Why Living in a Poor Neighborhood Can Make You Fat

[ellenrr]

The sheer stress of an environment contributes to obesity and diabetes.

Called “Moving to Opportunity,” the study was designed to answer a question that had divided social scientists and policymakers for decades: Did getting people off of welfare and other forms of social assistance depend on changing their social context?

More than a decade later, the researchers found that a lot of things hadn’t changed. Many people offered housing vouchers didn’t move. The people who did move to better neighborhoods didn’t change their diets or daily lifestyles. Their kids showed no improvement in reading or math scores. And moving didn’t make people any more or less economically self-sufficient, the question the study was designed to answer.

But as the experiment went on, researchers began encountering anecdotal evidence that surprised them. The people who moved out of poor neighborhoods were healthier. When they went back and measured the differences between people who got vouchers and people who didn’t, the results were remarkable: The people who got vouchers to move to low-poverty neighborhoods had significantly lower rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

http://nautil.us/issue/31/stress/why-living-in-a-poor-neighborhood-can-make-you-fat

[madville]

1. I agree with the article, well presented

Stress, activity level, diet, genetic predisposition, and socioeconomic factors all play a role in obesity and related diseases.

I eat a decent diet these days for around $200 a month so it's not economic in that sense for me. I think stress and depression do play a large role in overall health, I didn't really get back into decent shape until I learned to let go of things causing me anxiety and stress. If people feel hopeless they figure why not eat this whole $5 pizza, it briefly comforts them, almost like a sedative.

[ellenrr]

5. I am amazed you can eat decently for $200/month. Do you live on a farm and grow

your own food?
In my state (Northeast) it would not be possible to eat for $200/month.

I agree about letting go of stress and anxiety. I started meditating 2 months ago, and I am so much more balanced.
as a result my diet is better - not perfect, but better.

and when I was very depressed and/or anxious, I would dive into the chocolate ice cream. It is true. food is a sedative.
But it is a brief sedative, and has results we might not like.

better to find another calming thing, like meditation, yoga, exercise, music, art, nature, friends, whatever...

[madville]

8. I eat a fairly consistent menu and buy in bulk

I eat mainly chicken and turkey breast which I get for $1-2 a pound. I buy rice and beans/peas in bulk. Other veggies are inexpensive, especially on sale, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, lettuce, radishes, mushrooms, cabbage, turnips, etc. I stock up on olive oil, natural peanut butter, and nuts when they are BOGO. I buy a bunch of bananas (I love frozen bananas with unsweetened cocoa powder as a dessert) and apples as the sales hit. I scratch make biscuits and cornbread for almost nothing.

I don't grow much these days, just did turnips this fall, it's a wash financially I think if you count the time.

I don't buy any processed food or soft drinks, I drink water, unsweetened ice tea, and black coffee I make at home.

1600-1800 calories a day is what I shoot for. I make lots of soups, chili, and stews and have sides rice or bread.

For example, I can make a big pot of chili with plenty of rice and cornbread on the side for around $10-12 and half of that is the meat cost, easily feeds me 3 days.

[haikugal]

2. K&R! Thanks ellenrr...

Once again we are shown that economics play a huge role in people's lives. The telling thing here is that it turns out that for people of color and poor whites the United States turns out to be the bad neighborhood. Yes, well unless we vote for Bernie that will continue to be true.

Good article.

[ellenrr]

3. haikugal, I hate to be the one to burst yr bubble...

but whoever the president becomes in 2016 - and I do think Bernie is the best of the possible options -
poor people will continue to live in poor neighborhoods
cops will continue to kill Black people
US will continue to drop drones on civilians
climate chaos will continue

We have an executive branch in this country, not a dictator (not even a benevolent dictator). We have a congress and a supreme court.

well.. maybe you already know all this, and just want to use the opportunity to make a plug for your candidate, -- which is fine...

but I hope you do not imagine much will change. The only thing that is certain, is that things could get a LOT worse under another person.

regards,

[haikugal]

4. Excuse me? I didn't say any of what you seem to think I did. nt

[ellenrr]

6. ok. If I mis-interpreted - my apologies...

I thot you said unless we vote for Bernie, poor people will continue to live in bad neighborhoods.

[haikugal]

7. No. I said the entire US is a bad neighborhood for the poor.

Economics is everything. Without a more equitable economy we can't address the problems in this country. Stress is a killer of the mind and the body.

Apology accepted, thank you.

On edit..

I said what I did about Bernie because he is the only candidate, aside from O'Malley, who is working for, or has done anything to correct what has become a feature of US domestic policy. I support the revolution Bernie and his supporters are forming. We will work to change this and it isn't just lip service or only about this election.

[ellenrr]

9. oh, I really misunderstood-- good point that

"the entire US is a bad neighborhood for the poor"
true.

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. My guess is that there are less drug and alcohol

problems as well. This s kind of experiment reminds me of the Rat Park experiment on addiction.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6506936

"The rat is put in the cage all alone. It has nothing to do but take the drugs. What would happen, he wondered, if we tried this differently? So Professor Alexander built Rat Park. It is a lush cage where the rats would have colored balls and the best rat-food and tunnels to scamper down and plenty of friends: everything a rat about town could want.

<snip>

The rats with good lives didn't like the drugged water. They mostly shunned it, consuming less than a quarter of the drugs the isolated rats used. None of them died. While all the rats who were alone and unhappy became heavy users, none of the rats who had a happy environment did."

Change your environment, change your life.

[daleo]

11. Interesting experiment

I think most drug abuse is self-medication, much of it related to dysfunctional social situations. I think that's why even the rich do less well in countries with greater inequality, than they do in countries that share wealth more equitably. Dysfunctional societies are demoralizing, even for those that are not directly affected by deprivation. It is almost a type of societal masochism, to support inequality, even for the rich.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. And that's why the war on drugs doesn't work

You can't address a problem on the supply side. There will always be people willing to import, manufacture and sell drugs as long as there is a demand. The only way to really reduce drug use is to treat it as a health and social environment problem. Improve peoples' environment - housing, education, job opportunitirs - and they are far less likely to turn to drugs and alcohol. When the demand goes down, the dealers go out of business.