Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Wow. This has gone off the rails way faster than I thought it would. I absolutely do not think poor people are lazy, unmotivated, etc. I grew up poor. My family in Africa is poor. My family has the hardest working people I have ever met.

I think that it possible for the many of the working poor (of course not everyone in every circumstance) to eat healthier. If they don't, of course it doesn't mean they are lazy, unmotivated, or whatever judgment you would like to attribute to me. People have lots of things going on in their lives that they may not be able to control.

I am not poor anymore, but I can absolutely feed my family of 5 on $100 per week if we don't eat out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Wow. This has gone off the rails way faster than I thought it would. I absolutely do not think poor people are lazy, unmotivated, etc. I grew up poor. My family in Africa is poor. My family has the hardest working people I have ever met.

I think that it possible for the many of the working poor (of course not everyone in every circumstance) to eat healthier. If they don't, of course it doesn't mean they are lazy, unmotivated, or whatever judgment you would like to attribute to me. People have lots of things going on in their lives that they may not be able to control.

I am not poor anymore, but I can absolutely feed my family of 5 on $100 per week if we don't eat out.

I get what you’re saying OP. I think teaching your kids to shop in season, budget, grow their own food, and cook everything from scratch are the best gifts you can give them.

Anonymous wrote:total and absolute bs they can buy very healthy food with their food stamps, WIC, and their kids eat free at school (SBP and NSLP), food banks, pantries, TEFAP, SFSP tons AND TONS of programs FOR EVERYONE.

Anonymous wrote:I grew up poor. My single mom made minimum wage her entire life as a personal support worker. She is from southern Africa and only has a 6th grade education. We ate very healthy food. What made it work was that she cooked from scratch and we ate the same food several days in a row.

She managed the cost of food by preparing simple healthy dishes (stews and cornmeal porridge, or stews and rice).

She managed the time it takes to shop and cook by cooking one or two big pots of stew per week, so there was not so much variety in what we ate. We didn't have a car, so we took the bus to the grocery store once a week.

She got paid every Thursday and on payday we would have a treat (maybe a pizza or burgers).

Anyway, she came from a different place and a different time, but that is how you can be poor and eat healthy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Wow. This has gone off the rails way faster than I thought it would. I absolutely do not think poor people are lazy, unmotivated, etc. I grew up poor. My family in Africa is poor. My family has the hardest working people I have ever met.

I think that it possible for the many of the working poor (of course not everyone in every circumstance) to eat healthier. If they don't, of course it doesn't mean they are lazy, unmotivated, or whatever judgment you would like to attribute to me. People have lots of things going on in their lives that they may not be able to control.

I am not poor anymore, but I can absolutely feed my family of 5 on $100 per week if we don't eat out.

You implied that everyone who did differently from your mother is dumb.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor people can become rich as well, so why didn't your mom do that?

The point is, OP, that of course some poor people can afford to eat healthy. Some overweight people can lose weight. Some dumb people can get smarter. All of these things are true.

But not ALL people who are X can do Y, for a variety of reasons. Your way of thinking is disgusting because it assumes that since your mom could do it (sample size of one), then all people in her situation can do it and therefore those who don't are lazy, stupid, unmotivated, fill in the blank with whatever you want.

For the record, I'm not poor nor have I ever been, but I don't judge people who aren't like me. Just because I managed to do X doesn't mean everyone can. I acknowledge that other people have barriers in their lives that prevent them from doing the "right" thing, such as eating healthy, and it's not my place to condemn them for not being "better" people. (I also acknowledge that such barriers did not exist or were removed for me and that is part of what has made my life easier).

It's interesting to me to see such judgment from people who had it hard - I know someone who came to the US at age six from Russia speaking no English and instead of empathizing with other immigrants she has zero tolerance for anyone who doesn't speak perfect English and hasn't assimilated into local culture. I would have expected an understanding of how hard it is to come from another country but instead she thinks everyone should do it the way she did.

Anyway, maybe check your judgment because it's not a good look.

You sound like a miserable b*tvh.

Anything but non-judgmental.

The reason she judges is the same as why my parents - and sometimes I - judge. There are a lot of communities in the U.S. where for a generation or two immigrants don’t assimilate and don’t learn the language and continue working menial jobs. My parents came in their 40s with no English and worked their way up and still work into their 70s. When they see illegals coming or certain ethnic communities not assimilating it peeves them off. They know it can be done because they did it. I am not saying it’s right or wrong, but that’s the thinking.

