Do Poverty and Obesity Go Together?

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Fry’s, Wal-Mart, Sprout’s, Whole Foods, Food City, Safeway, with so many choices of where to buy food, how does one decide where to actually grocery shop at. Is the food we buy based on what it will do to our body? When we go to the store are we focused on if this food is healthy or not, or are we concerned about the cost? With the rising cost of healthier foods, and the lowering costs of wages, what is happening in the world around us? Does obesity and poverty go hand in hand? Are the poor getting fatter, while the rich get skinnier? The correlation between obesity and poverty is quite simple, healthier foods are more expensive, and most people who don’t have money don’t have gym memberships and have more of a sedentary lifestyle. When going into any “health food store”, you will notice immediately the price difference between healthy foods and junk foods. Fruits, vegetables, unprocessed foods, organic, and lean meats are all expensive. When you don’t have much money to spend to feed yourself and your family, you are looking at ways to buy the most money for your dollar, not the healthiest foods for your dollar. Unfortunately a bag of carrots doesn’t look as appealing as a bag of chips, most children would rather eat chips as well, and when you can’t buy much food you don’t want to have your children waste any, so you’re going to buy something they will eat. Foods that are highly processed, foods that don’t expire quickly, and most foods that are bought in bulk for a low price, are poor choices of food, and these are the foods that will lead to unhealthy bodies. Sugars, starches, sodium, everything that is in a processed food, just helps fat accumulate on the body, and in the arteries. The more junk and processed foods our bodies consume, the more we crave that type of food. I think once you are in a trend of eating unhealthy things, it is harder to get out of

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