Obesity And Immigration

Have you ever wondered what factors lead to weight gain and obesity among immigrants in the United States? Are you aware of how unhealthy eating pattern and diet is affecting the immigrants in the United States? In this age of globalization, people from any corner of the world moving to the United States for improving their lives and for better health, which keeps the immigrants population in the United States growing dramatically since decades. However, there are multiple problems, including in diet and nutrition after people arrive in the USA. In the case of the US, we have immigrants from almost any corner of the world thus leading to food diversity. While the diversity is a good thing, people often do not change their eating habits despite …show more content…
Mostly, all the authors suggested quite similar implications for weight gain and obesity among US immigrants such as unhealthy food choices, eating behaviors, adoption to new dietary patterns, lack of physical activity, education level, socioeconomic status and lifestyle behaviors. Their findings relevant to factors associated with weight gain and obesity are consistent with my experience because of me being one of the immigrants. I did have an experience of gaining more weight after moving to the United States, due to adoption to modern dietary practices and lifestyle changes. Similar to the Bhutanese refugees, I have heard and seen other immigrant groups also been experiencing more weight gain due to very similar reasons discussed above, including being involved less in physical activity, changes in dietary patterns, lack of nutrition knowledge, poor eating habits and unhealthy food selections due to lower education levels and low-income. So, I agree with all the above listed authors who have discussed deeply about the causes and consequences of weight gain and obesity among immigrants in the …show more content…
Moreover, the immigrants need to consult with their doctors from the beginning to check what food is doing to their bodies and if it is good to continue eating the same foods here in the United States. If necessary, they should develop their meal plans by consulting with their doctor or dietitian and reducing high carb foods and replacing with low carb foods. Furthermore, my own personal experiences of living in a refugee camp included a very pathetic lifestyle and limited nutritious food selection. In contrast, here in the United States, there is so much variety that immigrants are consuming excessive amounts of food and gaining excessive weight and experiencing adverse health effects. Many people in my community are neither used to counting calories nor are they aware or literate enough to know about the consequences of having easily available fast foods. They are more interested in driving around the country and doing multiple drive through to get junk food rather than in their own health. Therefore, I will go to my community and do what I can to help people in making good dietary patterns, give the dietary counseling to the