Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once SNAP ceases every vote on the CR that Democrats scuttle will be an overt act to hurt underprivileged, hungry children.

Remember. The GOP can pass the CR whenever it wants.

And since Trump ignores congressional appropriations why bother passing any bill?

I was unaware there were 60 Republican senators.

There are more than 50. The GOP can end the filibuster. It’s already neutered the House and the Constitution.

Or - - - Democrats could vote to not deprive hungry underprivileged Americans.

Democrats keep voting for a shutdown. That is a fact.

What votes have there been in the House in the past three weeks and when will the next vote happen in the House?

The house passed the CR. It’s in the hands of the Senate. Democrats are voting against opening the opening the government. Am I wrong?

What else can they do other than go after the health insurance companies and force them to lower their rates, as if that’s even possible. This is basically forcing an average citizen with let’s say a $60k-$80k salary to make monthly payments on a $3 million home they obviously can’t afford when all they should have been offered was a $800/month condo at most; and then being shocked when the person files bankruptcy a month later and moves out. If they don’t have any family support or a successful GoFundMe, they’ll pitch a tent under a bridge and then get a ticket for sleeping there. (Because why oh why are you under a bridge in a tent, asks the officer.)

Average Americans are not going to be able to pay premiums that in many cases will be higher than their rent or mortgage. It’s a set up for failure.

What else can the Democrats do when the Republicans are silently watching their master offer billions to Argentina.

Explain that center column to me. I don't want to hear another peep outta ya until you do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

Why are we micromanaging people’s diets? I am absolutely sure I could criticize your diet.

Because the purpose of SNAP is to provide support to low income households to enable them to purchase nutritious foods essential to health and wellbeing. And…that isn’t how it is being used at all. Snap is being misused to providing a bunch of junk food- funded by tax payers, making people fatter and more unhealthy. Which then in turn, costs tax payers even more money in medical expenses. If the government is paying for your groceries, it should be only be items essential for nutrition.

Junk food is cheap because federal government subsidizes the crap out of it even before people get SNAP benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

Why are we micromanaging people’s diets? I am absolutely sure I could criticize your diet.

Because the purpose of SNAP is to provide support to low income households to enable them to purchase nutritious foods essential to health and wellbeing. And…that isn’t how it is being used at all. Snap is being misused to providing a bunch of junk food- funded by tax payers, making people fatter and more unhealthy. Which then in turn, costs tax payers even more money in medical expenses. If the government is paying for your groceries, it should be only be items essential for nutrition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

Why are we micromanaging people’s diets? I am absolutely sure I could criticize your diet.

Because the purpose of SNAP is to provide support to low income households to enable them to purchase nutritious foods essential to health and wellbeing. And…that isn’t how it is being used at all. Snap is being misused to providing a bunch of junk food- funded by tax payers, making people fatter and more unhealthy. Which then in turn, costs tax payers even more money in medical expenses. If the government is paying for your groceries, it should be only be items essential for nutrition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an obesity epidemic, especially among lower income. There isn’t food scarcity, there is food over abundance.

Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy, preservative-laden foods are cheaper. Plus poor people often lack access to good grocery stores, along with often suffering from stress, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthcare and many other issues that contribute to poor health which can also lead to obesity.

Basic heathy food is not expensive, nor is it elusive. Next excuse?

The only way to become obese is to consume an excess of calories, continuously, over a long period of time. Hard to buy the narrative we have so many starving people that are 50+ lbs overweight

Your assignment for today - drive to inner city and walk to closest corner store. Buy $20 worth of healthy food.
Drive to rural area and find small market and buy $20 worth of healthy food. Report back.

DP. What’s your point?
Food costs less in suburban and rural areas, but the wages are also lower in rural areas and urban areas have higher wages and more opportunities.

The same laws of supply and demand apply either way. The stores sell what people will buy.
The problem is 100% cultural.
Healthy diets can be easily based on rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes. Add in some veggies. Eggs, chicken, and ground beef provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Apples, carrots, and cabbage keep well and do not cost that much.
Again, 100% cultural that people buy bags of cookies and chips instead of real food.
Don’t know how to cook? Learn.

