Wapsi Square Forum

Dave wrote:

Gyrrakavian wrote: Now the question is what's the cause?

• can't afford nutritious foods

Or, more generally, limited access to nutritious foods.

Quite a few poorer neighborhoods don't have a decent supermarket in the area... just "convenience" stores, liquor stores, and maybe some fast-food restaurants. Buying fresh vegetables and good nutritious ingredients requires traveling for some miles, which requires a means of transportation (which means $), time, and opportunity. And, preparing good food requires knowing how... a lot of people grow up without ever learning more than a little about how to cook.

Alcoholism may play a role in some cases... add calories from beer, subtract taking proper care of self...

This is just pure personal speculation but if this were the root cause then you would see more skinny people in the country than in the city due to farmers markets and home gardens and such is not the case. In personal observation since i was disabled and forced to retire i now live a much more sedimentary life style than before which has expanded my waist slightly (ok 50 pounds may be more than slightly). I personally believe its more a combination of people not wanting to take the time to prepare nutritious food when they can pop a pizza in the oven or just call papa johns or drive by McDonalds and to much sitting on the old ass.

GlytchMeister wrote:

DilyV wrote:Good to see Cricket and Krystle still talking... looks like a real budding friendship

Is there a pun there? I feel like there's a pun there...

Only if Acacia was In on the conversation...

...or the Stinkweed.

Sgt. Howard wrote:I've never understood the connection between poverty and morbid obesity- yet it does seem that morbid obesity is more common among the poor than any other class. The only connection I can see would be education- poor education often produces weak minds and weak bodies, that the connection is a common cause.

Actually, after thinking about it a bit . . . I think the common cause of both is an insistence on instant gratification . . .

Most people are willing to work now for future gratification.

Many poor people I've known are not . . . as soon as they get some money, they spend it. They have no savings, they spend everything and are as far in debt as they can get . . . and their diet is the same: no denying themselves ice cream and cookies, they want them, so they eat them, and then they have a poor body image, so they eat comfort food, like ice cream . . . it's a vicious circle.

I knew someone growing up who was always nicely dressed - not fancy, but clean and neat - grew his own vegetables, raised chickens and sometimes pigs or steers (on someone else's pasture in exchange for work) . . . He let slip one day that he tithed at church. I knew what he put in the offering, and I knew he didn't make other contributions . . . he put in about $10 every week.

That means his weekly income was about $100 . . .

Someone else, OTOH, was always raggedy, "couldn't afford" even a token offering, and was always begging for "loans" or outright handouts from the church . . . They were claiming welfare, and state compensation for a back injury that gave him h__l every weekday from 0950 to 1610 (we were an hour from the enforcement office, and the caseworkers worked 9 to 5) and he did bodywork and construction "when his back wasn't hurting" . . .

Guess who was morbidly obese, and who was lean and fit?

DilyV wrote:Good to see Cricket and Krystle still talking... looks like a real budding friendship

GlytchMeister wrote:Is there a pun there? I feel like there's a pun there...

Jabberwonky wrote:Only if Acacia was In on the conversation...

AnotherFairportfan wrote:...or the Stinkweed.

Best we let it blossom in its own time.


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.......pun jar

--Freeflier

FreeFlier wrote:

Sgt. Howard wrote:I've never understood the connection between poverty and morbid obesity- yet it does seem that morbid obesity is more common among the poor than any other class. The only connection I can see would be education- poor education often produces weak minds and weak bodies, that the connection is a common cause.

Actually, after thinking about it a bit . . . I think the common cause of both is an insistence on instant gratification . . .

Most people are willing to work now for future gratification.

Many poor people I've known are not . . . as soon as they get some money, they spend it. They have no savings, they spend everything and are as far in debt as they can get . . . and their diet is the same: no denying themselves ice cream and cookies, they want them, so they eat them, and then they have a poor body image, so they eat comfort food, like ice cream . . . it's a vicious circle.

I knew someone growing up who was always nicely dressed - not fancy, but clean and neat - grew his own vegetables, raised chickens and sometimes pigs or steers (on someone else's pasture in exchange for work) . . . He let slip one day that he tithed at church. I knew what he put in the offering, and I knew he didn't make other contributions . . . he put in about $10 every week.

That means his weekly income was about $100 . . .

Someone else, OTOH, was always raggedy, "couldn't afford" even a token offering, and was always begging for "loans" or outright handouts from the church . . . They were claiming welfare, and state compensation for a back injury that gave him h__l every weekday from 0950 to 1610 (we were an hour from the enforcement office, and the caseworkers worked 9 to 5) and he did bodywork and construction "when his back wasn't hurting" . . .

Guess who was morbidly obese, and who was lean and fit?

*looks at list*

I'm not sure how I forgot to add those education and instant gratification, as they are definitely factors.
Sometimes it's a simple answer, sometimes it's a much more complex one. The tendency for us humans to ignore the latter being the reason I posted the list to begin with.

List ammended. I'll just let 'alcoholism' fall under “bad life choices"

I'll just leave this here...

Gyrrakavian wrote:Haggis is fine provided it's prepared properly. Ketchup also helps.

Nothing much helps the tinned haggis, though. Except perhaps for a thorough cremation and burial.

oldmanmickey wrote:This is just pure personal speculation but if this were the root cause then you would see more skinny people in the country than in the city due to farmers markets and home gardens and such is not the case. In personal observation since i was disabled and forced to retire i now live a much more sedimentary life style than before which has expanded my waist slightly (ok 50 pounds may be more than slightly). I personally believe its more a combination of people not wanting to take the time to prepare nutritious food when they can pop a pizza in the oven or just call papa johns or drive by McDonalds and to much sitting on the old ass.

I'd guess that all of these factors do contribute.

Farmers' markets and home gardens do provide some benefits in some areas, but in most parts of the country neither of these is a "year round" source of good nourishing fresh vegetables. During about half the year, in most areas, fresh veggies have to be trucked into the area to markets, or raised locally in greenhouses... not always possible.

A bit of research which came out recently, seems to support both my hunch and Joe's. The study indicates that food being eaten in the "food desert" communities is significantly higher in fat, cholesterol, and sugars than food eaten in "non food desert" locations, and fruits and vegetables are less available.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 135005.htm

Catawampus wrote:

Gyrrakavian wrote:Haggis is fine provided it's prepared properly. Ketchup also helps.

Nothing much helps the tinned haggis, though. Except perhaps for a thorough cremation and burial.

I've only had haggis twice. Both times it was homemade. I can't imagine ever trying to eat it canned, and I don't believe I'd ever want to.