Social And Social Diverty, Poverty And Unhealthy Lifestyles

This perfectly relates to the obesity issue my group is addressing for our MAP-IT project. In Wyandotte County 23.9% of individuals live below the poverty line (Kansas Health Matters, 2017). When families live on low income they are sadly forced to make unhealthy choices because they are cheaper and readily accessible. As seen in the Unnatural Causes documentary (2008) just because someone wants to live a healthier lifestyle it sometimes isn’t easy to do. If individuals don’t have access to transportation or extra cash to spend on healthy food they can’t change their way of

According to Wall Street Journal, “More than 33% of adults who earn less than $15,000 per year were obese, compared with 24.6% of those who earn at least $50,000 per year.” (Izzo 2011) Processed foods such as cheeseburger or French fries tend to be cheaper than buying healthier ingredients and making home cooked food. When people have lower incomes, they do suffer from food insecurity, which is an important connection between poverty and obesity. Two reasons can contribute to obesity: parents are working and are no longer at home with their children and therefore not able to cook balanced meals; and foods with high fat are cheaper than healthy foods.

Having a low income can lead to poor to health, because you won’t have access or opportunities for better health, such as safe homes, nutritious foods and good schools. “Income may not be the strongest risk factor for any particular disease or outcome, but it’s a risk factor for all of them.” (Krisberg, 2017)

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

affects people with limited resources. Perhaps this is because, low income earners are more likely to indulge in unhealthy damaging behaviours such as eating unhealthy food and lack of physical activity (Hubley 2013). If this were the case, Molly might not able buy healthy food or accesses those activities that address her health needs such as the gym and other social networks in her community. All these factors might hinder positive health outcomes.

Obesity is a problem in different areas throughout the world; obesity is a major problem in the United States of America. The food industry in the U.S. has changed. Food is cheaper and easier to access, but food is lower in quality and is massively produced (Kenner, 2008). Food is no longer as hard to come by as it once was and is not as expensive, but healthy food is more expensive and, most of the time, requires trips to the grocery store. In American society today, American are busy and have minimal time to exercise, cooking, or even go to the grocery store. The lower socioeconomic classes are notably affected as a result of individuals and families of lower socioeconomic classes often can’t afford healthy food from local grocery stores

Individuals who live in low-income areas have to rely heavily on fast food and cheap food from convenience stores because it is the only food close and affordable to them. People in poor neighborhoods are, “Confronted with a high concentration of poor diet choices” and, “End up eating a less healthy diet” because, “Few markets” offer, “Fresh fruit and vegetables” (Cortright 1). Even if

According to Dennis Raphael, the conditions that overcome lifestyle activities such as daily smoking, physical activity, and eating habits are living and working conditions an individual endures daily (2016). In Canada, and in many countries just like it, focuses a lot on the biomedical approach which looks at treatment of disease, rather than prevention and the behavioural approach that is every individualized and its main target is to prevent disease through cultivating a lifestyle that encourages activities that work towards it (Raphael, 2016). These approaches aren’t the most effective because people continue to deteriorate as they require to work multiple precarious jobs that have a very poor condition and still not being able to live their fullest potential due to several barriers such as low wages (Raphael, 2016). This has a lot to do with how a society distributes social and economic resources among its citizens which shape the overall health and well-being of these people (Raphael, 2016). The chapter presents various frameworks that correlate with each other to influence health outcomes which all have a lot in common (Raphael, 2016). Such as the materialist framework discusses how the social determinants of health impact individual’s health outcomes by looking at

It is said that obesity can be caused by not knowing how to combat and prevent this common disease before it begins in poverty stricken areas. Additionally the availability of nutritious food choices and the means to have safe active life style are not available to those who suffer from poverty due to financial and educational disadvantages. Obesity is not just a class problem, but financially disadvantaged people that lack access to quality food will inevitably turn to high calorie processed foods that will stretch their food dollar.

