Obesity in America or Just Eating 'Soul' Food

Obesity in America is a big problem that can from emotional eating or, in another words, perception of food as pleasure for the soul. Overall, if we work together, we can flatten the curve. The CDC states that the popularity of obesity can be decreased with proper education within the family household among adults and children (CDC). Hence feeding them healthy and teaching them healthy habits. CDC also states that lower-income communities are affected more than higher-income families. 

The good news is that there is a supplemental program for people who can not afford to feed their kids healthy, it is called the Women, Infants, and Children Program is also known as the WIC program (CDC/WIC). WIC is a federal program that advocates for healthy living, eating, and education for women with babies and small children up to age 5. WIC also gives education to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding (CDC/WIC). WIC has helped families all over the world feed their children healthy without the stress of not having enough money. WIC has also evolved over the years. When I was getting WIC in 1996 the groceries that they provided was limited to milk, juice, formula, and healthy cereal, but now they are providing fruits veggies, milk, tuna, cereal,l formula, and a whole lot more.    

 In my opinion, some of the obesity problems stem from unhealthy foods and lifestyles that were taught to people in the past. Such as excessive use of salt and sugar, fatty foods like chitterlings and pork fat (lard), fried foods, sweets, and excessive use of butter and carbs. Also known as, soul food which tastes very good but some of that stuff is just really unhealthy and has caused a lot of health problems in people, like clogged arteries, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. These diseases are also known as hereditary diseases which in my opinion, is not the whole truth, because my family has a long history of theses diseases and they all came about in their late 30’s early 40’s due to the unhealthy eating over the years. In my early 20’s I became a CNA and I saw what all of these people were going through including my family members. 

I am 43 years old now and so far I don’t have any health problems and I still eat healthily and exercise regularly. I ate canned fruits and veggies, fried foods, and processed food my whole life because that is what my mom fed us due to the education that she was given in the past. So when I got older I broke that unhealthy chain and started reading labels and became aware of how bad those foods are for a person. I started buying fresh fruits and veggies and making better choices. I found a way to make “Soul food” and regular food healthy and tasty without having an obesity, just so I could be healthy and my kids would grow up with healthy eating habits.

References

• https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-among-WIC-enrolled-young-children.html