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Essay on causes and effects of food insecurity
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About food insecurity
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Did you know that one in five households in the United States are considered to have food insecurity. Food insecurity is described by the USDA as meaning “consistent access to adequate food is limited by the lack of money and other resources at times during the year” (2014). This affects 31 million people in the United States, which includes 15.9 million children under the age of 18. For example, the Walls family in The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls leaves a great example of what it is like to be under these circumstances. Currently, with prices of food rising to an all time high, so does the number of people not able to buy the basic foods they need to live a full life. By increasing spending on food benefit programs in the United States, guarantees less people who suffer from food insecurity.
There are many different kinds of effects that come from not consuming the right amount of the nutrients everyday. Receiving the right amount is key especially for children ages zero to three years old. Some physical effects in early-aged children is the inability to fully develop in growth and their ability to fight infections is very weak. Other physical conditions found in children are chronic health issues such as, asthma and Cystic Fibrosis, also many children find themselves needing to be hospitalized. Mental effects are taken into account as well, because many children experience behavioral consequences and challenges: Children also suffer from anxiety and aggression issues. Young children are not only people affected from lack of nutrients, but adults experience both physical and mental problems too. Adults are not as affected by not getting the accurate amount of nutrients, these ages unfortunately do not get to live a...
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... the increase of funds towards this benefit. But, these programs do not give individuals and families substances for their use or money that people could potentially buy alcohol and drugs with. Also there has been a shift in what kind of people have been needing the help of these programs, as Doug O’Brien says, “now we have children and working families in soup kitchens,” (2000).
Even though there is a very small percentage of people that may take food benefit programmes for granted, millions of people will prosper from this improvement of increased funds. The government and the public should not punish the majority of people for the mistakes of the minority, by keeping funds minimal and sometimes cutting funds as well. If decision makers had food insecurity they would want the increased funds too, it’s the golden rule, treat others how you would want to be treated.
According to the “Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet” on Feeding America’s website, in 2014 there were over 48 million Americans living in food insecure households, which included 15 million children. During the school year, these children rely on free or reduce breakfast and lunch. When the summer vacation months arrive, these children loose the security of these meals. Feeding America, working alongside the United States Department of Agriculture, provide free summer meals to these children. Unfortunately, not all children and families are aware that these programs are taking place; therefore missing out on a vital resource to help stretch their food dollars throughout the summer
In the year 2015, around 40 million U.S. citizens were food insecure (Randall para. 3). Food insecurity can be defined in paragraph 3 by “[having] difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. This 12.7% of American citizens also contains another group - children. Aged 10-17, 6.8 million adolescents struggle with a food insecurity. There have been several years of cuts to the social programs designed to help these people, along with the Great Recession continuing to leave an impact on the U.S. economy (para. 6). Under the Obama administration, $8.6 billion was cut from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. From 1993-2001 under the Clinton administration, former President Bill Clinton’s administration “gutted the welfare system” (para. 15). Because of these budget cuts, the families who rely on food assistance from the government have been allotted less throughout the years. From a sociological perspective, the concepts of sociological imagination, class stratification, and social location are in effect when it comes to child hunger in the United States. Being hungry is an issue larger than any one individual can control.
Whitney, E., DeBruyne, L. K., Pinna, K., & Rolfes, S. R. (2007). Nutrition through the Life Span: Childhood and Adolescence . Nutrition for health and health care (3rd ed., pp. 301-329). Belmount: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Poverty is regarded as the major cause of food insecurity. A household food security depends on access to food. America has access to good healthy food. However, a family too poor to buy them do not enjoy food security. Rosenbaum and Neuberger (2005) report that each year the number of people using government food assistance programs grows. “Food stamps are targeted to those with the greatest need for help in purchasing food… [and] helps to lessen the extent and severity of poverty (Rosenbaum and Neuberger 2005)”.
Doug O’Brien, director of public policy and research at Chicago-based Second Harvest, says “’we’ve seen a real shift in who we serve. A decade ago, there were almost always homeless, single men and chronic substance abusers. Now we have children and working families at soup kitchens’” (Koch). These families that are feeling the effects of food insecurity will not be the only ones affected by it, but all of America.
