And if you need a less philanthropic reason to donate blood, consider that there's a fair bit of evidence that giving blood can help to lower your cholesterol. So, you can do a truly generous thing for others that also serves as a gift to yourself!
I hate to say, but most people I see today are fat, rich or poor. I was Christmas shopping this weekend at the mall (which we never do) and we decided to get some lunch at the food court. My husband and I split a sandwich and a drink and that was fine for us. Meanwhile I looked around at everyone else and could not believe the amount of food they were eating, piled up on their trays. It would have fed us for the entire day. I know this really doesn't have anything to do with being poor b/c oviously if your poor you wouldn't be shopping at the mall, but it just showing people's choices they make.
We are losing huge amounts of top soil every year due to lack of good management. It takes around 100 years to make 1" of soil. This soil makes our food and our biomass, and gets depleted quickly. That's why compost is so important. To think we should burn corn or grasses (biomass) to meet our energy needs is short-sighted. We are moving towards more importing of our food. Great farmland is turning into suburbia. Food made elsewhere, like China does not meet our health standards. Look up soil depletion issues at SARE or the EPA. And read a simple explanation of our food crisis that is coming from either Michael Pollan or Jane Goodall's book. We should not be choosing biomass (beyond wood) as fuel. Food or fuel? Our fuel demands are so high we cannot wisely choose both.
You probably don't watch enough TV to know, but Visa is running a whole series of ads like this right now with the catch phrase Life Takes Visa. They show young, hip people doing a synchronized dance to music buying stuff by swiping a card and then the music comes to a screeching halt when some loser tries to pay with cash. I think we'll be seeing a big uptick in "swipe envy".
Steve Pavlina (http://stevepavlina.com) swears by a hybrid approach. Set an alarm clock for the same time every day, and go to bed when you feel tired. That way you get enough sleep AND establish a consistent sleeping pattern.
I haven't followed all the comments in this thread, so my apologies if someone has already brought this up.
Awhile ago I found this neat website that's meant to encourage such sharing; it's called neighborrow.com. Basically, you sign up for an account and post things you're willing to share. It doesn't look like it's taken caught on very much just yet, but I think it would be really neat if it did. I think they just added a feature to allow private "neighborrowhoods" so at least you can start sharing with your friends...
Welcome to the club! You know I enjoyed writing about a man I met many, many years ago in his pre-billionaire days; what I learned from that research (and a bit I knew already) is that everyone makes mistakes. One of his dad's not-so-great moments (starting and running a bank that became insolvent) helped him create significant wealth. You might also enjoy Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto: my favorite is #34 -- Make Mistakes Faster (allowing me to learn faster!)
Hopefully you'll sell the house and move on to great new things soon.
I was shocked about that study about 56% of people being successful simply asking for a lower rate. One of the biggest problems people have with credit cards is not knowing them well enough. Good Article.
This point is unique in this article. Talking and letting other people know about you is subtly giving away your power to them, there a fine line and requires skill build over time.
Moreover , I have noticed that you just cannot also keep listening people for long.. you need to somewhere step in take active control of the conversation and then once you are done with your short talk , hand them back the control
-Puneet
The last time I went to a dentist, he said I needed $6000 of work. I didn't even have a toothache! They grilled me like I was in a timeshare selling session. I think the dentist just got back from a marketing seminar.
Anyway, I went to another dentist and the work was far different and cost be about $1000 total.
If he ever leaves or dies, I'm in hot water.
Is there any way, other than trial and error, that you can find a decent dentist? One who will not just rip you off?
Wonderful recipe! I have oatmeal most mornings, with peanut butter on top for protein to keep me going till lunch. I will try this 'cookie', with added nuts or PB on top. Thanks!
yes, I have seen people on WIC, food stamps abuse the privilege of free food by buying steak, lobster, (yes, i have seen this), other high-priced foodstuffs. Our tax dollars and my tax dollars go to this. They need to be more self sufficient, cook from scratch, ... I remember how much hunger hurt, physically hurt, and i would never abuse the privilege of free food. Please G-d help everyone get work that pays sufficiently and have time and temperment to cook - and eat - well.
Andrea, you're doing a great job. it's a pleasure to read your comments.
