THANK YOU. some states actually do consider it child abuse. If a child has a diet related health issue (such as a heart attack or high cholesterol) social services will look into it.
And if the parents are too poor to afford healthy food?
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· 6 years ago
All due respect, I know plenty of people who were poor as hell growing up and they definitely weren't obese--healthy food doesn't necessarily mean more expensive. Also, diet is only part of it exercise is another important part.
I agree with the exercise part but healthy food is much more expensive than unhealthy. That’s one of the issues that is being wrestled with right now and it does make sense. A peach has a shelf life measured in days and has to be sourced from different places around the world while a can of spam is centrally produced and lasts for a couple years. You can feed your family in a fast food restaurant for much less than you could in a grocery store.
Nah that is bullshit. I make brown rice, tuna and vegetables for 7 dinners for $13 from a supermarket. My weekly grocery budget for 2 people is $30 and thats buying luxury items too.
If I get a pizza or fast food, I would spend $30 in 2-3 meals. Fruit and vegetables are cheap, frozen food or fast food is vastly more expensive.
One of my closest friends grew up on food stamps with a single mom and she said her mom insisted on a healthy diet and plenty of outside playtime. I cant stand the "healthy food is too expensive" trope its BS
27 studies in 10 countries put the average cost of healthy food to be about $1.50 per person per day more than unhealthy. Minimum wage single parent with two kids would have to spend an additional 10% of their gross wages in order to cover that difference.
Pretty sure it's worth it to have healthy kids. Also remember portion sizes. Most kids eat 2 or 3 times more than needed. Personally I like certain food stamp programs like Wic that only allow healthy items. I cant stand it when I see people using food stamps to buy doritos like even processed food can be somewhat healthier than that.
If your answer to my original question is that too poor shouldn’t be an issue and that healthy foods should be available to kids for free from the government then I completely agree with you.
Not sure of the countries that were included in those studies but I’ve lived in Canada, UK and Australia and in all three it was much cheaper to eat healthy and cook my own food than get fast food or processed stuff.
There is also problems of availablility. The poorer areas of the US will have fast food, liquor/convience stores but no grocery store with in walking distance. I guess it has been improving over the years, but all kids deserve healthy food.
@popsy I read a story about that once. They called it a “food desert” and it occurs in urban areas as well. One woman cited had a 90 minute round trip on several buses to buy vegetables. @hatawa in the US you can purchase a child’s daily recommended intake of calories for $3 at a fast food restaurant. It requires no cooking, storage, or upfront cost which are all factors to the lowest wage earning population.
Yeah, shitty public transportation systems compound the problem. Maybe with the major grocery chains starting to do more and more home deliveries things will improve for the poorer class folks nutritionally.
I agree with that, what I’m saying is that “eat less” isn’t an straightforward answer for kids. They need large amounts of protein and fat for organ growth as an example. It better in the long term for them to eat the extra calories, even if it makes them fat, and get the nutrition. You can lose weight later but you can’t grow more brain as an adult no matter what people are constantly insisting I should be doing.
If I get a pizza or fast food, I would spend $30 in 2-3 meals. Fruit and vegetables are cheap, frozen food or fast food is vastly more expensive.