Health Issues and Subtle Representation

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Image result for health and fitness

Vulnerable people and places may not be explicitly discussed about how often, but they are represented in the media and in popular culture. Whether that representation is positive or negative depends on the content. When deeply analyzing popular culture, one might start noticing a pattern that young children who are in a low income home or have some sort of undesirable home situation tend to be on the heavier side. Sometimes they are chubby and sometimes they are obese. Looking even deeper, there is a pattern that these children are usually part of a minority — specifically of Latino or African American descent.
A current example of this would be a newly introduced character in the Deadpool movie franchise. In Deadpool 2, we meet Russell, a young Latino kid who has abandoned by his family to get help at an abusive institution. And he was obese. This stereotype may not be as glaring or problematic as older ones, but it shows how there is a connection between vulnerable people and health issues like obesity and diabetes whether we discuss about it often or not.


According to The New York Times, areas with high rates of poverty or low-income families often find themselves in a situation called food desert. This essentially means that there are no grocery stores or supermarkets within these areas that are populated by vulnerable people. Since there is not easy access, families often times lean towards buying processed foods over fresh produce because of the longer shelf life. Although, these food desert areas have been given grocery stores, these low-income families are still opting for unhealthy food choices due to price, shelf life, and the resources needed to prepare it. More needs to done than simply building a grocery store and opening it up in these areas since these families are still not choosing the healthier options.


All families and children deserve the opportunity to live a fruitful and healthy life. Creating closer shops is a great starting point, but more needs to be done — whether that is through educating children more about health and diet or offering up simple healthy recipe cards to these families — because we all deserve to eat the best diet for our bodies.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3482049/

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