Myths about obesity challenged

Le Jacquelope

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Working Poor Face Higher Obesity Rates

Wed Mar 3, 2:11 PM ET

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer

CUTLER, Calif. - Farm worker Iris Caballero often has a hard time keeping the refrigerator and cupboard stocked with food. Yet, she's overweight and diabetic. She is a classic example of a modern-day paradox: as reliable access to healthy food declines, the likelihood of being overweight goes up.

The working poor like Caballero often have no time for cooking, little money to buy fresh vegetables, and a long walk to the closest supermarket with a good produce section.

"We have been pretending that it is easy to replace a diet of soft drinks and fast food with home-cooked meals, fresh fruits and vegetables," said Adam Drewnowski, a University of Washington epidemiology professor who has studied the problem.

The problem is pronounced in what seems an unlikely place — California's Central Valley, where much of the nation's produce is grown. The valley also has some of the highest poverty rates.

Although being overweight is usually associated with eating too much rather than with hunger, a growing body of research is showing that they people who have gained the most weight in the last decade tend to have the lowest incomes, and often go without the kind of food or the amount they need.

Caballero's neighborhood mini-market in the isolated farming town of Cutler offers a full array of processed foods in colorful packages — and battered apples selling for 50 cents.

"Many people can't afford to eat the produce they pick," said Drewnowski, who also heads a center for public nutrition. "These people are obese, frankly, because they have no money, and some diets are cheaper than others.

"The message has been to blame people — 'you're not choosing well, you're not educated enough.' We forget there are people whose choices are severely limited by finances and time allocation."

Caballero understands those limits and their consequences. During harvest season, she picks the grapes and oranges in the groves that surround this small town of Cutler. Fruit is available, and money is too. The family eats relatively well.

During winter, jobs are scarce, so Caballero feeds her husband and three children the cheapest food she can get: potatoes, bread, tortillas.

For Caballero, who has been diabetic since she was 19, the sugar- and fat-laden offerings of her local market are more than unhealthy: they're dangerous. Obesity is a leading risk factor for diabetes, an incurable condition in which the body can't break down sugars in the blood.

Cutler Elementary, which Caballero's children attend, has so many diabetic kids that teachers recently had an emergency workshop on how to handle blood sugar highs and lows. This in a school where 100 percent of the kids qualify for free school lunches.

After a 15-year-old diabetic student became blind — one of the consequences of untreated diabetes — the school sought help. Now, Caballero and other farmworker mothers attend a free nutrition class that considers their culinary traditions, low budgets and lack of time.

The women come because they know that the cheapest, fastest, most filling meal — the burger and soda that look so good at the end of a long day in the fields — is not the healthiest for their families.

In the class, one of at least 10 groups Dolores Vallejo teaches each week, the Spanish-speaking mothers learn to read English-language labels. Vallejo points out that "high fructose corn syrup," "sucrose" and "dextrose" all mean azucar — sugar. She shows them several quick, inexpensive, low-fat recipes their families might enjoy, like vegetable chili.

Unfortunately, most public health programs don't address such issues. As processed foods rich in sugar and fat have become cheaper than fruits and vegetables, the poor in particular are paying a high price with obesity rates shooting up, followed by diabetes.

This is happening even as conditions associated with malnutrition — like anemia, caused by an iron deficiency in diets lacking leafy greens_ continue to plague poor children, said Jay Battacharya, a health economics expert at Stanford University's medical school.



Walking out of the nutrition class, Caballero and the other mothers said they appreciate the tips on healthy eating. But they still have to scrape to pay extra for real fruit juice instead of the punch they now know is mostly sugar and water. And they still have to walk four miles, often with their children, to and from the nearest supermarket, where fresh produce is plentiful and less expensive.

Along the state highway linking Cutler to the supermarket in Orosi, a new sidewalk has just been laid — a testament to the women's efforts to feed their families better.

"I want to feed my family better food," said Irene Flores, a farmworker with three children who stores large sacks of beans to eat during the winter. "My husband was asking me to buy lettuce, because he likes salads. How can I buy it at almost $2 a head?"
 
Maybe we should put those that challenge this woman's way of thinking to the test, and have them live in this town, on the income she and her husband earn as farm labor, and see if they have time or MONEY, to feed their families properly.
 
