Note that this fine doesn't apply to all government health care, only the care for poor people.
That's just awesome seeing as its food companies selling MSG filled unhealthy food that causes obesity in the first place.
The true cause is not fast food companies selling such food. The TRUE cause is people willingly eating it. It's their fault for buying.
I mean when you have $20 to feed your family for the week are you going to buy 7 pieces of produce (fruit, veggies, etc...etc...) or are you going to buy 10 lbs of mac and cheese and other insta-foods that are filled with chemicals? Are you going to spend that $20 on decent cuts of meat or are you going to spread it out and buy 5x as much 'fake' meat that is filled with chemicals and 'floor meat'. What they need to do is long term studies on these chemicals and high fructose corn syrup and then fine the food companies that put this crap in the food they sell...
You're not going to do either. Instead, you buy food at the grocery store that doesn't cost an arm and a leg AND feeds your family for much longer than a fast food place. If someone is buying fast food, they are spending much MORE on food than they should be. It's NOT cheap. $20 will feed one family (mom, dad and 1 kid only) for one meal at a fast food place. At a store, that same $20 can feed the family for the week if spent properly.
$50, a doctor's discretion, and I didn't hear a mention of how often you would have to pay the fine (once a year, once a month, whenever you see a doctor, whenever you pick up medication?)
That sounds very prone to abuse.
You're not going to do either. Instead, you buy food at the grocery store that doesn't cost an arm and a leg AND feeds your family for much longer than a fast food place. If someone is buying fast food, they are spending much MORE on food than they should be. It's NOT cheap. $20 will feed one family (mom, dad and 1 kid only) for one meal at a fast food place. At a store, that same $20 can feed the family for the week if spent properly.
I think that's what he's talking about. He didn't say anything about fast food, he said food companies. Nothing he said implied that he meant fast food chains.
You're not going to do either. Instead, you buy food at the grocery store that doesn't cost an arm and a leg AND feeds your family for much longer than a fast food place. If someone is buying fast food, they are spending much MORE on food than they should be. It's NOT cheap. $20 will feed one family (mom, dad and 1 kid only) for one meal at a fast food place. At a store, that same $20 can feed the family for the week if spent properly.
I think that's what he's talking about. He didn't say anything about fast food, he said food companies. Nothing he said implied that he meant fast food chains.
Whoops. For some reason when I saw mac and cheese I read it as big mac :P Alright, even so, there are healthier alternatives to mac and cheese that can be purchased cheaply. However, there are not many and all that would be accomplished in removing the less healthy choices is relegating those families to starvation. Prices are not going to come down with more regulation, they are going to rise. So unless he has some sort of plan to make the poor wealthier that doesn't involve taxes for the rest of us, his desires are doomed before they start.
I'm not sure how it is in the states but I could get stuff like fresh fruit and veggies for like 20% of what they'd cost in a big supermarket.
That makes a huge difference and lets you get healthy food for a lot less. But of course it'll have to work the same way.
Ah, if only I had known when I was still a poor student with a small room who was always told that supermarkets are cheaper then the local fruit and vegetable stores
It seems to hold true for many small stores, but not for these apparently. Then again I only noticed this in the big city, in the lesser areas. Where I grew up (small town) it was actually true; the local shops were more expensive then the supermarket.
Whoops. For some reason when I saw mac and cheese I read it as big mac :P Alright, even so, there are healthier alternatives to mac and cheese that can be purchased cheaply. However, there are not many and all that would be accomplished in removing the less healthy choices is relegating those families to starvation. Prices are not going to come down with more regulation, they are going to rise. So unless he has some sort of plan to make the poor wealthier that doesn't involve taxes for the rest of us, his desires are doomed before they start.
Well WIC already limits what items you can purchase (like you can get actual fruit juice but not kool-aid), I don't think food stamps do the same thing. Maybe some change there would help. Make food stamps only usable for certain, healthier items, not for snacks and sodas and such. I'm sure people would complain, but as far as they are concerned, it's still free food, let them spend their own money for the less healthy stuff. Now its nowhere near the 100% solution since not all poor people are on food stamps, but it might be one step closer.