If you’d done the assignment, you find few of those products in the stores I mentioned. It’s a loss to a small store owner, who would have to pay to purchase and power refrigerator and freezers.
I can’t believe the ignorance shown on this thread. Refusing to go and find out for yourself. You scared of the inner city? Scared of rural hick America?

I’ve been many places.
But why on earth would I want to go to the inner city? I don’t need to go there. I believe you that fresh produce is harder to find there, but it is 100% because of supply and demand and culture. Also, even the processed crap at those corner stores is not cheap!

When I lived in Korea, it was hard to find American peanut butter, and when I did find it (usually alongside a small selection of American and British foods) it was expensive. This does not mean there was a vast conspiracy to make it difficult for me to buy peanut butter. It simply means it was not a popular product and therefore more expensive to sell. There is also no vast conspiracy to suppress low income people here by denying them vegetables.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi, Walmart, and international groceries. I’ve noticed many different immigrants who probably don’t have much money and yet fill their baskets with vegetables and fruit and meat. Go to the international market and you’ll see. Unfortunately, many of them eventually adopt American diets and then they suffer.

Also, there is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables. Aldi literally has them for a dollar a bag. I am not poor anymore but I have been poor, and have relatives who subsist on very little money, but don’t eat processed garbage. Unless you are truly in the bottom 1% and living under a bridge I am sorry but no excuses.

At least in DC, just about every neighborhood as weekly farmers markets with fresh produce

Huh? And they're like a gazillion dollars. I have a HHI of $300k and I can't afford to buy produce at the DC farmers' markets.

the GOP would tell you you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because it isn't like they are doing anything to help make food more affordable.

These people live in lala land. They truly believe the only reason someone is poor is because they are lazy, stupid, and/or immoral, and that if they were poor, they'd have no problems and would soon not be poor because they're so smart and awesome. They refuse to see that poverty is a cycle, with lots of outside factors leading to what appear to be maladaptive choices FROM THE OUTSIDE, but that actually make plenty of sense when you understand their life and the choices available to them. You cannot fix systemic problems with bootstraps.

Why they are poor is irrelevant. Someone poor can boil a potato and scramble an egg, just the same as anyone else. Poor people all over the world cook food. The inability (or unwillingness) to cook and having the preference for processed foods is an American cultural problem- particularly with increased prevalence in lower income households.

Let's be honest though. It's a developed world problem. The US is just the most developed country. The same pattern is increasingly happening in other countries. The issue comes down to status. Cooking for yourself is often seen as low status.

And let's be even more honest. Processed food tastes good because it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats. It's easy and addicting. For some it's a simple luxury that makes them feel better in a world where the poor don't get many opportunities to do so. TV and the social media function in much the same way.

That also explains why recent immigrant families don't fall into the trap of convenience foods. They know they are sacrificing from the start.

That being said. There is no greater bang for the buck than a baked potato. Put some beans and cheese on it and it fulfills almost all our intake needs. It can even be made in a microwave. However it's very boring.

The issue is that people use food as an escape from the drudgery. A baked potato with a can of beans costs less than $2 and is enough calories/protein to sustain at least an entire day but eating that is depressing and reminds people how crappy their life is. That's the problem. If sacrifice doesn't produce results then why should someone sacrifice.

I have used the example before of my childhood best friend. Her single mother was going to college 30 miles away- trying so hard to build a better life for them, which she did. But this meant that my friend and her little brother were on their own to fix most meals. Processed food was easy for a 10 and 12 year old. The mom spent all her time at school, studying, or working. No time for teaching them to cook. Sometimes those convenience meals are necessary, even if not ideal.

