How the hell do 'poor' people get so fat?

We now live in a time where fat is the new thin. People who are poor spend more time commuting to work and less time to prepare healthy choices for dinner. Fruits and vegetables also cost more than unhealthy meals which are convenient, everywhere and targeted to poorer people.

A lot of jobs are no longer jobs where people move around and lose calories. Breaks and lunches are short for the working class and sometimes unhealthy options are the cheapest.

People who have more leisure time are usually higher class. They can afford gym memberships and private trainers. Higher paying white collar jobs often have gyms and workout rooms. Poor people don't have this option.

In colder climates like the one I live in, exercise options are limited in the winter. The only really cheap option is walking. Otherwise, I see rich white people in the gyms working out.

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Very, very true. This whole idea that they eat junk because its cheaper is a bit of a myth. The fact is, eating name-brand junk food, or ordering pizza, or whatever, is not actually all that cheap. Meat and cheese aren't exactly cheap either.

Basically a lot of it probably has to do with them being uneducated and unsophisticated. Thus, they often don't know much about proper nutrition, and are less able to resist the marketing behind junk food and fast food. Also, poor uneducated people frequently have less self-control.

Also, healthier food often does require more preparation, and many poor people have physically tiring jobs and may feel less up to it.

Thanks to my crazy hippie parents, I knew all about healthy eating, and my food bill was much lower than my junkfood-eating college roommates. While they were ordering pizza, downing Mt. Dew, and munching cheetos, I was preparing a weeks worth of minestrone for myself...


Also, yes, organic-labelled food often is pricey. But non-organic fruits, beans, veggies, etc are much cheaper and still are far healthier than junk food.

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I haven't written a thesis on the subject, but to be honest there are MANY reasons that poor people are or become obese.
Among them:
1. Poor diet (as has been discussed ad nauseum).
2. Lack of exercise. Poor people often can't afford direction on how to lose weight or child care so they can exercise on a consistent basis. Often they work at low wage jobs, which leaves little time (and have little energy) for exercise.
3. Genetics. It's a fact that there is a genetic component to obesity. We've all known people that can eat less than others and they are still heavier.
4. Medical conditions. Slow metabolism causes such as thyroid conditions which make it doubly difficult to lose weight. Also hormones are increased for heavy people (see ghrelin) which increases an obese person's desire to eat. These same levels are at a normal level in slender people. It's like having a monkey on your back, telling you to eat all the time.
5. Emotional problems, such as depression. Dieting often results in regaining weight (plus more) which can reduce people to a state of learned helplessness (basically you just quit trying). When poor people have no hope of changing their lives, they often just give up. When they become heavy, the only thing that feels good is eating.
6. Employment Causes. It's also a fact that obese people make less money than other equally qualified candidates. In other words, being obese can increase the odds of remaining poor. Maybe you shouldn't ask why poor people are obese, but why are obese people poor!
7. Social. Thin people don't see it, but if one has been obese, they see an entirely different side of people that the rest of us. People are MEAN to heavy people...and I'm talking everyone from strangers on the street to your own family and everyone in between. For some people, food is the only comfort they get. People even make fun when a heavy person attempts exercise out in public (admit it, have YOU ever seen a heavy person and thought some rude remark?) Heavy people see and hear it EVERY FRICKIN DAY! (self disclosure...I used to be obese till I had gastric bypass...I was AMAZED at the difference in the way people treated me after I lost the weight....night and day).

Something to chew on (ha, ha).