Addiction - I am a recovering addict and part of addiction is trying to fill a bottomless pit that can never be filled! what with food or whatever.
Here's mine. I live in NYC. Food is mega expensive. Cooking from scratch helps a lot; self sufficiency is paramount. My husband and I cook mostly from scratch.Fruits and vegs from farmers markets are mega expensive; we look for the cheapest grocery store in our area (look for where elderly and fixed income people shop). (I have been unemployed a long time.)
So, We cook what's on sale; stockup when we can on canned tomatoes, tuna, pasta, beans. go to the bodega for vegs sometime. Drink Bustelo espresso coffee - so good! Who needs starbugzzz?? Check out websites like the dollar stretcher, www.stretcher.com Bake our own cookies. Chickens: 3 meals, chicken and rice and vegs; chicken salad sandwiches and chicken soup from the carcass and onions/carrots/celery broth. peanut butter for protein. Put peanut butter on oatmeal for breakfast, makes it stick to the ribs.
Enuf rambling. Hunger hurts, it physically hurts. thank G-d today I am not hungry and I hope you are not hungry too.
Wow, who knew your post could stir up so much emotion.
I guess it goes without saying that topics of the poor and health are not a simple topic that can be summed up in one article as each persons personal experience will color your perspective of the topic.
However, I personally enjoyed the post as it is always good to be reminded that I need to take a look at my personal life and make sure I am living in a way that is the healthiest for my budget.
I work with a guy whose dad is a dentist, and this is a direct quote from him: "Most dentists are crooks." He says half the time when he looks at a new patient's dental records, and then looks into their mouth, what's actually in there is nothing like what the record says has been done.
Moral: ALWAYS get a second opinion before shelling out thousands for expensive (and likely unnecessary) dental work. Shop around; there are good dentists out there, but you have to be willing to put in the effort to find the right one, as with anything else.
I never post to blogs but I have been reading all of your posts and although some come close, none are as stupid as the series of personal and financial mistakes I have made in the last 10 years. Seems like my bad decisions just kept snowballing. It starts in 1990 with borrowing 25k from my mother to divorce my cheating husband. I gave him 1/2 the value of our little 2 bedroom house in the suburbs that my grandmother had given to me. Plus, I could have and should have fought for a 1/2 of his pension because we had been married 10 years but I did'nt. Back to the house story...I lived in the house for another 10 years after the divorce and made $10k worth of improvements. The taxes were extremely low because the house had always been in the family so I managed to build my savings account to $150K. Then my mom died leaving me about 100k. Then my job changed location and I found myself driving 70 miles back & forth to work. This was stressful so I felt I needed to move closer to my job. I had 250k saved up, and a house I owned... that should be enough right? I decided that I wanted to live somewhere with a lake view and chose to buy an affordable wreck of a lake front house for 160k in the country (50 miles away) with beautiful sunsets, and remodel it. After all, I had a money in the bank and I thought a lakefront home would only appreciate in value...especially newly remodeled, right? I interviewed and subsequently hired a series of architects and builders, all with differing opinions on what should be done. This was the heyday for builders and each nickled and dimed me to death (soil boring tests, septic tests, this that and the other thing) to the tune of around 20k...before any remodeling had even begun. Add to that, fees and permits from the township's building department who (after 9 months of submitting plans, paying for variance permits, soil erosion permits, this permit and that permit and tons of misinformation) said they would not approve a remodel only a new build (more $ for them). I could not get anything done from afar because of all the untrustworthy workers would lie about doing the work so I felt I needed to be closer to the project. So, I sold my nice little, paid for, low taxed, house in the city for $116k and bought a little house for $120k on the same street as the lake wreck to be close to the building project. I managed to find a local builder with 1/2 a brain and so the project began. He made alot of mistakes that me and my partner had to fix and so, to make a long story short, the project took 5 years, alot of sweat equity and cost me every dollar I had plus everything I had earned at my job. This past September we passed final inspection (yippee) and got the occupancy permit. Now, I am virtually broke, living from paycheck to paycheck, and have less than 10k in savings. The taxes on my new house are a whopping 6k per year. To add insult to injury, last week, right before Chistmas, a letter from the tax assessor arrives. They are billing me for back taxes and penalties (12k) because THEY mistakenly gave me a homestead tax credit for this house while it was under construction! The fun never ends! By my calculations, this project has cost me at least 600k already and I can't even afford to even live here. Oh yeah, the job I moved up here to be closer top is losing it's main client and I will be out of a job in April. Plus, this is in Michigan, where the housing market is the worst in the country right now. Also, I hate living in this location with no sidewalks, dirt roads that are always muddy, higher prices on gas and groceries, so I will look forward to selling in the spring and getting the heck out of here, and starting over somewhere else...probably out of this state.