No they aren’t. A 10 and 12 yr old are perfectly capable of making a BP sandwich, milk, yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, grilled cheese, and many simple things. Stop acting like humans are incapable of eating foods that are not frozen pizza and Mac and cheese cups. Mom could have made big batches of foods weekends to reheat as well (simple stews, rice and beans, etc). My husband’s mother was also as you describe your friend’s mom. She cooked simple things, woke up early, made lunches. They were immigrants. Lunch was often a pita bread, some yogurt smeared on it and a couple pieces of tomato. Could a kid not handle making this? It’s just that people in the U.S. that are poor grew up eating crap, that is all they know, and so they continue to feed their kids that same junk. It isn’t an issue of money or time.

Boiled potatoes are no better than a bowl of cereal when you look at the insulin spike.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an obesity epidemic, especially among lower income. There isn’t food scarcity, there is food over abundance.

Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy, preservative-laden foods are cheaper. Plus poor people often lack access to good grocery stores, along with often suffering from stress, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthcare and many other issues that contribute to poor health which can also lead to obesity.

Basic heathy food is not expensive, nor is it elusive. Next excuse?

The only way to become obese is to consume an excess of calories, continuously, over a long period of time. Hard to buy the narrative we have so many starving people that are 50+ lbs overweight

Your assignment for today - drive to inner city and walk to closest corner store. Buy $20 worth of healthy food.
Drive to rural area and find small market and buy $20 worth of healthy food. Report back.

DP. What’s your point?
Food costs less in suburban and rural areas, but the wages are also lower in rural areas and urban areas have higher wages and more opportunities.

The same laws of supply and demand apply either way. The stores sell what people will buy.
The problem is 100% cultural.
Healthy diets can be easily based on rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes. Add in some veggies. Eggs, chicken, and ground beef provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Apples, carrots, and cabbage keep well and do not cost that much.
Again, 100% cultural that people buy bags of cookies and chips instead of real food.
Don’t know how to cook? Learn.

If you’d done the assignment, you find few of those products in the stores I mentioned. It’s a loss to a small store owner, who would have to pay to purchase and power refrigerator and freezers.
I can’t believe the ignorance shown on this thread. Refusing to go and find out for yourself. You scared of the inner city? Scared of rural hick America?

I’ve been many places.
But why on earth would I want to go to the inner city? I don’t need to go there. I believe you that fresh produce is harder to find there, but it is 100% because of supply and demand and culture. Also, even the processed crap at those corner stores is not cheap!

When I lived in Korea, it was hard to find American peanut butter, and when I did find it (usually alongside a small selection of American and British foods) it was expensive. This does not mean there was a vast conspiracy to make it difficult for me to buy peanut butter. It simply means it was not a popular product and therefore more expensive to sell. There is also no vast conspiracy to suppress low income people here by denying them vegetables.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi, Walmart, and international groceries. I’ve noticed many different immigrants who probably don’t have much money and yet fill their baskets with vegetables and fruit and meat. Go to the international market and you’ll see. Unfortunately, many of them eventually adopt American diets and then they suffer.

Also, there is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables. Aldi literally has them for a dollar a bag. I am not poor anymore but I have been poor, and have relatives who subsist on very little money, but don’t eat processed garbage. Unless you are truly in the bottom 1% and living under a bridge I am sorry but no excuses.

At least in DC, just about every neighborhood as weekly farmers markets with fresh produce

Huh? And they're like a gazillion dollars. I have a HHI of $300k and I can't afford to buy produce at the DC farmers' markets.

the GOP would tell you you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because it isn't like they are doing anything to help make food more affordable.

These people live in lala land. They truly believe the only reason someone is poor is because they are lazy, stupid, and/or immoral, and that if they were poor, they'd have no problems and would soon not be poor because they're so smart and awesome. They refuse to see that poverty is a cycle, with lots of outside factors leading to what appear to be maladaptive choices FROM THE OUTSIDE, but that actually make plenty of sense when you understand their life and the choices available to them. You cannot fix systemic problems with bootstraps.

Why they are poor is irrelevant. Someone poor can boil a potato and scramble an egg, just the same as anyone else. Poor people all over the world cook food. The inability (or unwillingness) to cook and having the preference for processed foods is an American cultural problem- particularly with increased prevalence in lower income households.