Another thing might be having some sort of public fitness areas. I mean sure anyone can go to the park and run, but why not have some sort of publicly available gym? I doubt too many people living in poverty can really justify a gym membership. Now granted it probably wouldn't be as nice as a professional gym, and personally if I was setting it up I wouldn't put in any free weights since they might walk away, but it might be another step in the right direction.
Second, if people whine about 'freeloaders' now, imagine what they'd say if ya gave free gyms to the poor, too. 'Dammit, lookatum! They can lift weights all day but they can't lift a finger to make me a burger?! Get a job ya bum!'. ;)
Another thing might be having some sort of public fitness areas. I mean sure anyone can go to the park and run, but why not have some sort of publicly available gym? I doubt too many people living in poverty can really justify a gym membership. Now granted it probably wouldn't be as nice as a professional gym, and personally if I was setting it up I wouldn't put in any free weights since they might walk away, but it might be another step in the right direction.
My town (Socorro, NM) has something not entirely unlike that, actually. At two of the public parks in town they have a couple of weird pieces of equipment with instructions of basic exercises you can do with/on them. One of the parks also has a climbing rope. It's all durable stuff, meant to be (and stay) oustide, no moving parts.
No idea how well it's used (I go up the climbing rope and do a few pull ups whenever I go past that park, but that's about it for me) but it's there.
My town (Socorro, NM) has something not entirely unlike that, actually. At two of the public parks in town they have a couple of weird pieces of equipment with instructions of basic exercises you can do with/on them. One of the parks also has a climbing rope. It's all durable stuff, meant to be (and stay) oustide, no moving parts.
No idea how well it's used (I go up the climbing rope and do a few pull ups whenever I go past that park, but that's about it for me) but it's there.
There's a park near me with quite a few trails - at least one of which has equipment/instructions for exercising during a jog or hike. Nothing like a gym overall, of course, but it's something. I've never used the gear myself but I can recall seeing people use it - if rarely.
That's just off the top of my head.
Deli meat tends to be high-salt and/or loaded with other chemicals, so it isn't exactly healthy. Plain or ground beef is probably better (just don't eat large quantities at once).
You can usually find inexpensive vegetables of some variety throughout the year, and they're about as healthy as you're going to get. Trouble is, people don't want to eat them (although that isn't really a money-related issue...)
Replace it with an extra serving of veggies and the ocassional addition of (unsalted) nuts to your food.
Tasty, healthy, and pretty cheap.
Rice, potatoes, chicken strips (the kind you get in the large bag), spaghetti noodles (and the sauce of course), strawberries are pretty cheap this time of year, deli section meat, heads of lettuce (instead of the already bagged stuff).
That's just off the top of my head.
Natural brown rice (as opposed to white or 'died' rice) is extremely expensive, the other kinds of rice are really bad for you and expedite things like high blood pressure and diabetes. Potatoes are basically starch which turns into sugar (they are not vegetables as the government would like you to believe). The chicken strips, and spaghetti noodles and sauce and anything else that comes in a box (like mac and cheese, hot pockets, etc...etc...) are all made with what is basically ground up bones and cartilage that is washed in industrial strength bleach or are so full of MSG that your lucky you don't lower your IQ each time you eat them. They are worse for you than just about anything else. Check out "food revolution" on Hulu for some examples and the entire process...
So many people go on about how little people like veggies, but the only time I encounter people who claim not to like veggies is here, in internet-land. Everybody I ever meet (and have cause to watch eat/talk about food with (a very common occurence here in Japan)) love veggies. That goes for both Japan and Canada. I know I do loves me the veggies. My daughter, at 4.5, especially loves broccoli, but sometimes asks for sprouts. As in the cooked Chinese-style ones. If you eat lots of veggies at home and clearly enjoy them, so will your kids. And they will continue to enjoy them as adults.
It is also possible to grow a lot more of your own food in a smaller space than most people believe, without a whole lot of expensive equipment. Most people just don't have the interest, me included. I can rely on my wife, who will probably be growing a bunch of stuff on our balcony in the near future. This is good. I can hardly wait for the home-grown tomatoes.
