Obesity and the Economy-Reality of Poverty

It is possible to eradicate obesity irrespective of your financial status or your environment.

The need to put food on the table is everyone’s concern globally. Each passing day the entire humanity gets out all for one assignment that is putting food on the table. Various governments are working round the clock with a view of ensuring that there are favorable conditions for doing business all these efforts are geared towards feeding their respective citizens. Much as billions of dollars is channeled in food security, ascertaining this has been a challenge for many families and governments. So many studies have been conducted world over to ensure that we have healthy and hunger free society with very little progress. It’s because of this disturbing phenomenon that I want to take you through the sad reality of how harsh economic situation is causing the poor their comfort and how the few rich people are also sharing in the problem of obesity.

Food security

Feeding the society is the number one priority of every state down to the family. In the process of doing this some people will have more than enough for them, others will not even be fortunate to have what to eat drawing the line between the poor and the rich. The rich have access to good quality and healthy foods while the poor survive on anything available, to them quality is a luxury they cannot afford. They do not have constant flow of income, majority of them live below the poverty line and can barely afford a single meal let alone the common three triangular meals.

Obesity and the Economy-Limited food budgets and choices

With limited resources the poor has to budget for food and make certain difficult choices. The little they have must take them through the month or the season before they can get another pay or income, this leads to unhealthy behaviors in many ways:

• They spend on food they do it with a lot of caution making sure that they spend on durables to last them the season. In the process of doing this, they choose high fat food with dense energy: foods like sugar, cereals, potatoes and processed meat products, the choice is guided by the affordability and durability than fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meat and fish. Such foods are often not healthy with high risk of weight gain and eventually obesity to their consumers.
• They often live in disadvantaged neighborhood where healthy foods are hard to get. Their environment has a disproportionate number of fast food chains and small food stores providing cheap, high fat foods.
• Economic insecurity-such as problem paying bills, rent may lead to stress making them to eat high fat, sugary foods.

Obesity and the Economy-Restricted physical activities

Good health is not just about eating the right kinds of food, it involve other things including participation in physical activities. These may not be easily available to the poor. Their economic situation does not allow them to access the gym facilities for active physical activities. The absent of continuous body exercise is recipe for weight gain and obesity.

The poor cannot afford organized children’s events outside school making their children to be less active physically. This is evidence because of inflexible work schedule, lack of transportation or unmet needs for child care, poor parents especially the single mothers may find it hard to support extra activities for their children. Leaving kids in front of the television is often all stressed poor parents can manage. This inability is not helpful to the children and as a result of this many children from poor societies suffer from obesity and eventually health complications related to overweight.

Obesity and the Economy-Food deprivation and overeating

• Those who are eating less or skipping meals to stretch food budgets may over-eat when food does become available, resulting in chronic ups and downs in food intake that can contribute to weight gain. Cycles of food restriction or deprivation also can lead to an unhealthy preoccupation with food and metabolic changes that promote fat storage – all the worse when in combination with overeating. Unfortunately, overconsumption is even easier given the availability of cheap, energy-dense foods in low-income communities.
• The “feast or famine” situation is especially a problem for low-income parents, particularly mothers, who often restrict their food intake and sacrifice their own nutrition in order to protect their children from hunger. Such a coping mechanism puts them at risk for obesity – and research shows that parental obesity, especially maternal obesity, is in turn a strong predictor of childhood obesity.

Obesity and the Economy-High levels of stress

• Low-income families, including children, may face high levels of stress due to the financial and emotional pressures of food insecurity, low-wage work and luck of access to health care, inadequate and long-distance transportation, poor housing, neighborhood violence, and other factors.  Research has linked stress to obesity in youth and adults, including (for adults) stress from job-related demands and difficulty paying bills. Stress may lead to weight gain through stress-induced hormonal and metabolic changes as well as unhealthful eating behaviors.  Stress, particularly chronic stress, also may trigger anxiety and depression, which are both associated with child and adult obesity.

Greater exposure to marketing of obesity-promoting products

• Low-income youth and adults are exposed to disproportionately more marketing and advertising for obesity-promoting products that encourage the consumption of unhealthful foods and discourage physical activity.  Such advertising has a particularly strong influence on the preferences, diets, and purchases of children, who are the targets of many marketing efforts.

Limited access to health care

• Many low-income people lack access to basic health care, or if health care is available, it is lower quality. This results in lack of diagnosis and treatment of emerging chronic health problems like obesity.

It’s quite unfortunate that this avoidable health problem is still with us and causing serious suffering to the human race. I don’t know what is ringing in your mind right now that you are a bit enlightened on the risk of obesity as a result of poverty. If you feel discouraged and hopeless for being obese, I have good news for you, at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury all your worries will be sorted out doctor Akoury cares for you and will focus on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. This is something you don’t want to miss if you wish to have your life back and live it to the fullest.

Obesity and the Economy-Reality of Poverty