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I've seen this brought up time and time again on fitness forums. I strongly contest the assertion that cheap food is unhealthy food. Beans, rice, veggies, unpro

I've seen this brought up time and time again on fitness forums. I strongly contest the assertion that cheap food is unhealthy food. Beans, rice, veggies, unprocessed protein can be bought in bulk for very cheap and are massively more healthy to eat for every meal than a dollar burger. This is anecdotal, sure, but I'm only arguing against what you consider obvious.

perrygeo 3y ago
Beans rice veggies and protein can be cheap - but you need the skills, tools, a kitchen, a fridge, a freezer, and a couple free hours a day to travel to the store, shop, prep, cook and clean. If you live in poverty and need to rely on "cheap food", you probably don't have access to these things. People working 2 full time jobs in a food desert without a regularly stocked kitchen cannot do what you suggest.
- heattemp99 3y ago
  You make America sound like a 3rd world country without a fridge or freezer. If you don't have a fridge or freezer you have such big problems going on, you'll probably not be obese because you can't even afford food and you'll be rationing like crazy.
  - birdyrooster 3y ago
    You’ve clearly never met people who live on 7/11 food
    - heattemp99 3y ago
      I buy gas and energy drinks every day almost. I see them. They are not 'poor'. If they ARE living paycheck to paycheck though, it's because they buy food at 7/11.
  - jfengel 3y ago
    It's less about the fridge than about the stove. Or rather, the time to spend in front of it. Healthy, inexpensive meals can take a lot of time to prepare. You could spend an hour making beans and rice, or you can take something labeled "Healthy!" out of the freezer and nuke it for two minutes. A lot of the poorest people don't have time or energy for that. Even people with more money often think of themselves as time-starved. It would be better for their health and well-being to get around that, but it's hard to compete with the messages of fast food marketing. That marketing is often deliberately misleading with false "healthy" claims, and the food itself is incredibly easy to eat. They are fine-tuned to appeal to people, in part by packing in a ton of calories and excluding anything else that would dilute the flavors. Combined with a ton of mixed messages and extraordinary amounts of wishful thinking, even people who should know better often don't put it into practice. And a lot of people genuinely don't have the time or energy to know better.
  - perrygeo 3y ago
    I said nothing about America as a whole, you made that part up. But for the millions living below the poverty line, having a place to safely store your groceries or a place to prepare/cook them is not at all guaranteed. > you'll probably not be obese because you can't even afford food and you'll be rationing like crazy. This is not how human physiology works at all. Mainly because our bodies won't let us get to that level of starvation voluntarily. We do have cheap shitty food for sale that can bail us out in times of hunger. This perpetuates a cycle of obesity.
    - heattemp99 3y ago
      As someone that fasts for fun and has been 50+ lbs overweight before, I assure you that's not how it works. You buy cheap shit if you feel like shit. But if you're broke, which I have also been, not eating actually feels better than eating processed garbage. People buying cheap junk are on a feel like shit spiral, but money is not the problem. It would cost less to eat less and feel better, but for now they want to feel poorly.
- fnfjfk 3y ago
  Sure but there are plenty of obese people living in “McMansion Hell” suburbs who can clearly afford vegetables. When visiting my parents in such a wealthy-ish suburb, the difference from similarly wealthy parts of NYC is very obvious (hey also you can’t walk anywhere in the suburb, weird…)
  - perrygeo 3y ago
    That's another aspect to it for sure. Those who chose to eat crap suffer the same fate as those who can't afford the alternative. Either way, eat poison = face health consequences.

perrygeo 3y ago

Beans rice veggies and protein can be cheap - but you need the skills, tools, a kitchen, a fridge, a freezer, and a couple free hours a day to travel to the store, shop, prep, cook and clean. If you live in poverty and need to rely on "cheap food", you probably don't have access to these things. People working 2 full time jobs in a food desert without a regularly stocked kitchen cannot do what you suggest.

heattemp99 3y ago
You make America sound like a 3rd world country without a fridge or freezer. If you don't have a fridge or freezer you have such big problems going on, you'll probably not be obese because you can't even afford food and you'll be rationing like crazy.
- birdyrooster 3y ago
  You’ve clearly never met people who live on 7/11 food
  - heattemp99 3y ago
    I buy gas and energy drinks every day almost. I see them. They are not 'poor'. If they ARE living paycheck to paycheck though, it's because they buy food at 7/11.
- jfengel 3y ago
  It's less about the fridge than about the stove. Or rather, the time to spend in front of it. Healthy, inexpensive meals can take a lot of time to prepare. You could spend an hour making beans and rice, or you can take something labeled "Healthy!" out of the freezer and nuke it for two minutes. A lot of the poorest people don't have time or energy for that. Even people with more money often think of themselves as time-starved. It would be better for their health and well-being to get around that, but it's hard to compete with the messages of fast food marketing. That marketing is often deliberately misleading with false "healthy" claims, and the food itself is incredibly easy to eat. They are fine-tuned to appeal to people, in part by packing in a ton of calories and excluding anything else that would dilute the flavors. Combined with a ton of mixed messages and extraordinary amounts of wishful thinking, even people who should know better often don't put it into practice. And a lot of people genuinely don't have the time or energy to know better.
- perrygeo 3y ago
  I said nothing about America as a whole, you made that part up. But for the millions living below the poverty line, having a place to safely store your groceries or a place to prepare/cook them is not at all guaranteed. > you'll probably not be obese because you can't even afford food and you'll be rationing like crazy. This is not how human physiology works at all. Mainly because our bodies won't let us get to that level of starvation voluntarily. We do have cheap shitty food for sale that can bail us out in times of hunger. This perpetuates a cycle of obesity.
  - heattemp99 3y ago
    As someone that fasts for fun and has been 50+ lbs overweight before, I assure you that's not how it works. You buy cheap shit if you feel like shit. But if you're broke, which I have also been, not eating actually feels better than eating processed garbage. People buying cheap junk are on a feel like shit spiral, but money is not the problem. It would cost less to eat less and feel better, but for now they want to feel poorly.
fnfjfk 3y ago
Sure but there are plenty of obese people living in “McMansion Hell” suburbs who can clearly afford vegetables. When visiting my parents in such a wealthy-ish suburb, the difference from similarly wealthy parts of NYC is very obvious (hey also you can’t walk anywhere in the suburb, weird…)
- perrygeo 3y ago
  That's another aspect to it for sure. Those who chose to eat crap suffer the same fate as those who can't afford the alternative. Either way, eat poison = face health consequences.