Carpio 1

Zuly Carpio
Amy DePaul
Literary Journalism 100
17 February, 2016
Word Count: 1,851
The Relation between Obesity and Income
It is 12:35 p.m. The cafeteria at Foster Elementary in Baldwin Park is almost quiet. Trays
are banging and the lunch ladies are talking to each other making sure everything is ready for
when the students come in. They make sure the empty foam plates are in position, there are
enough Mini Cheeseburgers for the first classroom, the second batch is warming up in the oven
for the other children and that the salad bar is filled with lettuce, ranch, jalapeos, broccoli, and
other healthy options. A couple minutes later, students start to come in.
Along with the Mini Cheeseburgers and fresh salad bar, the children are offered Potato
Rounds. Tomorrows meal will be French Bread Cheese Pizza with Sweet Potato Chunks and
fresh salad bar. The next days meal is Mini Chicken Corn Dogs, Potato Rounds and fresh salad
bar. This menu will repeat itself 8 times throughout the school year with foods such as Crispy
Chicken Sticks, BBQ pulled Pork WG Sandwich and Cheese Pupusas among others.
All the students go through the same process: grab their milk, then the main dish and then
something from the salad bar. The children are required to take a minimum of half a cup of fruit
from the salad bar- doesnt matter if its one fruit or a mixture. Without the half cup of fruit, the
children cannot sit.
I mean the fruit is already on my plate so might as well eat it, says Henry De Luna, a
fifth grade student at Foster Elementary.

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However, not everyone views it the same. The empty trashcans fill with the untouched
fruit and vegetables and empty burger wrappers. After lunch, the children are given 15-20
minutes to play, adding to the 20 minutes they were given in their first recess, and remain the rest
of the day stuck to a chair.
According to a UCLA center for Health Policy Research and California Center for Public
Health Advocacy report conducted in 2010, Obesity has become second only to tobacco use as
the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States. The rise in obesity and
related diseases has led experts to predict a decrease in life expectancy and productivity for
todays youth.
In an attempt to help reduce the number, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture publish Dietary Guidelines for Americans every 5
years, each time amending them to fit the body of nutrition science.
Rosie Martinez, the cook manager at Foster Elementary informs that some of the food
[they] used to give was fattening, but the portion given was a small one. Everything was cups.
If you look at cups of spaghetti, its not that much. Now, we just dont add as much cheese,
salt and bread. If we do give bread, its whole grain.
These are some of the changes that have come from the Food Guidelines. Unlike before,
it is mandatory for the children to get fruit and now it comes in water instead of syrup. Rather
than the chocolate and white milk being whole, now it is 1% for the white milk and non-fat for
the chocolate milk.
Some of the foods continue to be served, but the Food Guidelines have altered them so it
has less calories, salt and sugar. Martinez tells, The chicken nuggets then were higher in fat
content, they were breaded. Now, [the schools] get the ones that are not breaded.

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Besides altering the students food consumption, the State Board of Education requires all
the public local educational agencies to administer the Physical Fitness Test (PFT) to fifth
graders, seventh graders and ninth graders.
The PFT is divided into six sections: Aerobic capacity, abdominal strength and
endurance, upper body strength and endurance, body composition, trunk extensor strength and
flexibility and flexibility.
In the 2014-2015 school year, the California overall summary results concluded that from
the 455,897 fifth grade students that were tested, 29.9 % need improvement in the aerobic
capacity area, 19.4% in the body composition, 26.1% in the abdominal strength, 15% in the trunk
extension strength, 34.6% in the upper body strength and 27.5% in flexibility.
Foster Elementary results showed that from the 90 students that were tested, 30% need
improvement in the aerobic capacity area, 17.8% in the body composition, 17.8% in the
abdominal strength, 22.2% in the trunk extension strength, 36.7% in the upper body strength and
27.8% in flexibility.
Luz Velasquez, a fifth and sixth grade teacher at Foster Elementary, informs that We are
required to complete 200 minutes in 2 weeks. I aim for 2-3 times per week for 35 minutes. I
show YouTube videos on the particular exercises and because healthy eating is important to me, I
talk about this often. I do not isolate these conversations to P.E. While doing P.E., my goal is to
maximize participation. I want all students moving as much as possible. Some games include,
Field Dodge ball or running in preparation for the test. For the time being, we need to squeeze in
the PFT skills.

