Some obese kids in poverty eat too little

[bobbolink]

Some obese kids in poverty eat too little
The Denver Post
Updated: 11/18/2008 08:04:08 PM MST

FORT WORTH, Texas — Researchers have long blamed childhood obesity and diabetes, especially in poor neighborhoods, on too much food and too little exercise.

But new findings from a San Antonio study point to another explanation: Children living in poverty are obese in part because they don't eat enough to meet the daily nutritional requirements needed for cell function and metabolism.

A 9-year-old should consume 1,400 to 2,200 calories daily to sustain growth, said Dr. Roberto Trevino, director of the nonprofit Social and Health Research Center. But in the study of 1,400 inner-city children, 44 percent were consuming less than 1,400 calories, and 33 percent were obese.
"These kids were not eating enough," Trevino said, "and when they did eat, it was all the wrong things."

Missing from diets were four key nutrients: calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. All play important roles, but magnesium is involved in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the body that help to spur metabolism and cell function.
The research was published in this month's Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11017164?source=rss

[truedelphi]

1. Kids need healthy foods and it is hard to get those in their systems

Everyone that thinks it is easy - I don't know.

I remember when my son was in fourth grade, I made him healthy lunches.

I was at work from 9Am to 5:30 PM.

Started noticing that the living room was really really stinky.

Moved the couch away from the wall and discovered over a dozen brown lunch bags festering in their own healthinesss.

Years later, my son just traded healthy things he didn't like in his lunch for not so healthy things. I never imagined that some kids out there would trade carrots for Ding Dongs, but there must be.

[bobbolink]

2. well, that's an interesting motherly observation, but doesn't really have to do with poverty.

Healthy foods cost MORE, and these families can't afford it.

It's that simple.

And that tragic.

[KurtNYC]

16. Junk food is expensive

eg. potato chips 5oz for $2 = $7/lb
vs. baked potato $.69/lb

[PerpetuallyDazed]

25. But it's easier to grab a bag of potato chips than make a baked potato...

Staying healthy is time consuming and requires some preparation.

[KurtNYC]

27. The idea that junk food is cheaper than healthy food is widely accepted and

it shouldn't be. Junk food is more expensive than other foods -- that is why it is heavily advertised.

Your argument about "time consuming" does not address cost. How time consuming is an apple? Even the baked potato is 3 mins in the microwave.

[JeanGrey]

3. You never imagined a kid would trade carrots for a ding dong?

Come on now, you're pulling my leg, right?

[truedelphi]

8. I meant to say, I never imagined that

ANy kid with the Ding Dongs would trade those for carrots!!

Juast goes to show how weird a place Marin County really was!

[JeanGrey]

19. LOL! Boy you had me worried there!

:-)

[1776Forever]

4. Food Sources of Magnesium List.........

Food Sources of Magnesium ranked by milligrams of magnesium per standard amount; also calories in the standard amount. (All are >- 10% of RDA for adult men, which is 420 mg/day.)

http://www.hoptechno.com/bookfoodsourcemg.htm

Food, Standard Amount Magnesium (mg)

Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted, 1 oz 151
Brazil nuts, 1 oz 107
Bran ready-to-eat cereal (100%), ~1 oz 103
Halibut, cooked, 3 oz 91
Quinoa, dry, ¼ cup 89
Spinach, canned, ½ cup 81
Almonds, 1 oz 78
Spinach, cooked from fresh, ½ cup 78
Buckwheat flour, ¼ cup 75
Cashews, dry roasted, 1 oz 74
Soybeans, mature, cooked, ½ cup 74
Pine nuts, dried, 1 oz 71
Mixed nuts, oil roasted, with peanuts, 1 oz 67
White beans, canned, ½ cup 67
Pollock, walleye, cooked, 3 oz 62
Black beans, cooked, ½ cup 60
Bulgur, dry, ¼ cup 57
Oat bran, raw, ¼ cup 55
Soybeans, green, cooked, ½ cup 54
Tuna, yellowfin, cooked, 3 oz 54
Artichokes (hearts), cooked, ½ cup 50
Peanuts, dry roasted, 1 oz 50
Lima beans, baby, cooked from frozen, ½ cup 50
Beet greens, cooked, ½ cup 49
Navy beans, cooked, ½ cup 48
Tofu, firm, prepared with nigaria , ½ cup 47
Okra, cooked from frozen, ½ cup 47
Soy beverage, 1 cup 47
Cowpeas, cooked, ½ cup 46
Hazelnuts, 1 oz 46
Oat bran muffin, 1 oz 45
Great northern beans, cooked, ½ cup 44
Oat bran, cooked, ½ cup 44
Buckwheat groats, roasted, cooked, ½ cup 43
Brown rice, cooked, ½ cup 42
Haddock, cooked, 3 oz 42

[CoffeeCat]

6. Magnesium helps with weight loss?

I've never heard that. Thanks for posting that.

