The image of hunger, cultivated by international relief agencies, has traditionally been a picture of an impoverished child with a bloated stomach in some faraway nation that we can barely find on the map.
But that sad photo does not accurately reflect America’s hungry, particularly among the homeless population.
A recent study by researchers from Harvard and Oxford revealed an almost paradoxical conclusion: One third of America’s homeless population is obese.
How can people struggling with poverty on the streets, who don’t know when or where their next meal will be, also be battling obesity? How can hungry homeless people be fat?
Doesn’t the idea of overweight homeless Americans just reinforce the perspective that some people within the homeless population are just lazy, and really not hurting or hungry?
In today’s health-conscious American society, carrying extra weight does not mean someone is carrying extra money. Obesity is not a reflection of wealth. In fact, the opposite is often true.
Where do expensive, healthy boutique groceries, like Whole Foods Market, build their stores? In upscale neighborhoods. And who shops there? Skinny people with fat wallets.
Sure, there are overweight Americans with similarly overweight bank accounts, but for more and more people obesity correlates to poverty.
Americans with very low incomes cannot afford the healthy options at Whole Foods Market, so they resort to cheap foods—which are frequently high on carbs and low on nutrients—or frequent trips to fast food restaurants with their 99 cent menus and meals containing thousands of calories.
And for those homeless Americans struggling with extreme poverty, the added problems of depression, sleep deprivation, and stress just exacerbate the fight to stay physically healthy.
Small wonder more and more homeless Americans are becoming obese. They have no money for healthy food, and struggle with living conditions that just make a bad situation worse.
The world of homelessness needs the help of Richard Simmons, that quirky, sometimes obnoxious, but amazingly motivating health guru, to redesign the menus at homeless shelters and teach struggling people how to live healthy lives on small incomes.
Those who work to house homeless Americans preach, “Say farewell to the streets!” Instead, Simmons would preach, “Say farewell to fat!”
Both messages are important.
Photo by A_minor.