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The 200 minutes amount to 3 hours and 20 minutes of preparation for the PFT. Though it
is easy to blame the teachers for not dedicating enough time to adequately prepare them, they do
have to learn how to balance it with the rigorous academic goals.
Parents can also be blamed for allowing their children to get to such an unhealthy level.
They have the power to make them play outside, use less technology and control the food they
eat. However, its not as clear cut as it seems. Their income has a lot do to with the selections of
food they bring.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Per capita money income in the past
12 months for Dana Point, a wealthy area in Orange County, was $49,000 while Santa Anas, a
poor area, was $16,374. The relation between obesity and low income communities proves to be
true with the UCLA center for Health center for Health Policy Research and California Center
for Public Health Advocacy findings that Dana Points obesity rate was 20.8% while Santa
Anas was 46.5%. In Los Angeles County, Manhattan Beach, with a per capita of $81,090 has
and obesity rate of 11.3% while Baldwin Park has a per capita of $15,314 and obesity rate of
46.7%.
The establishment of numerous fast food chains also contributes to the problem of
obesity because it is easy access, convenient and more economic than eating at a restaurant on a
budget and in a rush.
In one Baldwin Park Shopping Center, there is 1 Taco Bell at one end of it, 1 Jack in the
box at the other end and 1 McDonalds right in the middle-all facing the street. Across the street
from the Jack in the Box end, there is 1 Yum Yum Donuts, 1 Papa Johns, and 1 Baskin Robbins.
From McDonalds, there is 1 Subway, 1 Wingstop, 1 Starbucks and 1 Chinese Food place.
Across the street from Taco Bell, there is 1 Wendys and 1 IHOP. Down the street from this

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shopping center there is 1 In-N-Out and Carls JR. This is only one of the shopping centers in
Baldwin Park, and its all walking distance from Sierra Vista High School.
According to Zomato, a restaurant search and discovery service, Santa Ana has 12
McDonalds, 3 Little Caesars, 3 Dominos Pizza, 4 KFC and 7 Del Tacos-all in addition to the
unbranded hamburger joints spread out around the city.
Because of this availability to junk food, Santa Ana offers Fit Clubs, provided by Dr.
Ribas Health Club. The recent session is the Winter Fit Club program that runs at Dr. Ritas
health Club Monday-Thursday from 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Among the physical activities, the children
are taught important nutrition facts and are given health status testing with BMI measurements.
Brandon Farmer, the lead fitness trainer in outreach coordinator with Dr. Ribas Health
Club, explains how rather than just lecturing the children about healthy choices and having them
only work out, they try to put things into perspective.
We cater exercise and activities to kind of hit both. So for example, we do whats called
a calorie burn off where well set sticky notes out and Ill have oranges, snickers, pizza and a big
gulp of soda and I go Okay, 100% honesty, what would you choose to eat after school. And I
dont tell them what they are going to do next. They go, grab the sticky and then I go and tell
them Everyone that grabbed the orange, you guys only got one lap out there by the church.
Thats how many calories it takes to burn off an orange. All you people with snickers, 7 laps, get
going. Everybody who had a piece of pizza 8 laps. The big gulp 13 laps to burn off those
calories. So we do demonstrations that cater putting a physical activity to the lesson plan. Put a
concept. Show them rather than tell them.
Even though Baldwin Park has 3 parks and Santa Ana has 32 parks, most children still
spend their time indoors because there is nobody to take them. Eduardo Mairen, father of 1st

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grader Elian Mairen, says Its draining. I have a 10 month old daughter and I spend the
mornings with her and then head off to work at 2 until midnight. My son doesnt get home until
3 and his mom gets home at 5. His mom works an 8-5 shift, then goes home to take care of our
daughter and help my son with his homework. By the time they are done its too late to go to the
park. When the weekend comes around, were both so tired that we just spend the day at home
with the kids.
Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study
of Latino Health and Culture at the School of Medicine, UCLA believes the problem of obesity
comes from assimilation. Bautista argues, What weve noticed is that for a lot of immigrant
parents, going to McDonalds is aspirational. Because it cost the same in Mexico as it does here,
but youre earning about 80% less so its a luxury. So for a lot of immigrant parents its like
Wow, I can give my kids a luxury every week because up until recently they didnt had calorie
counts. They thought they were doing something nice for their children.
There are a lot of things contributing to the obesity problem, but the two main are: not
enough exercise and too much junk food. The schools are doing their part by providing healthier
foods and the teachers are doing their best to have everyone pass the California Fitness Test but
that isnt enough. It is important to create a routine children can apply everywhere that includes
more water, more exercise, more fruits and vegetables while simultaneously making them more
health conscious. A routine that makes drastic changes to their health and is so easy to stick to,
that it becomes part of their daily lives.