... the other Black experience
Being Poor and Eating Healthy: It might not be as easy as it seems
Anybody here ever been poor? I mean really poor. I mean you got to figure out how to make $2 feed you for 7 days poor. Well even if you haven't been that poor, if you shop and are less than well to do you may have noticed something. Vegetables and fruit are expensive. Here's something else you may have noticed. Cheap food is relatively high in fat, simple carbohydrates, sodium, and high fructose corn syrup but low in vitamins. The thing is what do you do when faced with this food dilemna? Do you only eat beans, potatoes, and hot dogs to fill your belly or do you starve and get that bell pepper, spinach, and broccoli.?
Copyright K.L. Jones.
Copyright K.L. Jones.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on -
I think that's where teaching EACH OTHER comes in as important. Teach your friends and neighbors what you can about eating good for your and your family. Seriously. I found out about those markets where I can get good cheap food and produce from other people, not because they was advertising. Gotta start somewhere.
A friend also told me about this local organization that will help you start planting fruits and vegetables in your backyard no matter what size it is. And really if you think about it......that's again where you can ask people you know. You'd be surprised what people around you know already about growing your own stuff or about where the deals are in getting affordable good food AND community benefits, food banks, food stamps/assistance qualification, etc etc.
I guess I don't expect the government to give us all the information we need about services that are available to help the working poor and the non working poor about survival and the help people CAN get in their area. I trust the advice and help of my neighbors who will tell me the truth first.
Ammarah said:Christopher Irving said:Now considering food prices are skyrocketing,I would prefer eating veggies,beans and rice,etc...that is why I would consider changing my dietary practices(such as eating at WACKDONALD'S, LURCHES,K.F.C.(Keep Fattening Coloreds) and Slopeye's)especially after watching the documentary Super Size Me.Don't get me wrong,I'm not trying out no quack fad diets or anything ,I just want to eat more healthier at a cheaper price.
lol @ KFC...I swore off Wackdonalds until they started offering that McCafe coffee...I drank at least two a day for a month and wondered why I suddenly gained like 20 pounds! I've seen the movie Suspersize Me - I dont know why I thought drinking the coffee was so much different that eating the food!
I think veggies and fruit are inexpensive - but the expense comes from having to buy fresh fruit and veggies every two to three days.
Besides, the working poor don't have much time to plan meals. I think vegan/vegetarian/nutritionists need to spread awareness in the hood about eating healthfully. They always tell poor people that they SHOULD eat better food but never tell them HOW. The finger-wagging comes off as elitist.
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Permalink Reply by V on -
What really grinds my gears here is that it's tax dollars that go towards making hamburgers $1 when they usually take about $8 to make. You know with all the grains and shit we feed one cow we could feed several people for a very long time. 80% of our resources go towards feeding animals and our tax dollars help to keep us buying it.
Disgusting.
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Permalink Reply by kifaru on -
I think the idea of people growing their own food is good. This is out of reach for a lot of people because of limited space. Anybody can grow a tomato plant in their house or even strawberries but that will not provide enough calories or nutrition to sustain a person. Communities gardens work pretty well when there is enough supervision but people become discouraged when there is a lot of theft. One of the things that could help is people eating much less red meat since a significant portion of Americas grain crop goes to feeding animals which inturn makes the animals meat less heathy. Cows are not built to eat grain. They will eat it but it's really not good for them.
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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on -
buy a big sack of rice, dried beans, and oatmeal, use your link card for some spam, tortillas, milk, in-season (therefore on sale)fruit and veggies, and some spices from the chain grocery. what is so hard about this?
i think if your intention is to eat healthy you'll find affordable ways to do that. eating healthy isn't always convenient whether or not you have money--but if you have money and more importantly time it's definitely easier to focus on what you're eating and not worry about rent, bills, insurance, debt, etc. i think folk make too many excuses...tbh.
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Permalink Reply by kifaru on
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What's a Link card?
A high carbohydrate diet is not healthy. I'm all for rice and beans in moderation but that is really subsistence food. It's not nutrient dense. It's more caloric filler than anything else. The main point I am making is that if you are poor you are reduced to these sorts of foods. Most people are not able to resist the high fat, high sugar foods because humans are hardwired to crave that sort of thing. When you add that to the fact that people are priced out of healthier options you get this cascading effect that causes poor people to be fat. Even when they have higher incomes they've become conditioned to eating subsistence foods.