There are many policy issues that affect families in today’s society. Hunger is a hidden epidemic and one major issue that American’s still face. It is hard to believe that in this vast, ever growing country, families are still starving. As stated in the book Growing Up Empty, hunger is running wild through urban, rural, and even suburban communities. This paper will explore the differing perspectives of the concerned camp, sanguine camp, and impatient camp. In addition, each camps view, policy agenda, and values that underlie their argument on hunger will be discussed.
Failure to thrive (FTT) in children and infants, results from inadequate nutrition to maintain the growth and development. In many cases, FTT is either the result of possible medical issues that the mother or child may be experiencing. It However, in the extreme form, it could become fatal and many times this is the result of a caregiver or parent. In the paper, we will look at the causes, interventions and the impact that FTT may have on families (Shelov and Altmann, 2009, p.614).
The hunger problems in the United States are often exaggerated. We often see news stories of children going hungry or starving kids out on the street. I am not saying those problems do not exists, I am saying they are not as common as the media portrays them to be. There are 50 million Americans classified in poverty, yet only 4% percent of American parents say their children are ever hungry. I firmly believe that no child should go hungry, but 4% is a very small percentage, considering a record high 46 million Americans (1 in every 7 citizens) are receiving food stamps (Kozak). I am aware many families need the support of food stamps to help keep food on the table for their children. I am not convinced, however, that 1 in every 7 citizens need this help. I believe the government could do a much better job of investigating families or making requirements a little tighter to make sure only the people that need these benefits may receive
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Ideally, research indicates that when young children have some form of nutrition deficiency, they may end up having some serious long-term complications. In the recent past, several researchers have realized that if the serious complications in the health of a child secondary to nutriti...
Obesity cannot be fixed without first fixing hunger and poverty. To be healthy it takes healthy foods (including fruits, vegetables, and low fat products) and burning more calories than digesting. Healthy foods can cost a lot of money and push low-income families to eat unhealthier processed foods. Obesity and hunger are connected it can each be connected to poverty. While obesity seems to be the result of too much food and hunger the lack of food, the common issue of poverty must be addressed in order to ease the obesity crisis in the United States.
In conclusion, fighting food insecurity and poor nutrition among low income families, particularly in developing countries, is a complex task. It requires many different strategies as there are many factors influencing hunger and why it occurs. The three strategies chosen are effective on their own, but implemented together will address many more of the determinants causing this issue. The World Food Programmes strategy is a quick fix when solving this problem and is not sustainable, but alongside Oxfam and MicroLoans strategies, they would all make an extremely positive change in how food insecurity looks today.
Child hunger has an extensive history and won’t disappear overnight. It has taken a long time for child hunger to get this bad, and it will take time to even start resolving the issue. According to the USDA, the First Lady proposed Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) will expand the availability of nutritious food to food deserts—low-income communities without ready access to healthy and affordable food—by developing and equipping grocery stores, small retailers, corner stores, and farmers markets with fresh and healthy food. There is a $400 million investment from the government towards this initiative, which will go towards providing tax breaks for supermarkets that open in food deserts.
Hunger and appetite are the two factors that drive our desire to eat. Hunger is the physiological drive to find and eat food. It is controlled primarily by internal body mechanisms, such as organs, hormones, hormone like factors, and the nervous system. Appetite is the psychological drive to eat. Appetite is affected mostly by external factors that encourage us to eat, such as social custom, time of day, mood, memories of pleasant tastes, and the sight of foods (Wardlaw’s perspective, 326). I live in a sorority house with 40+ other girls so who I eat my meals with varies greatly. Everyone is busy with their own schedules so I eat meals alone every once and a while and I also eat meals with 40 other people. Living in the sorority can make it
Malnutrition impacts the development of a fetus into a young child because it has a harmful effect on their cognitive development as the child becomes older. Malnutrition can be defined as lacking proper nutritional value and not eating enough food which is needed for a body to function properly. I believe malnutrition of a fetus, eventually born into a child, will indefinitely make a negative impact on a child’s life mainly due to not receiving the right nutrients and supplements needed to develop an optimally functioning brain and build a healthy structured body.