Malnutrition: The Role Of Hunger In The United States

For the majority of people in developed countries such as the United States, being “hungry” is simply the pitted uncomfortable feeling you get when you miss a meal. Unfortunately its another story for one of the hundreds of millions who don’t get enough to eat every single day. Being continually hungry and being malnourished are pretty interchangeable. Malnourished means you don’t have the strength, energy, or mental capacity to do even the simplest of tasks. Hunger makes you weak, tired, and unable to concentrate. I can relate to this pretty well when comparing it to dieting and cutting weight during wrestling season. The effects it has on your body are obvious. Work and studying of any kind is exhausting. Your mind is bombarded with …show more content…
The term hunger is a very difficult concept to measure. Hunger is much more involved than just the lack of food. It is a complex interaction between food consumption, access to food, how people cope with their lack of food, and their livelihoods. The difficulty is due to the fact that there is no single international agreement on the standards and simple factors to help measure food insecurity. But in terms of Malnutrition there is such thing. Nutritionists use body weight, height, and the circumference of the upper arm. Food insecurity is more than just a persons consumption of food. There is crucial factors to take into consideration. Understanding how people access food, and whether they will still be able to in the future is important. Additionally, do they produce their own food, or do they have to go out and buy it. People in certain areas of the world may be several hours from any sort of market. Many households go through a “hunger season” every year. This occurs when they have eaten all the food they have produced, and are waiting for there next crop rotation. At the same time other people can encounter food insecurity all year long, which can be connected to their …show more content…
In near future, many of the factors that may effect the problem of food security are unlikely to be influenced by policies or direct action. Its the involvement of people in these policies or in the direct action that will make a difference that we want. Within the U.S. participation in things such as the Food Stamp Program, and in the National School Lunch Program is what’s needed. I think what can be purchased with a food stamp should be much more regulated. My reasoning behind this is that when my brother was going through a tough time and was using food stamps he was able to purchase cigarettes. Thats not benefiting anyone. Even if a place excepts food stamps, there should be only certain products able to be purchased. I think school food program are a very important thing because that can be the best food a child gets all day. In a video I watched in sociology, it showed schools setting up meals for kids that financially qualified to bring home after school for additional meal and also meals to help on weekends. This seems a very productive way to attack hunger and poverty in kids in grade school. Other ways to approach this problem is the involvement and enhanced availability of: emergency food assistance programs, lowering certain food prices, and improving financial management skills can all help