Posted on 11/22/2007 11:21:14 AM PST by kik5150
In this land and season of plenty, low-income and rural Americans continue to have difficulty finding healthy foods that are affordable, a new study finds.
One study shows that low-income Americans now would have to spend up to 70 percent of their food budget on fruits and vegetables to meet new national dietary guidelines for healthy eating.
And a second study found that in rural areas, convenience stores far outnumber supermarkets and grocery stores -- even though the latter carry a much wider choice of affordable, healthy foods.
"I think it's a matter of raising awareness among health professionals -- and that could be dieticians or diabetes educators or even doctors -- that when we typically give people a recommendation to eat more fruits and vegetables, that is actually so much more complicated in a rural environment," said Angela Liese, study author of the second report and an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
"There needs to be some thought given to how do you make these recommendations," Liese said.
Both studies appear in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, a themed issue on poverty and human development.
New dietary guidelines recommend that Americans eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day, up from five servings in the previous guidelines.
Despite clear evidence that eating your vegetables can ward off heart disease, diabetes and cancer, only 40 percent of Americans meet the old guidelines and less than 10 percent meet the new guidelines, according to one 2006 study.
People with more money eat more fruits and vegetables than those with less money, research shows. In turn, poorer people also assume a greater disease burden relative to their wealthier counterparts.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hey now, Top Ramen is feeding legions of college students and budget conscious workers at this very moment.....
For me, I would like to see the Food Stamp program limit the amount of sugary crap that can be bought in a week, feeding children a bowl of “Double Chocolate Frosted Rice” is like priming a biological drag racer and pointing it toward the school house...
There ya go!
Ground temp in Seattle this year never got up very much, so my garden was weak.
But I still have lots of onions and lettuce. Cabbage too. The cold weather crops.
Cabbage is another superstar. Lots of antioxidants, and can be used alot of different ways when you cook.
Not to mention I think it would take a gallon of Roundup and a flamethrower to kill a cabbage plant!
Interesting link EBH, I think they underpriced some items but the idea is very good and practical.
It also involves prep work that lazy arsed folks won’t do, make pancakes in a batch? Naahh..just buy a box of frozen ones...
Da! My wife is Ukrainian and we eat virtually no processed foods in our home. As such, I have learned that cabbage is practically indestructible and there are about 1,000 ways that in can be prepared. Prior to marrying her, I don't think I had ever bought a head of cabbage in my life. Now it is a staple.
I even did some home canning with the jalapenos and green tomatoes! Nothing I have ever bought in a store tastes as good on a cracker with a bit of cheddar cheese and a cold beer! And I have enough to make it last till spring, the beer on the other hand could be a problem!
Happy Thanksgiving, Bernie!
Good Lord! Not this again! The truth is that poor people CAN afford to eat healthy. Several years ago a group set out to “prove” that poor blacks in rural areas did not eat as well as more affluent whites. What they found is that the poor blacks ate simpler, higher nutrition, lower fat foods than their white counterparts.
BTW, it is only in rich countries where the “poor” are fatter than the population as a whole.
I was responding to >Rural Americans used to have G A R D E N S.<
As with large corporations taking their jobs off shore, the independent farmer has largely become but a distant memory with corporation farms taking over (to hire illegal aliens). Who knows where their produce ends up if we get our onions from Peru!
We played it a great deal as children. Why didn’t we learn our lesson? Monopolies are not a good thing!!!!
This crosses the line. Checking grocery ads and making out your grocery lists is not in the job description for health professionals who are probably already donating their services to the great hoard of uninsured.
If you eat regular food you have to give up buying lottery tickets and driving 50k dollar SUV’S.
You can pass on your health insurance to old Tom down the road.
* Slice chicken breast very thin (no more than 1/4 inch thick)
* Line each piece with a slice of Prosciutto
* Line each piece with a layer of spinach (fresh is best but canned works too)
* Roll up each piece and hold the rolls together with a toothpick.
* Saute in chicken stock with a hint of lemon juice Be sure to thoroughly cook all sides
* Serve with your favorite side dishes and enjoy!
Sounds super!
I’m also fond of putting layers of fresh spinach in my lasagna.
But when I make lasagna, it’s no holds barred, b*lls to the wall. Usually do at least four at a time.
What a bunch of baloney.
Eating healthy isn’t hard or expensive...It does require some smarts and some planning.
Plenty of good nutrition can be had by eating small portions of cheap fast food. Just skip the fries and soft drinks.
Rural Americans still do have gardens.
They’re not the ones that are *too poor* to eat right.
Funny thing is, all the welfare types I lived near could afford take-out (delivered), cigarettes, booze, drugs, pets, computers, big screen TVs, rent-a-whatever, but were always on the verge of starvation. (Right. Not judging by their weight, they weren’t)
Nor does it explain why I saw people buying expensive steaks, lobster, shrimp, etc with food stamps.
If the government wants them to eat better, then they need to hand our coupons for fruits and veggies, specifically. That is if the govt. is going to hand out anything, which I don’t think they should. Hunger is a great motivator for working.....
Happy Thanksgiving All!
"Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown. They came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors.
They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
--Edward Winslow, December 12, 1621
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Remember the day, and remember the meaning of the day. Be thankful for the comfort of your family, the bounty of the food you are able to share, and most of all the greatness of living in a place where you have the Freedom to celebrate such bounty with those that you Love and hold most dear.
Okay.....somebody ‘splain to these folk how to plant some seeds.
Hey, a big bucket on a patio and boom, nice big tomato plant.
Any place with some soil can be made into a little garden.
This is another example of “minorities and poor hardest hit”. Like we are too stupid to plant a garden.
Heck, one can grow herbs in a damn window sill.
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