Have you considered how often Depression enters into the fat/poverty mix? Dysthymia is a sort of low-grade depression that never goes away. Its symptoms include lack of energy, weight gain, and increased need for sleep. It is not easily treated and is rarely properly diagnosed. And, you guessed it, it is most prevalent among poor, fat Americans. It is at the back of much of the perceived laziness of this group, and is certainly involved in the food choices made.
I don't know how to fix it, but I thought it should be mentioned.
my job sucks!!! although i am really good at it and promotions have often come my way for an 18 year old its just to much B/S to be dealing with for a 50C raise so although i am better trained then most higher ups, is still like to smoke pot haha!
i know it has not much to do with it but i just figure i should point out you can still be one of the bests worker while enjoying simple thing like ganja ;-)
1) Agave nectar is an expensive source of fructose, which ultimately raises blood glucose (as mentioned above), and it doesn't take much fructose per day to raise the liver's production of cholesterol. Humans have been eating honey a lot longer than any other sweetener and a dab'll do ya.
2) Bananas are a botanical Twinkie, dead last in nutritional value of all fruits, worse than canned fruits; they're just starch/sugar with a bit of fiber and very few nutrients. There are much better sources of potassium, too. And, they're shipped in at great environmental cost.
You're trying to equate fatness with poverty is untrue! I am a school teacher and see skinny poor children in my classroom. You would be surprised as to what they eat. Potato chips, cookies, cheese puffs, donuts and cookies are what they eat in my classroom (brought in from home of course) for breakfast. As mentioned these children are skinny. However what you fail to mention is that this and school lunches may be ALL these children get for the day!
You also fail to mention that food today is laden with MSG (to enhance flavor) corn syrup and high fructose (yes it is even in popular yogurts as well) and other additives also cause obesity!
Even popular "organic foods" have been sneaking corn syrup into their products! It doesn't matter if one is rich or poor check labels!!!
As to fruits and veggies you have to make sure that they are not genetically altered in order to get the best nutrients out of them!!
Interesting subject. I think there has been a good bit of research lately on the relationship between chronic food insecurity and obesity. People who regularly live with the anxiety of intermittent hunger, such as times of the month before they get their food stamps, will later tend to eat more and more calorically dense foods when food is available in an instinctive attempt to stave off starvation. If your metabolism routinely goes through this roller coaster of insufficient food followed by periods with food, it seems you will crave greater amounts of calories. So people will gravitate to the most fatty or sweet foods which are most calorically dense in an unconscious attempt to protect the body from starvation. This feast and famine cycle, particularly with the cheap ultra-caloric foods available today, is believed to be a leading cause of obesity and insulin resistance in the poor.
I was pleased to see that link to the medical journal article that said that the wealthy are obese at equal or greater levels as the poor.
It is always dangerous to try to take a complex problem such as skyrocketing obesity rates and cast it as a simple issue of moral failing in the poor. It is my observation that the qualities that people fear and despise most in themselves are often projected onto a group of designated outcasts, such as the poor.
I love how Kelja just starts going on about holier-than-thou vegans when one person had mentioned it in regards to being worried about her children getting adequate protein, without advocating it to anyone else.
Guess there's no such thing as holier-than-thou carnivores, huh?
hi please help me i want to get my mom a 100 gift card to walmart or any store she likes for her birthday that is coming in 2 months i tired doing survey and earning points to win gift cards but that takes to long do you know any places where in a month i could take a lot of surveys and earn points and win stuff really really fast thanks for your time and help please email me back thank you
And if you need a less philanthropic reason to donate blood, consider that there's a fair bit of evidence that giving blood can help to lower your cholesterol. So, you can do a truly generous thing for others that also serves as a gift to yourself!
