Brad is at the NIH all week. He prepared these thoughts prior to his departure.
Previously I wrote "The Cost of Food" linked here. Where I explored the reasons why my family switched to a much healthier diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole foods. Then while pondering why everyone doesn't eat like this three things came to my mind that I wanted to explore further and they are convenience, ability, and poverty.
Poverty has a huge impact on ones health, this has been established.We know that people who live in low income communities have higher rates of diabetes, heart attacks, and struggle more with obesity. We also know that there is less access to whole foods (including fresh fruits and vegetables) in these same communities as well.
I mentioned in my first post in this series that I was finding the cost of food to be very expensive. Even though I was budgeting more money for food now then when I went out to eat all the time I was finding the cost of whole food to be very high. The thing is I have to have them! I am fighting with my body just to maintain my weight. Without fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other whole foods I would have to be eating processed foods that cause me to have a myriad of other health issues (mostly related to pain).
A recent article (link) on this issue written by Hilary Seligman, found that people who were living paycheck-to-paycheck were sometimes running out of money and having to cut back on food. This results in a spike in hospital visits and hospitalization at the end of the month.Why though?
If they have diabetes for instance this lack of money for food could cause you to eat food that was not good for you but was cheap, the result being low blood sugar and a surge of hypoglycemia cases at the end of each month. That's what researchers found when they looked at the numbers for California between 2000 and 2008. Low-income people were 27 percent more likely to be hospitalized for hypoglycemia in the last week of the month than in the first. It turns out the more research they did the more spikes in hospitalizations were found that were related to poor nutrition.
What's the solution? I'm sure a good solution would involve policy changes, addressing social health issues, and local support networks. Since we can't count on congress to do anything why don't we help out locally. Local support networks like food banks, church food closets, and direct person to person intervention are real and tangible ways we can get involved in improving someon's life. So do me a favor...the next time your contributing to a food drive don't hand in your pantry leftovers but instead give good wholesome foods. Who knows it may save someone's life.
Previously I wrote "The Cost of Food" linked here. Where I explored the reasons why my family switched to a much healthier diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole foods. Then while pondering why everyone doesn't eat like this three things came to my mind that I wanted to explore further and they are convenience, ability, and poverty.
Poverty has a huge impact on ones health, this has been established.We know that people who live in low income communities have higher rates of diabetes, heart attacks, and struggle more with obesity. We also know that there is less access to whole foods (including fresh fruits and vegetables) in these same communities as well.
I mentioned in my first post in this series that I was finding the cost of food to be very expensive. Even though I was budgeting more money for food now then when I went out to eat all the time I was finding the cost of whole food to be very high. The thing is I have to have them! I am fighting with my body just to maintain my weight. Without fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other whole foods I would have to be eating processed foods that cause me to have a myriad of other health issues (mostly related to pain).
A recent article (link) on this issue written by Hilary Seligman, found that people who were living paycheck-to-paycheck were sometimes running out of money and having to cut back on food. This results in a spike in hospital visits and hospitalization at the end of the month.Why though?
If they have diabetes for instance this lack of money for food could cause you to eat food that was not good for you but was cheap, the result being low blood sugar and a surge of hypoglycemia cases at the end of each month. That's what researchers found when they looked at the numbers for California between 2000 and 2008. Low-income people were 27 percent more likely to be hospitalized for hypoglycemia in the last week of the month than in the first. It turns out the more research they did the more spikes in hospitalizations were found that were related to poor nutrition.
What's the solution? I'm sure a good solution would involve policy changes, addressing social health issues, and local support networks. Since we can't count on congress to do anything why don't we help out locally. Local support networks like food banks, church food closets, and direct person to person intervention are real and tangible ways we can get involved in improving someon's life. So do me a favor...the next time your contributing to a food drive don't hand in your pantry leftovers but instead give good wholesome foods. Who knows it may save someone's life.
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