Let's be honest though. It's a developed world problem. The US is just the most developed country. The same pattern is increasingly happening in other countries. The issue comes down to status. Cooking for yourself is often seen as low status.

And let's be even more honest. Processed food tastes good because it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats. It's easy and addicting. For some it's a simple luxury that makes them feel better in a world where the poor don't get many opportunities to do so. TV and the social media function in much the same way.

That also explains why recent immigrant families don't fall into the trap of convenience foods. They know they are sacrificing from the start.

That being said. There is no greater bang for the buck than a baked potato. Put some beans and cheese on it and it fulfills almost all our intake needs. It can even be made in a microwave. However it's very boring.

The issue is that people use food as an escape from the drudgery. A baked potato with a can of beans costs less than $2 and is enough calories/protein to sustain at least an entire day but eating that is depressing and reminds people how crappy their life is. That's the problem. If sacrifice doesn't produce results then why should someone sacrifice.

I have used the example before of my childhood best friend. Her single mother was going to college 30 miles away- trying so hard to build a better life for them, which she did. But this meant that my friend and her little brother were on their own to fix most meals. Processed food was easy for a 10 and 12 year old. The mom spent all her time at school, studying, or working. No time for teaching them to cook. Sometimes those convenience meals are necessary, even if not ideal.

No they aren’t. A 10 and 12 yr old are perfectly capable of making a BP sandwich, milk, yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, grilled cheese, and many simple things. Stop acting like humans are incapable of eating foods that are not frozen pizza and Mac and cheese cups. Mom could have made big batches of foods weekends to reheat as well (simple stews, rice and beans, etc). My husband’s mother was also as you describe your friend’s mom. She cooked simple things, woke up early, made lunches. They were immigrants. Lunch was often a pita bread, some yogurt smeared on it and a couple pieces of tomato. Could a kid not handle making this? It’s just that people in the U.S. that are poor grew up eating crap, that is all they know, and so they continue to feed their kids that same junk. It isn’t an issue of money or time.

Boiled potatoes are no better than a bowl of cereal when you look at the insulin spike.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

Why are we micromanaging people’s diets? I am absolutely sure I could criticize your diet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an obesity epidemic, especially among lower income. There isn’t food scarcity, there is food over abundance.

Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy, preservative-laden foods are cheaper. Plus poor people often lack access to good grocery stores, along with often suffering from stress, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthcare and many other issues that contribute to poor health which can also lead to obesity.

Basic heathy food is not expensive, nor is it elusive. Next excuse?

The only way to become obese is to consume an excess of calories, continuously, over a long period of time. Hard to buy the narrative we have so many starving people that are 50+ lbs overweight

Your assignment for today - drive to inner city and walk to closest corner store. Buy $20 worth of healthy food.
Drive to rural area and find small market and buy $20 worth of healthy food. Report back.

DP. What’s your point?
Food costs less in suburban and rural areas, but the wages are also lower in rural areas and urban areas have higher wages and more opportunities.

The same laws of supply and demand apply either way. The stores sell what people will buy.
The problem is 100% cultural.
Healthy diets can be easily based on rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes. Add in some veggies. Eggs, chicken, and ground beef provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Apples, carrots, and cabbage keep well and do not cost that much.
Again, 100% cultural that people buy bags of cookies and chips instead of real food.
Don’t know how to cook? Learn.

If you’d done the assignment, you find few of those products in the stores I mentioned. It’s a loss to a small store owner, who would have to pay to purchase and power refrigerator and freezers.
I can’t believe the ignorance shown on this thread. Refusing to go and find out for yourself. You scared of the inner city? Scared of rural hick America?

I’ve been many places.
But why on earth would I want to go to the inner city? I don’t need to go there. I believe you that fresh produce is harder to find there, but it is 100% because of supply and demand and culture. Also, even the processed crap at those corner stores is not cheap!

