Poor Nutrition In The United States

In America almost two thirds of the nation is overweight. That is about 79.6 million people who are obese. Fast food is without a doubt the problem why these statistics are so high. According to Shannon Brownlee, a journalist for the Sacramento Bee “ It’s Portion Distortion That Makes America Fat” she mentions how fast food corporations are luring buyers into their offers . In another article by David Weintraub “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home” he focus more on self responsibility rather than fast food restaurants being convenient everywhere you go. In America, the obesity epidemic is caused by the lack of parent not taking full responsibility for their childrens health, as well as fast food industries distorting portion sizes in order to make more

Individuals of higher income levels often have private insurance that allows them to see a physician on a regular basis. These individuals are able to prevent many diseases before they exacerbate. They often eat low fat diets or plant based diets. They are educated on their nutritional health and often make better choices when choosing the different types foods to eat. Due to their income, they can afford to eat healthy food and make healthy food choices. Even though these individuals may be predisposed to certain diseases, their diets prevent them from becoming prevalent in their lives. Due to the individual’s socioeconomic status they make enough money that they don’t stress about the necessities in life. These individuals live in areas such as Roswell, Johns Creek. Alpharetta, Buckhead, Kennesaw, and Stockbridge. Individuals of a poor economic status have limited access to healthcare. These individuals often have Medicaid, Medicare, or no health insurance at all. They often eat diets that are high in fat. Individuals of poor economic status aren’t often educated about eating healthy. They often eat unhealthy because it is too expensive to eat healthy. These individuals often receive government subsidiaries such as WIC and SNAP benefits for themselves and their children. There aren’t many healthy food stores if any at all in these neighborhoods. Stores such as Whole Foods, Sprout, and Trader Joe’s aren’t located in poverty stricken communities because the individuals can’t afford the prices. It is a disadvantage that the grocery chains in the neighborhood don’t offer the resident a healthier option. Individuals of poor economic status often fight chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and often cancer. They often live sedentary lifestyles that contribute to these diseases. They eat diets that are high in red meats one that contributes to

Indeed, Obesity in America is a huge problem that continues to escalate due to fast food chains. Fast food places are everywhere and close range from one another. I don’t even have to walk more than a mile to get to a fast food place. According to Mandal, “Fast foods reduce the quality of diet and provide

Poverty has a direct influence on the type of food that is consumed due to the rising cost of healthier foods, as well as the fact that less healthy, higher calorie foods are typically more affordable (The State of Obesity, 2014). To get a clearer look at the income level of African American families, statistics show that nearly 40% of African American children under 18 live under the poverty line, as well as more than 12% of African American families living with an income that is less than 50% of the federal poverty line (The State of Obesity, 2014). The other predominant issue that aids in obesity in the African American population is the lack of available resources in the form of food options and education. Even with their income status excluded from the equation, African American neighborhoods contain the least amount of supermarkets compared to other neighborhoods (The State of Obesity, 2014). The lack of supermarkets near them makes it difficult to find access to fresher, healthier foods to eat in order to foster a healthier

“Food is life. It is necessity and pleasure, family and community, culture and power.” Food is what lets us take a break during the day, and most importantly, healthy food gets us ready and energized for the busy day ahead. However, many Americans do not have access to healthy foods. Many low-income communities in the inner cities do not have access to healthy foods. Many of these communities live more than a mile away from a supermarket and transportation is often unavailable. Even when transportation is available, or one lives close to a supermarket, purchasing healthy food and fresh produce can be very expensive. Many people end up buying unhealthy food products from their local corner stores, which can’t afford to stock healthy fruits and vegetables like large grocery stores. Lack of access to healthy food is a race issue. Disproportionate access to healthy foods between whites and African Americans is extremely common. The data shows that African Americans have greater health issues and limited access to healthy food. Obesity rates are 50% higher for

“We’re the only nation in the world where all of our poor people are fat”’ (Herbert 323). The truth is that Americans are worried about not having enough food and rather buy food that is much cheaper and that is very unhealthy, the least of their concerns is making sure if the food they buy is healthy or not. ‘The 12 million families represent 11.2 percent of all U.S households. “At some time during the year,” the report said, “ these holds were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food for all their members because they had insufficient money.” (Herbert 323). Low income families cope with not being able to afford healthy food by buying food that are high in calories, low in nutritional values and low in cost. People that have low incomes are more obese than those with high income because people with higher income are able to afford fresh and healthy ingredients without concern of quantity or quality of

Obesity in America has become a huge problem. No one understands why the obesity rate in America is increasing, but we need to stop it. A lot of obesity rates come from poverty stricken families. Since they do not have the income to buy healthy food; they choose the cheapest fast food place to provide for themselves and their children. The fast food industry is the reason for the obesity rates rising higher each year. They are educated enough to know that people who do not have to money to buy healthy meals will depend on their company.

