The Poverty and Obesity Epidemic Essay -- Poor, Obesity

In the United differentiates, as of 2001, 34% of the population was overweight. (Townsend)Overweight and obesity would bet to be problems associated with the United States wealth andmore than sufficient food supply. Much attention in recent years has been paid to concoursebecoming more physically fit and changing their diets to become healthier. Gastric bypass operating theater has become a popular choice for people onerous to overcome extreme obesity. Theoperation limits food intake by creating a narrow passage from the upper part of the stomachinto the larger lower part, reducing the amount of food the stomach can hold and slowing thepassage of food through the stomach. (NIDDK) The presence of this emphasis on health andnutrition would attend to be the solution to our nations obesity problem. However of thepopulation with moderate food insecurity, 52% were overweight. (Townsend) Food insecurityexists when the availability of nutritionally decorous and safe foods or the abili ty to acquireacceptable foods in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain. Over half of the UnitedStates population with a threat of hunger is overweight. Why would obesity be more prevalentamongst this group of people with fewer resources?Dieting and surgery do not address the problems of the economic groups with the mostsevere weight and nutrition problems. Surgery is expensive, and people with limited resourcesare not likely to demoralize expensive health foods when there are cheaper alternatives that satisfyhunger. The Dollar Menu at McDonalds is certainly less expensive than preparing a wellbalancedmeal. Another ground for obesity in lower income groups is a theory called the foodstamp cycle hypothesis. Food stamps and most paych... ...urity and Obesity in Rural Womenhttp//ruralwomenshealth.psu.edu/s05_colson-cbove.htmlTask office for the Bishops Initiative on Children and Poverty. Community with Children andthe Poor. Nashville, Tennessee Cokesbury, 2003.Townsend, Ma rilyn S., Janet Peerson, Bradley Love, cheryl Achterberg, and Suzanne P. Murphy(2001). Food Insecurity is Positively Related to Overweight in Women. Journal ofNutrition, 131, 1738-1745. The American Society for Nutritional Sciences.http//www.nutrition.org/cgi/ subject field/full/131/6/1738U.S. Conference of Mayors Seduxho USA. Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2004. 3-5,42http//www.usmayors.org/uscm/hungersurvey/2004/onlinereport/HungerAndHomelessnessReport2004.pdfWeil, Andrew. Eating Well for Optimum Health. New York Random House, 2000.Willet, Walter C. Eat Drink and Be Healthy. New york Simon & Schuster, 2001.