When I lived in Korea, it was hard to find American peanut butter, and when I did find it (usually alongside a small selection of American and British foods) it was expensive. This does not mean there was a vast conspiracy to make it difficult for me to buy peanut butter. It simply means it was not a popular product and therefore more expensive to sell. There is also no vast conspiracy to suppress low income people here by denying them vegetables.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi, Walmart, and international groceries. I’ve noticed many different immigrants who probably don’t have much money and yet fill their baskets with vegetables and fruit and meat. Go to the international market and you’ll see. Unfortunately, many of them eventually adopt American diets and then they suffer.

Also, there is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables. Aldi literally has them for a dollar a bag. I am not poor anymore but I have been poor, and have relatives who subsist on very little money, but don’t eat processed garbage. Unless you are truly in the bottom 1% and living under a bridge I am sorry but no excuses.

At least in DC, just about every neighborhood as weekly farmers markets with fresh produce

Huh? And they're like a gazillion dollars. I have a HHI of $300k and I can't afford to buy produce at the DC farmers' markets.

the GOP would tell you you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because it isn't like they are doing anything to help make food more affordable.

These people live in lala land. They truly believe the only reason someone is poor is because they are lazy, stupid, and/or immoral, and that if they were poor, they'd have no problems and would soon not be poor because they're so smart and awesome. They refuse to see that poverty is a cycle, with lots of outside factors leading to what appear to be maladaptive choices FROM THE OUTSIDE, but that actually make plenty of sense when you understand their life and the choices available to them. You cannot fix systemic problems with bootstraps.

Why they are poor is irrelevant. Someone poor can boil a potato and scramble an egg, just the same as anyone else. Poor people all over the world cook food. The inability (or unwillingness) to cook and having the preference for processed foods is an American cultural problem- particularly with increased prevalence in lower income households.

Let's be honest though. It's a developed world problem. The US is just the most developed country. The same pattern is increasingly happening in other countries. The issue comes down to status. Cooking for yourself is often seen as low status.

And let's be even more honest. Processed food tastes good because it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats. It's easy and addicting. For some it's a simple luxury that makes them feel better in a world where the poor don't get many opportunities to do so. TV and the social media function in much the same way.

That also explains why recent immigrant families don't fall into the trap of convenience foods. They know they are sacrificing from the start.

That being said. There is no greater bang for the buck than a baked potato. Put some beans and cheese on it and it fulfills almost all our intake needs. It can even be made in a microwave. However it's very boring.

The issue is that people use food as an escape from the drudgery. A baked potato with a can of beans costs less than $2 and is enough calories/protein to sustain at least an entire day but eating that is depressing and reminds people how crappy their life is. That's the problem. If sacrifice doesn't produce results then why should someone sacrifice.

I have used the example before of my childhood best friend. Her single mother was going to college 30 miles away- trying so hard to build a better life for them, which she did. But this meant that my friend and her little brother were on their own to fix most meals. Processed food was easy for a 10 and 12 year old. The mom spent all her time at school, studying, or working. No time for teaching them to cook. Sometimes those convenience meals are necessary, even if not ideal.

No they aren’t. A 10 and 12 yr old are perfectly capable of making a BP sandwich, milk, yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, grilled cheese, and many simple things. Stop acting like humans are incapable of eating foods that are not frozen pizza and Mac and cheese cups. Mom could have made big batches of foods weekends to reheat as well (simple stews, rice and beans, etc). My husband’s mother was also as you describe your friend’s mom. She cooked simple things, woke up early, made lunches. They were immigrants. Lunch was often a pita bread, some yogurt smeared on it and a couple pieces of tomato. Could a kid not handle making this? It’s just that people in the U.S. that are poor grew up eating crap, that is all they know, and so they continue to feed their kids that same junk. It isn’t an issue of money or time.

Boiled potatoes are no better than a bowl of cereal when you look at the insulin spike.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

Why are we micromanaging people’s diets? I am absolutely sure I could criticize your diet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have an obesity epidemic, especially among lower income. There isn’t food scarcity, there is food over abundance.

Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy, preservative-laden foods are cheaper. Plus poor people often lack access to good grocery stores, along with often suffering from stress, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthcare and many other issues that contribute to poor health which can also lead to obesity.

