# How do women in poverty become obese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123 "2017-07-12T20:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/162 "2017-07-14T22:23:18Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The problem with SNAP is that you can use it to buy any food item with the _exception_ of a short list of certain foods. It should be the opposite, i.e. it should be more like WIC; it should be changed so that all food items are prohibited with the exception of certain food items. These should include generic poultry, beans, eggs, rice, potatoes, etc. No soda, no steak, no seafood, and no processed or frozen foods. :mad: :eek: :rolleyes: The purpose of food stamps is so low-income people can have a more varied and nutritious diet. Do people misuse them? Of course. What if someone has no way to transport or store this or that item, or they have food allergies or other restrictions (ethnic, religious, etc.)? It allows people to have whatever they want, inside the rules. WIC is brand-specific, which has created issues of its own. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/163 "2017-07-14T22:26:51Z")
p.s. I have never been on food stamps, nor have I ever needed them. I do, however, have friends and relatives who have. They were very grateful that these were available when they needed them. I hear a lot about “backpack programs” where qualified children are given backpacks on Friday, to take home for the weekend, so they will at least have something to eat. They mostly contain canned fruits and vegetables, and fruit juice…and the city where I used to live had to discontinue it because they found out that the food, and often the backpacks too, were being traded by the parents for drugs, usually meth. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/164 "2017-07-15T04:06:31Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I don’t think it’s bad; I just don’t know where you draw the line. In my state soda (maybe some other “junk food”, not sure, but I think just soft drinks) is taxed and “food” isn’t. So maybe if a state had the freedom and wanted to administer theirs somewhere along those lines it might make sense. I could get behind that, I think. There would be issues around defining “soda” - is “fortified” sparkling water water or a soft drink? - but I think that could be worked out _if we had the will to do so_. I also have an issue with a lot of fruit juices which really aren’t any more healthy than your average soda - fruit juice is largely sugar and water. I think that would be a harder sell than removing soda from the “approved” list. > [@](#): > > Not sure how the hot food works but that does seem strange. Some stores even chill their hot prepared foods for the purpose of making them available for SNAP and put stickers on it. So, someone can’t buy a bucket of hot chicken but they can pay the same price for it cold. > [@filmore](#): > > That is strange, because they are often a good deal. Is it any prepared food? Like deli sandwiches and stuff? I think the original idea was that by saying “no hot food” it eliminated the use of food stamps in restaurants. There is supposedly a portion of the SNAP program where homeless people are sometimes approved to use SNAP for hot, prepared food but I’ve never met anyone on that part of the program. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The problem with SNAP is that you can use it to buy any food item with the _exception_ of a short list of certain foods. It should be the opposite, i.e. it should be more like WIC; it should be changed so that all food items are prohibited with the exception of certain food items. These should include generic poultry, beans, eggs, rice, potatoes, etc. No soda, no steak, no seafood, and no processed or frozen foods. What the hell is “generic poultry”? Would you object to poor people buying a cold rotisserie chicken? I mean, damn, it’s a _whole chicken_ for $4. Why no seafood? It’s highly nutritious. I get that you don’t want poor folks spending a lot of money on extremely expensive seafood, but no seafood at all? You have something against tuna casserole? It seems a ridiculous restriction. Why NOT frozen foods like plain frozen peas? Or frozen mixed vegetables? Out of season, frozen vegetables actually have a higher nutritional value than “fresh” (which might have spent days or weeks being transported, or even _months_ in storage). Less waste with frozen vegetables, because you don’t have to worry about them going bad if you don’t use them quickly. There are times frozen vegetables are cheaper than their fresh counterparts. What is your objection to these? No sausage? Ever? (It’s a processed food). No cheese or yogurt? (They’re processed) You’re eliminating a hell of a lot there. And, frankly, speaking as someone who has been processing WIC for some years now - it’s a _terrible_ system, very complicated. It specifies very precise sizes, very precise brand names for far too much - so you could purchase a 16 ounce bag of beans but ONLY a 16 ounce, not two 8 ounce bags, or a 20 ounce bag and WIC pays for 4/5’s of it. You can buy Brand Y juice but not Brand Z even if it’s the same quantity. There’s a lot I’d like to see improved for WIC. > [@Slash1972](#): > > This seems unnecessarily cruel. No beef at all? Just hamburger? what if steak is on sale and costs less than hamburger? No frozen foods? There are a lot of low cost meals that are frozen. What about frozen orange juice? > > That system is just too complicated, and mean actually. ^ That. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > It allows people to have whatever they want, inside the rules. WIC is brand-specific, which has created issues of its own. ^ And this. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/165 "2017-07-15T04:17:02Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > But we’re left eventually IMO with the fact that a lot of social ill among poor people is self inflicted, of which epidemic obesity is a pretty obvious example. Epidemic obesity is NOT restricted to the poor, it’s a problem on ALL socio-economic levels. So you have to assume that a similar percentage of poor people would be fat regardless of whether they were poor or not, for whatever reasons there are middle-class and wealthy fat people. And I do think things like advertising are a factor at ALL levels of American society and you should not expect poor people to be any more immune to those particular factors than anyone else. It’s the remainder, the poor people left over after you subtract the “hard core” fat people that will be fat regardless of income, that are having problems that are not shared by other socio-economic levels and that’s were food costs, food desserts, and the like come into play. It would be ridiculous to set up a goal of eliminating obesity among the poor if we didn’t also do it among the other socio-economic classes. What is the justification for holding the poor to a harsher standard than the middle class and wealthy? I don’t think going back to a situation where people actually could and did starve to death is preferable to what we have at present. I’d think it a victory if we could reduce the percentage of fat poor people to the same percentage as fat rich people. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/166 "2017-07-15T05:00:44Z")
Seeing this turn into an EBT train wreak, I have to say that I’m a full time student on EBT and I use it for breakfast and lunch. $190/month gives me $6/day to get it done. Now, during the summer, I’ve been sleeping more than I should and having some dinners and skipping breakfast/lunch. 6’ 214 lb. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/167 "2017-07-15T07:13:58Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > As you note, you grew up in a different country than I did. I’d like to hear similar anecdotes from other U.S. residents. Your exact words, which I was responding to, were: > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Home Ec? WTF? I’m approaching 40 (37) and I nor anyone I know has taken Home Ec. How long has it been since such classes have been taught _anywhere_? (Italics yours) New Zealand counts as “anywhere”, even if it’s inconveniently not America for you. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/168 "2017-07-15T14:11:29Z")
Another point I have to make: most of the people living in the system want to get off it. Yes, they do. It is incredibly frustrating to live with the idea that nobody in the world wants to pay you to do what you can do. And the system encourages people to stay on it. I had 13 so-called “professionals” tell me that I qualify for disability and should live on it. I asked them “If it’s so wonderful, why aren’t you on it?” Most of them liked to work, and admitted they got psychological benefits from working. “But you don’t think I should be working?” One of them told me “There’s nothing wrong with going on disability. It’s just another way to support yourself.” That’s odd. I thought disability was designed for people who couldn’t support themselves. But frustration and boredom do make for psychological problems, which can lead to doing nothing and overeating. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/169 "2017-07-15T14:55:36Z")
What about the military families using food stamps, etc.? I find it rather hard to consider them as lazy, or not doing their part, or whatever the latest stereotype is for those on public asistance. ---
**Author:** ![Hocus\_Pocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/41988e/32.png) [@Hocus\_Pocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hocus_Pocus)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/170 "2017-07-15T23:38:34Z")
I’ll add some of my thoughts… Anyone who thinks that obesity is a “poor people” problem need to explain the governor of New Jersey as well as POTUS. I’m a T2 diabetic as well (brought on by genetics). Potatoes are definitely a no-no. For those of you who keep spewing that certain jobs “aren’t designed to support a family,” wake up to reality. Check out who you see working at fast food joints & other places that pay poverty wages. It’s not teenagers for the most part anymore. There’s a lot of people in here who would benefit from reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s _Nickled & Dimed: On Not Getting By In America_. It’s a couple of decades old, but if one keeps in mind that the numbers have changed since then it is still a solid look at the life of those living in poverty - while working. $35,000 is above the poverty line? I’ll take your word for it. And I’m sure that one can easily get by on it in MS, AL, or several other states. But the $35K remark was given in response to a person living in Los Angeles. $35,000 in LA is for all intents & purposes a poverty wage in SoCal. One needs to check out the cost of living there (especially housing) before blindly assuming that because one is getting a wage at or above the federal poverty level means that they won’t still be in poverty. