The Importance Of Being Healthy Health

In North America more than one in four adults are obese. Those in the lowest income group are more likely to be obese than those who are not in the lowest income group. Most people would assume that these people made the choice to be unhealthy and as a result became obese. Oftentimes these same people also believe that everybody can make an easy decision to be healthy, but in reality there is much more to consider than what lies on the surface of when looking at people’s health. For example, people of low income can not always afford to buy healthy food or quality health care and are often not as well educated. Being healthy should not be a luxury for only those who have the money to support things needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it …show more content…
People of low income spend a higher percentage of their total income on food, but still have less money to spend on their diet than those of higher incomes. When you take into account that although “average food spending in the United States has been estimated at around 11% of income, households in poverty can spend more than 25%” (Darmon & Drewnowski, 2015), you realize that people with low incomes do not make enough money to spend an even higher percentage of income in order to get healthier food. Unhealthy diets that people in low income households eat are characterized by having low cost calories and “there may also be a link between low-cost calories and high obesity rates” (Darmon & Drewnowski, 2015). The diet of low income households may be linked to high obesity rates. This is significant because obesity increases the likelihood of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many other health issues. People in poverty should not have to spend over 25% of their income in order to have healthy diets and prevent. People in poverty should not have to suffer more disease because they can not afford healthy …show more content…
Nutrition education is an “important component of dietary guidance, since less-healthy food choices have also been shaped by the lack of nutrition knowledge” (Darmon & Drewnowski, 2015). In order to fully understand which types of food are healthy or unhealthy a person needs to be taught, people are not born with this knowledge. Also in order for people to decide whether they want to eat healthy or unhealthy food they need to understand the drawbacks of eating unhealthy food. This is a problem because people that live in low income areas do not receive the same quality of education as those who live in higher income areas. Many parents choose their house based on the school district that the house resides in. Less and less parents are able to send their kids to good school districts, because“the desirable school districts are growing fewer in number, and more expensive to live in” (Krugman, 2007). Parents should not have to choose between buying a house they can not afford or sending their kid to a bad school. This choice only increases the gap of income and makes it even harder to escape the lower economic classes. Since children of people in the low income group are not able to attend the best schools they are not taught as well about everything, including health and healthy eating and