The Nunez family near Toledo were profiled by NPR.The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it's more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don't buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles.I am going through some tough times as well. I have never liked to denigrate struggling people. Even if you don't believe in the idea of karma, it can bite you in the ass. That's my personal rule. With that said, you can still eat a healthy diet on a tiny budget, even today. There are yolk-free noodles with no fat and fewer calories, and there is nothing inherently wrong with potatoes. In fact, potatoes are very healthy things to eat. Chicken is still cheap. I can buy a whole chicken for about 4 bucks.
It's when the food is processed and pre-prepared. That's when it gets more expensive. I suspect that "they eat a lot of starches like potatoes" really means that they like to eat a lot of potato chips and McDonald's french fries.
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I'm probably gonna get cut down for this, but if I eat a heavy, calorie laden meal, I try to exercise it off.
I've been cutting down on my meat intake (apart from the odd alien or 2 on the barbecue), and instead of eating "lite" sliced cheese,for instance, I eat half a slice. Same taste, 50% less fat.
What about fish? What are the prices like over there? You don't have to buy expensive fish to get a good fish meal.
Did these two morbidly obese tubs of lard eat the NPR reporter after she was done interviewing them?
Good Lord... let them "go hungry"... they'd each need to drop around 100 pounds just to get down to "moderately overweight" status!
Wally, catfish is not expensive here. Tuna is cheap as well.
I don't believe in karma- I've known too many assholes who were quite wealthy!
Maybe to supplement their income, Nunez could get a job?
Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree. She says a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job.
Hey, lady! If Stephen Hawking can hold down a job, so can you.
I heard the broadcast. I feel sorry for the one kid that got off their ass and worked and supported the rest of the family. That was the one I had some respect for, not the others.
I'm getting a bit frustrated with the media taking worst case examples and applying them to everybody.
The article I read said "Mom" didn't have a high school diploma...something that could have been earned well before the disabling accident when she was 23 and her 19 year old daughter was 2.
This woman's problem isn't that she was in an accident it's that she isn't educated with even the most basic of skills.
That's where this country needs to focus. Things go up in price. That's the natural order of things. From time to time we get huge breaks on prices, but then it changes.
Well, it does cost quite a bit more to eat good, healthy food. I would imagine that is particularly the case in a place like Ohio where the arugula is probably shipped all the way from California.
As far as tuna, it is very high in mercury and not something anyone should be eating more than once a week.
At least they're a lot more sensible/ethical than many others on this front:
People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child.
"A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'"
They both reject that as a plan.
Well, it does cost quite a bit more to eat good, healthy food.
Akubi, it does not. There are many, many inexpensive non-processed foods available even in your local Super Walmart.
Oatmeal isn't expensive.
Bananas aren't expensive.
Carrots aren't expensive.
Grapes aren't expensive.
Potatoes aren't expensive.
Pasta isn't expensive.
A loaf of whole-grain bread is $2.00.
Most canned tuna is skipjack, which has low levels of mercury and is safe to eat.
Catfish is cheap.
Whole chickens are cheap.
Trendy healthy food is expensive. Hence, arugula.
You want something scary?
**you've been warned**
That woman. The one on the right in the picture... got laid.
Put THAT image out of your mind.
Hey, I saw a particularly nasty looking homeless woman with a baby. Someone somewhere thought this relatively toothless geek stink breathed woman was a good choice to have sex with.
Though I didn't see if was actually a real baby or a doll. Probably was a doll used to get extra coin.
That woman. The one on the right in the picture... got laid.
Well... there's someone for everyone.
I will say this: I don't think it's fair for me (and most other people) to have our medical insurance rates and/or taxes jacked up to pay for her unhealthy lifestyle. I think we should treat obesity like smoking. The obese should be marginalized and shunned. Their lifestyle is NOT acceptable if it affects me. I am not talking about a couple pounds, I am talking about 50 or 100+ pounds. There's no excuse for it, and being morbidly obese is just as dangerous as smoking a pack of smokes each day. We shun and shame smokers, let's do the same for the obese.
Though I didn't see if was actually a real baby or a doll. Probably was a doll used to get extra coin.
In San Francisco I have seen some amazing gimmicks. The most amazing was the "open foot wound" guy. It was revolting. He should have been in a hospital if it was real. San Francisco has public hospitals like any other city.
It is a shame that these folks are unable to work and earn money to buy themselves food. Perhaps they can buy some seeds and plant a vegetable garden and grow some food for themselves? Maybe they can offer to do odd jobs? Babysit? Do something productive? Otherwise, too bad. Seriously, at the very least they get a place to live and some money to buy food..what else do they really deserve? The real shame is, besides the unfortunate reality of what lack of education means today, the general sense of complacency and hopelessness these people portray.
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