An article for homesteaders to chew on...

[snoozy]

"You Are What You Grow
By Michael Pollan
The New York Times

Sunday 22 April 2007

A few years ago, an obesity researcher at the University of Washington named Adam Drewnowski ventured into the supermarket to solve a mystery. He wanted to figure out why it is that the most reliable predictor of obesity in America today is a person's wealth. For most of history, after all, the poor have typically suffered from a shortage of calories, not a surfeit. So how is it that today the people with the least amount of money to spend on food are the ones most likely to be overweight?

Drewnowski gave himself a hypothetical dollar to spend, using it to purchase as many calories as he possibly could. He discovered that he could buy the most calories per dollar in the middle aisles of the supermarket, among the towering canyons of processed food and soft drink. (In the typical American supermarket, the fresh foods - dairy, meat, fish and produce - line the perimeter walls, while the imperishable packaged goods dominate the center.) Drewnowski found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of cookies or potato chips but only 250 calories of carrots. Looking for something to wash down those chips, he discovered that his dollar bought 875 calories of soda but only 170 calories of orange juice.

As a rule, processed foods are more "energy dense" than fresh foods: they contain less water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which makes them both less filling and more fattening. These particular calories also happen to be the least healthful ones in the marketplace, which is why we call the foods that contain them "junk." Drewnowski concluded that the rules of the food game in America are organized in such a way that if you are eating on a budget, the most rational economic strategy is to eat badly - and get fat.

This perverse state of affairs is not, as you might think, the inevitable result of the free market. Compared with a bunch of carrots, a package of Twinkies, to take one iconic processed foodlike substance as an example, is a highly complicated, high-tech piece of manufacture, involving no fewer than 39 ingredients, many themselves elaborately manufactured, as well as the packaging and a hefty marketing budget. So how can the supermarket possibly sell a pair of these synthetic cream-filled pseudocakes for less than a bunch of roots?"...

Read the complete article at:

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042507HA.shtml

[Wolf mom]

Thought it was pretty common knowledge to shop around the walls of a grocery store as that's where the fresh foods, meats & dairy are.
Interesting post concerning energy dense foods as I recently posted a site for the best nutrient dense foods.

Ya know, until recently, to get their degree, Doctors only had to take one class in nutrition. Arent you glad we've progressed from there? Hopefully future generations will be healthier as we learn we really are what we eat.

[Hears The Water]

I love how several people can read the same article and all come away with differing view points. It is pretty common knowledge that the food that is the healthiest and had the most nutrients and the least processing is in the outer perimeter of the supermarket. But what I came away with from the quotes posted here, is that someone is finally realizing what millions of us already know. If you have $20 to feed your family for x number of days you have to choose carefuly. You might be able to make three meals with the food from the outer edge of the store or if you get the higher calorie "junk" food from the center of the store you may be able to make twice as many meals. And that is one of the major contributers to the poorer folk being the most overweight. There are a few exceptions to this.... rice and beans to name just two. I know we should eat fresh fruits and veggies, but it is just out of the budget for us. I have groused to friends for years that I want just one of the "diet doctors" to make up a diet book full of recipes that call for $.79/lb ground turkey rather than Ahi Tuna and Mango fru fru chutney. Since I have a large yard, I am blessed to be able to garden and hopefully have better food soon, but I sincerly feel bad for the inner city folk that have zero space to garden in. It doesn't make sense does it?
God bless you and yours
Deb

[Freeholder]

Originally Posted by Hears The Water

I love how several people can read the same article and all come away with differing view points. It is pretty common knowledge that the food that is the healthiest and had the most nutrients and the least processing is in the outer perimeter of the supermarket. But what I came away with from the quotes posted here, is that someone is finally realizing what millions of us already know. If you have $20 to feed your family for x number of days you have to choose carefuly. You might be able to make three meals with the food from the outer edge of the store or if you get the higher calorie "junk" food from the center of the store you may be able to make twice as many meals. And that is one of the major contributers to the poorer folk being the most overweight. There are a few exceptions to this.... rice and beans to name just two. I know we should eat fresh fruits and veggies, but it is just out of the budget for us. I have groused to friends for years that I want just one of the "diet doctors" to make up a diet book full of recipes that call for $.79/lb ground turkey rather than Ahi Tuna and Mango fru fru chutney. Since I have a large yard, I am blessed to be able to garden and hopefully have better food soon, but I sincerly feel bad for the inner city folk that have zero space to garden in. It doesn't make sense does it?
God bless you and yours
Deb

Deb, I suppose the reason they use expensive ingredients in their diet books is because people with money are most likely to be the ones buying the books?

I think gardens are going to become more and more important, at the rate that prices are going up.

Kathleen

[tn_junk]

When you are poor, $1 a package baloney and white bread, dried beans, are cheap food. High calorie, high fat, high carb. Fresh veggies are a true luxury item if you are low income, inner city and feeding a large family. Those needing it most are least able to afford it.

galump

[Junkmanme]

Should a person add the cost of "Pepto-Bismol" to the cost of meals of "beans and rice", just to be more accurate in budgeting?

