Obesity Among LA (Emily Waldrup)

Research 
When we think about epidemics what comes to mind is usually a breakout of a virus such as the measles, chicken pox, or AIDS, but what never comes to mind is obesity. Obesity is a rapidly rising epidemic that is rising among the world, especially in America. What is obesity? Obesity is an issue where someone has excessive body fat, or having a BMI over 30. Obesity consequently leads to cardiovascular disease, a range of cancers, and diabetes.  What seems to be common among obesity is that they affect people of low income. According this image, we can see that the highest obesity prevalence lies within East Compton, Inglewood, and south LA, which are low income areas. A study was done to see how the relation between low income and obesity rates. A study among women and their income rate showed that "higher minimum wage showed more underweight in women", meaning less obesity. (

This an huge issue for our healthcare system and causing more debt in medical bills. According to the  California Center for Public Health Advocacy, obesity is costing the state of California around $41 billion dollars a year. Los Angeles spends around $11.9 billion a year from health care costs concerning obesity. This is insane! Obesity is causing people to have so many health issues that they have to constantly visit the hospital racking up medical bills. Obesity is also causing people to become so ill that they can't work, digging the whole deeper for financial instability. Why is the rate of obesity rising so rapidly? I think this has a lot to do with convenience, money, and our social culture. A lot of low income families put a lot of time into work and how easy is it for a parent or an adult to just grab FAST and CHEAP food for themselves and their family. After a long day at work you just want to relax and not meal prep for who know how long, so fast food seems to shed the brighter light. America is a fast past country and as time has progressed, so has technology. We as Americans are living more sedentary lives. "Between 1910 and 1970, the share of people employed in jobs that are highly active like farm workers and laborers fell from 68 to 49 percent." Even today people are much car dependent, rather than expending energy in public transportation." In order to decline obesity rates it's important to provide people with knowledge and help them become more aware. Many people believe it's cheaper to eat fast food all the time, in actuality it's less expensive to grocery shop and prepare meals. America has really lost touch with their relationship with food and the beauty of cooking.

Personal
Obesity and poor eating habits affect me now and in the future. I have a lot of friends who issues with eating poorly and who are battling with obesity. This issue will affect me in the future because I've chosen to study nutrition and plan to be a nutritionist or a registered dietitian. This field of work deals widely with low income families and people who are in a constant battle of eating healthy or finding the knowledge of a healthier pathway. Ever since high school I've been trying to help friends and family members to choose a healthier lifestyle. It hurts me to see people want to try to be healthy and change their ways, but continue to struggle or find motivation within them. I used to visit my mother in Europe in the summer and winter breaks and I would come back to America with a little bit of culture shock. The culture shock was stemmed how much America eats so badly and the size of people in America versus the size of people around Europe, it's very alarming and scary. Being a nutrition major your natural instinct is to truly make a change and really help and understand people battling health issues and obesity. This is an issue that will be live on for a long time, so it's important to take action as soon as possible.

"I'm from Northern California and when I moved to Los Angeles for college I was so shocked to see prevalent obesity was. I'm a soon to be registered nurse so people battling obesity will always be a big concern to me."

-Heather Camerer

"I grew up eating fast food, this was because I grew up in a low income family and the easiest affordable food was fast food. Because I ate so awful when I was younger it kind of changed me and now I'm a gym freak who is constantly obsessing about I eat."

-Devin Deshaun

"I grew in LA and saw a lot of my friends fall into bad eating habits and being less physically active. My whole life I've been eating healthy and I've been trying to influence my friends to try healthier options and become more active such as playing golf, which is actually my favorite hobby."


-Kim Lang

References   

Cutler, D. M., Glaesar, E. L., & Shapiro, J. M. (2003). Why Have Americans Become So Obese? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(3), 93-118.

J, F., & A, N. (2007). Economic policy and the double burden of malnutrition: cross-national longitudinal analysis of minimum wage and women's underweight and obesity. Public Health Nutrition.

J, F. (n.d.). Public Health Los Angeles. In Obesity and Morality Rates in Los Angeles County . Retrieved from http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ha/reports/habriefs/2007/Obese_Cities/Obesity_2011Fs.pdf