Being Poor

[tca300]

People are happier when they not poor. And dramatically healthier.

Nevermind

 

[Ulysses]

Don't do good with milk or eggs .. to many potatoes don't do my stomach good either.

Everybody else here will tell you not to do it, but if you’re having digestive problems, consider trying a long water fast (5+ days). I did a weeklong one a few years ago and it completely cured my food intolerances, and I was intolerant to basically everything, in that after virtually every meal, I would experience massive inflammation, reflux, and brain fog, no matter what I ate. This went on for years and years, and I tried every solution I could think of: digestive enzymes, glycine, collagen, probiotics, GAPS, FODMAPS, you ******* name it, I tried it, and wasted a lot of time and money in the process, because none of it worked.

Fasting may not be ideal, but after my long fast I was able to resume a normal eating schedule with NO ill effects from eating, whereas before I was basically forced into one meal a day intermittent fasting because eating made me feel so awful that I couldn’t be productive afterwards, hence dinner was the only meal I could afford to eat if I wanted to get anything done.

And even if fasting isn’t ideal, my weeklong fast was years ago, and gave me many days of normal eating. Is a week of fasting really such an enormous deal in the scheme of years?

There are other ways to heal your gut, but they cost money, and having tried a hell of a lot of it, I can tell you from personal experience that none of it will probably work. Fasting costs nothing and was the only thing that healed me. I wouldn’t do it again because there’s no need, but I have no regrets about the one I did. And I know for a fact I’m not “insulin resistant” because I measure my blood glucose after meals on a daily basis.

My logic is that after your digestive issues are fixed if will be much easier for you to construct a good diet with financial constraints, because you will have much greater flexibility.

 

[X3CyO]

This^

I agree. I think that a lot of people have sh*t just stuck up in the digestive tract that just gets compounded by eating atop of it myself included.
Like cleaning dried/burnt starch off an old pan.

Once that is pushed out, then peat approved foods become a great tool for preventing this from happening again.

 

[mayweatherking]

That was actually one of Ray Peat his goals, to create a healthy diet for people without a lot of money.
Milk, Eggs, Potatoes, and Chocolate are cheap foods you can buy in bulk, and are very low in PUFA and high in nutrients.
Orange Juice, Meats and Shellfish if you have slightly more money to spend.

hahahahahahhaha, good one

grass fed eggs are like 7 dollars a carton, good milk can be like 5 dollars per 32 oz, oranges cost like .75 to a dollar per orange, beef oxtail is like 8 dollars a pound, to make a gelatin you need around 4 pounds for a slow cooker

 

[mr_mercer]

Those "money can't buy happiness" claims are always a lot of nonsense for the newspapers to placate the plebes. There is a strong direct correlation between income/wealth and satisfaction that holds up almost however you slice the numbers, all over the world. Even the diminishing marginal utility claims about wealth are not so true; the more the better.

 

[tara]

How to you get healthy when you are poor? Seems like everything healthy is to expensive ..

Hi Jing.
Being poor is stressful. I hope you can get to a situation where you can get enough to meet your needs.
I think it is hard for anyone to give meaningful opinion without context. If you want to tell, what is the trouble with your health, what were eating and doing before now, what have you tried so far to improve it, and which changes seems to help or make things worse?
The diet and lifestyle that will be possible for you and will help you personally recover will be personal. Depends on what foods you can digest and use well, and what you have access to locally.
You can use cronometer or similar to see roughly what you might be getting in your food.

Some cheaper foods that work for me include:

• potatoes
• other roots and tubers as affordable
• fruits and veges in season
• cheap cuts of meat, including some organ meats like liver, heart, kidneys, tongue for variety, but not all the time. Liver is particularly rich in minerals and vitamins, and cheap where I am, but you can overdo it. Look for soup bones etc for making gelatinous broths/soups and stews.
• finding the best of the cheaper fruit juices in the supermarket
• white rice (but not as the majority of carbs)

I buy frozen greens when I can't get affordable fresh ones. Greens are not generally cheap, and at times I've been able to grow them, which is much cheaper and gets gives more control over pesticides etc and fresher produce. If you can find a way to grow kale, chard, spinach or whatever is suitable in your climate, that could be worth the effort. You don't need a lot of space to grow at least some.
Milk and cheese are not great for me, but if they were I'd be using the best of the cheaper versions I can get.

