what's going on? Why this poor bashing and calling them fat? I don't really see a link, in the town near me I see some single mums who are like whippets, and some plump affluent middle class mums.

Contentious issue...

I have tried eating 'healthy' but honestly cannot afford it. I really have tried too.

Also, I'd struggle to exist on a diet of carrots, leaks and onions. Buying any kind of meat is what fucked it for me, as I tend to look at it as a staple to a meal, rather than a luxury.

Some agree with you but my experience is otherwise. A lot of it has to do with 'eating habits' and what the individual views as 'proper' food, as above, I suppose? Plus, if you've got three or four fussy mouths to feed, they ain't gonna be wanting carrots leaks and onions for tea every night.



Aside from that...it's the fault of the poor that we're in the economic mess that we are in. Didn't you know?

You've got a point Abs. Being a bird and all of that, I'm neurotic about my weight. I can quite happily snack on a couple of carrots during the day and then have a bowl of soup in the evening.

Seriously though, I was s single mum for ages, just one son though. I used to make loads of lentil and vegetable currys and all sorts of things. There was a Halal shop down the road and it was really cheap for all kinds of ingredients, so we always ate well. It's probably cheaper to eat less meat. You can use eggs, mushrooms, quorn, fake meat, beans and lentils instead. Meat free meals can be just as tasty.

I know it...it's probably the one area of my life where I'm a bit 'blokey'.

Don't tell anyone but...sometimes I'd rather go hungry than eat my veggies (especially if that's all there is)!

My son is completely the same he would literally rather go hungry than eat green stuff.

If I try to give him too many vegetables, he looks at me as if I have beaten him - that look makes me feel so guilty! This is one of the reasons I cook things like currys, lasagnes, soups and other things. I can chop up lots of vegetables until they are really small and hide them in the food.

It's the cheapness & convenience of ready, horse-filled meals that have unhealthy additives that's the problem I think. And I think a lot of people have no idea of how to cook these days too.

We all like veg in our house, but I wouldn't serve it up without meat - it's the meat that's dear. I don't like the idea of quorn & other substitutes.

I think a lot of it is convenience-related.

Why go home and set forth on a good hour or so's worth of food prep/cooking when the chip shop is just right over there and woohoo, look, there's nobody standing in line, better run quick!! Regular potatoes [when had often and alongside other starchy carbs] can do a lot of damage, long-term, to ones health. In fact, ALL the white stuff: flour, sugar, rice, taters, it's all a glycemic index nightmare!! And that's what a lot of people, regardless of economic status, [but probably a little more prevalent among the poor? Certainly so among the poorer informed] end up having as the foundation of their diets.

Some of that could be influenced by pricing. I have seen at several different times in the past that some healthier alternatives such as wholegrain/wholemeal breads, brown rice, honey [especially raw and/or organic], sweet potatoes, etc. can be priced higher than their white, refined and more common varieties. Not always, but noticeably so. I think that if a person wants to eat well and they do a little research and shop smart then they can get by better off than those that just go into it all willy-nilly and sometimes even at a bargain. Not to say that it can be done everytime or long-term [grocery shopping has nearly doubled in price over the last couple years!!] but you can do better and get by here & there when you plan better and just make smarter/healthier eating choices/purchases.

But it does seem nearly impossible to come out on top [money-wise] when trying to be more health-conscious. Even when making changes from white to wheat there's still the factor of E-numbers, yeah, fucking E-numbers in fucking bread?!?!?!?! Not to mention all the other 10-letter ingredients in just about everydamnthing in the store: hydrogenated this, maltodextrin that, rapeseed oil, yeast extract powder [hidden form of MSG/free glutamates], high-fructose corn syrup, that old ambiguous bullshitter of a word "flavorings" that doesn't sit well with me and the list goes on and on.

Additives, preservatives, sweeteners, enhancers, chemical poisoning everywhere you turn!!! I've cut out sooooo much stuff that I really love and still there's a laundry list of shit I'd be better off not eating that I still do. But I can't just go completely "clean" with my diet. It just wouldn't work. As much as I hate it, I'm bound to it to a certain degree. At least until I can readily let go of those things. I can't just yet. Life's not worth living if ya can't look forward to a bacon cheeseburger once in a while!!!

Gilly wrote:
I'm on my way!!

Phem, I'm not so worried about cutting out all crap, but I just try and eat mostly healthy stuff. Sometimes I crave processed junk. You're not the only one who's dubious about this "flavourings" business. What exactly are these flavourings? It does appear that some people just don't know how to cook, or how to grocery shop even. It's about planning meals and knowing what to buy. Food has definitely shot up in price. According to some rich people, we (the plebs) waste too much of it and it should be made more expensive. Fish and chips cost a fair bit these days.

Gilly, who knows what's in fake meat. It may be wrong, but I just love it, even though it's made up food. It's probably got horse meat in it.

Packet of rice went up 24p over a matter of days in the place down the road from me a few weeks ago.

FYI re fish & chips, I was flush recently, so like a dog with two cocks I thought I'd splash out on cod and chips...£6.70!! I cried with every mouthful but, my goodness, it tasted good.

baby boomers die soon, then its free crackers for everyone.

I know what you mean Abs, every so often I get a nasty surprise when I see how much something's shot up in price. I was feeling really bummed out and shit recently and did an absolutely huge online grocery shop. It was mostly stuff to store. It looks like we're preparing for the zombie apocalypse now. Last time we got fish and chips it was a bit of a shock, but Kebabs seem to be the same price as always.

Do you mean solyent green crackers bats? I don't mind if they're tasty.

It also has a lot to do with the image a well to do person / got money person has to project in some circles that keeps them from letting themselves go so they are in a constant state of diet control and self awareness.

On the flip side poor folk's pleasure is many times eating junk food and or compensating for lack of having this or that / or money with over indulgence when possible and emotional eating in times of stress.

This is basically the heart of the theory imo

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
Something you want to tell us?

Ab Origine wrote:
I want to eat brainz?

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
You may have done so already, many times over!

"Supermarkets sell crap - SHOCK, HORROR"!!!

Ab Origine wrote:
True, and god knows what else.

The most powerful god currently here on earth is money. It is completely in control of almost everything, and leaves famine, misery, and death in it's wake. People will do anything for it, it seems.

Good thread Lesley...

But i doubt starving kids in Africa could find a link between poverty and obesity...

I'm poor, I eat junk food for at least two reasons, it's quick and it's satisfying, but perhaps where I'll eat grilled pitta breads with humous, home made baked veg crisps or home made cookies, others don't have the time and has been said here, go for "Convenience".

The link between poverty and obesity probably exists, but only because the poor are generally ignorant and or overworked, lacking time to prepare food they resort to industrially processed ready meals, the more expensive ready meals contain real ingredients thus require fewer additives, and or chemicals to make it palatable, I'm not necessarily linking the additives in many foods, Palm oil and transfats etc to obesity, but eating empty calories, reclaimed meat, or meat "cut" with reclaimed cartilage or so on, i'd imagine one would only feel temporarily satisfied by the chemical rush and not actually satisfied because of eating a substantial meal, so would eat more to feel as "full", i'm just relating what it's like when you get some Crack cocaine that's been cut and you need to smoke more of it to get a high, surely it's the same with food?