I am fat because I cannot afford healthier food. If you need an explanation for this reasoning, you have obviously never lived at or below the poverty line and are talking out of your ass.
Anyone who hasn't lived off of $1< meals on a daily basis for months/years at a time has no stake in this conversation because they don't a lick about what they speak.
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When I was in the US, my food budget was $100-150 a month (including the weekly meal outside) and I ate quite well in the urban US for several years. I treated friends and guests too on that very modest budget.
I don't think you actually know what you are talking about noisyturtle. I am quite aware of how much raw food materials cost in the urban US in the late 1990s. The mandatory carbos are/ were actually very cheap, if you chose ordinary rice in sacks (not instant-heat boxes like how white people like their rice) and Mexican/ South American beans in the bags rather than Green Giant's canned garbanzos. Chinese noodles (the dried kind) were also quite cheap; under $2 you could get enough for six or eight meals. Seaweed, also ultra cheap. I loved seaweed.
The vegetables were even cheaper. Since most Americans don't eat fresh veggies without spending extra money on fatty mayo, I won't go into this further. There is a big cognition gap - more than one American has shouted/ exclaimed at me for eating veggies without some garnish.
The spices I bought from the Indian grocer lasted a long time. The dhal - I could never finish it. $2.50 for 5 lbs lasts you over a year.
For fruits, I liked to buy from the Mexican or Asian grocers. They tend to have connections with other Mexicans and Asian farmers and are cheap and fresh. I avoided the expensive fruits like avocados and bought grapes only when in season, because grape prices vary a lot.
Tomatoes could be uber expensive or uber cheap depending on whether you chose to do to Harris Teeter or buy from Jose. You can get one big bag from Jose, a few somewhat bruised, for the price of ONE tomato from Harris Teeter. I'm sure most white liberals buy from HT or Whole Foods and imagine that the prices reflect reality.
Meat, buy minced meats rather than top class steak and choice cuts. In my time in the USA I don't remember eating any steak apart from salisbury steak, and even then I bought only when on discount (there are always discounts). I did not eat meat everyday. Fish, maybe twice a week depending on what was on discount.
Pizza, ice cream, and other processed foods? Didn't eat them much. Too expensive and too unhealthy. I bought tofu whenever possible, and one tray could last me three days. And no pop/ soda. Don't even mention alcoholic substances. I never purchased any.
Most of the human race lives off $1 meals. I live now in an island of prosperity surrounded by an archipelago of poverty - and nearly everyone is skinny in Indonesia/ Philippines. Most people would prefer to eat more meat - but as things are now, they are not exactly suffering hunger pangs at night or some major forms of malnutrition. Billions of people do fine on $1 meals.
Most of the human race talks out of their asses except you, it seems.
