5 ms·

Is there a hunger problem, or is there a poverty problem? The USA has an obesity crisis and the overwhelming majority of the population is fat, obese, or morbi

Is there a hunger problem, or is there a poverty problem? The USA has an obesity crisis and the overwhelming majority of the population is fat, obese, or morbidly obese. Is that hunger? Or is that from poverty? Or something else?

Simulacra 9y ago
It's from bad food. It's been overly processed to where there is no nutrition, so actual problems of hunger and malnutrition are no longer addressed. Just cravings.
- notadoc 9y ago
  But is someone really hungry or starving if they're overweight or obese? They may be feeling hungry, or have cravings, or have some other side effect of destroying a bodies ability to handle insulin, much like a drug addict feels cravings for their drug, but is that hunger? Or just a side effect of abusing food like any other vice or intoxicant? I'd imagine where hunger is real elsewhere in the world, and people are genuinely starving, lacking food, and otherwise malnourished, they'd find this type of discussion in the fattest country on earth to be offensive.
  - apendleton 9y ago
    > But is someone really hungry or starving if they're overweight or obese? Maybe, yes. It's easy for someone with an ample supply of cheap, crappy food to have both a calorie surplus and a nutrient deficit. These people are absolutely "malnourished" even if they're obese, and are a significant burden on the public health system. Food security is not just about access to adequate calories, it's about access to nutritious foods, to foods that make people feel full without eating to excess, etc. But vegetables are dramatically more expensive than soda per calorie.
    - notadoc 9y ago
      > vegetables are dramatically more expensive than soda per calorie. That's a poor measure of comparison. Vegetarians are healthy and easily survive without a problem on vegetables only (and calorie wise 50% or far less of what the "daily recommended intake" often is) whereas nobody is going to survive on soda alone.
  - ensiferum 9y ago
    Nutrition is not only about the quantity of calories but also about their quality. If you look at the food Intake of some impoverished fat person you're likely to find that they consume too many calories of low quality food void of proper nutrients fats and proteins but full of sugars and fast carbs. That's not only because of education but also cause the crap food is the only thing accessible and affordable to someone in the low income end and/or living off food stamps.
    - notadoc 9y ago
      > but also cause the crap food is the only thing accessible and affordable I hear this often, but it is much more expensive per meal to buy prepackaged garbage food, microwaveable meals, junk etc, than visiting the vegetable section along with bulk rice or beans, and meat. The difference is the latter requires 20-30 minutes of cooking and some minimal effort, whereas microwaving the package garbage meal takes 2 minutes. Not everyone likes to cook, and many people don't want to deal with cooking after they're tired from a day at work, but it's not really about affordability until you're approaching organic foods.
maxerickson 9y ago
About 1/3 of the country is at a normal or underweight BMI. About 1/8 of the country experiences food insecurity. So there is plenty of room for the majority of the food insecure to not be obese. I'm not making a claim either way, just pointing out that there is lots of room for that explanation in the statistics; further information required.

Simulacra 9y ago

It's from bad food. It's been overly processed to where there is no nutrition, so actual problems of hunger and malnutrition are no longer addressed. Just cravings.

notadoc 9y ago
But is someone really hungry or starving if they're overweight or obese? They may be feeling hungry, or have cravings, or have some other side effect of destroying a bodies ability to handle insulin, much like a drug addict feels cravings for their drug, but is that hunger? Or just a side effect of abusing food like any other vice or intoxicant? I'd imagine where hunger is real elsewhere in the world, and people are genuinely starving, lacking food, and otherwise malnourished, they'd find this type of discussion in the fattest country on earth to be offensive.
- apendleton 9y ago
  > But is someone really hungry or starving if they're overweight or obese? Maybe, yes. It's easy for someone with an ample supply of cheap, crappy food to have both a calorie surplus and a nutrient deficit. These people are absolutely "malnourished" even if they're obese, and are a significant burden on the public health system. Food security is not just about access to adequate calories, it's about access to nutritious foods, to foods that make people feel full without eating to excess, etc. But vegetables are dramatically more expensive than soda per calorie.
  - notadoc 9y ago
    > vegetables are dramatically more expensive than soda per calorie. That's a poor measure of comparison. Vegetarians are healthy and easily survive without a problem on vegetables only (and calorie wise 50% or far less of what the "daily recommended intake" often is) whereas nobody is going to survive on soda alone.
- ensiferum 9y ago
  Nutrition is not only about the quantity of calories but also about their quality. If you look at the food Intake of some impoverished fat person you're likely to find that they consume too many calories of low quality food void of proper nutrients fats and proteins but full of sugars and fast carbs. That's not only because of education but also cause the crap food is the only thing accessible and affordable to someone in the low income end and/or living off food stamps.
  - notadoc 9y ago
    > but also cause the crap food is the only thing accessible and affordable I hear this often, but it is much more expensive per meal to buy prepackaged garbage food, microwaveable meals, junk etc, than visiting the vegetable section along with bulk rice or beans, and meat. The difference is the latter requires 20-30 minutes of cooking and some minimal effort, whereas microwaving the package garbage meal takes 2 minutes. Not everyone likes to cook, and many people don't want to deal with cooking after they're tired from a day at work, but it's not really about affordability until you're approaching organic foods.

maxerickson 9y ago

About 1/3 of the country is at a normal or underweight BMI. About 1/8 of the country experiences food insecurity. So there is plenty of room for the majority of the food insecure to not be obese. I'm not making a claim either way, just pointing out that there is lots of room for that explanation in the statistics; further information required.