I hate to say, but most people I see today are fat, rich or poor. I was Christmas shopping this weekend at the mall (which we never do) and we decided to get some lunch at the food court. My husband and I split a sandwich and a drink and that was fine for us. Meanwhile I looked around at everyone else and could not believe the amount of food they were eating, piled up on their trays. It would have fed us for the entire day. I know this really doesn't have anything to do with being poor b/c oviously if your poor you wouldn't be shopping at the mall, but it just showing people's choices they make.
We are losing huge amounts of top soil every year due to lack of good management. It takes around 100 years to make 1" of soil. This soil makes our food and our biomass, and gets depleted quickly. That's why compost is so important. To think we should burn corn or grasses (biomass) to meet our energy needs is short-sighted. We are moving towards more importing of our food. Great farmland is turning into suburbia. Food made elsewhere, like China does not meet our health standards. Look up soil depletion issues at SARE or the EPA. And read a simple explanation of our food crisis that is coming from either Michael Pollan or Jane Goodall's book. We should not be choosing biomass (beyond wood) as fuel. Food or fuel? Our fuel demands are so high we cannot wisely choose both.
OMG Linsey, I LOVE hot wing flavor! But I'm with you on the eating them delicately thing. These are great ideas! And so super affordable. Great post.
You probably don't watch enough TV to know, but Visa is running a whole series of ads like this right now with the catch phrase Life Takes Visa. They show young, hip people doing a synchronized dance to music buying stuff by swiping a card and then the music comes to a screeching halt when some loser tries to pay with cash. I think we'll be seeing a big uptick in "swipe envy".
Steve Pavlina (http://stevepavlina.com) swears by a hybrid approach. Set an alarm clock for the same time every day, and go to bed when you feel tired. That way you get enough sleep AND establish a consistent sleeping pattern.
I haven't followed all the comments in this thread, so my apologies if someone has already brought this up.
Awhile ago I found this neat website that's meant to encourage such sharing; it's called neighborrow.com. Basically, you sign up for an account and post things you're willing to share. It doesn't look like it's taken caught on very much just yet, but I think it would be really neat if it did. I think they just added a feature to allow private "neighborrowhoods" so at least you can start sharing with your friends...
Welcome to the club! You know I enjoyed writing about a man I met many, many years ago in his pre-billionaire days; what I learned from that research (and a bit I knew already) is that everyone makes mistakes. One of his dad's not-so-great moments (starting and running a bank that became insolvent) helped him create significant wealth. You might also enjoy Bruce Mau's Incomplete Manifesto: my favorite is #34 -- Make Mistakes Faster (allowing me to learn faster!)
Hopefully you'll sell the house and move on to great new things soon.
I was shocked about that study about 56% of people being successful simply asking for a lower rate. One of the biggest problems people have with credit cards is not knowing them well enough. Good Article.
This point is unique in this article. Talking and letting other people know about you is subtly giving away your power to them, there a fine line and requires skill build over time.
Moreover , I have noticed that you just cannot also keep listening people for long.. you need to somewhere step in take active control of the conversation and then once you are done with your short talk , hand them back the control
-Puneet
The last time I went to a dentist, he said I needed $6000 of work. I didn't even have a toothache! They grilled me like I was in a timeshare selling session. I think the dentist just got back from a marketing seminar.
Anyway, I went to another dentist and the work was far different and cost be about $1000 total.
If he ever leaves or dies, I'm in hot water.
Is there any way, other than trial and error, that you can find a decent dentist? One who will not just rip you off?
Wonderful recipe! I have oatmeal most mornings, with peanut butter on top for protein to keep me going till lunch. I will try this 'cookie', with added nuts or PB on top. Thanks!
yes, I have seen people on WIC, food stamps abuse the privilege of free food by buying steak, lobster, (yes, i have seen this), other high-priced foodstuffs. Our tax dollars and my tax dollars go to this. They need to be more self sufficient, cook from scratch, ... I remember how much hunger hurt, physically hurt, and i would never abuse the privilege of free food. Please G-d help everyone get work that pays sufficiently and have time and temperment to cook - and eat - well.
