So here’s the kicker that SO many people forget to consider:
Jobs that pay shit in the U.S., and/or have garbage benefits, are often also the ones that make you move around an extraordinary amount, or have you on your feet for 8-10 hours with a 50/50 chance of being allowed to sit down for 15 minutes.
Both of the activities above illustrate one incredibly important unseen factor: Energy. Use more, eat more, spend more.
Do the math.
Moreover, in these highly stressful positions eating generates the elusive dopamine. Which combined with 15 minutes to shove food down your throat often means sugar, grease, and salt.
HelixDab2@lemm.ee 6 months ago
If you consume less energy, but end up malnourished because you weren’t getting enough micronutrients, then you haven’t really come out ahead, have you? Rickets and scurvy ain’t cool.
lud@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Are there lots of nutrients in cheap food?
HelixDab2@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Lots of calories from fats. Generally poor in micronutrients. There’s very good reasons that you’re supposed to eat lots of leafy vegetables. Multivitamins may stave off the worst effects of malnutrition, but the bioavailability of multivitamins is generally poor, e.g. you can take 100x the necessary daily amount of D3, and still have low levels of vitamin D if you aren’t getting enough time outside in sunlight.
You don’t have to eat perfectly all the time to avoid malnutrition, but if your diet is consistently high in fats and simple carbs–which is what really cheap food tends to be–you’re probably going to have chronic deficiencies.
lud@lemm.ee 6 months ago
So generally just decreasing food intake if you eat primarily bad food isn’t any more dangerous, because 0 nutrients - 0 nutrients is still 0 nutrients.