Basic heathy food is not expensive, nor is it elusive. Next excuse?

The only way to become obese is to consume an excess of calories, continuously, over a long period of time. Hard to buy the narrative we have so many starving people that are 50+ lbs overweight

Your assignment for today - drive to inner city and walk to closest corner store. Buy $20 worth of healthy food.
Drive to rural area and find small market and buy $20 worth of healthy food. Report back.

DP. What’s your point?
Food costs less in suburban and rural areas, but the wages are also lower in rural areas and urban areas have higher wages and more opportunities.

The same laws of supply and demand apply either way. The stores sell what people will buy.
The problem is 100% cultural.
Healthy diets can be easily based on rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes. Add in some veggies. Eggs, chicken, and ground beef provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Apples, carrots, and cabbage keep well and do not cost that much.
Again, 100% cultural that people buy bags of cookies and chips instead of real food.
Don’t know how to cook? Learn.

If you’d done the assignment, you find few of those products in the stores I mentioned. It’s a loss to a small store owner, who would have to pay to purchase and power refrigerator and freezers.
I can’t believe the ignorance shown on this thread. Refusing to go and find out for yourself. You scared of the inner city? Scared of rural hick America?

I’ve been many places.
But why on earth would I want to go to the inner city? I don’t need to go there. I believe you that fresh produce is harder to find there, but it is 100% because of supply and demand and culture. Also, even the processed crap at those corner stores is not cheap!

When I lived in Korea, it was hard to find American peanut butter, and when I did find it (usually alongside a small selection of American and British foods) it was expensive. This does not mean there was a vast conspiracy to make it difficult for me to buy peanut butter. It simply means it was not a popular product and therefore more expensive to sell. There is also no vast conspiracy to suppress low income people here by denying them vegetables.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi, Walmart, and international groceries. I’ve noticed many different immigrants who probably don’t have much money and yet fill their baskets with vegetables and fruit and meat. Go to the international market and you’ll see. Unfortunately, many of them eventually adopt American diets and then they suffer.

Also, there is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables. Aldi literally has them for a dollar a bag. I am not poor anymore but I have been poor, and have relatives who subsist on very little money, but don’t eat processed garbage. Unless you are truly in the bottom 1% and living under a bridge I am sorry but no excuses.

At least in DC, just about every neighborhood as weekly farmers markets with fresh produce

Huh? And they're like a gazillion dollars. I have a HHI of $300k and I can't afford to buy produce at the DC farmers' markets.

the GOP would tell you you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because it isn't like they are doing anything to help make food more affordable.

These people live in lala land. They truly believe the only reason someone is poor is because they are lazy, stupid, and/or immoral, and that if they were poor, they'd have no problems and would soon not be poor because they're so smart and awesome. They refuse to see that poverty is a cycle, with lots of outside factors leading to what appear to be maladaptive choices FROM THE OUTSIDE, but that actually make plenty of sense when you understand their life and the choices available to them. You cannot fix systemic problems with bootstraps.

Why they are poor is irrelevant. Someone poor can boil a potato and scramble an egg, just the same as anyone else. Poor people all over the world cook food. The inability (or unwillingness) to cook and having the preference for processed foods is an American cultural problem- particularly with increased prevalence in lower income households.

Let's be honest though. It's a developed world problem. The US is just the most developed country. The same pattern is increasingly happening in other countries. The issue comes down to status. Cooking for yourself is often seen as low status.

And let's be even more honest. Processed food tastes good because it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats. It's easy and addicting. For some it's a simple luxury that makes them feel better in a world where the poor don't get many opportunities to do so. TV and the social media function in much the same way.

That also explains why recent immigrant families don't fall into the trap of convenience foods. They know they are sacrificing from the start.

That being said. There is no greater bang for the buck than a baked potato. Put some beans and cheese on it and it fulfills almost all our intake needs. It can even be made in a microwave. However it's very boring.