Andrea, you're doing a great job. it's a pleasure to read your comments.
Addiction - I am a recovering addict and part of addiction is trying to fill a bottomless pit that can never be filled! what with food or whatever.
All valid comments, well thought out comments.
Here's mine. I live in NYC. Food is mega expensive. Cooking from scratch helps a lot; self sufficiency is paramount. My husband and I cook mostly from scratch.Fruits and vegs from farmers markets are mega expensive; we look for the cheapest grocery store in our area (look for where elderly and fixed income people shop). (I have been unemployed a long time.)
So, We cook what's on sale; stockup when we can on canned tomatoes, tuna, pasta, beans. go to the bodega for vegs sometime. Drink Bustelo espresso coffee - so good! Who needs starbugzzz?? Check out websites like the dollar stretcher, www.stretcher.com Bake our own cookies. Chickens: 3 meals, chicken and rice and vegs; chicken salad sandwiches and chicken soup from the carcass and onions/carrots/celery broth. peanut butter for protein. Put peanut butter on oatmeal for breakfast, makes it stick to the ribs.
Enuf rambling. Hunger hurts, it physically hurts. thank G-d today I am not hungry and I hope you are not hungry too.
Wow, who knew your post could stir up so much emotion.
I guess it goes without saying that topics of the poor and health are not a simple topic that can be summed up in one article as each persons personal experience will color your perspective of the topic.
However, I personally enjoyed the post as it is always good to be reminded that I need to take a look at my personal life and make sure I am living in a way that is the healthiest for my budget.
I work with a guy whose dad is a dentist, and this is a direct quote from him: "Most dentists are crooks." He says half the time when he looks at a new patient's dental records, and then looks into their mouth, what's actually in there is nothing like what the record says has been done.
Moral: ALWAYS get a second opinion before shelling out thousands for expensive (and likely unnecessary) dental work. Shop around; there are good dentists out there, but you have to be willing to put in the effort to find the right one, as with anything else.
I never post to blogs but I have been reading all of your posts and although some come close, none are as stupid as the series of personal and financial mistakes I have made in the last 10 years. Seems like my bad decisions just kept snowballing. It starts in 1990 with borrowing 25k from my mother to divorce my cheating husband. I gave him 1/2 the value of our little 2 bedroom house in the suburbs that my grandmother had given to me. Plus, I could have and should have fought for a 1/2 of his pension because we had been married 10 years but I did'nt. Back to the house story...I lived in the house for another 10 years after the divorce and made $10k worth of improvements. The taxes were extremely low because the house had always been in the family so I managed to build my savings account to $150K. Then my mom died leaving me about 100k. Then my job changed location and I found myself driving 70 miles back & forth to work. This was stressful so I felt I needed to move closer to my job. I had 250k saved up, and a house I owned... that should be enough right? I decided that I wanted to live somewhere with a lake view and chose to buy an affordable wreck of a lake front house for 160k in the country (50 miles away) with beautiful sunsets, and remodel it. After all, I had a money in the bank and I thought a lakefront home would only appreciate in value...especially newly remodeled, right? I interviewed and subsequently hired a series of architects and builders, all with differing opinions on what should be done. This was the heyday for builders and each nickled and dimed me to death (soil boring tests, septic tests, this that and the other thing) to the tune of around 20k...before any remodeling had even begun. Add to that, fees and permits from the township's building department who (after 9 months of submitting plans, paying for variance permits, soil erosion permits, this permit and that permit and tons of misinformation) said they would not approve a remodel only a new build (more $ for them). I could not get anything done from afar because of all the untrustworthy workers would lie about doing the work so I felt I needed to be closer to the project. So, I sold my nice little, paid for, low taxed, house in the city for $116k and bought a little house for $120k on the same street as the lake wreck to be close to the building project. I managed to find a local builder with 1/2 a brain and so the project began. He made alot of mistakes that me and my partner had to fix and so, to make a long story short, the project took 5 years, alot of sweat equity and cost me every dollar I had plus everything I had earned at my job. This past September we passed final inspection (yippee) and got the occupancy permit. Now, I am virtually broke, living from paycheck to paycheck, and have less than 10k in savings. The taxes on my new house are a whopping 6k per year. To add insult to injury, last week, right before Chistmas, a letter from the tax assessor arrives. They are billing me for back taxes and penalties (12k) because THEY mistakenly gave me a homestead tax credit for this house while it was under construction! The fun never ends! By my calculations, this project has cost me at least 600k already and I can't even afford to even live here. Oh yeah, the job I moved up here to be closer top is losing it's main client and I will be out of a job in April. Plus, this is in Michigan, where the housing market is the worst in the country right now. Also, I hate living in this location with no sidewalks, dirt roads that are always muddy, higher prices on gas and groceries, so I will look forward to selling in the spring and getting the heck out of here, and starting over somewhere else...probably out of this state.
