WTF is up with all the obese kids in DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, It is because of POVERTY. SOMEHOW when you are POOR you get too much food, if they had MORE money, they would be able to shop at Whole Foods and buy LESS food and eat less. Also, they would magically not choose to buy the potato chips at WF, just the Gala apples.

Or is it ??????????

Article in today's NYTimes makes the opposite case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=1

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
By MARK BITTMAN
Published: September 24, 2011

THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28. (Judicious ordering of “Happy Meals” can reduce that to about $23 — and you get a few apple slices in addition to the fries!)

In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. You can serve a roasted chicken with vegetables along with a simple salad and milk for about $14, and feed four or even six people.

This is really not accurate. They are comparing a trip to McDonalds to eating at home, not processed food in the home.

The USDA calculates that a family of four on a "moderate" cost plan needs to spend $202 a week in order to meet US dietary recommendations. The "thrifty" plan is $125 a week or $540/month.

There are a lot of families getting by on less than $540 a month, and it's by skipping produce and eating junk. If you want to see how the calculations are done, go to this site. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood.htm If you read the report on the "thrifty" plan, you will see that the government's recommendations include more than doubling intake of fruits, vegetables and milk, and dramatically reducing junk. That's where the cost is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you totally ignorant or just trolling? Childhood obesity is a major problem everywhere. "PE Curriculum" ? Please. As if that makes a difference. I teach Pre-K and when I see parents bringing their kids to school in the morning with bags of Cheetos and Cokes, it makes me want to scream. I'm sure they are plenty of fat children in California too.

In fairness to the OP, the government posts the following chart on overweight and obese children, and the District is above the average, while Oregon and Washington State are below average. CA is in the middle-high, but it's a big state and it may be more concentrated in certain areas.

http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=13877

[Anonymous]

Americans are fatter in general. This is not just a problem for poor people - so stop making excuses. Ask your pediatrician about what they are seeing the next time you go.

[Anonymous]

I think we revisit this topic once a week. It is getting old now.

[Anonymous]

OP is from CA, she visited DC and saw fat kids.

As a tourist, she went online and posted on DC urban mom even though she is actually from CA.

Yeah right...there is no troll here.

lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is from CA, she visited DC and saw fat kids.

As a tourist, she went online and posted on DC urban mom even though she is actually from CA.

Yeah right...there is no troll here.

lol

My guess is that people claiming OP is a troll are probably in the obese category - or close to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, It is because of POVERTY. SOMEHOW when you are POOR you get too much food, if they had MORE money, they would be able to shop at Whole Foods and buy LESS food and eat less. Also, they would magically not choose to buy the potato chips at WF, just the Gala apples.

Um, no, I live in Potomac and there are plenty of little rich chub a lubs out here too. It's because a lot of parents feed their kids absolute shit (McDonalds, hot dogs, piles of crackers, etc).

[Anonymous]

I remember I left the country for the first time in 2001 and went to the UK. I remember being surprised that most everyone I saw was so slim! It really put into perspective for me that what I considered normal looking people in the USA were much heavier than in the UK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember I left the country for the first time in 2001 and went to the UK. I remember being surprised that most everyone I saw was so slim! It really put into perspective for me that what I considered normal looking people in the USA were much heavier than in the UK.

In the UK??? Are you kidding me? I went there and was ecstatic that my chubby size 14 self felt slim!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, It is because of POVERTY. SOMEHOW when you are POOR you get too much food, if they had MORE money, they would be able to shop at Whole Foods and buy LESS food and eat less. Also, they would magically not choose to buy the potato chips at WF, just the Gala apples.

Or is it ??????????

Article in today's NYTimes makes the opposite case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=1

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
By MARK BITTMAN
Published: September 24, 2011

THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28. (Judicious ordering of “Happy Meals” can reduce that to about $23 — and you get a few apple slices in addition to the fries!)

In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. You can serve a roasted chicken with vegetables along with a simple salad and milk for about $14, and feed four or even six people.

Bittman also talks about needing to have access to a grocery store, not a dusty bodega. Much less the skill to cook. But you don't address that in your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is from CA, she visited DC and saw fat kids.

As a tourist, she went online and posted on DC urban mom even though she is actually from CA.

Yeah right...there is no troll here.

lol

My guess is that people claiming OP is a troll are probably in the obese category - or close to it.

humm not really -5.7" and 140, pretty average or maybe yes, I could afford to lose 5 pounds? Well not worried at all but based on your defensiveness I can assume you are anorexic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, It is because of POVERTY. SOMEHOW when you are POOR you get too much food, if they had MORE money, they would be able to shop at Whole Foods and buy LESS food and eat less. Also, they would magically not choose to buy the potato chips at WF, just the Gala apples.

I wrote this, I was kidding.

[Anonymous]

Bittman also talks about needing to have access to a grocery store, not a dusty bodega. Much less the skill to cook. But you don't address that in your post.

No, I posted the link so you and everyone else could read the entire article. Sounds like you did, nice job.

And the "food desert" thing is such horseshit in many areas where kids/adults are fat. I used to buy into that plea "But we have only 7-11 / bodega / Sheetz convenience store." That is most certainly true in some cases, I guess. But not in densely urban areas with excellent public transportation.

If you can take a bus to pick up your gov't check at the DHS office, and take the bus again to hang out in front of the Verizon center, then you can take that bus to a Harris Teeter a couple of times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Bittman also talks about needing to have access to a grocery store, not a dusty bodega. Much less the skill to cook. But you don't address that in your post.

No, I posted the link so you and everyone else could read the entire article. Sounds like you did, nice job.

And the "food desert" thing is such horseshit in many areas where kids/adults are fat. I used to buy into that plea "But we have only 7-11 / bodega / Sheetz convenience store." That is most certainly true in some cases, I guess. But not in densely urban areas with excellent public transportation.

If you can take a bus to pick up your gov't check at the DHS office, and take the bus again to hang out in front of the Verizon center, then you can take that bus to a Harris Teeter a couple of times a week.

Is that what you do? Somehow I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

If the kids are on free lunches at school, that might explain why so many kids are fat. The food they serve at school is basically crap. Now, they say it means some kind of guidelines. The kids take the main entree (hot dog, pizza, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, cheeseburgers) but most don't take the fruit or vegetable. Some take it and don't eat it. They can get white lowfat milk but what kid chooses that when they could have chocolate or strawberry instead? There is also ice cream and chips too. If you ate that twice a day every weekday, you'd be fat too. It is sickening to think that this is what my tax dollars go for.