Health Foods: Causing Dents in Wallets and in Society

This is a great example of a "super food" that usually only wealthy people can afford to buy. Although MonaVie is not very expensive, $30-$40 a bottle is still out of the price range of most individuals. Each bottle contains roughly around 25 servings and they say that you are suppose to have two each day for maximum benefits. So spending around $35 for a product that will only last around 12 - 13 days and will not fill you up does not seem as appealing as their alternative counterpart - fast food products. This next clip is from a documentary film that came out in 2009 called "Food, Inc.". This five minute clip shows a real family having trouble with choosing from cheap, calorie packed foods and fresh expensive produces and fruits. Going into this clip they will discuss subsidized foods which are specific foods that have partial financial support to help grow and sell their crops at lower prices and quality.

I included the following clip because as a college student, I have come to the same crossroad many of times. I have had to choose between cheap, quick fast food meals or going to the grocery store and buying somewhat healthy foods that I would have to prepare for myself. I can honestly say that I have surrendered and turned to fast food restaurants despite the lack of nutritional values. So when the video mentions that obesity is linked to personal responsibility, I believe that is partially true because there are always other factors and variables that can come into play. The video also mentions that obesity is also due to lack of education and income levels which is what I will write about in my next blog, so come
back next week if you are interested in that. 

SES Gradiant

Fine Dining Food

This blog will introduce the idea of the SES gradient and how that correlates with diet decisions. To begin, the SES gradient stands for socioeconomic status which can include and measure income, assets, occupational status, education, housing conditions, and other aspects that can be measured in life. A gradient is a scale where those with high socioeconomic statuses are at the top and with every step down comes poorer health. There are lots of studies that focus on this topic and support my previous claim about the SES gradient and how it correlates with health. There are many different variables that could affect a person's health, but I will touch upon:

• Stress 
• There are many psychological stresses that could be a key factor to poor health and bad dietary choices. Things like crowding, crime, noise pollution, discrimination, and other hazards or stressors can have a huge affect on someone mentally and physically. 
• Mentally, I feel like there are a lot of people that would be too drained by the end of the day to go buy and cook a nutritious meal for themselves and their families. Turning to quick, cheap meals is solution that is very easy and appealing to go with. 
• Physically, stress can do lots of damage to your body. Human beings chemically produce a hormone called Cortisol which comes from the adrenal glands. The following link will explain more about the functions of Cortisol and how it can have negative effects to your body. http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm. To summarize, stress can have negative effects because it produces high levels of Cortisol which can effect mental functions, aging, cellular functions in tissue, high blood pressure, and many other health issues. 
• Social capital
• This is a sociological concept that refers to the collections a person has within or between social networks. It also refers to the resources that is available within your social networks combined with those people's willingness to help.
• Neighborhoods
• Can play a huge role in mental and physical health. Living in lower class neighborhoods have more disadvantages than meets the eye. The dangers of actually going outside can put stress on parents and children, which in turn will trap them indoors so they can not receive the physical activity that is needed. Also most of these neighborhoods do not have grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables for people to purchase. Schools in these neighborhoods do not educate the kids well enough for them to go out and make the decisions that will keep them healthy.
• Cultures
• Lots of other non-American cultures tend to have more family orientated meals which surprisingly is a pretty big variable to a healthy life-style. The movie "Becoming American" brings some very interesting evidence to that statement.
• Nutritional values of foods served to children at schools. 
• Children in schools are not receiving the nutritional meals they deserve. Most schools are filled with vending machines where children are getting their lunches and snacks from.

Fast Food