102). One might impugn that it is not poverty but lack of education that affects the obesity epidemic. It does not require a mathematician to comprehend that choosing a two dollar case of Honey Buns as opposed to a six dollar bag of apples will equal more food in the refrigerator. Generally, processed foods are more “energy dense” than garden-fresh foods; they contain less water and fiber but more added fat and sugar, which make them both less satisfying and more calorific (Pollan, 2006). Provisions similar to fruits and vegetables contain high water content that permits individuals to feel satiated rather swiftly. Nutritious meals are more expensive, less tasty, and are more time consuming to prepare, fostering unhealthy eating patterns. On special occasions, parents will treat their children to McDonalds where everything is “super-sized”. Adults and children can acquire debauched consumption patterns because they don’t comprehend the quantity they have enthusiastically ingested. Pollan (2006) stated that “Well-designed fast food has a fragrance and flavor all its own, a fragrance and flavor only nominally connected to hamburgers or French fries or for that matter to particular food” (p. 111).

Wealthy people get to go to high end grocery stores meanwhile, poorer families have limited access to grocery stores. The diets of low income Americans have worsened in the past decade, even as the diets of the wealthiest Americans have improved. The diets of poor Americans, have been bad, as the diets of rich people have gotten better. This shows the difference between the two classes, since poor people are limited to places where they can buy healthy food. The study attributed the change to the higher cost of convenient and healthy meals, as well as limited access to quality supermarkets in some poorer neighborhoods.

The primary direct cause of diseases and avoidable mortality in the United States are known as preventable behavioral health-risk factors (i.e. smoking, stress, alcohol and substance abuse) (Mokdad, Ford, Bowman, Dietz, Vinicor, Bales & Marks, 2003). A predominate of behavioral health risk factors demonstrate a differential in correlation of socioeconomic status (SES). The public are well aware of the risk factors identified with smoking, stress, alcohol and substance abuse, yet individuals fail to change their lifestyles to reduce their risk. Also to understand the magnitude that individuals are able to improved risky behaviors, and does SES have variation in the amount of improvement. An individual who is categorize as high SES are more likely to change their behaviors due to their capability of more resource options, but an individual with low SES are less likely due to their limited resource options. Preceding indications of SES and race differences in risky behaviors signify that people’s lifestyles are also socially structured.

Meaning, running studies through the neuro-endocrine, cardiovascular and immune systems for determine how individuals stimulate from chronic low levels of stress. For example, changes in cortisol, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and inflammation. Furthermore, both health-damaging behaviours and violence, for example, may be survival strategies in the face of multiple problems, anger and despair related to occupational insecurity, poverty, debt, poor housing, exclusion and other indicators of low status. These problems impact of individuals social wellbeing and care for others and there selves. Research shows that, in the United Kingdom (UK), 20%-25% of people who are obese or continue to smoke are concentrated among the 26% of the population living in poverty. Additionally, this population are also know with the highest prevalence of anxiety and depression.

It is almost as if we are predisposed to certain attributes to our life depending on our environment. If our surrounding is directly related to our health how can we decrease health disparity? “In 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, the poverty threshold for a family of four was $24,230 (“ How is poverty,” n.d.). We can already see the challenges of providing adequate nutritional value for four people can be, and perhaps the limitation on income is leading to purchasing unhealthier food. While “unhealthy food is about 1.5 dollars cheaper per day” there is still a significant impact if choosing to switch to healthy food, making an alternative food source 550 dollars more expensive throughout the year (“ Eating Heathy vs.

The main social problem is the higher prevalence of heart disease among the poor than the non-poor. This social problem has lead me to the following research question: in the United States, how is poverty associated with the prevalence of heart disease? To answer this question I will define heart disease, why it is an issue needing our attention, and whom it specifically affects. I will then delve into the many social mechanisms that facilitate this trend and show how they all work together to create an environment in which the poor are more likely to deal with heart disease than the non-poor. The mechanisms involved are individual and institutional, meaning that they operate and would have to be addressed at either the individual or institutional level. The individual focused mechanisms include smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, factors from early in life, and mental factors. The institution focused ones include quality of healthcare and lack of access to