I'm always interested in nutritional information.

[truedelphi]

9. One thing that I know about Magnesium is that without it you crave

All the foods with higher calories that contain chocolate.

So if you are deficient in magnesium, and see some chocolate cake lying around, then
you might wanna go after the chocolate cake. WHile your body would be better served with your having some pumpkin seeds.

[1776Forever]

13. Ooh Pumpkin seeds - I have to try them out - do you roast them?

Thanks! I have hypothyroidism so I fight the weight all the time.

[truedelphi]

20. Yes this is a good time of year to get pumpkins

Just separate the seeds out from the mash. Clean them a bit (I just scrugff them with a clean paper towel)

I put them in an oven that is around 175 degrees.

And watch them over about two thirds an hour.

You can oil up the cookie sheet you put them on and salt and pepper or use other spices.

We sometimes add brewer's yeast to them too. During the rest of the year, you can get pumpkin seeds at the health food store, but they are rather expensive, so we usually just get sunflower seeds there - which are very cheap and very healthy.

[dualitybites]

29. You are right about the sunflower seeds. Eating them raw may be healthier for us

because the roasting process deranges the oil and the other nutrients may be compromised as well.

[mzmolly]

17. Very

interesting TD. :hi:

[bobbolink]

10. From the OP... it stimulates the metabolism.

Which, in turn, has much to do with weight.

[CoffeeCat]

5. That makes perfect sense...

If a child isn't eating regularly, or if he isn't eating enough--his metabolism will
slow to defend against starvation.

If he is from a poor family, he probably doesn't eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies--because
those are very expensive. He's probably getting items off the McDonald's dollar menus, processed
foods, white bread and other cheaper, fatty foods.

His body probably tries to hold onto whatever nutrition he's getting, which probably leads to
more fat storage.

I'm not a physiologist, but I imagine that if you eat little--but it's unhealthy and full of sugar
and fat--you're going to look and feel terrible--and probably still be overweight.

That is so terribly sad about these kids.

[bobbolink]

11. "That is so terribly sad about these kids."

Exactly... especially given that this is the richest country in the world!

Now, take a look at what people are giving to food banks...

sigh....

:cry:

[gateley]

7. This has been a gripe of mine for a long time.

People say disparaging things about the poor being overweight -- and "lazy'.

For 99 cents, you can get a McDonald's double cheeseburger, or an orange. A mother only has a couple of bucks to feed her kid for the day -- which is she going to choose? The cheap stuff that can fill you up (popcorn, too, comes to mind) are the very foods that are unhealthy and will make you gain weight.

Another area in which the poor get the shaft. :grr:

[bobbolink]

12. "Another area in which the poor get the shaft." I appreciate your "gripe"!!

It's sooo very easy to blame.. and we see it right here on DU!

Now, as I said above, take a look at what is being "donated" to food banks...

:cry:

WHAT are WE, as the richest country, going to DO about this????

[wildflower]

14. What would you say are the best things to donate to food banks?

I'm always trying to look for things to donate that have protein and vitamins, and not so much starch. I'm always feeling uncertain because the things I look for may have more nutrition, but they have fewer calories.

So I'm left wondering if I am buying the right things so that they have enough to eat.

For example, I prefer to donate tuna and vegetables rather than several boxes of white pasta. Do you think that's the right thing?

[truedelphi]

21. Tuna is high in mercury & is actually gonna carry warning signs on it soon

In some states.

If you know the right places to shop, salmon in cans can be competitive with tuna. And I think it tastes better too. (We shop at Grocery Outlet here in CA. Before Mark was unemployed, we never did - as I was convinced it was all sub standard. But the store has a lot of organics, including 'Amy's' at rock bottom prices)

Things that will not spoil w/o refrigeration are good too. Apples and boxes of raisins.

Some food banks have refrigerators, so they will take potatoes, onions and other veggies as well.

[bobbolink]

23. Because I need protein and I know food banks get LITTLE protein

I would suggest all of the canned meats.

Too bad it usually won't work to get the fresh, but at least the protein foods... canned ham, etc.

Thanks for asking!

[tosh]

24. Thanks for that suggestion. The grocers around here are more actively

collecting for the food banks this year.

Let's hope it's not just a "holiday season" effort that will disappear in January.

