Foodbanks! Did I just hear Julia Hartley Brewer correctly?

[fUNNYfACE36]

Am I being unreasonable to be disgusted by Julia Hartley Brewer's comment this morning, tha t in the course of her work she has visited many foodbanks, and the people who use them are not that thin!!
So until you are emaciated you should just not eat?

This is part of the ‘problem’. My example above was not really about me, per se but someone so skint they have only £5 to feed an average 2.4 kids family. Lentils, dahl, pesto etc, all very nice but for a lot of families living in poverty, well to be honest, they don’t eat that kind of food. I know people might disagree, but they don’t (of course there’ll be exceptions).
Plus they do tend to eat more meat (processed), it’s familiar and comforting.

It's such a stupid outdated view.

Historically the cheapest foods were veg and bread, this was the bulk of "poor people's" diet.

Now the cheapest food is often calorific, you can get a pack of donuts for £1, that could be a thousand calories you consume in 5 mins, historically this just didn't exist. There wasn't very much calorie dense cheap food.

Yes I agree it would, but it’s not necessarily cheaper or worth your while if you have to get two buses to access fruit and vegetables and poultry from your local supermarket, or you are working shifts on an hourly rate and it takes you a long time to get there and back which costs you energy and time, and then you have to spend time cooking on top of that, or you are disabled and have to get a taxi back, or you have to spend a lot of money heating your oven for forty minutes (electricity much more expensive when accessed on a meter) to cook chicken at home. That all adds up too.

Well 🤷🏼‍♀️ they can’t really blame anyone else then can they?

Eating shit food has a massive effect on physical and mental health and can result in a downward spiral in terms of a poor outcome for the individual and their family. The very nature of cheap food is more likely to make you fat. This woman had no idea what she’s talking about.

I saw something in the news about a family who were considering giving up their dog as they couldn’t afford to feed it - meanwhile the entire family was morbidly obese.

Complete with sad begging faces and compensation arms. The comment section was hugely entertaining.

Most extremely poor people in the global south etc get around on foot most of the time. So of course they’re skinny, when they are working it usually physical in one way or another and usually HOT AS SHIT.

all of this contributes to being skinny their diets are also rubbish especially in places where it’s load of rubbish sugary breads and sugar water “juices”

When l volunteered at our local food bank a few years ago, we had a lovely lady come in with her little girl who was about six.
Poor lady was very embarrassed when she told us she had no cooking facilities except a kettle. Obviously l don't know the story or the history behind it, whether her cooker/oven had broken, or if she was in accommodation that didn't have one. But the kettle was all she had.
You can't exactly cook nutritious meals using a kettle. And you can't live on vegetables that you can't cook, especially in winter.
And people like JHB clearly have no concept about what it's like to live like that.
I suspect a huge proportion of us don't, and we should be bloody grateful for that. I certainly am. I've been broke to the degree of not being able to afford a loaf of bread, when l was on benefits after major surgery. But l've never not had the means to cook things.
It's not something that would even occur to most of us until recently, when people are having to choose between heating and eating. Or cooking.

Perhaps in the developing world, living in poverty will mean you are underweight but in developed countries poverty and obesity are closely linked. Surely everyone knows this?

If you're skint and have got a shit life, food is a very easy, relatively cheap way to feel good, albeit temporarily.

If you're skint and have got a shit life, food is a very easy, relatively cheap way to feel good, albeit temporarily.
This.

Also cheap food here is not even that cheap any more. I used to make a super cheap fish curry at Uni using coley which was maybe 50p a filet fresh from the supermarket fishmonger.

now it’s £2/3 insane

Yeah I get that, but then being obese and unhealthy is the trade off.

Well “a cap” by definition means a curb doesn’t it, not an outright ban? I am talking about not letting the strong commercial influence and impetus of supermarkets and fast food chains run riot.

And sorry but the evidence is already there that we are strongly influenced by our family background, advertising, our environment when it comes to healthy food choices. It’s not just one factor, it is many. Look at any government research on the issue.

And you and I may have the skills and knowledge and perhaps decent amounts of spices and condiments and enough electricity to cook healthy meals but if you have been brought up in chaos, and don’t know how, or you are too tired to cook after working all night being a carer in a rest home for example, or you are living in a bed sit with shared facilities, you might be more likely to reach for the easy unhealthy option.

To suggest that eating healthily is all about personal choices and motivation without any external influences from your local culture and environment, such as education, public transport facilities and working hours, is ludicrous frankly! Obesity arises out of a number of factors, many of which are being ignored by government because, as usual, profit is deemed more important than people.

JHB is a Poundland Hatie Kopkins and all publicity is good publicity as far as she’s concerned. Spouting shite like this keeps her in the spotlight because people who should know better (us) are talking about her and her crappy pontificating. Let’s stop feeding the troll.

I once went for a run very early in the morning in a majority world country.

I remember the looks on the faces of a group of men who were literally breaking up and moving boulders with iron bars. Incredulous was the face as I ran past. They stopped and watched me run past with their mouths open.

I'm sure they could eat as many carbs as they wanted.

Comparing that with western lifestyles is absurd.

Horrible comment from Harley Brewer - horrible individual.

JHB is an absolute c**t so it’s not really surprising

Not to mention that fresh, healthy ingredients and fruit and veg won’t exactly be abundant at food banks, so no opportunity to cook from scratch if you’re limited by availability - plus, as you say, the cost of fuel is limiting the ability to cook.

Yes. I agree with your post. Fwiw I hate the term 'third world', and would be glad to see that term binned.

I am talking about not letting the strong commercial influence and impetus of supermarkets and fast food chains run riot

How?