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Nutrition and human development
Lack of food contributory factors to poverty in the world
Food insecurity in children
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Quadra-Hillside: A Family Community Kitchen British Columbia (BC) is a wealthy province that provides a variety of publicly funded services to its residents, however, in 2011-2012 food insecurity affected nearly 1.1 million British Columbians (BC Center for Disease Control, 2014, Statistics Canada, 2015) and 4.9 percent of Canadian children were living in households that were effected by food insecurity. This is significant because, “children experiencing food insecurity have poorer school performance, and having not learned healthy eating habits in childhood, they face additional challenges of healthy living as adults” (Government of Canada, 2015). Therefore, it is essential that local communities look for ways to reduce the food insecurity …show more content…
This is important because statistics show that lone-parent families in Canada have the highest rate of food insecurity (Appendix A) (Statistics Canada, 2015). After conducting a community assessment of the Hillside-Quadra area, it was determined, through personal interviews of residents, that one of the most significant issues affecting the area is food insecurity. “Food insecurity exists within a household when one or more members do not have access to the variety or quantity of food they need due to lack of money” (Statistics Canada, 2015). CK have been implemented by other communities within Victoria and can serve as a public health initiative that benefits the communities they serve (Iacovou et al., …show more content…
Low incomes can contribute to families not being able to meet their nutritional needs — impacting the quality and the quantity of food available for parents and children (First Call, 2015). First call goes on to explain that, often parents will forgo their own nutritional requirements in an effort to ensure their children have enough food. Additionally, researchers in the United Kingdom found that low income, as well as, family dynamics have a profound influence on what a family eats. Therefore, developing strategies that involve the family with meal choice, budgeting, and preparation has many benefits (Mackereth,
Food insecurity is one of the major social problems that we have in our world today. The concern about this problem is the increasing number of people that are beginning to experience hunger more often. “While hunger has long been a public health concern in developing countries, it has received varying degrees of attention in the United States, most notable during the 1930s and 1960s” (Poppendieck 1992). In addition to lack of food, there are consequences that follow. People, especially children, who suffer from food deprivation also undergo some health issues such as malnutrition and obesity, which leads to more health care and hospitalizations. “In the early 1980s, most reports of hunger involved families with children, the elderly, the unskilled and unemployed youth, the mentally ill, the homeless and minorities” (Brown 1992; Nestle and Guttmacher 1992). However, a particular ethnic group that is greatly affected by food insecurities are the Hispanic...
Pollan’s article provides a solid base to the conversation, defining what to do in order to eat healthy. Holding this concept of eating healthy, Joe Pinsker in “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods” enters into the conversation and questions the connection of difference in families’ income and how healthy children eat (129-132). He argues that how much families earn largely affect how healthy children eat — income is one of the most important factors preventing people from eating healthy (129-132). In his article, Pinsker utilizes a study done by Caitlin Daniel to illustrate that level of income does affect children’s diet (130). In Daniel’s research, among 75 Boston-area parents, those rich families value children’s healthy diet more than food wasted when children refused to accept those healthier but
British Columbia (BC) is a wealthy province that provides a variety of publicly funded services to its residents, however, from 2011 to 2012 almost 1.1 million British Columbians and 4.9 percent of Canadian children were affected by food insecurity (Rideout & Kotasky, 2014, Statistics Canada, 2015). Food insecurity goes beyond not having enough to eat but also has an impact on health equity and social justice. “Children experiencing food insecurity have poorer school performance, and having not learned healthy eating habits in childhood; they face additional challenges of healthy living as adults” (Rideout & Kotasky, 2014).
Poverty causes children to be involved in illegal things such as drugs and crime and the people that are involved in these risky behaviours are children. If parents don’t have enough money to support their child, they will be forced to steal- this is linked back to education- if you are unable to earn a decent wage because of lack of education you will be forced to commit a crime. The recent video file by Bergsma touches on this issue with in depth. Bergsma has attempted to show and explain the unawareness of child poverty through a story. The story was about a guy who named Bobby and lives in poverty. Generally, the entire story was criticized from his perspective that how he experienced living in poverty and abandoned his life. In the video, Bergsma (2014) articulates that Bobby has faced hard time in his school life because he doesn’t eat proper and lead to inadequate of nutritious requirements. These all makes his school life worse resembling lack of concentrations and being bullied at school.
Nutrition and food security are among the top 4 social indicators of health in Canada, with limited access to nutritious, affordable food linked to poor health. (*According to the Canadian Medical Association 's What Makes Us Sick? 2013 report.) Food insecurity in Canada*:
Of those, 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individuals’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation, for others it may be for an extended period. Food insecurity due to temporary situations such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children. The Faces of Food Insecurity Food insecurity does not discriminate; it reaches many segments of society (Whitney, DeBruyne, Pinna, & Rolfes, 2007).
