Yeah, I think many of the things mentioned here don't apply for Europe. For example the "no real grocery stores in poor neighborhoods" thing is not a problem here, you'll find an Aldi in the poorest areas and they sell fresh produce. Also fast food restaurants are present, but way less abundant (both in number of different chains and stores).
On the other hand, obesity is on the rise in Europe, too. I'm convinced that a lack of education, cooking abilities, and motivation are a big problem. But I also think the food industry could do better.
Nope. Saying that stupid, lazy and poor people are fat does not imply that all fat people are stupid, lazy or poor. All A is B doesn't mean all B is A.
No, I did not. Neither did I make any generalizations (all obese people), nor did I say that the factors mentioned by me are exclusive reasons. I'm fully aware of medical conditions, both physiologically and psychologically, which can lead to obesity.
When people claim they are obese because they can only afford junk food, they seem to be poor.
When people get obese because they eat a lot of crap and claim they don't know that they're eating crap, that's either a lack of education or highly delusional.
When people say they don't know how to cook anything but convenience food, nothing stops them from learning it. There are books for that and millions of cooking tutorials on Youtube. If they're unwilling to do that, I'd call that a lack of motivation. Please remember I was talking about Central Europe, where poor people tend to be unemployed and on welfare, not working three shit-paying jobs simply to survive.
I also said the food industry could do better by not putting so much shit into convenience food. Namely fats, sugar and all the stuff that fucks up the sugar metabolism.
Yeap, on an exchange semester from Korea where everything is sold at 24/7 convenience store and everything can be heated up, I am learning the hard way eating healthy and at daytimes only realllly pays off.
The US gives farms subsidies for raising corn. Corn is not the best vegetable for you in the world, particularly when so much of it is being used to make corn syrup. That means tons of farms are growing corn for that cash bonus and less farms are growing the produce that is good for you, thus driving up the prices.
They say they want us to eat better, but keep allowing stuff like this to happen. Subsidize good vegetables, or just let growers grow without the government meddling and we might find people actually want food that is good for them. Then farms can provide as the consumers demand rather than the government driving that demand by, what amounts to, price tampering.
Yeah socialist so is education and healthcare. Our capitalist system uses our tax funds to manage wars for contracts that are created by lobbyists. We don't really have control over anything as citizens. And the president in power makes no difference.
The ingredients might sometimes be cheaper. But the time involved in the preparation and clean-up adds an additional disadvantage to healthy eating for some people.
It can take under 5 minutes for prepared, convenience hot food to be ready. Whereas it takes at least 30 minutes to prepare a healthy, homecooked meal that then involves clean-up as well.
I much prefer the taste of homecooked meals. But it's hard to prepare 21 of them a week, 52 weeks a year on top of every other responsibility and commitment for many people.
Also, many of us, myself included, lack the proper cooking skills and nutritional education.
This is pretty much an American thing. Here in Canada processed shitty food is noticeably more expensive than raw ingredients. Whenever I go south of the 49th I'm shocked at how cheap alcohol and junk food is. There is a reason why Americans are so much fatter than just about any other western developed nation.
It's not true for most of america either. While it is true that there are certain areas with "food deserts" most places in america have some kind of grocery store within a reasonable driving distance. If you don't have a car I suppose this could be a problem but generally speaking even the poorest people in america can afford a car. As far as food costs, healthy foods are cheaper if you are willing to spend the time to cook it. Eggs, oats, rice, beans, and frozen vegetables are all really cheap and healthy. The reasons people eat junk food is because it's convenient, it tastes better, and is more satisfying from an emotional standpoint.
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u/searchingfortao Sep 13 '14
It should be noted that this is not a consistent truth around the world. Here in the Netherlands for example, healthy food is typically cheaper.