Cuts to food stamps will hit red state residents hardest

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Mississippi has the highest obesity rate. Explain.

I can explain. You can get 1200 calories of potato chips for $1. You can get 70 calories of fruit for $1. It is cheaper to buy horrible junk food. If you need calories to live and have no money, you can live off of McDonalds and potato chips. You will also get fat because that food is horrible, exponentially worse if eaten every day. They do not eat a lot, but what they do eat is loaded with fat and sugar because that food is cheaper. That makes you fat.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Mississippi has the highest obesity rate. Explain.

Free fried chicken.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Why not just send them food - specifically, healthy food, e.g. vegetables? Create jobs for local producers and growers, and tackle the obesity problem in one shot.

That's been done already.

[rocks 494]

Mississippi has the highest obesity rate. Explain.

It's pretty simple. Lack of education and fast food being cheaper than fresh produce. Mississippi has the lowest income and the highest number of people living in poverty, adults and children.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

I can explain. You can get 1200 calories of potato chips for $1. You can get 70 calories of fruit for $1. It is cheaper to buy horrible junk food. If you need calories to live and have no money, you can live off of McDonalds and potato chips. You will also get fat because that food is horrible, exponentially worse if eaten every day. They do not eat a lot, but what they do eat is loaded with fat and sugar because that food is cheaper. That makes you fat.

where can you buy a 1 dollar bag of chips that has 1200 calories.

[DaveE 178]

I can explain. You can get 1200 calories of potato chips for $1. You can get 70 calories of fruit for $1. It is cheaper to buy horrible junk food. If you need calories to live and have no money, you can live off of McDonalds and potato chips. You will also get fat because that food is horrible, exponentially worse if eaten every day. They do not eat a lot, but what they do eat is loaded with fat and sugar because that food is cheaper. That makes you fat.

Lack of exercise makes you fat. You can burn off whatever you eat. However, if you sit around the flat screen or computer monitor all day - bingo. If it was only because all they can only afford is "bad" food, then wealthy people/middle class would never be fat. Lazy is classless.

Choices - everyone has them.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

where can you buy a 1 dollar bag of chips that has 1200 calories.

Everywhere? The figure I quoted was the result of a food study I read about. But, I just checked my local store in an area with a high cost of living, and I can buy a 1350 calorie bag of chips for $1.39. That's pretty close to the study, which I believe was an average of nation-wide prices.

You could feed your kid this bag of chips for their food all day and they wouldn't die.

Here is a story. I was on a jitney bus last month and I heard a woman on her phone. The one-sided conversation went like this, and it shocked me:

"What are you guys doing? Is everyone still sleeping?"

"Well you all need to wake up! It's 3 in the afternoon!"

"Is there any food in the house, did you guys eat yet today?"

"Oh..."

"Well I will bring some cereal when I get home, okay?"

So they were all sleeping because they had not yet eaten that day, and their meal was going to be cereal. You can talk about laziness, but wouldn't you be lazy if you didn't get to eat until 5pm? How can you have energy on an empty stomach? And, related to a similar thread, don't you see that kids in school need meals so they can concentrate on what is being taught to them? Otherwise they sleep through the day at school.

[^_^ 5,021]

I have a friend who brings in a low six figure salary and lives in the same high cost of living area (new jersey) and all his 5 year old son ever eats are Doritos. Not because he's a picky eater but because that's what they get him. For dinner, Doritos + Velveeta. They sneer at my wife and I for spending $$ on our child's food.

[^_^ 5,021]

Lack of exercise makes you fat. You can burn off whatever you eat. However, if you sit around the flat screen or computer monitor all day - bingo. If it was only because all they can only afford is "bad" food, then wealthy people/middle class would never be fat. Lazy is classless.

Choices - everyone has them.

Do you recognize that obesity is more rampant in our poor than in any other economic class? Do you think it's because they're all lazy?

[Teddy B 17,252]

I have a friend who brings in a low six figure salary and lives in the same high cost of living area (new jersey) and all his 5 year old son ever eats are Doritos. Not because he's a picky eater but because that's what they get him. For dinner, Doritos + Velveeta. They sneer at my wife and I for spending $$ on our child's food.

Why do you insist on bucking the system?

[^_^ 5,021]

Why do you insist on bucking the system?

What?

[Teddy B 17,252]

What?

It was an attempt at sarcasm. Why are you bucking the system by feeding your kids good food?

[^_^ 5,021]

It was an attempt at sarcasm. Why are you bucking the system by feeding your kids good food?

I need coffee.

[Teddy B 17,252]

I need coffee.

My bad, I never should have attempted Friday afternoon humor on Tuesday morning. Back to regularly scheduled programming.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Do you recognize that obesity is more rampant in our poor than in any other economic class? Do you think it's because they're all lazy?