America is a developed, first world nation. The United States as a whole has had access to an ample supply of most healthy food staples since the end of rationing after World War II. ("World War II on the home front: Rationing") Since 1960, however, a health concern has taken a stronghold in America that is just as life-threatening as the food shortages of the 1930s and 40s: obesity. ("Publication of "Health, United States, 2002 With Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans"", p. 29) Americans are obese in greater numbers today than at any time in history. Access to food is greater than ever, yet, access to benefits like the federal government’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and local food sources have done little to solve the problem. (McWilliams) With attention to overcoming food deserts in inner cities, availability of food

According to the surgeon general, obesity today is officially an epidemic. It is a tragedy that these low income families have no other choice but to digest these insanely unhealthy fast-foods on a daily basis. It is also a tragedy how they have very little access to healthy foods in supermarkets and grocery stores. A whole family's life can be affected by how much money they make. Obesity can lead to very severe and deadly illnesses such as artery disease, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and high blood pressure. Low income families should not be around the greasy and unhealthy fast-food restaurants that surround them. There should be more grocery stores and supermarkets carrying healthy foods, at a low price. It is a proven fact that with low income, comes an unhealthier body which leads to

In America more than 35.7% of the population is obese or overweight. (“Overweight and Obesity Statistics”). That is nearly around 78.6 million people in America (‘’Obesity in U.S.’’). Americans are drastically becoming more obese over the years. There are a few americans who practice the habit of physical exercise and many who have a habit of super-sizing. Foods in America are available anywhere and people become overwhelmed when they see food ads. The percentage of our economy who have lower income tend to choose foods that are unhealthy because it's cheaper to afford. This leads to many health problems that people aren't aware of or they choose to disregard it. People who live in lower income neighborhoods maybe not be able to get out

As mentioned before people frequent the fast food locations and have joyous memories within it. (Supersize Me) The Franchise owners conveniently offer special packages to save money and invite the family to indulge in the food. The people take this offer instead of planning a healthy alternative use this as the easiest instead of doing the other option. The government lets this pass and do not attempt to change the culture that surrounded by fast food.American government actually promoted the consumption of it in schools by the option for students to buy the fast food products for lunch.(SuperSize Me) Even a guest speaker who went to the school to talk about obesity promoted the consumption at one of the fast food chains. The franchises connect with the people on a personal level with special promotions to bring new people to spend money. The government lenient and in favor of it in a system that include children with the available option to consume fast food on a daily basis. The people that buy into this and ignore the fact that overconsumption is the cause of obesity. “... content… eating… an industrial food chain...”.(Omnivore’s Dilemma) This cycle could end with the simple solution of the agreement between the contributors to this issue , yet the American society would rather find a cause and blame it for the entire result.

Farming for our food has negative and positive aspects of our health and our environment. Malnutrition and starvation can be resolved with new farming tactics and government-funded movements. The negative aspects of farming are a major cause of the starvation and malnutrition in the United States. New farming advancements and the Government are helping to turn around the issue of starvation and malnutrition.

Citizens have been struggling for far too long, and that is when former First Lady Michelle Obama created her own fresh food initiative, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, was launched and opened supermarkets in close reach to some of the most low-income neighborhoods. Many people would think the opening of closer stores would help the low-income families, but “a 2011 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed no connection between access to grocery stores and more healthful diets using 15 years’ worth of data from more than 5,000 people in five cities” (Gilligan). The problem is not always what it seems to be, and sometimes many people forget that, Bruce McEwan, a researcher in biology believes strongly that there is other things behind low-income families not eating healthy.

The findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which was the most comprehensive study conducted so far in an attempt to document the nutritional status of the United States population, found that low-income children and adolescents are more likely to be obese than their higher income counterparts, also, reports have shown a higher prevalence of obesity among low-income adults. Studies showed that more than one-third of adults who earn less than $15,000 annually were obese, compared to twenty-five percent of adults who earned more than $50,000 a year. Much of this obesity is because of the fact that unhealthy food is a lot cheaper than healthy food.

In the informative article it states that they (the Center for Public Health Advocacy) collected data. The data states that, “Statewide, the center said, 26 percent of schoolchildren are overweight. The numbers ranged from a low of 17 percent in wealthy Orange County Assembly district to a high of 36.8 percent in an inner-city Los Angeles district. More boys(32 percent) than girls (21 percent) were overweight. And more minorities than white children were overweight…” In other words cerian sex, location, race, are more obese than others. This mainly due to the fact that the fast food industries make/establish their stores by the less fortunate, since they must have some type of idea of the income, that they have. I mean fast food is cheap for a reason. Even though these things seem bad and no one can do anything about it, parents can. They can make their children steer clear of all the harmful effects of fast food. Even if they don’t have a lot of money they can still buy some fruits that are cheap at a local grocery store. In the end all roads to obesity lead to