The causes of our obesity epidemic, especially how it plays out with kids, isn’t just a matter of having access to vegetable gardens and fitness centers.

This may be the case for wealthier areas, for people with spare time, but in lower income areas like Bremerton, there is an economic component that is often overlooked.

The fact is that unhealthy food, the kind that one eats as a matter of habit, which leads to obesity and eventually Type 2 diabetes, is quick and cheap.

These two factors play a much larger role in what is being called an epidemic than many have acknowledged.

When both parents work long hours, sometimes more than one job, and money is still scarce, and the cost of groceries and gas and rent keeps going up, that drive-thru or discount pizza chain can seem like a savior.
It tastes good, the kids like it and parents are able to spend less time cooking and cleaning and more time resting and bonding with their kids.

There is a reason obesity, and its related health problems, tends to favor those in the lower castes. If public policy continues to follow the reasoning that it is because poor people are lazy — if they would just go shopping at grocery stores, if they would just join a gym — the problem will not improve.