2017hayden t1_j4prf8l wrote
Reply to comment by Xolver in New study shows: Black Adults Experienced Early Signs of Brain Aging Faster Than Other Ethnic Minority Groups by PaulHasselbaink
I mean the black population in the US is disproportionately poor (which is undeniably linked to systemic racism). Poor individuals typically eat junk food most of the time because it’s fast and easy to make and in many cases significantly cheaper than healthier options. So yes I mean you can somewhat link eating habits to racism in this case. Is it the whole story no, is it a factor absolutely.
skasticks t1_j4pxpns wrote
Also poor areas are much more likely to be "food deserts," meaning you can't get good healthy food if you don't have transportation, time, money, or any combo of those three.
[deleted] t1_j4pz5b6 wrote
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Psychological_Pear23 t1_j4qc30g wrote
True, in some poor neighbourhoods you need to take 2 buses to get to a store where they sell whole foods, the neighboorhood store only sells junkfood. In the US i mean.
ImmuneHack t1_j4q3bka wrote
Neither a high educational attainment nor a high income reduces the likelihood of obesity among blacks.
It's absurd to think that a low income US Asian is more likely to be obese than a high income US black person.
Ergo, poverty is not the driver of the high rates of obesity among blacks.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-019-00663-z
2017hayden t1_j4q8kx3 wrote
Once poor eating habits are established it can be very difficult to change them. Ergo if you grow up eating largely junk food you’ll probably continue to make poor nutritional choices even if you have the means to do better than that. You’re jumping to conclusions off of a flawed premise.
Hearing_Deaf t1_j4rg251 wrote
So are you. You are literally claiming that bad food habits cannot be changed, just because it was started in childhood. In my humble opinion, it's extremely racist to claim blacks don't have the willpower to break bad eating habits, no matter their education and wealth.
anubiz96 t1_j4sd2k9 wrote
Its southern food culture it gets passed down. Look at what makes up southern American cuisine and soul food. To a point it is a result of racism as the food preferences and cooking habits are in no small part influenced by waht slaves were able to obtain for food.
I imagine you might see higher obesity rates ong multigenerational southern whites too due to the shared food culture.
Hearing_Deaf t1_j4sl831 wrote
So? They use more fried food. The french put so much butter on everything it's not even funny. A croissant is litterrally 1:1 dough and butter. The italians and olive oil. Canadians with poutine and mapple syrup. Every culture has some good and some bad elements to it.
Plus you do not have to cook the same 3 things for the rest of your life, no matter where you are from. The world is big, it's a choice to eat only bad or fast food. It can still be your culture, but restricting yourself to a certain diet is a choice, not an obligation.
anubiz96 t1_j4svzr1 wrote
Not saying its an obligation. But people more often than not peoole adhere closely to their culture. To a point we are all subject to our environmentand cultures. If it was very easy obesity wouldn't be on the rise in general around the world. Our bodies have hormonal responses to salt sugar and fat.
This is a really complicated topic. I would recommend if it really interets you that you do some in depth study on the history of slavery in the Untied states and the fall out after the civil war. The discrimination and the opression that followed officially well into the 1960s. There's a greater lacknof understanding of nutrition and access to healthy foods among poor people in general and black people in the United States have been disproportionately poor.
As well as how current food trends developed in the Untied States.
Its very complicated we all have free will, however most humans conform to their environment and culture.
Theres no one simple answer. There are many factors some to do with individual choice and also outside forces.
2017hayden t1_j4t96ep wrote
I never claimed “blacks don’t have the willpower to break bad eating habits” I claimed that bad habits when started at a young age are difficult for anyone to break. That’s been studied and confirmed. You’re trying awfully hard to twist a specific narrative out of my words.
anubiz96 t1_j4scpgz wrote
People are missing geography black people were largely enslaved in the southand lived for generations after in the south. Look at southern cuisine. The fact thet so much of traditional black american foods are based around the best you can with poor quality food available to slaves. There's a lot of fat, and frying etc. Cooking techniques used to make poorer quality food tasty.
If im not mistaken the south in general is more obese than other areas. I imagine southern whites are also more lokely to be obese as they were eating alot of thr same food as much if it was you know prepared by blacke people. Even if black people move from yhe south the food culture is born from there.
Trotskyist t1_j4slknp wrote
This seems like it’d be relatively easy to control for.
2017hayden t1_j4ta4fp wrote
Would it though? There’s so many factors involved. Stress for example often causes people to revert to old bad habits even if they’re self destructive.
Dinklemeier t1_j4q2knv wrote
Why is obesity seen historically as a sign of wealth in india then? Billions of poor people around the globe are not fat. Im solidly upper middle class and slowly getting fatter. Am i the victim somehow of racism in not aware of making me fat? Or is it the highly unlikely combination of me eating more calories than i burn while having a sedentary lifestyle?
I'm going with racism. That way i can blame someone else for my slow slide into obesity.
2017hayden t1_j4q8568 wrote
Obesity was always seen as a sign of wealth historically because in those times rich people were the only ones who could afford to eat enough to get fat and didn’t have to work in hard labor for a living. That’s no longer the case. There are plenty of very poor people who can still afford food just not good food and very few people work hard labor like those in medieval or renaissance societies did. Historical circumstances and reasoning don’t really apply here as societal norms have changed so much since that time.
chicagotodetroit t1_j4qfe8o wrote
>Billions of poor people around the globe are not fat.
Is it possible that it's because those people don't have the same highly-processed junk food that is prevalent in the US?
Seems like if you're poor in other countries, you eat things like beans, rice, and whatever grows locally, but if you're poor in the US, you eat things like McDonalds and food with high fructose corn syrup, excess sugar and salt, dyes, and cheap additives and fillers.
Dinklemeier t1_j4qftd6 wrote
So.. in other words.. not racism?
ChrysMYO t1_j4qhj90 wrote
Access to those foods is due to racism. Zoning laws for where convience stores are located vs groceries vs fast foods. Transportation hubs vs walkability access to food sources.
Subsidized food programs that priorize certain sugars and carbs that conflict with modern recommended health trends.
Dinklemeier t1_j4qsbvi wrote
And the families that are still obese that shop at the same stores as me? Obviously they live close enough to shop there. Are the white ones obese because of poor choices but the black ones because of racism? At some point one should take responsibility for what you stick in your body. There are plenty of skinny minorites too. Thru just eat less or burn more than they take in.
Altima-OG t1_j4qeol1 wrote
Depends on who you ask, but in olden times, and India has a lot of antiquated values, but again, depends who you ask.
If you're upper middle class and fat in America, you usually are actually lax in your dietary habits. However, you can also be a poor or lower/lower middle class person who has issues with maintaining preventive care, like working receiving in retail or two jobs in the service industry and work hard, but have no knowledge of good dietary practices, and/or time to prepare good food, and that shows as obesity. The high cost of inflation from greedy corporations and lack of basic food items due to logistical issues not helping poorer Americans.
Tearakan t1_j4qhc5k wrote
Because in the past food was much harder to come by. It was seen as a sign of wealth in western countries too in the past.
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