Rubenesque said:
Maybe we should put those that challenge this woman's way of thinking to the test, and have them live in this town, on the income she and her husband earn as farm labor, and see if they have time or MONEY, to feed their families properly.

Why question the woman's way of thinking? She's obviously as dumb as a mud hut if she thinks junk food is good for her and her family.
 
Ham Murabi said:
Why question the woman's way of thinking? She's obviously as dumb as a mud hut if she thinks junk food is good for her and her family.

Did you miss this part?

'Caballero understands those limits and their consequences. During harvest season, she picks the grapes and oranges in the groves that surround this small town of Cutler. Fruit is available, and money is too. The family eats relatively well.

During winter, jobs are scarce, so Caballero feeds her husband and three children the cheapest food she can get: potatoes, bread, tortillas.'

And there are no listings for a Mc Donald's, Taco Bell, or any other fast food in Cutler or Orosi. Try yellowpages.com if you don't believe me.
 
This is something I've known for quite a long time.

It'd take a pretty base, sheltered, & uneducated person to assume an overweight person is eating "well". So I wouldn't think the point would need to be brought up.

But, apparently, this country is turning into the embodiment of a functional retard. Not that I'm opinionated. :D
 
Ham Murabi said:
Why question the woman's way of thinking? She's obviously as dumb as a mud hut if she thinks junk food is good for her and her family.
My my, how intelligent you are.

The point was not that junk food is healthy.

The point was that a $.99 big mac is cheaper than a head of lettuce which is $2 in that area.

You still don't get it, do you?
 
LovingTongue said:
The point was that a $.99 big mac is cheaper than a head of lettuce which is $2 in that area.

You still don't get it, do you?

Oh, he gets it.

He's just going through the same inner struggle his kind does when faced with hard realities about the poor that they can't justify through ideas of natural selection, hard work solving all, and/or "God's will".

He'll get over it by ignoring the issue. :)
 
RoryN said:
Oh, he gets it.

He's just going through the same inner struggle his kind does when faced with hard realities about the poor that they can't justify through ideas of natural selection, hard work solving all, and/or "God's will".

He'll get over it by ignoring the issue. :)
Or by accusing us of "Crying to a bunch of strangers on the internet". :D
 
I could be wrong (I probably am), but even if fast food is "cheap", it's still more expensive on the whole than going grocery shopping.

A head of lettuce might cost two dollars, but it's usually enough lettuce to make salads for each member of the family.

A Big Mac or whatever could cost $.99, but you can't feed the whole family on just one. You have to buy several, and usually the kids (AND adults) want French Fries. So let's say a family of four buys four Big Macs and four orders of fries (also $.99, let's say). With tax, that's around 8 or 9 dollars, and that's if you're not buying beverages there. That's ONE meal. Just one.

In my house, $10 will buy dinner for my husband and I at a McDonald's or Wendy's. However, $10 at the grocery store, provided we always keep items like milk, bread, flour, sugar, basic items like that, I can go grocery shopping with ten dollars and have 3 meals - a whole days' worth of food.

I think it all comes with knowing 1) how to cook and 2) how to plan meals. I'm not really agreeing or disagreeing with anyone's points, just saying that it sounds a little backwards to me to say that fast food eating is cheaper than going to a grocery store and cooking. Perhaps it's different in other areas, but cooking from scratch has ALWAYS been cheaper here.
 
Isn't exercise still free? If you are going to be a fatty, there's no one to blame but yourself.

The funniest part of the whole article is the part where it talks about these people not having a job but also being pressed for time to do other things....
 
WARMACHINE said:
Isn't exercise still free? If you are going to be a fatty, there's no one to blame but yourself.

The funniest part of the whole article is the part where it talks about these people not having a job but also being pressed for time to do other things....

I don't know about the ones who don't have jobs, but for the ones who do, I can understand the lack of exercise. Even though you'd think, "Well, at least they're not sitting around the house, they're getting a little exercise", it's not much, especially if they have an office job - or even one where they basically stand in one place all day.

Unless you're doing manual labor or a job where you've really got to hop and run a lot, you're not getting a lot of cardiovascular exercise, which is what bolsters your metabolism. And then, after you work a 9 to 12 hour shift, the LAST thing you'd really feel like doing is aerobics or other stuff like that. But it IS still necessary to do that.

