The Link Between Poverty, Obesity and Diabetes

[redirish28]

Not having enough food to eat may cause obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Most of us think the chronic disease epidemic is fueled by abundance, but it may be fueled as much by food scarcity and insecurity as it is by excess. And, right now, America is suffering from the highest levels of poverty and food insecurity that it has seen in more than a decade.

In 2008 49 million Americans--including 16.7 million children--lived in a home at risk of not having enough food on the table every day. After working in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, I learned that one in two Haitians wake up every day not knowing where their next meal will come from. But right here in the wealthiest nation in the world, one in five children live in poverty, one in four children live on food stamps, and one in 10 people don't know where their next meal will come from.

The Census Bureau recently reported that the nation's poverty rate increased to 14.3 percent in 2009--the highest level we've seen since 1994. 43.6 million Americans lived below the poverty line in 2009, earning less than $21,954 per year for a family of four or $10,956 for an individual. We now have the highest number of people living on the threshold of poverty in the history of government record keeping.
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I'm not saying this is the case of all people but it would be interesting if this was actually looked into and taken in a serious mannor.

I will say my wife has always been overweight. She has tried diet after diet to lose weight. She can't... When we had a good economy and she was able to cook meals for us and keep good foods in the house. That's when she would try and diet the most... it just doesn't come off and the last diet she was on she ended up gaining weight. When we sit down to eat a meal she eats half of what I eat. She is the daughter of a single mother who did struggle to put food on the table every day. She would sometimes live off of sandwiches. I noticed when our budget is tight where we have very little food for the week she will eat unhealthy or buy junk food for herself to live off us and tends to give me the better food because I've been type one Diabetic since I was 18 months old.

I seiously wonder if her upbringing has destroy her body so that it doesn't break things down properly. I in no way am trying to blame her mother either. The woman took care of my wife and sister as well as possible under the situation where she was the only income coming in and for the first 16 years her father was never influence in her life he only had to give a total of $150 support each month for 2 kids.

[Bitwit1234]

1. About two months ago I made a post here on DU

about a lot of people being overweight because they didn't have the correct food to eat. Fruits and a lot of fresh vegetables are priced out of their pocketbook. They have to live on pasta and starchy foods like potatoes etc. In northern MN where I live Kale is a perfect example. Back on the east coast you could be a big bag of greens for 1-1.30 cents a pound. Here you get **4** STALKS of kale for $1.49 a bunch. That wouldn't feed a family. And fruits are so high you just pass them by. How can a family afford to even buy milk for their kids. And they complain about being over weight. That's the cause. People can't afford to eat the right kind of foods. It is all the can do to buy pasta to fill them up.