Low Income Women Cant Afford Healthy Diets

[rsmith6621]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016310037_gotgreen25m.html

Low-income women of color know how to cook healthy food, but they often can't afford it, according to a report released Saturday by a Southeast Seattle nonprofit.

The group, Got Green, surveyed 212 women about their access to the "green economy" touted by government leaders as a ticket to future health and prosperity. Got Green thought the women they surveyed had been left out of the discussion about health and the environment, and likely left out of the tax breaks and stimulus money available through "green jobs" and energy-efficiency programs.

Got Green's report found that being more "green" was on the minds of the women they surveyed. It also found that some conventional solutions — like teaching women to cook healthier food and improving benefits at green jobs — fall short.

Surveyors asked women to prioritize public transportation; a healthy, energy-efficient home; green jobs; and access to healthy foods.

By a 2-to-1 margin, the women said their top priority was healthy food. They said the high cost of fresh and organic fruit and vegetables and the lack of grocery stores made feeding their family a healthier diet too hard.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Even if they had the money, the neighborhoods are usually filled with quick stops and liquor stores.

And decent markets are miles away.

[StarsInHerHair]

2. I thought this was obvious

[FarCenter]

3. "fresh and organic" aren't the only way to eat healthy

Frozen vegetables and canned fruit is a good alternative that costs less.

[seabeyond]

4. my niece first time living on own. she was over for dinner and my family and a nurse friend

so i ask all to give recommendations for cheap fill you up foods.

cup a soup, ramen noodle, mash potatoes, rice, tortillas with margrine from a tub, .... i cant remember more. but all the while listening to sons, hubby remembering his college days and my friend the nurse suggest foods

finally i say... common denominator yawl???? anyone figure it out. they gave lots of ideas and all failed.

empty calories, high starch not much worth to fill you up. fattening.

[Odin2005]

17. empty calories and a high glycemic index = insulin level yo-yo.

One should never eat processed starches by themselves, they must be eaten with some protein and fat. unfortunately, protein is expensive.

[enough]

5. Bittman: "is Junk Food Really Cheaper?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?_r=1&hpw

An interesting article on the subject.

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
By MARK BITTMAN
Published: September 24, 2011 (NYT)

THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28. (Judicious ordering of “Happy Meals” can reduce that to about $23 — and you get a few apple slices in addition to the fries!)

In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. You can serve a roasted chicken with vegetables along with a simple salad and milk for about $14, and feed four or even six people. If that’s too much money, substitute a meal of rice and canned beans with bacon, green peppers and onions; it’s easily enough for four people and costs about $9. (Omitting the bacon, using dried beans, which are also lower in sodium, or substituting carrots for the peppers reduces the price further, of course.)

Another argument runs that junk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that this makes fast food essential for the poor because they need cheap calories. But given that half of the people in this country (and a higher percentage of poor people) consume too many calories rather than too few, measuring food’s value by the calorie makes as much sense as measuring a drink’s value by its alcohol content. (Why not drink 95 percent neutral grain spirit, the cheapest way to get drunk?)

much more at link above> (and a lot of comments)

[Warpy]

8. Well, except they don't order the Big Macs

or anything else fancy, they get the cheapest crap on the menu. Nothing is supersized and the only reason the kids share a milkshake is because it looks like milk instead of whatever it really is.

Another thing poor folks don't have is time. They're often stretched thin, working a patchwork of part time jobs with an equal patchwork of child care arrangements, meaning lots of time spent traveling around and not much time for anything else.

[Zoeisright]

9. What Warpy said.

Just the effort to buy fresh unprocessed food is incredible. I don't see any mention of food deserts in Bittman's piece. Try taking two buses to get to a store that sells fresh produce and meats at a reasonable price, then get back home again and make food from scratch while you have three tiny kids screaming in hunger. Bittman and your post are both unreasonable and don't reflect the real world for most poor families.

[enough]

10. Jesus, SORRY. All I said was it was an interesting article. Failure of enlightenment on my part.

I can't believe the tone of your post. I thought we were in a discussion, not a politburo judgment session.

Carry on. I'm sure your superior understanding of the suffering of the poor will stand you in good stead. I'm sick of the pomposity.

