Poverty and Nutrition in America Essay

Unlike diets, eating healthy is a not a temporary solution. Eating healthy and choosing a variety of foods from each food group – grams, proteins, fruits, vegetables and diary combined with routine physical activity can result in a long and healthy lifestyle. When choosing food for one’s family it is important to look for food low in fat and sugar, relatively low in calories, rich in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients important to health.

Imagine your stomach growling, a feeling of emptiness, fatigue, and an inability to concentrate. Most people would associate these feelings with hunger and eat. Unfortunately, many Americans do not have the luxury of eating because of living in poverty. According to the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of people living in poverty rose from 31.6 million in 2000 to 36.5 million in 2006. The number of people living in households facing food insecurity rose from 31 million in 1999 to 35.5 million in 2006. More than 12 million of the people living in food insecure households were children (Labue, 2009). Food America (2017) reports:

Poverty is an issue that can be discussed at great lengths, but the real challenge is finding effective ways to reduce or eradicate poverty. It is important to spend quality time developing approaches to the issue of poverty and how to alleviate it. Individuals living in poverty lead a life of limited opportunities and one of these limited opportunities is access to good quality healthy food. The American Nutrition Association considers this lack of access as a Food Desert defined as, “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas” ("USDA Defines Food Deserts | American Nutrition Association," n.d.). One way in which American’s can work towards a future with less poverty and eventually one with little to no poverty would be to eliminate the existence of Food Deserts.

Poverty tends to impact society on several different levels, whether it may be through the impact of the economy, social effects, education, health, but most importantly malnutrition; which is said to be the most common effect of poverty. Poverty affects millions of Americans by limiting their choices to cheap and unhealthy foods. It also limits the physical access to healthy food choices as it relates to diet costs and reliable access to the proper resources, which in turn creates a direct correlation between poverty which leads to obesity, as well as other diseases.

Hunger is quite common in America. One in six Americans suffers from hunger. A lack of food is not what one would expect in America where food is readily accessible almost anywhere one might be. Sadly, many low-income families simply do not have the money to buy nutritious foods. They also lack the time to cook because they usually have multiple jobs taking up more than half of their day. These people are being forced into eating pre-packaged and boxed foods. Those types of foods lack nutrients and are typically high in fat and sugar. This directly impacts their body. This is a case of you are what you eat. Low-income families feel as if they do not have a choice over what to eat. In reality, they just have to be smarter with their money and learn what foods are affordable and nutritious.

Today’s society is infatuated with the thought of being fit and skinny. Although eating healthy and balanced sounds ideal for most Americans, this can be more difficult than it seems. Because of the number of families living in poverty, eating a nutritious and balanced diet is a tremendous challenge. Healthy foods generally cost more than cheaper, processed foods. Families attempting to make the most of their scarce amount of money will try to stretch their dollar and purchase large quantities of food, disregarding the nutritional value. Many studies show the correlation between obesity and other health issues, with a family’s financial status. Although there are now several ways for today’s society to be healthful, including new diet

Here is food for thought: Is hunger affecting your community? Most of us wake up every day, eat breakfast, go through our usual work routine just to come home and eat dinner without a single thought of anything different. Some of us, however, wake up not knowing when or where our next meal will come. Solano County is not excluded in this situation. Behind the cities and landscapes, there is an abundance of people who cannot afford a sufficient meals for themselves. Impoverished families are facing devastating health conditions since their low wages cannot support themselves to live or eat. Even in the small agricultural land of Solano County, hunger is a severe problem that should not be overlooked.

In the United States, there is a significant number of women and children that live below the federal poverty line and many still live below twice the poverty line (Jackson, 2014). According to the United States Census Bureau (2016), to be considered in poverty, individuals or families meet certain income thresholds based on family size and composition. Based on these thresholds, people in poverty are at the minimum level of income deemed adequate to provide the basic necessities in life. With poverty often comes food insecurity which can lead to a variety of negative effects such as health concerns, increased health care costs, and emotional and social issues (Jackson, 2014; Henchy, Weill, & Parker, 1999). There are a range of nutritional policies in place that help women and children who live in poverty and food-insecure households, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) (Jackson, 2014; Marx, Broussard, Hopper, & Worster, 2010). This paper provides a basic policy analysis of the WIC program.