The issue is that people use food as an escape from the drudgery. A baked potato with a can of beans costs less than $2 and is enough calories/protein to sustain at least an entire day but eating that is depressing and reminds people how crappy their life is. That's the problem. If sacrifice doesn't produce results then why should someone sacrifice.

I have used the example before of my childhood best friend. Her single mother was going to college 30 miles away- trying so hard to build a better life for them, which she did. But this meant that my friend and her little brother were on their own to fix most meals. Processed food was easy for a 10 and 12 year old. The mom spent all her time at school, studying, or working. No time for teaching them to cook. Sometimes those convenience meals are necessary, even if not ideal.

No they aren’t. A 10 and 12 yr old are perfectly capable of making a BP sandwich, milk, yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, grilled cheese, and many simple things. Stop acting like humans are incapable of eating foods that are not frozen pizza and Mac and cheese cups. Mom could have made big batches of foods weekends to reheat as well (simple stews, rice and beans, etc). My husband’s mother was also as you describe your friend’s mom. She cooked simple things, woke up early, made lunches. They were immigrants. Lunch was often a pita bread, some yogurt smeared on it and a couple pieces of tomato. Could a kid not handle making this? It’s just that people in the U.S. that are poor grew up eating crap, that is all they know, and so they continue to feed their kids that same junk. It isn’t an issue of money or time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

This is NOT in anyone’s best interest, and the trump administration would be right to make changes here, specifically:

“Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.”

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Anonymous wrote:We have an obesity epidemic, especially among lower income. There isn’t food scarcity, there is food over abundance.

Healthy food is expensive. Unhealthy, preservative-laden foods are cheaper. Plus poor people often lack access to good grocery stores, along with often suffering from stress, lack of sleep, lack of access to healthcare and many other issues that contribute to poor health which can also lead to obesity.

Basic heathy food is not expensive, nor is it elusive. Next excuse?

The only way to become obese is to consume an excess of calories, continuously, over a long period of time. Hard to buy the narrative we have so many starving people that are 50+ lbs overweight

Your assignment for today - drive to inner city and walk to closest corner store. Buy $20 worth of healthy food.
Drive to rural area and find small market and buy $20 worth of healthy food. Report back.

DP. What’s your point?
Food costs less in suburban and rural areas, but the wages are also lower in rural areas and urban areas have higher wages and more opportunities.

The same laws of supply and demand apply either way. The stores sell what people will buy.
The problem is 100% cultural.
Healthy diets can be easily based on rice, beans, tortillas, potatoes. Add in some veggies. Eggs, chicken, and ground beef provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Apples, carrots, and cabbage keep well and do not cost that much.
Again, 100% cultural that people buy bags of cookies and chips instead of real food.
Don’t know how to cook? Learn.

If you’d done the assignment, you find few of those products in the stores I mentioned. It’s a loss to a small store owner, who would have to pay to purchase and power refrigerator and freezers.
I can’t believe the ignorance shown on this thread. Refusing to go and find out for yourself. You scared of the inner city? Scared of rural hick America?

I’ve been many places.
But why on earth would I want to go to the inner city? I don’t need to go there. I believe you that fresh produce is harder to find there, but it is 100% because of supply and demand and culture. Also, even the processed crap at those corner stores is not cheap!

When I lived in Korea, it was hard to find American peanut butter, and when I did find it (usually alongside a small selection of American and British foods) it was expensive. This does not mean there was a vast conspiracy to make it difficult for me to buy peanut butter. It simply means it was not a popular product and therefore more expensive to sell. There is also no vast conspiracy to suppress low income people here by denying them vegetables.

I do a lot of shopping at Aldi, Walmart, and international groceries. I’ve noticed many different immigrants who probably don’t have much money and yet fill their baskets with vegetables and fruit and meat. Go to the international market and you’ll see. Unfortunately, many of them eventually adopt American diets and then they suffer.

Also, there is nothing wrong with frozen vegetables. Aldi literally has them for a dollar a bag. I am not poor anymore but I have been poor, and have relatives who subsist on very little money, but don’t eat processed garbage. Unless you are truly in the bottom 1% and living under a bridge I am sorry but no excuses.