I'm definitely not saying it's impossible - but it does take some discipline and I'm not sure how many of them who are working that hard just to put food on the table HAVE that kind of discipline. I think a lot of them are parents who don't really care about THEIR health, as long as their children are healthy (which, in turn, teaches their kids to disgregard THEIR health).

Kids learn by example. Parents, even if they're working and poor, should definitely take their health into a greater consideration. Children are much more likely to follow suit.
 
I'm not going to go into the whole article, etc. but I have found that eating healthier IS more expensive.


MWG .... can you tell me what you're getting for that 10 dollars that covers three emals please?
 
WARMACHINE said:
Isn't exercise still free? If you are going to be a fatty, there's no one to blame but yourself.


I guess you missed the part where it mentions that they pick fruit for a living.
 
Well, of course, discipline is a large part of it. It takes discipline to do just about anything, if you want to do it well. Priority is a big part of it, too.

I understand that when you're talking about the working poor, you're talking about people who really do have to work their asses off just to make ends meet. There's nothing wrong with hard work, but I do think breaking one's back just to make the bills every month is a little unfair. Better job stability, higher wages, benefits. . . I think that would help. No doubt.

However, I think a lot of them don't make health a priority - even if they WERE making more money, I think there are LOTS of people who wouldn't take real time to cook good meals, exercise, and attempt to take care of themselves.
 
Rubenesque said:
I guess you missed the part where it mentions that they pick fruit for a living.

Yea, I'm sure its like a concentration camp over there at the old fruit farm!!

OH THE HORROR!!!
 
MysteryWhiteGirl said:

A head of lettuce might cost two dollars, but it's usually enough lettuce to make salads for each member of the family.


It may make enough salad for them all but did you know that iceberg lettuce is 90% water and has almost no nutritional value? Even if they could afford it, it would still be a poor choice.
 
MysteryWhiteGirl said:
However, I think a lot of them don't make health a priority - even if they WERE making more money, I think there are LOTS of people who wouldn't take real time to cook good meals, exercise, and attempt to take care of themselves.

You hit the nail on the head again....

This is no revelation to me, hell there are people here in my part of town that are gigantic fat asses and they make six figures a year and live in million dollar homes.

Of course, no one writes sensationalized newpaper articles about them though....

I don't feel sorry for anyone who doesn't take care of theirself. PERIOD....there's no excuse for it. Money doesn't buy discipline.
 
PepperminTrish said:
I'm not going to go into the whole article, etc. but I have found that eating healthier IS more expensive.


MWG .... can you tell me what you're getting for that 10 dollars that covers three emals please?


Eggs are really cheap per dozen, as is bread. Boiled or scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast is one of my favourite things TO eat for breakfast.

Tuna fish, mayo, crackers for lunch. A can of Campbell's soup and oyster crackers.

Homemade meat spaghetti sauce and pasta. Grilled chicken with some asparagus. The chicken would be about the most expensive thing out of all of that. And like I said, this is taking into consideration the fact that we constantly keep milk, bread, flour, spices, sugar, etc.

The $10 was a slight exaggeration, but basically, my point was that with the money it would take my husband and I to eat fast food for one meal (and it would depend upon which fast food eatery you're talking about), I could shop for us for a whole day. I do live in Mississippi, so it might be cheaper here.

All I know is that, in the past where money could get a little tight for us, the first thing that was cut was eating out at any fast food restaurant - grocery shopping was mandatory. It was a little strange for me to hear that fast food eating is supposedly CHEAPER, you know?

But, as I said, I could be (and probably am) wrong.
 
WARMACHINE said:
Yea, I'm sure its like a concentration camp over there at the old fruit farm!!

OH THE HORROR!!!

I guess you will never know how those places are run, seeing how you would rather sit behind your computer instead of going there yourself, getting on the picking list for the day (if you are lucky enough to get work that day at all), work from sun up to sun down, for shit wages, come home, cook, clean, get your family ready to do it all over again, every day of the week...but no...hard work, I'm sure is a foreign concept to you.

I say you need to road trip to this obviously in the middle of nowhere town, and see for yourself.
 
PepperminTrish said:
Your AV is self-protrait, isnt' it?

Yes indeed. Come gimme a kiss sugar. You can stay over and watch HEE HAW if ya want....
 
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