Many people go hungry who seem to be healthy or financially able to obtain their own meals. In this video, HealthMaker Ellie Hollander describes the myths of hunger and why so many people are at risk.
I think there are a number of myths. One in particular is that if you have the financial means you can't possibly be struggling with hunger, that's one. And hunger knows no bounds. If I just was released from a hospital and I don't have someone to take care of me, I may not be able to prepare a meal or to get out.
So meals-on-wheels in that case could be a transitional opportunity but the myth is I have the money therefore I shouldn't go hungry. Another is your physical appearance, we call it the nutrition obesity paradox and it's I may look hardy as if I'm eating well and nourished when in fact I have a disease called sarcopenia which is the loss of protein in my body where I'm eating high cooked but unhealthy non-nutricious and I'm still at risk from many of the ailments that will put me right back into the hospital or into a nursing home or long term care facility.
Another myth is I may live in an urban setting, in a city certainly I don't have any need for food, I can just walk out of my house and in fact I can't walk out of my house. So these are all several myths that I think that we all kind of contemplate that if you fit this therefore you can't be hungry and we call it the hidden hunger or the silent epidemic.
Ellie Hollander is president and CEO of the Meals On Wheels Association of America. She has decades of experience working with aging populations, membership organizations, for-profits and non-profits.
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