At least in DC, just about every neighborhood as weekly farmers markets with fresh produce

Huh? And they're like a gazillion dollars. I have a HHI of $300k and I can't afford to buy produce at the DC farmers' markets.

the GOP would tell you you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps because it isn't like they are doing anything to help make food more affordable.

These people live in lala land. They truly believe the only reason someone is poor is because they are lazy, stupid, and/or immoral, and that if they were poor, they'd have no problems and would soon not be poor because they're so smart and awesome. They refuse to see that poverty is a cycle, with lots of outside factors leading to what appear to be maladaptive choices FROM THE OUTSIDE, but that actually make plenty of sense when you understand their life and the choices available to them. You cannot fix systemic problems with bootstraps.

Why they are poor is irrelevant. Someone poor can boil a potato and scramble an egg, just the same as anyone else. Poor people all over the world cook food. The inability (or unwillingness) to cook and having the preference for processed foods is an American cultural problem- particularly with increased prevalence in lower income households.

Let's be honest though. It's a developed world problem. The US is just the most developed country. The same pattern is increasingly happening in other countries. The issue comes down to status. Cooking for yourself is often seen as low status.

And let's be even more honest. Processed food tastes good because it's loaded with salt, sugar and fats. It's easy and addicting. For some it's a simple luxury that makes them feel better in a world where the poor don't get many opportunities to do so. TV and the social media function in much the same way.

That also explains why recent immigrant families don't fall into the trap of convenience foods. They know they are sacrificing from the start.

That being said. There is no greater bang for the buck than a baked potato. Put some beans and cheese on it and it fulfills almost all our intake needs. It can even be made in a microwave. However it's very boring.

The issue is that people use food as an escape from the drudgery. A baked potato with a can of beans costs less than $2 and is enough calories/protein to sustain at least an entire day but eating that is depressing and reminds people how crappy their life is. That's the problem. If sacrifice doesn't produce results then why should someone sacrifice.

I have used the example before of my childhood best friend. Her single mother was going to college 30 miles away- trying so hard to build a better life for them, which she did. But this meant that my friend and her little brother were on their own to fix most meals. Processed food was easy for a 10 and 12 year old. The mom spent all her time at school, studying, or working. No time for teaching them to cook. Sometimes those convenience meals are necessary, even if not ideal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another one:

Total Spending: A 2016 USDA study found that SNAP households spent about 22.6% of their grocery bill on a combination of sweetened beverages, prepared desserts, salty snacks, candy, and sugar.

The reality is a horror show.

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Anonymous wrote:Once SNAP ceases every vote on the CR that Democrats scuttle will be an overt act to hurt underprivileged, hungry children.

Remember. The GOP can pass the CR whenever it wants.

And since Trump ignores congressional appropriations why bother passing any bill?

I was unaware there were 60 Republican senators.

There are more than 50. The GOP can end the filibuster. It’s already neutered the House and the Constitution.

Or - - - Democrats could vote to not deprive hungry underprivileged Americans.

Democrats keep voting for a shutdown. That is a fact.

What votes have there been in the House in the past three weeks and when will the next vote happen in the House?

The house passed the CR. It’s in the hands of the Senate. Democrats are voting against opening the opening the government. Am I wrong?

What else can they do other than go after the health insurance companies and force them to lower their rates, as if that’s even possible. This is basically forcing an average citizen with let’s say a $60k-$80k salary to make monthly payments on a $3 million home they obviously can’t afford when all they should have been offered was a $800/month condo at most; and then being shocked when the person files bankruptcy a month later and moves out. If they don’t have any family support or a successful GoFundMe, they’ll pitch a tent under a bridge and then get a ticket for sleeping there. (Because why oh why are you under a bridge in a tent, asks the officer.)

Average Americans are not going to be able to pay premiums that in many cases will be higher than their rent or mortgage. It’s a set up for failure.

What else can the Democrats do when the Republicans are silently watching their master offer billions to Argentina.