Anonymous wrote:When new grocery stores open in these food deserts, they typically cannot turn a profit and our frequent targets for theft. People don’t suddenly start buying and cooking vegetables from scratch just because there’s a grocery store nearby. Most poverty in America is a cultural issue rather than a simple lack of money.

Anonymous wrote:

do you have education about nutrition and actually know what to buy?

This. I wish I could remember what it was but I saw a documentary focusing on a few families and their struggles to eat healthy food.

A single mom with an obese daughter was heartbroken and frustrated that her daughter was not losing weight. They were eating lots of cold cereal. They thought it would help because they bought whole grain cereal. They thought that was the most important thing.

A lot of people don't know, and there are many reasons why that might be the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we have lost the plot, I guess OP didn’t articulate her thoughts correctly. Clearly, she wasn’t referring to the 0.1% subset of poor people who may not have a house or a stove etc.

I think she was alluding to lower income people relying on fast and junk food instead of trying to cook from scratch. As the obesity rate in America is inching closer to 42% and 78% of the population is overweight and obese, I think we all need to take ca stock and reduce processed and fast food consumption.

Sure, there are always lots of arguments as to why something can’t be done, but the truth is those arguments are valid for a very tiny subset of low income or poor population. Rather than stoves and access to food, what would help us tremendously is if people have more time to plan and cook, this applies to all income levels.

Our policies don’t support healthy eating, downtime and a culture where we take care of ourselves. It’s all about the bottom line and that obsession is being reflected in the health of our people.

The interesting thing is it’s not like middle class and upper class people
aren’t obese, despite having all the tools, including Ozempic. Many who aren’t obese have disordered eating.

Anonymous wrote:I think we have lost the plot, I guess OP didn’t articulate her thoughts correctly. Clearly, she wasn’t referring to the 0.1% subset of poor people who may not have a house or a stove etc.

I think she was alluding to lower income people relying on fast and junk food instead of trying to cook from scratch. As the obesity rate in America is inching closer to 42% and 78% of the population is overweight and obese, I think we all need to take ca stock and reduce processed and fast food consumption.

Sure, there are always lots of arguments as to why something can’t be done, but the truth is those arguments are valid for a very tiny subset of low income or poor population. Rather than stoves and access to food, what would help us tremendously is if people have more time to plan and cook, this applies to all income levels.

Our policies don’t support healthy eating, downtime and a culture where we take care of ourselves. It’s all about the bottom line and that obsession is being reflected in the health of our people.

Anonymous wrote:Poor people can become rich as well, so why didn't your mom do that?

The point is, OP, that of course some poor people can afford to eat healthy. Some overweight people can lose weight. Some dumb people can get smarter. All of these things are true.

But not ALL people who are X can do Y, for a variety of reasons. Your way of thinking is disgusting because it assumes that since your mom could do it (sample size of one), then all people in her situation can do it and therefore those who don't are lazy, stupid, unmotivated, fill in the blank with whatever you want.

For the record, I'm not poor nor have I ever been, but I don't judge people who aren't like me. Just because I managed to do X doesn't mean everyone can. I acknowledge that other people have barriers in their lives that prevent them from doing the "right" thing, such as eating healthy, and it's not my place to condemn them for not being "better" people. (I also acknowledge that such barriers did not exist or were removed for me and that is part of what has made my life easier).

It's interesting to me to see such judgment from people who had it hard - I know someone who came to the US at age six from Russia speaking no English and instead of empathizing with other immigrants she has zero tolerance for anyone who doesn't speak perfect English and hasn't assimilated into local culture. I would have expected an understanding of how hard it is to come from another country but instead she thinks everyone should do it the way she did.

Anyway, maybe check your judgment because it's not a good look.

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. I am sorry I wasn't clear. My point was that I keep hearing that poor people can't afford to eat healthy, but it can be done. It just involves planning, and cooking, and accepting that you may eat the same meals several days in a row.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the OP. Wow. This has gone off the rails way faster than I thought it would. I absolutely do not think poor people are lazy, unmotivated, etc. I grew up poor. My family in Africa is poor. My family has the hardest working people I have ever met.

I think that it possible for the many of the working poor (of course not everyone in every circumstance) to eat healthier. If they don't, of course it doesn't mean they are lazy, unmotivated, or whatever judgment you would like to attribute to me. People have lots of things going on in their lives that they may not be able to control.

I am not poor anymore, but I can absolutely feed my family of 5 on $100 per week if we don't eat out.

You implied that everyone who did differently from your mother is dumb.

+1

+2 Very judgmental

Don't act all surprised, OP. You knew exactly what you were doing with your post.