[saramark]

As a former food stamp dependent, which stemmed from disability to work, I know that the money given via food stamps to "poor people" is far more than we seemed to be able to spend. In fact, in the years since we stopped receiving "assistance" we have eaten better and cut our food budget. Some of this is due to raising our own chickens and tending our friend's cows which pays for quality dairy. I think much of the problem is we expect to spend 15% of our budget on food and drive new cars and go out all the time, when we should spend more like 35-40% on food(minus what we raise, I guess) and worry more about our health and well being. I have noticed that since we eat better food, I eat less portions and feel better. I still need to drop quite a few pounds, but am on the way to a better me. I spent years having seizures and IBS, have just 8 teeth left and have had tons of health issues, but with smart eating and focusing less on what something costs me and more on what is good for me, we are doing much better.

Side note, just for anyone thinking my opinion is high and mighty, our annual income for a family of (now)5 is well below $20k and I even have a fairly new work truck and own a home. We just learned how to make do. My parents were much poorer than we are, and we are also, with this income level, able to give to the church and help my mom fix her car, pay rent, whatever. God has blessed us richly indeed.



mark

[brosil]

Personally, I'm no longer convinced it's just calories. I suspect it's the way it's assembled as much as anything.
Want to see a bunch of buff bodies? Folks where you can see the muscle fibers move under their skin when they move? Don't go to South Beach where ever that is. Go to Horse Progress Days and look at the animal power people. Even the women look like they can rip your head off. The Amish cooked the meals there and there was enough fat and carbs to kill Doc Atkins but these folks were Healthy!
We really do have it too easy. Just watch the difference when you spend 8 hrs behind a walk behind rototiller. That should convince you when you can move again. Work smart but work Harder!

[oz in SC]

Perhaps people need to realise you should eat what is in season not what you want when it comes to fresh veggies/fruit?

You cannot HAVE summer veggies in winter and expect a low price.

Cabbage is almost always cheap.
In summer corn at the supermarket is 5 ears for $1...buy it,can it or freeze it.

As to recipe books,think of a recipe as just a guideline-if you want to subsititute turkey for tuna why not?

I worked for an award winning Chef who used to use turkey and pass it off as veal....to his customers.

[Grace&Violets]

I've been at both spectrums of the food budget. I've had times where I could afford to eat steak and lobster every night, but I've also been at the point where I ate Ramen noodles every night. Even then, you have a choice to eat healthy and not spend quite as much as one might think. I always bought chicken thighs or ground turkey, and cooked them up and put them in the freezer so that I could throw a little into the ramen along with a handful of frozen veggies. It might not be the healthiest, but it's a lot better than eating a $1 frozen pizza. And about the same cost or less. A good hearty chili can cost hardly anything to make, but is nutritious and has plenty of "good" calories. Buying frozen veggies on sale costs a lot less than fresh and is just as good or better, nutritionally. (than the fresh you buy in the store...of course not from your garden) I think that a lot of the way people eat is due not only to how much money someone has to spend, but also their level of education. It also has a lot to do with what they were raised eating.

[snoozy]

If you read the whole article (not just the part I pasted here), the author talks about how farm subsidies working in tandem with mega-agriculture have really veered food economics toward this cheap & bad nutrition scenario. It's more complex than simply ignorant people making bad choices.

[saramark]

Very good article, now that I have finished it.We have talked at length with friends about this, and there is a reason Maine people ate potatoes and squash alot, because they last forever if stored properly and Maine grows them well. Unfortunately, I don't like squash, but I will eat it because it is good for me and plentiful

mark

[EDDIE BUCK]

I wonder in his study did he consider people's jobs? Dont know much about the people's in the city, so im talking country. I grew up poor along with a lot of other poor people. Back then we worked a lot harder the calories were burned up by the work. The rich people's obesity % should be about the same now as then. The poor people's % increase came by foodstamps and no longer worked in the fields to burn the calories. So that said, next time you see a group of people working the fields, look close, they are not the poor people of America, but the poor people of Mexico. Thats the way I see it any way.

[BillHoo]

Yea, there was a time when the poor ate lots of veggies and high-fiber foods and worked hard. Then came the new deal and a promise of a chicken in every pot. We bought into the wealth of our nation and the idea that the poor need not live poor.

You might complain about people who don't work, but get a hand from the government, but would you feel that way if it was you on hard times? Going a step further, would you be a fool not to accept money if someone offered to pay you not to work?

We have a complicated society. Poor people no longer want to simply survive... they want luxury. We as a society don't want to scratch at the earth to gnaw on a raw rutabega. We want McNuggets! Give me my foodstamps and let the Mexicans do the hard distateful jobs!

[oz in SC]

Snoozy,everyone has free will.

If people CHOOSe to eat food that is bad for them,it is their choice.

I find the idea that 'big business' made them eat it silly.

What it almost ALWAYS comes down to is the individual CHOOSING the wrong thing.

Some however find the idea of personal responsibility offensive.

[Jan Doling]

"You cannot HAVE summer veggies in winter and expect a low price."

No, but if you are an ant instead of a grasshopper, you will have canned, frozen or dehydrated the good stuff while it was in season.

[oz in SC]

Originally Posted by Jan Doling

"You cannot HAVE summer veggies in winter and expect a low price."

No, but if you are an ant instead of a grasshopper, you will have canned, frozen or dehydrated the good stuff while it was in season.

That would fall under personal responsibility...