Why poor people fat, rich people thin?
Alphawolf
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Cheap heavily processed foods are loaded with crap that makes weight gain almost impossible to avoid.
Healthy food that aids in building stong lean body tissue is also expensive.
Poor people often are forced into making poor food choices, Good Healthy food takes time to cook. When you are working two minium wage jobs you have very little time. So McDonalds or 60% \ 40% Ground beef with Mac & Cheese is what is for dinner if it is a good day. Also if you are poor you likely live in a food desert where the places that sell quality healthy foods are often few and far away.
When I lived on SSI and SSDI living on $500 a month I weighed 220 pounds. Now that I am living very well making 8 times a much I can afford healthy food and have time to excerize as such I weigh 160 pounds now. Oh there are fat rich people but they are fat by choice. Good food is a luxury.
Rich people can afford the one thing poor people can't. Rich people take for granted those simple things like easy access to abundant healthy food. The education to be effective advocates, in managing of our health and access to quality healthcare in the event things go wrong is again something only the rich can take for granted. Health is a Luxury and just like most luxuries poor people often can't afford it.
lostonearth35
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Location: Lost on Earth, waddya think?
I think people in developed countries can be fat or thin no matter what their wealth is.
When I was a kid my mom always made sure we had fruits and vegetables to snack on and treats like cookies or candy were only once in a while. But I got fat anyway! I seem to have been born that way. Of course, I hated most physical activity, especially in the winter where it was cold and bare outside and there was nothing to do, and I wanted to do things alone instead of hanging around the other kids. In the summer I spent a lot more time outdoors and went swimming a lot, but I was still fat. Unless I resort to an eating disorder I will probably never lose weight.
But there are grocery stores out there that have inexpensive prices and my husband and I go to one where we can buy good food. I haven't had TV dinners in years.
TV dinners are cheap??? I don't know where you're shopping but when I see them next to the frozen brown rice or vegetables that I get every now and then they seem to be very high.
Alphawolf
Blue Jay
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Age: 64
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Location: Beautiful Downtown, TOWSON, Maryland
Old fashioned Swanson TV dinners were cheap loaded with salt and not very good if memory serves. The fried chicken was bathed in salt so much it would make your mouth hurt. The salt was effectively brine. Today what passes for TV dinners are these upscale things from Stoffers that can cost a small fortune. Also price is relative. When I lived on SSI and SSDI in my Section 8 house on a $550 a month budget $6 for one meal was way too expensive. Now that I live on 8 times $550 amount a month $12 for dinner is a bargain.
It is true that good quality food costs much more then cheap highly processed foods. The other reason is that many of the poorest people live in food deserts places where fresh food either is not sold at all or fresh food is crazy expensive. I lived in the ghetto where places like Fresh Foods and Trader Joe's would never open up shop. If you wanted fresh food you had to venture across town to the upscale areas. Note I did not say "White Areas" because black people with money shopped there too.
Being on disability I had time to trek over to where the fresh cheap food was. However for a poor person with kids and a job they don't have all day to go across town to buy a quality healthy dinner. A poor mom in a rush to feed her family has to choose from pasta, canned foods rich in salt and low in healthy content. Sometimes McDonalds food is what is for dinner not because it is good or cheap but because it is fast. McDonalds food is just one step above garbage health wise but poor people with kids and a low paying job have no alternative.
Finally to stay healthy I can afford to go to the doctor whenever I am sick. I have great sick benefits and when I am ick my time off is paid. Poor people lose money they can ill afford when sick enough to need time off to see a doctor. There are some diseases that make you gain water weight like high blood pressure. If you live in the ghetto the drug gangs, thugs and criminals shooting or hurting almost everything that moves keeps you and your family from engaging in healthey outdoor activities like jogging, walking and playing sports.
It is not just one thing but a constellation of issues that one faces when in abject poverty that make the poor fat. I live well now and at 5 feet 8 inches tall I weigh just 156 pounds. My blood pressure is low and I take frequent walks around my relatively safe community to stay in shape. 24 years ago I lived in a section 8 apartment in the middle of a high crime area food dessert. Going outside to run, jog, walk or play meant risking being shot by some hopped up crackhead or heroin freak. To survive you stayed in your home with the shades drawn playing your video games. You ate bad unhealthy food, you prayed and were thankful to be alive. You only saw the doctor if it was an emergency and what little medical care you got just kept you alive it did not address obesity or other such issues. Having a doctor that helped you address obesity issues was considered a luxury.
If you are poor and thin then most often it is because; you know well the crack pipe, the meth pipe or the heroin needle. In the final analysis being thin costs money in the form of dope or doctors visit. The poor who don't abuse drugs are more likely to be fat for all the reasons I shared. I speak from years of painful experience. I was poor for 15 years before I got the good job that has made me much better off materially.
Alphawolf
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goldfish21
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Diet, exercise, lifestyle, stress etc.
Rich people eat high quality nutritious food including plenty of protein and veggies. Poor people tend to eat a high quantity of inexpensive food, like grains and starches. I've served meals to both classes at various restaurant jobs over the years ranging from fast food to golf and country clubs.
Rich people tend to exercise more for health benefits vs. poor people. Yes, manual labour is exercise, but you'll find more people out running in rich neighbourhoods than poor. I've seen both. Rich people probably sleep a little better, too, keeping them thin and trim.
Rich people have different stresses, but not typically the survival kind that would make their body store food energy as fat just in case they don't get enough to eat.
Being fit and eating a healthy balanced diet while keeping up with exercise keeps your brain functioning better, too, so rich people keep themselves in a state where they can capitalize on opportunities they see to make more money. I was out of shape and poor 5 years ago. I'm in shape, eat MUCH better, do more exercise, and have some money accumulating now. You are what you eat. Eat what rich people eat and you slowly but surely become more like them.
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auntblabby
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Having worked a variety of jobs, I can add that labor work typically involves a lot of standing, and some repetitive motion – but in most cases this isn't really effective exercise. Sure, you can stand for eight hours straight, which certainly burns some calories, but it's hardly a proper workout.
Just the same, it's tiring. When you get home after that, you don't want to lift weights or run, you just want to sit on your butt and watch TV or read a book. Maybe drink a few beers to help relax the sore feet and aching back.
Whereas if you've been sitting all day staring at a screen, your mind is tired but your body is ready for some activity. When I was doing work of that kind, once I got home I had no trouble making myself spend an hour at the weightbench, or running a few miles around my neighborhood.
How much bearing this actually has on the OP's question, I don't know. Just a little personal experience.
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auntblabby
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I'm poor as dirt but I am between both states, I learned to adjust my diet to eat as healthy as I can manage and I keep fit without the gym, I found motivation for the two of them after a long while and they serve me well, I hope if I become unpoor someday I will keep between the two states and honour the lessons I learned on the road.
auntblabby
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how do you keep fit?
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