I support eating food in season but because of our current food distribution systen most of us never really get exposed to those sorts of seasona food flucutations and don't learn to eat like that. Apples are available in abundance all year so this has a price stabiling effect such that apples "in season" really aren't that much cheaper than apples out of season.
BTW You're in asparagus country. You should be looking for that to drop so go and get some. Asparagus is good for you.
LesYpersound said:buy a big sack of rice, dried beans, and oatmeal, use your link card for some spam, tortillas, milk, in-season (therefore on sale)fruit and veggies, and some spices from the chain grocery. what is so hard about this?
i think if your intention is to eat healthy you'll find affordable ways to do that. eating healthy isn't always convenient whether or not you have money--but if you have money and more importantly time it's definitely easier to focus on what you're eating and not worry about rent, bills, insurance, debt, etc. i think folk make too many excuses...tbh.
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Permalink Reply by LesYpersound on
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brown rice, beans, and oats are staples for plenty of cultures and poor folk around the world coupled w/ their tiny vegetable patches or sturdy veggies that can grow in the city in your backyard or in some pots.
a diet w/ less "USDA" red meat, junk food, sugar, and salt is healthier period.
having a high carb diet isn't unhealthy, unless you're eating a shit ton of carbs (that's got nothing in 'em, e.g. snacks) and sitting on your ass all day you will become fat for sure, but if you've got to work two shifts and you're still poor and you've only got a space heater in the winter, the more carbs and protein (via beans, dark leafy greens, chicken w/o skin, etc) the better!
also i really liked this idea of framing the battle to eat right--diets don't work and what does work is a change in mindset that requires ppl to effectively go to rehab like any other compulsive disorder or addiction.
i love asparagus btw. :]
oh, and a Link card = food stamps.
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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on
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Lesy that is so true, eating healthy is not "convenient" but you have to make it a priority for yourself.
Cause we cannot assume our local government or the local markets are gonna make it convenient either (unles it's at a serious price increase). The whole idea should be a "balanced diet" Kifaru, like our parents or grandparents are the ones to teach us when we are kids. I think it's only now as adults that we have figured out exactly what that means.
It's hard to do this on a budget but it ain't impossible......we have to make our health more important than convenience.
And on that note.......a couple of the ladies in my night class told me that a new location of this awesome Superior Market has opened up recently closer to my home than the other one way the hell out near my sister's house. That was some good news (I drove way the way out of my neighborhood just to find good quality abundant very cheap fresh clean produce there) cause gas is getting expensive again!
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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on
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Oh! And I just thought of something to add back to Kifaru's original question post: something that helps with the whole sometimes inconvenience of having to go out your way for good cheap produce and foods. My sister told me this when I was on my own for the first time years ago, she said to make sure you feed yourself right, do your cooking on your days off. You'll have more time to put some thought into good and affordable food choices, and if you cook at least two dishes for yourself that you LIKE on the weekends/days off work, you'll always have them in your refrigerator/freezer to warm up later. That way when you're starving after work, you'll also be less tempted to go out to your neighborhood burger stand for cheap bad junk food.
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Permalink Reply by Madamoiselle De Sade on -
I've been thinking about body building on a budget. If you can barely afford to eat right nowadays how can you afford to get the 2 grams of protein/pound of body weight?
For me, that isn't very many grams but it's still a pinch in the pocket. I had to start buying in ginormous bulk quantities and use what I could not ear due to calorie and time constraints to cook for those around me. Still isn't cheap, tho.
Perhaps I should start charging per plate of food I make?
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Permalink Reply by Rosenda on
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If you have to. See when you are on a limited budget, you gotta strike that balance. If you know you got to spend more money on some food item you need to buy a certain amount of each week, you do your best to save money on all the other things you have to buy (vegetables, fruit, cleaning things, etc etc). That way it should work out. Or make extra money by charging, if you really want to do that.
It is rough because it forces you to plan ahead and make a list and totally stick to your list every time you have to shop.
Groceries and gas in my car and paying my utilties/bills each month, you find cheaper prices on the things you DO have control or choice of buying.
Mlle d. Sade said:I've been thinking about body building on a budget. If you can barely afford to eat right nowadays how can you afford to get the 2 grams of protein/pound of body weight?
For me, that isn't very many grams but it's still a pinch in the pocket. I had to start buying in ginormous bulk quantities and use what I could not ear due to calorie and time constraints to cook for those around me. Still isn't cheap, tho.
Perhaps I should start charging per plate of food I make?
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