Childhood Obesity: Why Are More Poor Children Overweight?

Hi Catherine,

I think this a very interesting topic and I am disappointed to be this late to the conversation. I am a social worker with a lot of experience working with underprivileged youth and their families. The thing I see over and over again is that parents without means lack the education and frankly, attention, to understand and implement the ideas behind healthy eating/healthy lifestyle. They typically don't receive the kinds of quality services and medical care that we receive.

Also, consider their backgrounds. It is my experience that poverty begets poverty and that the obesity issues (and many other major issues affecting poor Americans) are cyclical. I am appalled by the amount of time kids spend in front of the TV (sometimes something that could be changed but is often not because of the complex circumstances in the home).

Lastly, good, healthy food isn't cheap. And cheap, bad food is cheap and ADDICTIVE. It really is. Again, cyclical.

I find that it isn't helpful to blame them, though. The truth is that *most* of these people would love to be under different circumstances but will never get there (at least under present conditions).

If you get a chance, you should read a book called The Working Poor, written by David Shipler.

I totally agree with you Gena. This is a very complex problem, and it's going to require a complex solution.

I'm not sure if this was already pointed out or not...But, up until recently school lunches have been very high in fat, sodium, and calories. This is a big deal, because many low income children receive free or reduced lunch (sometimes breakfast too), that's a lot of unhealthy food in a year. I do believe that this problem is being addressed at this point (although I'm not sure how successfully).

It's all these individual circumstances, that add up to make a pretty big impact on the health and weight of our children. And, I do believe that when you look at each of these problems, it is easy to see how low income children could be more affected.

Thanks for commenting.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
CatherineBlogs ( http://www.catherineblogs.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

I gotta jump in here. This is a complex problem.

Buying what you can afford to feed your kids is one part of the problem. When I was coming up that usually involved a whole lot of rice and beans. And oatmeal.

Now days it is cheaper to have processed food that has a lot of fat and dang near zero nutritional value. Most of these folks know what they see on tv and you got ride of Home Ec so what do they 20-30 year old moms know about nutrition? But lets look at others parts of the problem.

You got ride of sports in schools. You have signs up the ying yang about no skating, no playing in the park. In some neighborhoods it is school to home and home to school. You can't let your kid roam in some neighborhoods.

No sports outside of school except maybe basketball and almost nothing for girl children. Technology in this case is the processed food for the mind and body. This is not a one size blame it all on the mom problem. It has many parts that have to be addressed.

Gena - Out On The Stoop ( http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com )

Come on now. College freshman gain weight because they are away from home and away from being served balanced regimented meals from their mommies for the first time, and only have all-u-can eat meal plan cafeterias to dine in! Free ice cream buffets and so forth. This happens to rich freshman as well. You can still buy cheap healthy food. Loaf of generic wheat bread, bulk ground beef, etc.. these types of items can make tens of meals all week if you're smart. Jeez a huge bag of 20 raw russet potatoes at the market is around $2 and you can't even get a large saturated fatty french fries for that anymore. Little money does NOT equal little brains. It's all education. It starts with the parents!!

http://www.blogher.com/blog/mysecretlife

Lila

Poor people buy cheap food--those oriental noodles that are high in fat but can bought for 10-30 cents a package; packaged macaroni and cheese that can be found for 25-30 cents a box; cheap pizzas, cereal, white bread. If you're poor you will shop at discount grocery places. You will buy what you can get the most of for your dollar. What you can get the most of is carbohydrates and fat.

Why do colllege freshmen gain weight? Because they eat cheap--and because they're usually poor.

Granny Sue
Stories from the Mountains and Beyond
www.grannysu.blogspot.com ( http://www.grannysu.blogspot.com )
susannaholstein@yahoo.com

Oh please. This problem is not a community problem, a fast food problem, a money problem, or an attitude problem. THIS IS A PARENTING problem. You can make cheaper meals at home with smart shopping than you can order in the drive through line. If obesity is in the genes? Exercise, eat smart, communicate, teach healthy habits. 100% parenting. People should stop blaming anything and everyone else. This has nothing to do with being poor.

I work in a alternative high school in a poor neighborhood in NJ and almost 100% of the children there are over-weight or obese. There is no-one to "blame" because in actuality we all are---these children come from homes that are so broken and dysfunctional that they have never eaten a family dinner in their lives and fast food is the cheapest way to get a meal, pre-cooked, without spending too much of their welfare money. The way America treats their poor, by throwing people in jail for small drug charges, not providing therapy and family management, forcing women to work 40 hour work-weeks while they are single-handedly trying to raise a family, is appalling. We need an overhaul of how our society treats our low-income and poor citizens, and we need to forget about excuses like "too much video gaming." These kids don't have money enough to spend over $1.00 on a burger, I don't think video-games are the problem.