[BoWanZi]

12. No worries but it is cheaper to eat junky food, not junk food but junky food

I consider junky food stuff like Hamburger Helper, boxed meals, mac and cheese, etc. And when it comes to fast food, I agree with the other poster, poor people (like me) don't go to Macdonalds and order big macs or the angus beef sandwiches, I order the cheapest stuff on the menu like stuff on the value menu. I can go to Wendys and order strictly off the value menu and end up with 4 chicken sandwiches, 4 Big Stacks, and 3 Value size fries and pay something like 12 or 1 dollars. I don't buy drinks because its cheaper to get 2 liter bottles of your favorite no-name brand at the store for under a buck a bottle. That is a lot of calories for junky/junk food for fairly cheap. For the record, I don't like doing that (going to fast food joints) but once in a while, its a "treat" for us even if it is horrible for us.

And while my family and I are rather poor (food stamps currently), we try not to eat total junky food (the prepackaged boxed meals) but it is hard to find cheap (per pound/ounce/whatever) healthier foods other than say some simple staples like potatoes and rice. We do eat a lot of starchy stuff like that because it IS cheap per weight.

It sucks being poor. I wish I could go down the meat isle and buy 9 dollar cuts of meat or go down the produce isle and buy expensive veggies like green/red peppers (love them), fancy good tomatoes, etc.

And its easier finding cut rate sales like buy one-get one free or other deals on junky foods. For example, finding Hamburger Helper for a buck a box or something when you buy 4 or more.

So people like me don't go to fast food joints and order the bigger foods, we go for the cheap value crap which are normally consider loss leaders by the companies.

[kestrel91316]

15. Suggesting that the poor put effort into preparing foods from scratch

is not permitted on DU. Didn't you get the memo??

Also verboten: suggesting that they grow some of their own food if they are among the lucky Americans who own or rent a patch of dirt rather than a box joined with other boxes.

[Kolesar]

16. There are clowns on DU that ruin real discussions...eom

[Odin2005]

22. It's typical upper-middle class "let them eat cake" cluelessness.

They don't really understand, they have not walked a mile in our shoes.

[glinda]

11. Bad boxed and canned is cheaper than real food. Junk food is cheaper. You have to

have a decent income to eat well. We are lower middle income and just two of us and it is hard to afford even decent quality rice, noodles, vegies.

[Odin2005]

19. Poor folks don't have time to cook and don't have access to good food.

They live in "food deserts", where the nearest grocery store is many miles away.

[Warpy]

6. It's not the lack of high priced organic veg that does it

It's pretty much the lack of any veg in poor neighborhoods. After the riots in the 60s, the supermarkets moved out and never returned, the store space in poor neighborhoods too small to support a competitively priced market. Pushcarts that used to sell fruit and veg in the street were banned many years ago by men who opened indoor groceries and didn't want the competition. Forget sidewalk stalls, too. The streets got wider and the sidewalks got narrower.

All they have are liquor stores and convenience stores and both of those sell junk food, high priced, high fat, high calorie snacks that provide very little in real nutrition. The better convenience stores have overpriced frozen food and some of it contains a little veg, but poor folks can pretty much forget it unless they're willing to take long bus trips with heavy grocery bags.

I used to take a bus and two trains every weekend to get to the open market in Boston. I'd load up a huge backpack with veg and do the same thing to get home. However, I didn't have little kids in tow. It is much more of a barrier when there's nothing to do with the kids but take them along.

[Worship Money]

7. Isn't "Freedom" Great?

You have so much choice to live a healthy lifestyle when you're poor....

[donheld]

13. Low Income Men Cant Afford Healthy Diets

[itsallhappening]

20. You sexist!!!!!1!

;)

[pitohui]

14. i don't know who CAN afford healthy diets these days

it has gotten entirely out of hand...and before some millionaire starts posting about farmer's markets, sorry, i can't afford to pay $5 for a head of lettuce

[Odin2005]

18. The price of decent, healthy food is insane. I can't afford it!

[AngryAmish]

21. Poor women tend not to be married, either

If you are a single mother where exactly do you get the time to cook healthy? Poor in money and poor in time.