If the people are poor in some of America's ghetto-like areas, how come so many of them are overweight?

Question

I mean all races.

Answer 1

McDonald's would be shut down because of food abominations....but its a cheap affordable way to feed the mases.

Answer 2

Foods that are cheap and filling, like peas, beans, rice are all high in carbs...proteins like meat, cheese are expensive.
They also use way to much grease to season but I can understand that...a steady diet of beans and rice gets old.. Cornbread is always served with these and they eat a lot of gravy on biscuit for breakfast because it is cheap to make.....When they do get meat,,they fry it. Battered and Fried. Because it is good...and they get meat so rarely..And they do eat junk food,, because you can find cheap cookies and cake..and even poor children need treats.

It is just not in the ghettos...it is poor people everywhere....This is what I was raised on for the most part....and I am in the South....and if you had the same amount of money they have and a lot of kids to feed,,,you would do the same thing...there is just no way to eat healthy on a small salary..Fresh veggies are expensive. So is fruit...the only time we had fruit was when someone let us get it from their tree...

Mama had to work as well as Daddy, so she didn't have time to raise a garden. So, there you have it....from one who knows..but we were lucky,,,we were just naturally skinny by nature...so we didn't get fat, but we could have and I can understand how it happens..

Answer 3

You're kidding, right? It costs money to eat right, and it takes energy to fix the right food for your family.
I don't understand why you're asking this question. Like the other answers say, fast food is cheap food, easy food, and all the grease and salt make it taste good.
It would be a blessing if poor people could afford to eat good food.
Are you equating being wealthy to being overweight? It's usually the other way around, rich people can afford to eat well and can pay someone to fix them healthy food.

Answer 4

You have $15 to feed your kids for 3 days. Now, you can spend that money on a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a small jar of peanut butter, or you go through fast food and order off the value menu. It is quicker, easier, and cheaper to hit the drive thru. It would be much healthier to buy the groceries, but some people really don't have the time or energy.

Answer 5

An interesting paradox. In most cases, the cheapest available food is extremely unhealthy, full of fat and such.

So those who don't have the money to buy any food AT ALL would be thin as you'd expect. But people with just BARELY enough to feed themselves would eat the cheapest food they could find, and thus get a lot of fat.

Answer 6

Maybe in like GTA:SA (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for those who are not gamer savvy...) the only places to eat aroudn the place is fast food restaurants, and the only places to eat out in the ghetto-like areas are fast-food...so that could be it..I really don't know. I'm not being racist, just answering the questions...

Answer 7

Heres an article

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/469027

Article exerp..

In an illuminating section of the article, the authors compare the energy density (MJ/kg) of some foods in relation to their energy cost (cents/10 MJ). For example, the energy cost of potato chips is about 20 cents/MJ (1200 kcal/$) as compared with about 95 cents/MJ (250 kcal/$) for carrots. As the authors write:

The inverse relation between energy density and energy cost suggests that "obesity-promoting" foods are simply those that offer the most dietary energy at the lowest cost. Given the differential in energy costs between energy-dense and energy-dilute foods, the advice to replace fats and sweets with fresh vegetables and fruits may have unintended economic consequences for the consumer.
Or, as Drewnowksi was reported as saying in a press release:

It's a question of money...On a per calorie basis, diets composed of whole grains, fish, and fresh vegetables and fruits are far more expensive than refined grains, added sugars and added fats. It's not a question of being sensible or silly when it comes to food choices, it's about being limited to those foods that you can afford...People are not poor by choice and they become obese primarily because they are poor...


Do some research on your own try typing in Obesity and Poverty in any browser..

Answer 8

Poor people also buy food for survival, not health.
The basics, potatoes, rice, cheese, milk are usually covered by WIC. Only recently have they started encouraging fresh fruits and vegetables.
Its no wonder to me that poor people gain weight more than rich people. Cheap food is crap.
When you are poor, you can't afford to be picky about the quality of your food. Thats a luxury.

Answer 9

That is an easy one. A lot of people in the ghetto can't afford to buy cooking utinesels. So they are left buying fatty tv dinners, box dinners, ect. A lot of processed food is fatty. You can get tacos for less then a dollar, ect. If you give them the pans you also have to teach them how to use it.

Answer 10

...because low quality, high fat foods are cheap. Also, it's long been known that over-eating brings some comfort into the lives of people who have little else. It's like, "I'm feeling miserable. Should I eat that bacon double cheeseburger and feel better for a little while, or should I deny myself what I crave and be even more miserable?"

Answer 11

Because healthy food is expensive. It's cheap to load up on hamburger and white bread and just crap. Chicken, fish, fresh vegetables, and things like that are expensive. When you can only spend so much on groceries, you're going to buy the cheapest stuff you can that will fill you up the quickest. My family was super-poor growing up, and we usually ate things like macaroni with a can of stewed tomatoes and hamburger meat or spam, baked beans, and fries. It wasn't healthy, but it didn't cost much and it filled us up.