If you're going for cheap and healthy you might as well scrap meat entirely. And scrap "meat but not really" also, don't go for that "vegetarian sausage" stuff.
Replace it with an extra serving of veggies and the ocassional addition of (unsalted) nuts to your food.
Tasty, healthy, and pretty cheap.
Nuts are not cheap, atleast not here.
A jar of cashews costs as much as ~2lbs of 80/20 ground beef chuck.
If you're going for cheap and healthy you might as well scrap meat entirely. And scrap "meat but not really" also, don't go for that "vegetarian sausage" stuff.
Replace it with an extra serving of veggies and the ocassional addition of (unsalted) nuts to your food.
Tasty, healthy, and pretty cheap.
Nuts are not cheap, atleast not here.
A jar of cashews costs as much as ~2lbs of 80/20 ground beef chuck.
Veggies are pretty high too... Mainly because of the GMO movement and putting yet another middle man in the farming cycle. Basically the farmers have to pay a royalty or licensing fee to use GMO seeds (which in turn don't produce seeds). The cost is passed on to the consumer, so if your in a country that doesn't use GMO foods your food is going to be a lot cheaper especially if its grown locally and therefore doesn't have time to be affected by 'futures'...
If you're going for cheap and healthy you might as well scrap meat entirely. And scrap "meat but not really" also, don't go for that "vegetarian sausage" stuff.
Replace it with an extra serving of veggies and the ocassional addition of (unsalted) nuts to your food.
Tasty, healthy, and pretty cheap.
Nuts are not cheap, atleast not here.
A jar of cashews costs as much as ~2lbs of 80/20 ground beef chuck.
Cashews are pretty expensive as far as nuts go, but I have no idea how many are in a jar. I know that you can buy a bag of peanuts for the price of a box of ground beef. But you don't need all that many nuts, I think 100gr in a meal is enough, where you'd normally use 300-400gr of ground beef.
Box of ground beef? I am confused.
...
Box of ground beef? I am confused.
Eh, why not. In other places they put milk in bags, why not ground beef in a box?
...
Box of ground beef? I am confused.
Wholesale meats can be packed that way. Boxes are easier to stack and move than other types packages. I personally have been in charge of packing boxes with differnt types of meat where I work.
I've also seen some real cardboard boxed meats, though. But they're not as common.
(...) gas is hovering at $4.00 a gallon (...)
Let me do some math... that's about a buck for a litre... one dollar is about 2,73PLN now...
Dude, here gas is more than $8 a gallon. In case anyone wondered why I don't have a car.
Myeah seconded... most of those "outrageous" prices are pretty normal here. At least you have the luxury of a garden. I only have a balcony.
My parents have a garden, but they don't grow vegetables in it... there's countryside family not that far.
Here I dont' have a garden and the room with balcony is rented. So yeah.
Its getting to the point that I'm thinking of raising my own cow or pig just for the meat. It'd be cheaper...
It would liley be more expensive than you think, you have to not only feed them, but fence them in. You might try a smaller meat animal like rabbits. You might also try growing your own feed.
Its getting to the point that I'm thinking of raising my own cow or pig just for the meat. It'd be cheaper...
It would liley be more expensive than you think, you have to not only feed them, but fence them in. You might try a smaller meat animal like rabbits. You might also try growing your own feed.
Your probably right... start small then scale up...
Ah, if only I had known when I was still a poor student with a small room who was always told that supermarkets are cheaper then the local fruit and vegetable stores
The supermarkets in the city where I live are still cheaper than convenience stores, and other small grocery stores. However, they're no longer as cheap as they once were.
Because the major supermarket chain in my town drove all the other supermarket chains out of the town, it then decided to go after the competition from the convenience stores by staying open almost as long as they do. When they did that, naturally, their prices went up.
So now to get the lowest prices, I need to purchase what I can from a discount drug store (canned goods) and a general store chain (limited selection) - while still getting some items from the supermarket at a lower price than anywhere else.