• protist@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    Healthy food is absolutely not a luxury item. I’ll accept the argument that the time to prepare healthy food is a luxury, but in almost every corner of the US you will find basic ingredients (eg rice, beans, carrots, celery, corn, potatoes, pasta) are way less expensive than the pre-prepared slop in boxes in the middle aisles of the store. People are addicted to that sugary shit and actively choose it

      • Robin@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t think those are mutually exclusive. However, it takes energy and willpower to make a choice that goes against the nature of the addiction.

      • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Addiction means you have a strong impulse for it, but at the end of the day you’re still choosing.

    • Jack Riddle@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      “People are addicted” and “actively choose it” are contradictory statements. Addiction is a disease, not a personal failing.

      • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I’d only refute the "active"part.

        You physically choose to locomote towards the counter to make the purchase, you physically choose to lift the cup to your mouth.

        The problem is your own mind is working against you to make that physical choice seem absolutely mandatory, via the importance of chemical signaling

      • gears@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        They still are choosing sugar?

        I’m addicted to nicotine and I actively choose to hit my vape, for example.

      • moriquende@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Agree it’s a disease, but it’s also a choice. You choose to buy a big gulp when you crave it.

    • original2@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I know about the uk but not USA. Food inequality is quite a big problem for low-income households.

      https://www.turn2us.org.uk/T2UWebsite/media/Documents/Communications documents/Living-Without-Report-Final-Web.pdf

      (Millions of Britons live without a freezer or oven)

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8976549/

      (A large number of britons who dont own a car live over a mile from an outlet selling healthy food)

      Etc

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      almost every corner of the US you will find basic ingredients (eg rice, beans, carrots, celery, corn, potatoes, pasta) are way less expensive than the pre-prepared slop in boxes

      Someone never heard about food deserts.

      People are addicted to that sugary shit and actively choose it

      Way to victim-blame both addicts and people with little to no healthy choices available.

      • mob@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Huh, guess I might technically live in a food dessert

        low-income census tracts that are more than one mile from a supermarket in urban or suburban areas and more than 10 miles from a supermarket in rural areas.

        • SuperIce@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          More than 1 mile in suburban areas is extremely common, but I wouldn’t consider most of them to be good desserts.

      • gears@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        However, a number of studies suggest that poor health in “food deserts” is primarily caused by differences in demand for healthy food, rather than differences in availability.

        Low healthy food demand == choosing sugar

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          First of all, that’s one “devil’s advocate however” in an article full of information to the contrary.

          Second of all, I’d be interested in seeing who funded those studies. Lobbying groups for different unhealthy foods as well as grocery stores looking for excuses to not cater to poor people often fund junk studies that say exactly what they want them to. Just like Big Tobacco did and political groups still do.

          Third, addiction still ≠ choice and sugar is more addictive than most narcotics.

    • Thwompthwomp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was also reading an article about nutritional quality of food itself has been declining over the last 50 years. So to get the same nutritional amount, you need to eat more food period.

      There’s also bigger systemic issues about food access that is driving people to “choose” it. Lack of time, cost, availability, transportation all factor in that are beyond a simple idea if a person having a pure choice between two equal (or even somewhat equal) options.

    • onkyo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Many people in the US also live in food deserts where easy access to healthy food IS a luxuary due to simply not being able to buy it where they live or work.