Food insecurities have a huge factor in a person’s health and well-being. It can act as a barrier to optimal levels of health. Food insecurities are present in the United States due to the unequal access that is present in the country. Whether there is a lack of healthy food that is accessible to that community or the healthy food that is available is not affordable. Many of the foods that are beneficial for people are not always the most affordable. It can turn into a vicious cycle of wanting to provide the healthiest food possible for the household, which can lead to spending more money, and can ultimately result in the inability to provide any type of healthy foods for the household. As a result, the existence of food insecurities leads

To start with, food consumed each day shows emphasis towards the prevalence of obesity in impoverished people. Healthy foods are expensive and unhealthy foods are cheap. When money is tight, families require finding the cheapest foods. These foods are likely higher in calories and processed (Ellen). This shows that poverty-stricken people eat unhealthily compared to rich people in that they tend to choose the cheapest foods. Impoverished people have a certain budget that they need to live by, so they can’t buy the foods they want. This can suggest that cheap foods are high in fat and cholesterol; eating foods like this every day would lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. For instance, if an impoverished person is vegan, their budget would forbid this for the reason that the cost of vegan foods is high. On the other hand, rich people buy expensive, healthy foods as a result of being financially secure. Additionally, People that live in impoverished environments have poor access

Food insecurity rates have soared to unprecedented levels in recent years, becoming one of the most important and high-profile nutrition-related public health issues in the United States (Gundersen, Engelhard, & Waxman, 2014). In the city of Tiffin, there are many people who are hungry and suffering from poverty. Children in many different countries are suffering because they do not have the money to eat and also are unable to get the effective amount of nutritional food for their growing bodies. Poverty and hunger are some of the leading problems in the world today. Even with the advancements the world has come across with agriculture there are still large quantities of people who are unable to eat appropriate amounts of food

When analyzing a certain population with concerns, an individual must consider all factors that lead to a certain outcome. Having an adequate diet and being able to access food is important for development and healthy living (Morin, 2014). Morin (2014) states that food insecurity and security are defined when analyzing the context of a household in terms of a scale. Food security is placed at the high end or near the high end of the scale where there is an ease of accessibility to safe and nutritious foods, no anxiety related to accessing food, healthy eating patterns and being able to attain food without utilizing food banks, stealing or foraging through garbage. In contrast, food insecurity is at the other end of the scale in which food security is low or very low (Morin, 2014). Food insecurity is defined as having a limitation or uncertain availability of food that is nutritional and safe to consume or having a limitation or uncertain way of acquiring food that is acceptable by society (Schroeder & Smaldone, 2015). Assessment in a low-income population group reveals that the issue of food insecurity is one that is most prominent (Brown, Noonan & Nord, 2007). This research shows that food insecurity has a direct relationship with poverty, socio-economic status and low income. Although the issue of food insecurity is global, the focus of this analysis will be on the low-income population in developed countries.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a “lack of access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.” One significant factor that contributes to food insecurity is poverty. Given the relatively high cost of fresh produce and other healthy food, families living at or near the poverty line sometimes

Proper nutrition is one of the most essential elements to being healthy and living a long life. People deal with food every day, and food has been a part of life since the beginning of civilization. What we eat becomes our diet, and our diet plays a major role in deciding how healthy we are and how well our body functions. Without proper diet, our body cannot carry out the functions it needs to perform. Most people have some common knowledge on what is good and what is bad for the human body to consume. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains are some common items people think of when they think of healthy foods. However, it is not enough just to know what foods are good for your body, it is also important to understand why certain foods are

Make healthier nourishment decisions. For getting healthy, the kind of food you eat is everything so verify you eat protein, complex starches and proteins and solid fats consistently and maintain a strategic distance from straightforward starches, sugar, and added substances.