Growing up poor messes up your eating habits

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... p_1=312141

Yes, the Salvation Army truck would come to our neighborhood and give us a block of cheese, a bag of rice, and powdered milk. I ate a lot of cheese sandwiches growing up and disgusting powdered milk.

This is me. Absolutely.

I grew up having nowhere near enough to eat. As a result, if food became available I ate as much of it as possible. It's hard to break that habit, even when you're nearing 30 and you know where every meal is coming from. I still eat in that 'I must eat as much as possible way'.

Likewise, I see junk food as a real treat because we went to McDonalds only as a birthday celebration. Doesn't matter that I can now go to McDonalds any time I want - it still feels like a big celebration each time.

All of that is slowly changing, though. I'm trying to raise my toddler differently. She can access a wide selection of healthy snacks whenever she wants and we make a point of going out for food not regularly enough for it to be unhealthy, but enough that it isn't seen as a special treat. We're simply doing our best not to make food a big deal. And it seems to be working. She self-moderates very well and she's as happy with fruit and vegetables, fresh meats and healthy carbs as she is with junk food.

Also, the types of foods. I struggle a lot with eating fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods, and I can't drink water on its own (it tastes slimy and makes me feel sick), which may all be due to the fact that I was raised on a diet of rubbish. I make healthy meals to share with my daughter, but her diet is a million times more varied than mine and she only drinks water.

I didn't need research to tell me that.
I was raised on Junk food, fast food etc... because it was that much cheaper in Michigan and Ohio than real food.
If I wanted home cooked meals made out of real food I had to pay a visit to my uncles houses and/or my grandparents.

My body constantly craving/demanding that bad food and it's hard to make good choices.
I'm doing better. but it is so damn hard to change....

My husband grew up on processed foods so he became an adult and still eats that way. My parents do the grocery shopping now because they don't like what he buys. He can cook but his feet hurt so he does a quick cook than making "real" food. He grew up poor so that was why they ate that way. They still eat that way and my husband has been losing weight because he hasn't been eating due to his health condition and also because we have better food in the house.


But even though I grew up on healthy foods, I still crave junk food and prefer sweets so trying to eat healthy is a struggle so I end up not eating much. That is also why I don't buy junk food and sweets because I know I will just eat it all up and prefer it first. Sometimes it's fine because it won't make me fat from that one time for a few days.

Gee, you think....gross processed nonperishable food is the typical donations....sure you can get your calories but as for vitamins and nutrients you could be lacking. Also there is stigma if you use Ebt to buy anything but the cheapest version of each product which also pushes people to go for the food that looks more appropriate for poor people...get a thing of crab legs with EBT or god forbid a nice steak and you might as well be a war criminal.

It's also financially easier to skip breakfast and wait for lunch.

I actually radically altered my eating habits when I became poor having to live off around £15 food budget a week, I used to have quite a lot of money whilst studying that I'd saved up for years but all I ate was pure trash largely cause I was very agoraphobic and stuck in student flats but also cause I'd never considered nutrition or thought about what I ate, just takeaways and sausage rolls and beans on toast made up most of it and processed food thrown in the oven with chips or whatever. Then I had to start looking for the cheapest things when I had to drop out and my money was spent up in the confusion, I discovered that potatoes, pasta and mince were cheap, fruit and veg was cheap and superior to scoffing sweets and crap, green tea and water was better than soda etc so I started making good stuff and it was much cheaper and I felt and looked better lol.

Yes, it does. It ruins your health and your internal organs over time.

With it being no secret of the world's elites and wealthy to eventually cull all the poor useless eaters of the world I would say everything is going according to plan, wouldn't you?

The rural poor fare better, gardens,chickens,wild game,fishing and most would raise a hog to butcher.