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/171 "2017-07-15T23:48:53Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Your exact words, which I was responding to, were: > > (Italics yours) > > New Zealand counts as “anywhere”, even if it’s inconveniently not America for you. I meant anywhere in the U.S. I should have been more specific in my original remark. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/172 "2017-07-16T04:27:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Home Ec? WTF? I’m approaching 40 (37) and I nor anyone I know has taken Home Ec. How long has it been since such classes have been taught _anywhere_? I hear “home ec” and I think of I Love Lucy. I’m 40, and my brother is 34. We both had Home Ec in grades 6-8, as did most people between our ages who grew up in New Hampshire. I just checked the website for my middle school, and it’s now called “[Family & Consumer Science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_economics#Name)” but it’s **still** being taught. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/173 "2017-07-16T05:09:39Z")
I’m in my 50’s and spent my schooling years in Michigan. In my district boys were supposed to take shop and drafting and girls home ec. I rebelled, as at the time I was doing a lot of household stuff already due to mom’s poor health. I didn’t want to spend time being “taught” to cook brownies when I was already meal planning and cooking for the entire family at home. So I bucked the trend and asked for drafting/woodshop instead. My god, you would have thought I proposed BBQing puppies and making a coat of their fur or something from the ruckus that kicked up! Had to go all the way to the school district administration, but I got approved to do it. So I didn’t take home ec, but I was very much the exception in the late '70’s. Two years later, they decided EVERYONE should take home ec, shop, and drafting. (The drafting teacher quit rather than teach any more girls.) Have no idea how long that state of affairs endured. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/174 "2017-07-16T17:07:55Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > $35,000 is above the poverty line? I’ll take your word for it. And I’m sure that one can easily get by on it in MS, AL, or several other states. But the $35K remark was given in response to a person living in Los Angeles. $35,000 in LA is for all intents & purposes a poverty wage in SoCal. One needs to check out the cost of living there (especially housing) before blindly assuming that because one is getting a wage at or above the federal poverty level means that they won’t still be in poverty. USCB poverty thresholds:[Poverty Thresholds](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html) They do not vary by region. They do vary by household size. So $35k may or may not be above the poverty threshold. If you want to look at what some people consider to be a living wage, we can look at the MIT living wage calculator: [http://livingwage.mit.edu/](http://livingwage.mit.edu/) Putting aside any criticism\* of their methods, they have a LW in LA County of about $27k for a single adult. $22k if you have a (working) roommate. \*It’s not clear what the ideal geographical granularity is. I’m less familiar with LA, but let’s look at NYC. Manhattan is an expensive place to live. But IIRC more people work in Manhattan than live there. I had neighbors in southeastern PA who worked in Manhattan. But of course then you have transit costs to factor in. It gets complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Hocus\_Pocus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/41988e/32.png) [@Hocus\_Pocus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hocus_Pocus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/175 "2017-07-16T17:52:43Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > USCB poverty thresholds:[Poverty Thresholds](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html) > They do not vary by region. They do vary by household size. So $35k may or may not be above the poverty threshold. > If you want to look at what some people consider to be a living wage, we can look at the MIT living wage calculator: [http://livingwage.mit.edu/](http://livingwage.mit.edu/) > Putting aside any criticism\* of their methods, they have a LW in LA County of about $27k for a single adult. $22k if you have a (working) roommate. > > \*It’s not clear what the ideal geographical granularity is. I’m less familiar with LA, but let’s look at NYC. Manhattan is an expensive place to live. But IIRC more people work in Manhattan than live there. I had neighbors in southeastern PA who worked in Manhattan. But of course then you have transit costs to factor in. It gets complicated. Experts say that one shouldn’t spend more than 30% of their income on housing. At $27,000 that would be $8,100 per year, or $675 per month. Good luck renting for that in Los Angeles! ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/176 "2017-07-16T18:29:04Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > Experts say that one shouldn’t spend more than 30% of their income on housing. At $27,000 that would be $8,100 per year, or $675 per month. Good luck renting for that in Los Angeles! Experts say a lot of things. But if you want to abide by that you can get a roommate. That’s what I did. Or get three, which is what people do here. Or live and work somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/177 "2017-07-17T13:32:30Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > There’s a lot of people in here who would benefit from reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s _Nickled & Dimed: On Not Getting By In America_. It’s a couple of decades old, but if one keeps in mind that the numbers have changed since then it is still a solid look at the life of those living in poverty - while working. Excellent book. Ehrenreich tried to live on the wages she made as a house cleaner, waitress and store cashier (what I’m doing now). She found the work incredibly frustrating and the minimal wages not enough to live comfortably on. Most of her co-workers had a second job just to get by. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/178 "2017-07-17T16:21:47Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Well, it has hydration value. Does that count? I’m not too concerned about it. But if Congress or State Legislatures said “We are cutting SNAP benefits unless people are not allowed to by soda” then I’d be cool with it. > [@](#): > > I ended up eating, for the entire day, two McDonald’s cheeseburgers as well as a vanilla milkshake. Even with these items, it _felt_ to me as if I were starving myself. I mean, compared to eating throughout the day like I normally do, eating your entire day’s calories in 10-15 min really seemed as if I was starving myself. Yet, upon a bit calculating, I realized that despite not eating for the entire day, the couple items of food I did eat at night still totaled about 1500 calories or so. Which was eye-opening for me. For those who aren’t unable to eat and indulge in fast food on a regular basis, those calories can add up in a flash. And it really doesn’t seem like you are overeating. Could you expand upon what you mean by “felt to me as if I were starving myself”? Did you feel hungry? Light-headed? Or just thought you should be eating more? ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/179 "2017-07-17T23:51:00Z")
For all the people suggesting that the solution to the obesity problem lies in rice and beans… Please consider that from-scratch cooking isn’t going to be an option for many of the working poor. There are children to take care of who will whine the whole time dinner is cooking then not eat it because it’s “yucky”. There are people working zero-hour contracts who might work two hours one day and 12 the next, with no warning. There are people taking care of parents who can’t stand over the stove for an hour. And of course there’s people with disabilities who can’t stand for an hour, period. A cheap fast-food or frozen dinner meal is a necessary compromise for some people. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/180 "2017-07-18T00:19:58Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > $35,000 is above the poverty line? I’ll take your word for it. You don’t have to take my word for it, I gave you a cite. And $35K is almost 75% higher than the poverty line. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123/181 "2017-07-18T13:31:10Z")
> [@xnylder](#): > > For all the people suggesting that the solution to the obesity problem lies in rice and beans… Please consider that from-scratch cooking isn’t going to be an option for many of the working poor. There are children to take care of who will whine the whole time dinner is cooking then not eat it because it’s “yucky”. There are people working zero-hour contracts who might work two hours one day and 12 the next, with no warning. There are people taking care of parents who can’t stand over the stove for an hour. And of course there’s people with disabilities who can’t stand for an hour, period. A cheap fast-food or frozen dinner meal is a necessary compromise for some people. And there are people who cannot stand to eat the same thing every damn day. You try eating cereal and milk for breakfast, one cup of coffee, a peanut butter sandwich and orange for lunch, and rice and beans every damn day and see how long you can do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-women-in-poverty-become-obese/791123.md?page=10)