A study recently found that a third of the U.S homeless population were obese. That seems contradictory; how can obesity happen in people who live on the streets and have limited access to food? This is what the press release said: “A new study dispels the myth that in general, the homeless are starving and underweight. New research by Oxford University and Harvard Medical School has found that obesity is just as common among the homeless as it is among the general non-homeless population. The study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Urban Health, suggests this could be because cheap foods that are instantly satisfying often contain a high level of fats and sugars. Another reason could be that bodies experiencing chronic food shortages adapt by storing fat reserves.”I want to tell you about my own personal story and how I know for a fact that being poor and hungry does not mean you will lose weight and be skinny. Since I hit puberty, I have pretty much stayed the same weight as I am now. I’m not skinny but I am a healthy U.K. size 10 (U.S. size 6) which is perfectly healthy for my age and height.
When I lost my house and found myself drifting between paid accommodation and sofa surfing, almost four months went by without me having a home cooked meal. I would eat twice a day: a horrible excuse for breakfast that was served at the hotels I stayed at and dinner was usually from KFC or McDonald’s. It was cheap and it was quick. This was the routine most nights. Homeless Life Is Uncertain. When you are homeless, you are in a constant state of uncertainty, you can’t plan the future and you take each day as it comes. This puts you in a constant state of stress and pressure. I wasn’t sure if I would have enough food to eat and most days I did not. My mother and I were living in a hotel in Paddington, London and all of the money we had paid the bills; anything left over we spent on food. When the money ran out I used a store loyalty card to pay for £1 sandwiches, which we shared. This was dinner. When you live that kind of life, with long periods of hunger and then unhealthy food, your body cannot take it and you can end up putting on a lot weight.
Healthy Food Is Expensive. The stuff that is bad for you is also the tastiest and cheapest. A homeless person or even anyone poor is not going to be able to afford whole grains, fruits and vegetables and organic foods. Even stuff that is cheap and healthy requires knowledge of good eating habits and takes a long time to cook and prepare. I was in the supermarket on Sunday and saw that a meal of spaghetti bolognese cost 99 pence; to make that from scratch and make it healthy, without the sugar, the high levels of sodium and saturated fat is not only difficult, but impractical. Unhealthy cheap food is why we have a general obesity problem around the world and when you’re homeless or poor, cheap is all you can have. If you didn’t know, I lived in the hotel for seven months, living in a constant heightened state. I could be asleep in a bed one night and be outside the next. This happened on a weekly basis and I had some pretty close calls. That being said, I was one of the lucky ones. I at least had a place to lay my head.
The last few months of that ordeal required me to be creative. I would buy an already cooked chicken at reduced price at the local shop and it would last a week (we would keep it fresh by placing it on the window sill.That was our fridge). This was our protein source. Instant pot noodles were too expensive so we bought 9p instant noodles and prepared them by boiling water, placing the noodles in a Tupperware container and on top of the radiator to “cook.” Day in and day out. When I ran out of money to even afford this, and that happened frequently, I would spend the whole day walking around the local shopping centre, looking on the ground for pennies, because if I could find 9, I would have a meal for the day. For breakfast and lunch I lived on biscuits and tea. All these foods were unhealthy but they were all I could afford. I thought I would be skinny because I was eating so little, and was constantly hungry. I actually ended up gaining about a stone and a half (20 pounds). My skin broke out with acne and my confidence tanked, making me feel even worse than I already did, because as a young woman you are judged on not just who you are but what you look like and I looked like crap.
People who are rough sleeping are not going to be able to cook and often have to beg for food, and if anyone is kind enough to give something it is usually junk. A lot them look in the trash for food and service providers and soup kitchens often hand out unhealthy sugar laden foods because just being fed is good enough, but being fed well is too much. Someone living on the streets is not going to be able to have access to broccoli or cook a stir fry. They are in a state of constant survival. So this study is not surprising at all to me, the things that seem unlikely about homelessness end up being true.( By Nadia Gomos from www.huffingtonpost.com )