Food Insecurities and Obesity

Many people who are food insecure battle with obesity issues. This is likely due to the fact that highly processed foods, and high fat foods are cheaper than fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. People tend to eat the foods they can afford to buy. So people who live on lower incomes buy more fattening foods and eat more of these foods than people who have larger amounts of money available to spend on food.

Misconceptions are another reason why people who are food insecure are heavier, and more prone to high blood sugar levels. People have the misconception that if they eat brown bread, or brown rice, their blood sugar levels will not spike. So they consume large amounts of the brown rice, and the result in high blood sugar levels. Brown rice and whole grain breads are better for diabetics, but someone with type II diabetes needs to monitor their intake of all starchy foods, including the whole grain varieties.

What is food insecurity?

Food insecurity is defined as being when people are uncertain about whether or not they will have enough food to make it through until the next time they get paid. People who are food insecure may have to miss meals, they may stress over how they will provide meals to their family, and they almost always have to buy cheaper foods, which usually equals less healthy foods.

A1C levels of the food insecure

When a group of people had their A1C levels checked the results showed that the people who were food insecure, at least some of the time during the three months prior to the evaluation of their blood had higher A1C levels than the people who were not food insecure in the three months prior to the test.

An A1C test evaluates the average blood sugar readings of people in the three month time period before the test. An A1C reading of less than seven percent is desired. Many people who are food insecure have readings of higher than ten percent.

Recommended diets

Doctors and health professionals recommend lower carbohydrate diets to people who are diabetic, or to people who are at a higher risk of developing diabetes. The lower carbohydrate diets suggest that you section your dinner plate into four sections. On one fourth of the plate you should put the starchy food, like your potato or rice, then on one fourth of the plate you should have your lean protein, and the other two fourths of the plate should contain fresh vegetables.

People who live on tight budgets cannot afford to eat in this manner because the cheapest foods you can buy are the ones that are high in starch. Doctors and health professionals need to consider the financial status of their patients when they are making dietary recommendations. Doctors and health professionals should make themselves aware of places in their vicinity that help food insecure people make it until the next month.