Have you considered how often Depression enters into the fat/poverty mix? Dysthymia is a sort of low-grade depression that never goes away. Its symptoms include lack of energy, weight gain, and increased need for sleep. It is not easily treated and is rarely properly diagnosed. And, you guessed it, it is most prevalent among poor, fat Americans. It is at the back of much of the perceived laziness of this group, and is certainly involved in the food choices made.
I don't know how to fix it, but I thought it should be mentioned.
my job sucks!!! although i am really good at it and promotions have often come my way for an 18 year old its just to much B/S to be dealing with for a 50C raise so although i am better trained then most higher ups, is still like to smoke pot haha!
i know it has not much to do with it but i just figure i should point out you can still be one of the bests worker while enjoying simple thing like ganja ;-)
1) Agave nectar is an expensive source of fructose, which ultimately raises blood glucose (as mentioned above), and it doesn't take much fructose per day to raise the liver's production of cholesterol. Humans have been eating honey a lot longer than any other sweetener and a dab'll do ya.
2) Bananas are a botanical Twinkie, dead last in nutritional value of all fruits, worse than canned fruits; they're just starch/sugar with a bit of fiber and very few nutrients. There are much better sources of potassium, too. And, they're shipped in at great environmental cost.
Thanks so much for the link! This was a great list.
You're trying to equate fatness with poverty is untrue! I am a school teacher and see skinny poor children in my classroom. You would be surprised as to what they eat. Potato chips, cookies, cheese puffs, donuts and cookies are what they eat in my classroom (brought in from home of course) for breakfast. As mentioned these children are skinny. However what you fail to mention is that this and school lunches may be ALL these children get for the day!
You also fail to mention that food today is laden with MSG (to enhance flavor) corn syrup and high fructose (yes it is even in popular yogurts as well) and other additives also cause obesity!
Even popular "organic foods" have been sneaking corn syrup into their products! It doesn't matter if one is rich or poor check labels!!!
As to fruits and veggies you have to make sure that they are not genetically altered in order to get the best nutrients out of them!!
Interesting subject. I think there has been a good bit of research lately on the relationship between chronic food insecurity and obesity. People who regularly live with the anxiety of intermittent hunger, such as times of the month before they get their food stamps, will later tend to eat more and more calorically dense foods when food is available in an instinctive attempt to stave off starvation. If your metabolism routinely goes through this roller coaster of insufficient food followed by periods with food, it seems you will crave greater amounts of calories. So people will gravitate to the most fatty or sweet foods which are most calorically dense in an unconscious attempt to protect the body from starvation. This feast and famine cycle, particularly with the cheap ultra-caloric foods available today, is believed to be a leading cause of obesity and insulin resistance in the poor.
I was pleased to see that link to the medical journal article that said that the wealthy are obese at equal or greater levels as the poor.
It is always dangerous to try to take a complex problem such as skyrocketing obesity rates and cast it as a simple issue of moral failing in the poor. It is my observation that the qualities that people fear and despise most in themselves are often projected onto a group of designated outcasts, such as the poor.
I love how Kelja just starts going on about holier-than-thou vegans when one person had mentioned it in regards to being worried about her children getting adequate protein, without advocating it to anyone else.
Guess there's no such thing as holier-than-thou carnivores, huh?
hi please help me i want to get my mom a 100 gift card to walmart or any store she likes for her birthday that is coming in 2 months i tired doing survey and earning points to win gift cards but that takes to long do you know any places where in a month i could take a lot of surveys and earn points and win stuff really really fast thanks for your time and help please email me back thank you