Which foods would work for you depends on your health.

Good luck.

 

[Ulysses]

Those "money can't buy happiness" claims are always a lot of nonsense for the newspapers to placate the plebes. There is a strong direct correlation between income/wealth and satisfaction that holds up almost however you slice the numbers, all over the world. Even the diminishing marginal utility claims about wealth are not so true; the more the better.

Possessing money obviously makes one happier. However, the things many people do to get money (80 hr workweek in high pressure position) outweigh the additional satisfaction conferred by money.

Basically, money makes you happier if you’re born rich, or you’re able to retire early.

 

[mr_mercer]

money makes you happier if you’re born rich, or you’re able to retire early.

Not true at all. The most satisfied people work the longest hours and inherited wealth plays no role. It is the rare idle rich that are drug addicts and have mental health problems. People are happy when they are working hard at meaningful and remunerative tasks.

 

[tara]

Whether or not the 1% or 0.1% are happy is not the OP's problem at this point. I don't think there's much doubt that poverty tends to set people up for a bunch of stress that can be hard on health. Having basic needs met and basic security is helpful for health. Nor can there be much doubt that having poor health makes it harder to get out of poverty.

 

[mr_mercer]

The OP is in a state of learned helplessness he ascribes to poverty. OP oddly refers to himself as poor, almost as an identity. Eating reasonably well while poor is currently trivial in an industrialized country.

OP needs to strive for greater wealth to escape his situation. I said nothing about a figure like 1%. The relationship between wealth and satisfaction increases monotonically, but at even steeper benefit at the lower levels.

 

[YourUniverse]

We know money makes us happier, until a certain point, where extra money adds negligibly to quality of life - I think I remember reading household incomes of $90,000 is about where that maximum happiness marker lies. Im not sure on which currency, I think it may just be nominal. Some places just have higher cost of living, and you'd need that ~$90,000/year to max your happiness.

@lisaferraro I really like your question about how a person can pull themselves out of the poverty cycle. In my personal opinion which should be taken with a grain of salt because I am not wealthy, I think the end of the poverty cycle is to penny pinch, save, and invest in yourself, so you can earn more tomorrow than you did today, and repeat the process ad infinitum until we reach the level of wealth we desire.

Types of self investment I think about are reading, I guess especially non-fiction, taking courses, earning credentials which unlock slightly higher-paying work opportunities, and treating your body truly like a temple so we can generate more energy with maybe less calories. I like the following quote which I think illustrates a general path: "self-discipline is the #1 delineating factor between the rich, middle class and the poor".

Id love if a wealthy person would add some pepper here

 

[lollipop]

We know money makes us happier, until a certain point, where extra money adds negligibly to quality of life - I think I remember reading household incomes of $90,000 is about where that maximum happiness marker lies. Im not sure on which currency, I think it may just be nominal. Some places just have higher cost of living, and you'd need that ~$90,000/year to max your happiness.

@lisaferraro I really like your question about how a person can pull themselves out of the poverty cycle. In my personal opinion which should be taken with a grain of salt because I am not wealthy, I think the end of the poverty cycle is to penny pinch, save, and invest in yourself, so you can earn more tomorrow than you did today, and repeat the process ad infinitum until we reach the level of wealth we desire.

Types of self investment I think about are reading, I guess especially non-fiction, taking courses, earning credentials which unlock slightly higher-paying work opportunities, and treating your body truly like a temple so we can generate more energy with maybe less calories. I like the following quote which I think illustrates a general path: "self-discipline is the #1 delineating factor between the rich, middle class and the poor".

