Posted on 03/11/2014 10:58:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Southern cooking is wonderful, and unapologetically rich, and the tea is sweet. Also, it’s too hot outside, and it’s air-conditioned inside.
There, do I get some grant money for figuring that out?
Hey, I notice that New York is #35 in “well-being”. Thank goodness they stopped drinking Big Gulps. It’s really paying off.
Yeah, I know. There must be a difference in the water, or something to do with the latitude, or maybe the effects of global warming on select groups of impoverished people. African malnutrition can’t possibly be because of their peaceful, democratic governments, their work ethics, or high ideals regarding human life, dignity, rights, not to mention principles of prosperity, coupled with high regard for the well being of posterity. With all they have going for them, just think how fat and happy they would be on our food stamp program.
Technically, both West Virginia and Delaware are "southeast states."
But then again, the District of Columbia is also technically in the "southeast."
If that even comes close to the truth, we're a very different country from what we were a few decades back.
And I believe studies show in the ‘60s, cerca to then, we were a much leaner nation. So, maybe one difference of many would be processed foods.
I also see a bit of what is called Appalachia on here. Not sure what the significance of that would be. I have seen some of the so-called “backwaters” but on the other hand, every state has their rural areas.
Non-Hispanic black women had the greatest prevalence (39.2%), followed by non-Hispanic black men (31.6%), Hispanic women (29.4%), Hispanic men (27.8%), non-Hispanic white men (25.4%), and non-Hispanic white women (21.8%) (Table 1).
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5827a2.htm
Had a friend who moved to Ohio...Sometime later he called and said he felt like he was on the cast of HeHaw, except everyone was fat....He attributed it to cold nasty winters where everyone just grazes for 5 months at a time...After about 5 years he moved back.
RIghtwardHo was onto something, though he didn’t get it quite right.
The problem is carbs. Carbs are cheap and filling even when you buy at a high-end store, and if you’re buying snacks at a convenience store more than 90 percent of what’s on the shelf is some form of starch.
WIC buys a lot of breakfast cereal and bread. If you buy soda with your food stamps, you can get more of that for your buck than you can milk or juice.
And even if you go with your recommended beans and rice, Mr. Logan, you’re still looking at a blood-sugar-spiking blast of starchy goodness hitting the bloodstream.
If you want to avoid carbs, you eat more fat and protein. More dairy, more eggs, more meat, and more vegetables. The green leafy vegetables are cheap enough, but not enough so to balance out the budgetary effects of the meat, eggs, and dairy.
Colorado’s going flip. Can’t stay skinny and get the munchies. Give them 5 years, they’ll be on the top10 fat list.
And Etouffee and a softshell crab Poboy from Deanies on Lake Ave. And Froglegs and even a little Gator.
To be honest, I only had a Gator dog. Funniest thing, the lady preparing it wouldn't touch it. And my wife wouldn't kiss me after. We did a little swamp tour in Slidel.
Lots of fun memories.
And Vicksburg Miss. A different year, though.
Not certain why Colorado is low fat. Maybe the tons of bike trails and no unbearable humidity which is common in most of the country. Means a lot more outdoor activities?
It can be rather dry here but that can be a plus.
I believe it is a matter or preference, convenience and perhaps availability, rather than a matter of price.
A lb. of chips, e.g. is $8+. A lb. of carrots, apples, or broccoli, a couple of bucks.
Compare the cost per lb. of tator tots or frozen fries to fresh potatoes. Breaded fish or breaded pre-cooked chicken to fresh. Pudding cups to Jello pudding mix that you add milk to.
Add on top of that, cookies, ice cream, coffee cakes, etc. that cost a lot per lb. and are not healthy.
You could make a case that lb. for lb., processed foods have more calories than fresh food does (a lb. of pretzels vs. a lb. of carrots, e.g.), but I have not found that eating healthy is more expensive. Unless you only eat free range and organic stuff.
What constitutes a healthy diet is, to put it mildly, a debated subject.
I tend to generally agree with you, but note that a lot of people consider a low-fat vegetarian diet based on brown rice and legumes to be much healthier than the diet you describe.
Certainly that’s what most of the world lived on till fairly recently.
Anyway, the original point was about getting enough to eat, not about having the most enjoyable or maximally healthy diet.
Looked it up. For $75 you can get 50 lbs. of rice and 50 lbs. of pinto beans. That’ll provide a person with 2500 calories a day for 66 days, with complete protein at a cost of $1.13/day. Or you could easily add some other cheap stuff to the diet base and extend it to 100 days.
My point, which appears to have gotten lost in the discussion, is that it is unlikely food has ever been cheaper in history. You can have a diet that will keep you in reasonable health and able to keep working hard for little more than a dollar per day. Certainly less than $2.
You are quite correct about cold weather burning calories just to keep warm. Not so much when your exposure to the cold is mostly a dash from the house to the car.
Used to go winter camping in CO, with temps as low as -35F, for up to a week. Burned calories like crazy. Planned for 5000 calories per day. Carried a stick of butter per person per day just for the extra calories (1250). Put the butter in everything and drank Sherpa tea (tea with sugar and butter).
McDonald’s double cheeseburger: 99 cents
459 calories, 34 carbs, 26 grams fat, 26 grams protein
McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich: 4.99
419 calories, 51 carbs, 10 grams fat, 32 grams protein
With the exception of the fat grams, there’s not a lot to choose between them, and the chicken sandwich has quite a few more carbs.
The point isn’t that the double cheeseburger has so many more calories; it’s that it’s cheap and low-quality.
The point isn’t that the double cheeseburger has so many more calories; it’s that it’s cheap and low-quality. Oh, and by the way, it has only 350 calories, 50 of which come from the condiment sauce. The fillet, lettuce and tomato total only 100 calories.
Curious, what do you mean by “low-quality” in this context?
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