Both fat people and poor people make the wrong choices.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

Clearly the solution is for MonsantoPfizerBristolMeyersSquibb to develop a GM probiotic that gives the poor the ability to digest grass.

I'd sign right up. Just look at all those lawn farms. I'd be rich in grass!

I remember hearing that one of the causes for the E.Coli problem in our meat supply is that we feed our cows corn instead of grass feed because its cheaper. So then i thought, what if farms paid their neighbors for their grass clippings? Like kinda how bottle collection works, but with grass.

[Reginald Ret]

Also, and I'm only being partly facetious here... food which is bad for you often tastes really really good, in addition to being cheap.

Salt, sugar and saturated fats.
Salt enhances taste so it makes practically everything taste better, sugar is a drug, and saturated fats lengthen the taste-experience. Though i'm not entirely sure about the last one, it just makes sense to me.
Salt is extremely effective for it's cost when compared to other taste-enhancers.
Sugar is cheap for a simple reason: the stuff is easy to make.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There is also growing evidence that status inequality is the largest contributor to obesity, for all the reasons Alty mentioned. Not total income, but relative income, and how great the status differential is.

I am intrigued and wish to know more.

Oh god, my internet is still fucked... but when it's unfucked remind me and I'll post links. Or you could probably find relevant info by searching for John Sapolsky's stress and status inequality studies, stress and obesity, obesity and income inequality. That's really vague, I'm sorry! I will try to be more helpful when I have restored access. There is a particular documentary that contains most of the information but I don't remember the name of it.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

I think I will eat a kiwi a day in solidarity  . . .

[Junkenstein]

There is also growing evidence that status inequality is the largest contributor to obesity, for all the reasons Alty mentioned. Not total income, but relative income, and how great the status differential is.

I am intrigued and wish to know more.

Oh god, my internet is still fucked... but when it's unfucked remind me and I'll post links. Or you could probably find relevant info by searching for John Sapolsky's stress and status inequality studies, stress and obesity, obesity and income inequality. That's really vague, I'm sorry! I will try to be more helpful when I have restored access. There is a particular documentary that contains most of the information but I don't remember the name of it.

I was hoping you'd say Sapolsky, I'll google around and see what I can come up with. It's probably in that lecture series, I'm pretty sure it'll at least be touched on in them. Been working my way slowly through them, good stuff there.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There is also growing evidence that status inequality is the largest contributor to obesity, for all the reasons Alty mentioned. Not total income, but relative income, and how great the status differential is.

I am intrigued and wish to know more.

Oh god, my internet is still fucked... but when it's unfucked remind me and I'll post links. Or you could probably find relevant info by searching for John Sapolsky's stress and status inequality studies, stress and obesity, obesity and income inequality. That's really vague, I'm sorry! I will try to be more helpful when I have restored access. There is a particular documentary that contains most of the information but I don't remember the name of it.

I was hoping you'd say Sapolsky, I'll google around and see what I can come up with. It's probably in that lecture series, I'm pretty sure it'll at least be touched on in them. Been working my way slowly through them, good stuff there.

That guy is pretty amazing.

Also I said "John" Sapolsky, which I just noticed.  That was a tiredness-induced conflation of John Cacioppo and Robert Sapolsky, pay it no heed.

[Junkenstein]

I tend to think of lecturers by surname anyway, so I completely missed that too.

Probably off topic, but Cacioppo? Worth a look I assume?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I tend to think of lecturers by surname anyway, so I completely missed that too.

Probably off topic, but Cacioppo? Worth a look I assume?

Oh, absolutely! He's a social neuroscientist (which I would argue that Sapolsky is as well) who has done really interesting research on the effect of loneliness on health.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Something else, slummy neighborhoods are food deserts.
Try finding all that fresh produce at Dollar General or the EZ Mart.

ETA: Or not even that. Try finding a goddamn ONION. Or frozen vegetables. Dollar stores always have freezers with just ice cream, bad frozen pizza and fried cheese.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Something else, slummy neighborhoods are food deserts.
Try finding all that fresh produce at Dollar General or the EZ Mart.

ETA: Or not even that. Try finding a goddamn ONION. Or frozen vegetables. Dollar stores always have freezers with just ice cream, bad frozen pizza and fried cheese.

This is also true.

[Doktor Howl]

Also, and I'm only being partly facetious here... food which is bad for you often tastes really really good, in addition to being cheap.

Necro bump.

Having adjusted to a diabetic diet (no corn syrup, among other things), food which is bad for you more or less tastes like ass once you get over the corn syrup withdrawals.