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Poverty And Obesity |
By:
Sara Mendez |
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Poverty And Obesity
Sara Mendez
Going hungry and not being able to provide for a family is bad enough, but now add the worry of making the family obese, then it is an even worse problem. Mississippi is the first state to have 30% obesity among its population in 2006 according to WebMd.com. Mississippi also has a high percentage of people on food stamps and other government assisted food programs. Over the years a trend has developed in obesity, low income families are at a higher risk to becoming obese.
Grocery shopping on than $18.00 a day for a family of four is already near impossible but if you want to eat right and be healthy, this task is impossible. This is the challenge families on food stamps are confronted with daily. A needy family of four can get up to $542.00 a month in food stamp assistance according to fns.usda.gov. Being a smart shopper is key when on this kind of budget. The protocol many poor adults follow is this, buy whatever is on sale, use coupons, buy in bulk and get as much generic as possible. What is not figured into this equation is healthy foods and fresh produce.
A typical middle class family of four spends roughly $600.00 per month on food and more if the foods are organic, low fat, soy based or trans fat free. Many middle class shoppers do not think twice about spending a $1.50 for low sodium soups, or other healthy low fat, trans fat free or soy products. For a poor family, the only thing that matters is how much can they get for their government assisted buck. For example, Ramen noodles are about ten cents a package which means a child can have one a day for a month for around $3.00. While parents are thinking this is a brilliant food item, they are not bothering to look at the nutritional values. One package of Ramen is equal to two servings. Each serving has 194 calories in it and 1960 mg of sodium (82% of our daily value). When it is all said and done that one package of Ramen is really 388 calories and 3920 mg (164% daily value of sodium) of sodium. For many food stamp shoppers, fresh produce is a waste of money. If the item is not eaten right away it will go bad which means money was wasted. So instead they buy fruit snacks packed with sugar, pasta, rice, tacos and greasy chips. These are all things which can be bough for cheap and on a food stamp program and they will not go bad quickly.
In 2007 Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and his wife tried living in $21.00 a week (the food stamp budget in Oregon for a family of two). The governor found he had to say no to organic foods, Swiss cheese, low sodium Progresso canned soups and start saying yes to half a banana, Cup O'Noodles and store brand peanut butter and jelly. A worker for the Department of Health and Human Services in Oregon told the Governor to specifically look for low cost staple items such as macaroni and cheese, beans and rice all of which are high in carbs, fat, calories and far from healthy.
The Federal Nutrition Assistance Program does its best to educate food stamp receivers on healthy living and nutrition but sadly they do not give more money to families to buy healthier items. One of the few ways families in poverty can get healthy meals is through the free lunch/breakfast programs in schools. For children who qualify, they will get a healthy lunch and/or breakfast due to the recent changes to school menus.
The obesity epidemic is out of control as is the poverty level. It is difficult to fix one without fixing the other. Each problem also snowballs into other problems such as healthcare costs, disability cases, and unemployment. Obesity is not just one problem requiring a solution, it is a whole mess of problems which need multiple solutions.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article71475.html |
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