• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
NC Council of Churches

NC Council of Churches

Strength in Unity, Peace through Justice

Get Involved Donate
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Members
    • Covenant Partners
    • Statements
    • Board
    • Careers
  • Voices
  • Our Priorities
    • Partners in Health & Wholeness
      • The PHW Collaborative
      • Focus Areas
    • Eco-Justice Connection
      • Faith
      • Advocacy
      • Energy
      • Environmental Justice
      • Food
      • Global
      • Health
      • Resiliency and Restoration
    • Racial Justice
      • Confederate Monument Removal
      • Reparations to Restoration
    • Criminal Justice Reform
      • Cash Bail Reform
      • Death Penalty Abolition
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Workers’ Rights
      • Paid Sick Leave / Paid Family Leave
      • Raising Wages
    • Overdose Response
    • Legislative Advocacy
    • Healthcare Justice
    • Farmworkers
    • Public Education
  • In the News
    • NCCC in the News
    • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Resources

Search NC Council of Churches

American Eating Habits

September 4, 2014 by Willona Stallings, Former Program Coordinator – Partners in Health & Wholeness

A 12-year study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that Americans improved their eating habits slightly over the years, but that was not the case for America’s poor. Harvard assigned individuals different scores based on their food choices, creating a healthy diet index. A perfect score was 110 and reflected a higher consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats.

U.S. adults who took part in the study averaged about 40 points from 1999-2000, improving their score by 7 points from 2009-10. However, the scores of low-income individuals were four points lower than their wealthier counterparts at the beginning of the study, falling another two points from 2009-10.

A poor diet is tied to poor health outcomes, as it increases one’s risk of obesity and certain chronic conditions like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Such diseases may also affect your ability to lead a productive lifestyle, which can widen the wealth gap between the rich and the poor.

Click here to read more about the Harvard study, as reported by the Winston-Salem Journal, and how the U.S. government and manufacturers are working together to help solve the problem. Your congregation is also encouraged to take steps to improve the health of your members by serving healthier foods and beverages at church events. For resources and support, please click here.

Filed Under: Blog, Homepage Featured Tagged With: Come to the Table, Community Gardens, Economic Justice, Equality & Reconciliation, Farmworkers, Food, Health, Healthcare Reform, Hunger

About Willona Stallings, Former Program Coordinator – Partners in Health & Wholeness

Partners in Health and Wholeness (PHW) connects congregations with existing resources in the community and provides them with the tools necessary (sometimes in the form of mini-grants) to implement healthier practices, policies and programs. I live in Raleigh and enjoy good food, area greenways and bargain shopping.
Learn more about PHW and our efforts to improve the health of God’s people: healthandwholeness.org

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Contact

NC Council of Churches
27 Horne St.
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 828-6501
info@ncchurches.org

Subscribe

Click here to subscribe to newsletters and blog updates.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 NC Council of Churches · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design · Hosted by WP Engine