Tennessee Ranks 48th for Childhood Health (Cookeville: home, unemployment rate, buying)

[jguillot]

With an estimated 25 percent of Tennessey school students overweight, and an additional 15 percent at risk for being overweight, Tennessee has received an "F" from "Report Card: State Efforts to Control Childhood Obesity." See the story by clicking on the link below.

Tennessee Ranks 48th for Childhood Health | UC Daily News Cookeville, Tennessee | Consumer (http://www.ucdailynews.com/news/consumer/63818072.html - broken link)

[mbmouse]

After reading this sentence from this reporter: "With an estimated 25 percent of Tennessey schoo students overweight," I am a little leery of their capabilities of doing proper research.

But I agree it is an issue in this area of the country. But look at the staples of the diets in this area of the country: biscuits and gravy or fried ham and eggs for breakfast. Fried everything for lunch and dinner, 2 year olds in strollers at the flea markets with soda in their baby bottles and yea, over weight is going to become an issue. Go to local mom and pop restaurants that serve "meat and three" on a menu. The "veggie" list is soup beans, corn bread stuffing, corn, green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese.....there isn't a real nutritional valued vegetable on the list, they are all in the starch family.I believe it is more a choice of diet verses lack of exercise that is the biggest issue.

[sendmorecops]

It's a little of both. Obviously diet is important, but so is exercise. You don't need to hit the gym every day, but getting 30 minutes of activity in every day is important. And it's not hard to get that in since nearly everything you can do that isn't sitting down counts. Like cleaning your house, which hopefully you spend 30 minutes on at least a few times a week. Going for a walk on your lunch hour or after dinner with your kids. Lifting hand weights, doing jumping jacks or sit-ups while watching t.v. - which is something I do a lot during the winter because I like a lot of t.v. shows and obviously it's cold outside!

And I say all of this as someone who is fairly lazy and has never set foot in a gym, so don't think i'm an exercise nut who is preaching. I just know that I feel much better when I get in a little bit of exercise each day.

[hiknapster]

Well, the reporter pulled some very old info. I think from 1998-2002. There is newer research. Unfortunately, we are still at the bottom. It is not for lack of trying, though. The state has put in many new initiatives, such as cutting out all sugar in the school lunch program, removing the soda machines, etc. Some of those won't produce noticeable results so soon.

It is a fact, though, that there are a lot of poor folks in the rural areas, and we have many, many rural areas. When you are poor, the cheapest food is often the least healthy. Filling up on carbs found in bread and pasta is often their only alternative.

Here's some newer research.

http://nschdata.org/Viewdocument.aspx?item=241

[sendmorecops]

That is a common misconception that healthy = expensive, but the truth is that convenience foods always cost more. Obviously everyone knows that soda and candy and chips are expensive (and while we like them, offer little to no nutritional value), but things like boxed meals that seem cheap, always cost more than it would to take your own flour/rice/beans/spices/whatever and make it yourself. Sure, some vegetables are pricey but if you buy local and seasonal, it's really not. And frozen vegetables are a cheap alternative that don't taste quite as good in some cases, but are way better for you than canned.

Example: A lot of people think, "Why would I bother buying rice, beans, and spices separate when I can just pick up a box of rice-a-roni?" In addition to the money saving costs, it's healthier because you can control the amount of salt you use, packaged foods are full of sodium. Dry beans are cheaper than canned, but dry beans do have to be soaked and cooked so they are more work than a lot of people with busy lives have time for, but you can get low-sodium canned beans (and you should rinse them off really well anyway). Also, having a well stocked pantry of basic items gives you more freedom to cook on a whim. If you get a mexican seasoned rice, but then have a craving for italian seasoning, well, you're stuck. If you have several different kinds of beans and a good assortment of spices, you can make whatever you feel like. The same goes with baking mixes, I don't buy those because I already have flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar anyway, and it only takes two extra minutes to measure those things out.

People lead busy lives these days and I know that so i'm not suggesting that no one should ever use shortcuts, but there are a lot of things that really don't take extra time that will save money and are better for you.

Sorry I went off on a tangent, while working out isn't really my thing, food is!

[jabogitlu]

you hit the nail on the head there. I know that I don't have time to cook real meals. When I'm home I'm doing homework, laundry or cleaning or sleeping. Most of my daytime is spent at university or at work.

A huge part of our obesity epidemic is that people are using unhealthy alternatives because they're faster.

[hiknapster]

I didn't say convience foods. If you notice, I specifically wrote bread and pasta. Truly poor people don't buy the convenience foods. They can't afford them. But they will buy Ramen Noodles.

I know a lot about food and, unfortunately, I have been very, very poor. Not the "poor" that people often claim but really isn't true. I mean that you are so poor that a package of Ramen Noodles is all that you will eat that day. There are many, many people in the state that are that poor.

Once again, the state has implemented a lot of new programs, but they probably won't see results for a bit.

[sendmorecops]

I would consider ramen a convenience food, but I get what you're saying. It also bothers me when people claim to be "poor", while owning laptops and a big screen t.v. Starting at the beginning of the year we'll be living on a much smaller income but we still won't be poor.

One of the big problems is that there isn't really any nutrition education in schools. Most adults I know don't know anything about how to eat properly, so it's no surprise that their kids don't either. Your example of ramen is good because i'm sure a lot of people do eat a lot of it because they think they can't afford anything else, but you can get a bag of dried beans for less than a dollar and a big bag of rice, but a lot of people wouldn't consider that a meal, even though rice and beans has a lot more nutrition.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by sendmorecops

I would consider ramen a convenience food, but I get what you're saying. It also bothers me when people claim to be "poor", while owning laptops and a big screen t.v. Starting at the beginning of the year we'll be living on a much smaller income but we still won't be poor.

One of the big problems is that there isn't really any nutrition education in schools. Most adults I know don't know anything about how to eat properly, so it's no surprise that their kids don't either. Your example of ramen is good because i'm sure a lot of people do eat a lot of it because they think they can't afford anything else, but you can get a bag of dried beans for less than a dollar and a big bag of rice, but a lot of people wouldn't consider that a meal, even though rice and beans has a lot more nutrition.

A package of Ramen Noodles can go for about 8 cents. When that is the only money you have, you eat it. Sometimes people don't have money for a big bag of rice or beans.

I'm talking really, really poor.

If someone is not that bad off, they DO buy the bag of rice. Sometimes they can put margarine on it. Seriously. That's how they eat. Hamburger Helper is not involved. It costs too much.

If you travel around in the back woods you will see the abject poverty that I am talking about. There is one county, right now, that has an unemployment rate of almost 30 percent.

A lot of these people had work but the factories closed down.

When we first moved here, in 2005, the school cafeteria was making these incredible sugar-filled desserts. Fattened my skinny kid right up. The next year they had cut all of that out.

Tennessee does not have a nutrition education program, yet, although 28 states do. I think it is a great idea.

[sendmorecops]

I've honestly never seen ramen that cheap, usually when I see it it's 50 cents to a dollar a pack. When I first posted about healthy food not being the more expensive kind I had in mind a lot of people I know who are at the same income level as my family(lower middle class), yet tell me they can't afford to eat healthier, when the reality is most of them spend way more money than we do on food, even though I do buy specialty items that aren't cheap when the budget allows. So please understand that I wasn't trying to snub people who live in actual poverty.