After cuts to food stamps, Trump administration ends government's annual report on hunger in America in act of greater transparency

[essentialsaltes]

“Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure,” Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said on social media.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

The United States is the only country where the poorest are the most obese. Why is that? I assure you it isn't because they are hungry.

 

[Pommer]

The United States is the only country where the poorest are the most obese. Why is that? I assure you it isn't because they are hungry.

Well we won’t (continue to) know how many people are suffering under “food insecurity”, so there’s that.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Well we won’t (continue to) know how many people are suffering under “food insecurity”, so there’s that.

I honestly think they need to bring home economics back into the schools. The problem, in my opinion, is that many people just simply do not know how to make a healthy home cooked meal. So they spend their food stamps money on processed junk food. Have you seen any of the videos of women complaining about the food stamp cuts by showing what they bought at the grocery store and how much it cost? It is insane.

 

[DaisyDay]

Recent origin and evolution of obesity-income correlation across the United States - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

From a gene-culture evolutionary perspective, the recent rise in obesity rates around the Developed world is unprecedented; perhaps the most rapid population-scale shift in human phenotype ever to occur. Focusing on the recent rise of obesity and diabetes in the United States, we consider the...

www.nature.com

One thing that is clear in high-income countries is that, despite decades of economic growth, obesity disproportionately affects the poor—the “poverty–obesity paradox” (Hruschka and Han, 2017). The proportion of obese individuals in industrialized nations now correlates inversely with median household income. This phenomenon is called the “reverse gradient” because it is the reverse of the pattern in developing countries, where higher income correlates with higher body mass. In the United States and other developed countries, lower income households tend to have higher rates of obesity (Hruschka, 2012; Subramanian et al., 2011). In 2015, over 35% of the population was obese in U.S. states where median household incomes were below $45,000 per year, whereas obesity was less than 25% of state populations where median incomes were above $65,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017c). Similarly in Europe today, poor individuals are 10% to 20% more likely to be obese (Salmasi and Celidon, 2017). This pattern is unique to Developed economies; within China, for example, an inverse correlation between income and obesity/diabetes is observed only in the most economically developed regions (Tafreschi, 2015).​

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Recent origin and evolution of obesity-income correlation across the United States - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

From a gene-culture evolutionary perspective, the recent rise in obesity rates around the Developed world is unprecedented; perhaps the most rapid population-scale shift in human phenotype ever to occur. Focusing on the recent rise of obesity and diabetes in the United States, we consider the...

www.nature.com

One thing that is clear in high-income countries is that, despite decades of economic growth, obesity disproportionately affects the poor—the “poverty–obesity paradox” (Hruschka and Han, 2017). The proportion of obese individuals in industrialized nations now correlates inversely with median household income. This phenomenon is called the “reverse gradient” because it is the reverse of the pattern in developing countries, where higher income correlates with higher body mass. In the United States and other developed countries, lower income households tend to have higher rates of obesity (Hruschka, 2012; Subramanian et al., 2011). In 2015, over 35% of the population was obese in U.S. states where median household incomes were below $45,000 per year, whereas obesity was less than 25% of state populations where median incomes were above $65,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017c). Similarly in Europe today, poor individuals are 10% to 20% more likely to be obese (Salmasi and Celidon, 2017). This pattern is unique to Developed economies; within China, for example, an inverse correlation between income and obesity/diabetes is observed only in the most economically developed regions (Tafreschi, 2015).​

I don't see the paradox. McDonalds is cheaper than shopping and Whole Foods. Combine that with a single mother working multiple part time jobs and too tired and little time to cook, you get, "Kids! You are not getting you Ding Dongs unless you finish your pizza!"

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Combine that with a single mother working multiple part time jobs and too tired and little time to cook, you get, "Kids! You are not getting you Ding Dongs unless you finish your pizza!"

And how does Home Ec fix that? There are a lot of factors at play - people don't learn how to cook (though, at the same time, there are so many more resources available for anyone who wants to thanks to Youtube), they work long hours at multiple jobs and simply don't have the time/energy to cook, single-parent households mean that all the work of raising children and keeping up the house falls on one person, food deserts make it difficult to obtain fresh food, etc.

Some of these issues are systemic - wages at the low end of the pay scale not keeping pace with the rising cost of living, a lack of social safety nets that forces people to work multiple full-time jobs just to put food on the table and makes single-parenthood extra expensive (have you seen the cost of childcare lately?) - and just adding cooking classes to high schools isn't going to change that.

 

[DaisyDay]

The United States is the only country where the poorest are the most obese.

No, this is increasingly true among industrialized nations.

Why is that? I assure you it isn't because they are hungry.

The current administration cut the program that subsidized schools getting produce from local farmers. So it's back to highly processed lunches.

I do agree with you about Home Ec for all, not just the girls and Shop for both girls and boys. Life skills go beyond the 3 Rs that way too many people insist schooling be limited to.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

No, this is increasingly true among industrialized nations.

The current administration cut the program that subsidized schools getting produce from local farmers. So it's back to highly processed lunches.

I do agree with you about Home Ec for all, not just the girls and Shop for both girls and boys. Life skills go beyond the 3 Rs that way too many people insist schooling be limited to.

Michelle Obama tried that and failed. Try to force feed children healthy food at school, and they throw it in the trash. They preferred spending their money at a vending machine. The solution to healthy eating starts in the home, and is encouraged at the school by teaching the basic culinary skills that mothers used to teach their children.