In Canada, 1 in 7 people suffer from poverty, this is translated to about 4.8 million people (Just the Facts, 2015). When living in poverty, people are faced with hardships that make it challenging for them to live a proper, healthy life. Living in poverty does correlate with the fact that these families will suffer from a low income. Families that have a low income are more likely to suffer from poor physical and mental health because they are unable to support themselves when it comes to nutrition and cleanly living conditions. Fresh, nutritious, organic foods typically cost much more than freezer and fast foods, charities that help these families do not provide enough fresh foods to maintain a healthy diet, unsanitary living conditions
Food insecurity can be “broadly defined as having limited access to adequate food” (Nguyen, Shuval, Bertmann, & Yaroch, 2015). While one might think that low income individuals who do not know where their next meal is coming from would be thin or underweight, many of those facing food insecurity instead struggle with obesity. This paradox may be a result of the very programs implemented to combat food insecurity in low income families. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal assistance program that gives money to households for food based on income and need. According to a study done by the USDA, “SNAP participants were more likely than income-eligible and higher income nonparticipants to be obese,” with SNAP participants being 40 percent more likely to be obese (2015). The problem is that even though SNAP provides resources to food insecure individuals, the food being provided is not nutritious and is thus contributing to the high rates of obesity in SNAP participants. Healthcare costs and mortality increase as more individuals become obese. Preventing these problems from happening by implementing nutrition education will increase SNAP participants’ health overall and bring down their healthcare costs.
There are many policy issues that affect families in today’s society. Hunger is a hidden epidemic and one major issue that American’s still face. It is hard to believe that in this vast, ever growing country, families are still starving. As stated in the book Growing Up Empty, hunger is running wild through urban, rural, and even suburban communities. This paper will explore the differing perspectives of the concerned camp, sanguine camp, and impatient camp. In addition, each camps view, policy agenda, and values that underlie their argument on hunger will be discussed.
Childhood obesity and diabetes have become increasingly common among youth in our country. Over the last 30 years, obesity among children and adolescents in the U.S has quadrupled from 6 percent to 24 percent, and over 18,000 children are diagnosed with diabetes every year. This can largely be attributed to not having enough access to healthy nutritious foods, such as fresh produce. In most low-income communities families are restricted to the use of small convenience stores and low-quality grocers which are typically not equipped to sell these foods because they cannot afford to purchase them. Almost 90 percent of Americans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. There are many reasons for this, but a major reason is because so many families are food
Research proves that low-income families will shop wherever the food prices are lower, and generally cannot afford to pay for healthful foods. In comparison to the residents of higher income communities, low-income households normally have diets that are higher in meat and processed foods and often have low intakes of fruits and vegetables. Research suggests that people with low socioeconomic status spend up to 37% more on food. This is because of smaller weekly food budgets in addition to poorly stocked stores. Those with lower income are more likely to spend money on inexpensive fats and sugars versus fresh fruits and vegetables that are more costly on a per calorie basis. Healthy foods like whole grain products are more expensive than high calorie junk foods.
...e, H., & Moinpour, C. (2003). Evaluation of strategies used by family food preparers to influence healthy eating, Appetite, 41(3), 265-272.
Canadians work very hard to earn an honorable lifestyle however there are a lot of Canadians the still are not able to feed themselves or their family. Most food banks do not have enough donations that they give to fill people as these events rely on donations and most companies instead of donating they throw away the food causing food banks to have less amount to give to the poor (Alison Howard, 2013). This is a serious issue because people have a wrong perspective of food banks but what they don’t know is that if food companies decide to throw it away instead of donating, this causes food banks to have limited amount of supplies which results to not all individuals getting enough food, harming their dietary intake (Howard & Edge, 2013). The social determinants of this would be associated with low income families not receiving enough nutrition in their diet. This shows that families with low income do not receive enough nutrition and due to low income and lack of education, under these conditions they are unable to provide a proper diet and accept food from food banks. Also, another social statue that plays an important role is unemployment because since some people are not financially stable this causes them to have difficulty providing for their families and end up starving and face critical health conditions in their lifetime, this is one reason food banks are presented as they help provide such families
Alaimo, K., Olson, C. M., Frongillo, E. A., & Briefel, R. R. (2001). Food insufficiency, family income, and
Progress Being Made Food security is a fundamental human right. Although still far from being generally accepted, significant progress is being made. Community and nongovernmental organizations are implementing successful programs against hunger. A number of governments have adopted national policies ...