Obesity In America

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68.5 percent of adults in the United States of America are overweight or obese (Food Research Action Center 2015). Many of those Americans are living below the poverty line. “Obesity is especially rampant among Americans with the lowest levels of education and the highest poverty rates” (Lee 2012). Whether it be because of the lack of resources or the high levels of stress, the link between obesity and poverty in America is clear. Obesity, by definition, is “a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body” (Merriam-Webster 2016). Obesity is a little more complicated than what the standard definition entails. Obesity is connected to around thirty different diseases (S.S Martin 2005). For example, …show more content…
It is also known that the wealthier a country, the higher the obesity rate. The United States’ obesity rate is 33 percent and it is only going to get worse. While genetics can be to blame for obesity, there is evidence of a person’s environment and socioeconomic status contributing to obesity (Levine 2011). Along with a high obesity rate, the United States of America also has a high poverty rate. The poverty rate as of 2010 was 15.1 percent. To determine whether or not an individual is poor, income must be below the poverty threshold for that person’s family type (National Poverty Center 2010). For a long time, it was believed that if a person was living in poverty, they were not getting enough to eat. To make sure those in poverty were not going to bed hungry, the Food Stamp Act of 1964 came into place. Since the Food Stamp Act was passed, the obesity rate among Americans increased drastically. In the seventies, almost 13 million people used food stamps every year. The percentage of obese Americans was 14.5 percent. Thirty years later, in 2005, nearly 26 million people used food stamps every year. The percentage of Americans who were obese was over 30 percent (Baum …show more content…
While it is possible to buy healthier alternatives, a person can buy more unhealthy food with fewer food stamps (Wilde, McNamara, and Ranney 1999). This can lead to binge eating, which, according to Merriam-Webster, is “uncontrolled compulsive eating.” The person receiving the food stamps will get so much food at the beginning of the month and will begin running out near the end of the month. At the beginning of the next month, the individual might overeat when he or she gets food. The cycle of binge eating can lead to weight gain and eventually obesity (Food Research Action Center
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