[mimitabby]

15. obese kids

how come there aren't any obese kids in Somalia or India?

[mzmolly]

18. Likely because it's not a feast and famine situation - it's simply famine.

The poor kids in the US are not eating enough most of the time, and when they do eat they eat the wrong things (this according to the article.)

[maryf]

22. K&R and thanks

As a teacher, I'll be sharing this with the nurse at school, et al. Great article, good, albeit so sad, to know. sigh...

[imnothere]

26. I find this study hard to swallow, pardon the pun

I see many poor children who are obese. They are eating at the fast food places and when their parent(s) do go to the store, it's for more junk items usually. This food is very high in fat and therefore calories. However, I believe that because they are eating so many refined carbs, they are not getting enough fiber and are literally 'stuffed.'

We need to educate many people about proper nutrition. We even need to educate some nutritionists about proper diet!

[bobbolink]

28. If you don't care to learn from studies, then there's not much that can help you to understand.

The kind of "oversight" that you are suggesting is very paternalistic.

I know of one food bank that DEMANDS that people attend a "training" on budgeting before they can receive food.

That is VERY insulting to those of us who KNOW how to "budget"... but you can't "budget" what's not there.

If you were on the receiving end of this paternalism, you would understand the humiliation and anger that it causes.

The neeeded "education" that I see is for middle- and upper-class people to be educated in what poor folk live with!

[tosh]

30. One thing you may not have considered...

is that some of these parents are buying "junk items" and processed foods at the store for the simple reason that they cannot afford their utility bills! I see people having a very hard time keeping electricity and gas turned on - heating with *kerosene* and lighting with candles!

I am not trying to trivialize your point about the need for education about nutrition, but the implications of poverty are many, as are the reasons for apparent "obesity".

[dig a pony]

31. These have been my observations on the subject:

I live in a mixed-income area, close to a low-income area, so I see people from there when I travel, as well as walk around town. We have to first define poverty. The low-income people I see have enough to be able to give their kids spending money. You can live in a household considered at poverty level, and if you don't have a car, work, and take advantage of government programs (food stamps, Sect. 8, utilities help), you might actually have a little spending money. I realize that some people are dirt poor and have absolutely nothing. I was talking about the choices people make when they DO have the money. Even middle-class people in America could use a little education about nutrition!

[sandnsea]

32. Do you know how hard it is to get all that?

Particularly Sect 8 assistance? Do you realize LIHEAP pays one, maybe two, months of power? If you're working, Food Stamps might give a family an extra $50. These parents don't have "spending money". They just give their kids money and don't eat or use dishwashing liquid for shampoo or wash clothes in the bath tub or do other things to make up for that $2 spending spree of their kid.

[bobbolink]

33. and some middle-class people could use some education about the reality of poverty!

[xenu loves you]

34. Who is middle-class that you are referring to?

Because I am not middle-class and I believe that too many kids are obese and get enough to eat, but the food they are given by their caregivers is junk.

[bobbolink]

37. the POINT of the OP is not more blaming... it's that not having enough food to eat

causes the metabolism to malfunction.

What we're trying for here is some understanding.

By continuing to just promote the same old prejudices, nothing changes.

The concept of "progressivism" is CHANGE.

[Morpheal]

35. Fat People Tend To Be Insecure - Indicating Society is Sick

When you have constant and persistent conditions of fear in a society, and people are
increasingly insecure within the context of living in that society, many of those people
will respond by consuming more, inclusive of consuming more food. They tend to
become fat not only because that is a natural way the body uses to survive the
anticipated tough times ahead, which always seem to be directly ahead, but it is a
way to emphasize presence, and power. Weight is a form of power for those who
feel too powerless. It is bulk, and presence, when people are ignored, and disregarded.

We all know the term "heavy" when it refers to someone. Something that brings
some respect when respect is scarce.

Social, political, economic, occupational, financial insecurity causes many people to
become fat. Their obesity is a direct response to dysfunctional social conditions and
a society gone wrong. Of course not all people react that way. It is specific to certain
personality characteristics and somewhat genetic, but if you have the predilection of
personality type and genetic type, the reaction to increases of stress, and to increased
insecurity is almost always obesity.

The more obese a society is the sicker it is.

Cheers.

Robert Morpheal

[bobbolink]

36. You have a point. HOWEVER, the point of the OP is that poor folk

often can't afford a healthy diet.

Pointing to "mental illness" causes for poor folk only adds another level of humiliation and exploitation.

If you actually understand what NOT EATING ENOUGH does to the metabolism, you will look at this in a different way.