Id love if a wealthy person would add some pepper here

I think this is very wise advice @jamies33. Thank you for sharing. I kind of see your answer in a spiral like motion, starting with the self and spiraling up without losing the self, this preservation coming from conservation.

 

[mr_mercer]

money makes us happier, until a certain point, where extra money adds negligibly to quality of life - I think I remember reading household incomes of $90,000 is about where that maximum happiness marker lies.

False. The more the better.

 

[tara]

The OP is in a state of learned helplessness he ascribes to poverty.

You are arrogantly ascribing your interpretations to the OP. Leave the OP be.

Eating reasonably well while poor is currently trivial in an industrialized country.

No it isn't. Especially not while also unwell. I guess you've not been in that situation, almost certainly not in the OP's situation, about which we have little information. (And if I were the OP I would be reluctant to volunteer any more information given the rude response.)
I suggest you keep your disrespect about OP out of their thread.

I said nothing about a figure like 1%.

You are not the only person on this thread.

Id love if a wealthy person would add some pepper here

How about you make a different thread for that. That is not what the OP has requested help with.

 

[mr_mercer]

You are arrogantly ascribing your interpretations to the OP. Leave the OP be.

No it isn't. Especially not while also unwell. I guess you've not been in that situation, almost certainly not in the OP's situation, about which we have little information. (And if I were the OP I would be reluctant to volunteer any more information given the rude response.)
I suggest you keep your disrespect about OP out of their thread.


You are not the only person on this thread.


How about you make a different thread for that. That is not what the OP has requested help with.

The OPs beat down state is simply plain to see. You're inability to perceive is the relevant question. There is no arrogance involved. The OP needs to rise to the challenge of extracting himself from his current circumstance. Food is not his problem.

This is a big problem. People who seriously need to improve their circumstances fixate on foods and supplements and protocols. This is an obvious case. Sorry you can't realize that.

 

[YourUniverse]

Ok, so do you think just eating white rice, potatoes, cheese, chocolate maybe some eggs would be ok to eat everyday? And orange juice when I can ..

Yeah I definitely think thats OK to eat every day. You mentioned potatoes give your stomach some trouble - do you make sure to thoroughly boil them (they should end up soft)? Potatoes are maybe the most complete food that exists, can be really clutch for a while when money is tight

 

[YourUniverse]

False. The more the better.

Nah, diminishing marginal returns especially beyond 90k, but if you have a source Id love to see it, love to have you change my view

 

[mr_mercer]

The OPs beat down state is simply plain to see. You're inability to perceive is the relevant question. There is no arrogance involved. The OP needs to rise to the challenge of extracting himself from his current circumstance. Food is not his problem.

This is a big problem. People who seriously need to improve their circumstances fixate on foods and supplements and protocols. This is an obvious case. Sorry you can't realize that.

I'm going to go even further out on a sturdy limb and guess this guy is a Chinese immigrant in the west and it's not going so well. Food is almost certainly not his problem. If he intends to stay and enjoy any comfort and success he needs to learn fluent and idiomatic English. From there the sky is the limit. Another prescription might be to go home.

 

[tara]

I'm going to go even further out on a sturdy limb ...

1. Forum Rules
a. Be polite and respectful.

Terms of Service and Rules | Ray Peat Forum

You don't know which country OP lives in, or which is home, or anything about how they come to be in current circumstances.
Regardless of what these might be, or whether any of your guesses are anywhere near the mark, I suggest you stop making rude judgments and being unwelcoming.

As far as I am concerned I would hope that all people would be treated with respect and welcome here, if they wish to participate in the purposes of the forum.

 

[Stramonium]

If it's not too crazy of an idea I'd suggest you move somewhere here in South America where you can get locally grown fruit for not too much money. Honestly I think being filthy rich isn't the answer either, this needy greedy attitude can be stressful. Meeting your nutritional needs and making the most out of your circumstances is where is at. Many people sacrifice their health for money, ideally you would want a job that does not represent too much of an stress to cover your needs and save some. Stay Positive!