Four Florida Metros Makes the list of America Unhealthiest Cities (University: 2014, safe area)

[annerk]

Originally Posted by EditorJul

Way back in the day, I did volunteer work with EFNEP. A lot of the students we had were kids sent by their parents to learn nutrition because the parents and grandparents had never been taught how to find, cook, and prepare nutritious foods. I would love to see to see this go hand-in-hand with SNAP. It's more than just handing a list of foods to someone and telling them "This is healthy--eat it." You need to know what's in season at any given time in your area so that you know what foods will be priced reasonably to stretch your food dollars. You need to know, even with healthy foods, proper portion sizes. You need to know how to prepare foods that you may never have seen before. Kohlrabi is wonderfully healthy, but I'd wager than more than half of the people in America of all income levels wouldn't have a clue what to do with it.

I agree, SNAP should have required nutrition and if needed, cooking classes tied to it. Those that don't show for the class don't get their benefit.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by annerk

Upstate New York. No year round cheap produce. I grew up poor and spend the first decade of my adult life poor. My mother didn't buy processed foods with the exception of cereals, pasta, bread, etc. We grew up eating bread from the day old store and a lot of pasta with mom's homemade sauce--no meat and meatless chili. A local butcher would give my mom soup bones for free because he felt sorry for her. We were several times a day from being homeless until a kind relative bailed us out. At least a couple times a year one or another utility was cut. When I say I grew up poor, I'm not kidding. I can recall times when we had a pot of oatmeal for dinner because it was the only food in the house. Our school lunches were PB&J and whatever fresh fruit was in season and cheap--usually an apple, orange, or banana. I ate that way for years even as an adult because it was the best I could afford. Notice the lack of chips, soda, Twinkies, etc. My mom tried to make us a treat once a week--a cake, cookies, brownies, a fruit pie with berries I picked from a nearby field in season. But there were weeks that didn't happen because she couldn't spare the eggs or sugar.

While we never had to get soup bones and the like from butchers (luckily, Montreal is a port city, so fish was available for fairly cheap) I can relate to everything else.
We would have chips -- sometimes... Maybe once a month, if that.
No soda (mom didn't have money to waste on that. She'd rather buy us pure orange juice), no processed junk, if we has a chicken sandwich, it was from chicken she had baked (no deli meat).

I agree... There is no excuse. Then again, had I not been fortunate enough to have been raised by my mother, I possibly wouldn't have the habits I have inherited.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by EditorJul

Way back in the day, I did volunteer work with EFNEP. A lot of the students we had were kids sent by their parents to learn nutrition because the parents and grandparents had never been taught how to find, cook, and prepare nutritious foods. I would love to see to see this go hand-in-hand with SNAP. It's more than just handing a list of foods to someone and telling them "This is healthy--eat it." You need to know what's in season at any given time in your area so that you know what foods will be priced reasonably to stretch your food dollars. You need to know, even with healthy foods, proper portion sizes. You need to know how to prepare foods that you may never have seen before. Kohlrabi is wonderfully healthy, but I'd wager than more than half of the people in America of all income levels wouldn't have a clue what to do with it.

I agree. I worked with a not-for-profit in Philadelphia called The Food Trust which among it's many missions was attempting to create educational programs for SNAP and other low-income projects. Sadly it's among the last things our current Congress has any interest in.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by annerk

Upstate New York. No year round cheap produce. I grew up poor and spend the first decade of my adult life poor. My mother didn't buy processed foods with the exception of cereals, pasta, bread, etc. We grew up eating bread from the day old store and a lot of pasta with mom's homemade sauce--no meat and meatless chili. A local butcher would give my mom soup bones for free because he felt sorry for her. We were several times a day from being homeless until a kind relative bailed us out. At least a couple times a year one or another utility was cut. When I say I grew up poor, I'm not kidding. I can recall times when we had a pot of oatmeal for dinner because it was the only food in the house. Our school lunches were PB&J and whatever fresh fruit was in season and cheap--usually an apple, orange, or banana. I ate that way for years even as an adult because it was the best I could afford. Notice the lack of chips, soda, Twinkies, etc. My mom tried to make us a treat once a week--a cake, cookies, brownies, a fruit pie with berries I picked from a nearby field in season. But there were weeks that didn't happen because she couldn't spare the eggs or sugar.

Yikes. I was fortunate enough to not experience that and sorry it was your experience. It's sad and simultaneously blood-boiling to know this happens so often in this country yet little is documented of it and so much aid goes overseas while so many go without here.

[Spring Hillian]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Or one could just make use of the plentiful water around here. Beaches left and right, lakes all over Central FL... Thankfully, my kids (who enjoy video games and movies like anyone else) love the outdoors, and love to go for outings, rain or shine, heat or cold.

He's only going by personal experience. He's apparentlyvery affected by high temps.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Yikes. I was fortunate enough to not experience that and sorry it was your experience. It's sad and simultaneously blood-boiling to know this happens so often in this country yet little is documented of it and so much aid goes overseas while so many go without here.

It was rough, but you know, we never really realized how poor we were. We grew up learning to be self-sufficient and learning how to manage our money and the value it held. We grew up realizing that you had to work heard in life, things weren't handed to you, which instilled a work ethic. My first job was picking vegetables for $.25 an hour on a local farm. Even before that I'd pick the blackberries that grew wild in a field near our house. I'd end up scratched beyond belief and my hands were so stained with berry juice it wouldn't come out for days, but the reward was knowing that the food I was eating came from my own hard work.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by annerk

It was rough, but you know, we never really realized how poor we were. We grew up learning to be self-sufficient and learning how to manage our money and the value it held. We grew up realizing that you had to work heard in life, things weren't handed to you, which instilled a work ethic. My first job was picking vegetables for $.25 an hour on a local farm. Even before that I'd pick the blackberries that grew wild in a field near our house. I'd end up scratched beyond belief and my hands were so stained with berry juice it wouldn't come out for days, but the reward was knowing that the food I was eating came from my own hard work.

My Mom had a similar upbringing in rural Indiana on the family's farm during the Depression and it instilled in her (and ultimately me) a similar work ethic and appreciation for where food comes from, and the process involved in bringing food to market and/or the table.

[Soup Not See]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

He's only going by personal experience. He's apparentlyvery affected by high temps.

Apparently ... I'm more affected by idiots though than high temps.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

My Mom had a similar upbringing in rural Indiana on the family's farm during the Depression and it instilled in her (and ultimately me) a similar work ethic and appreciation for where food comes from, and the process involved in bringing food to market and/or the table.

My mom also grew up on a rural farm during the Depression. They learned to live without and cherish what they did have. I think many of us who are the children of Depression babies got the same ethics instilled in us.

[Not4longNY]

Anyone that thinks that NYC belongs anywhere on the Healthy list is delusional.