Community Food Security And Food Availability And Accessibility

In South Central, Los Angeles, there is a food epidemic taking place among the population. For miles and miles, the only easily attainable food source is fast food; causing the overconsumption of un-nutritious, greasy, and fattening food. This is the problem brought to the public’s attention by speaker Ron Finley in his Ted Talks speech, “A Guerilla Gardener in South Central L.A.” Finley explains how everywhere he looks in his native South Central, all he sees are fast food chains and Dialysis clinics opened due to the lack of nutritious food. Finley views the lack of a healthy food source as a serious problem, and brings up

Royte, E. (2015, April 27). Urban farming is booming, but what does it really yield? | Ensia.

Diverse groups in American society are often the most marginalized and therefore the most vulnerable to issues that undermine the fair and uncomplicated pursuit of health and wellbeing. One of those issues is the lack of access to affordable healthy food and, in many cases, the inaccessibility to food in general. Areas where affordable and healthy foods are largely unavailable are called food deserts and the members of the diverse groups that live in such areas or that have access to very little food at all often develop a sense of food insecurity. One of the groups that is increasingly impacted by food deserts and food insecurity is the nation’s elderly population which is, by most standards, defined as those individuals aged 65 and older. The following paper investigates this phenomenon by addressing the elderly population of Ada County, Idaho as representative of this diverse and often disenfranchised population. The paper investigates the issue of food deserts and food insecurity that threaten the health and wellbeing of the elderly in the context of the various elements of social determinants of health that contribute to their development and persistence. The paper also includes proposals for individual and population-based strategies to improve access to healthy and affordable food by this population as well as improve the health and wellbeing of its members.

All food should be available to all people. The concept of this is dwelled on in the article, “Food justice and Food retail in Los Angeles” by Mark Valliantos. Throughout the article, Valliantos maintains the notion that healthy food should be within everyone’s reach, yet inner cities are still suffering from shortages of fresh produce. To see this issue in action, Valliantos documented this reoccurring phenomenon in Los Angeles. The author gives a description of two areas within the city of Los Angeles, and how they are economically divided based on the amount of healthy produce one has at its disposal. He makes note of programs that already exist to help low income families receive healthy foods that they could not afford. He also

One of the most troubling issues that is concerning our country is the amount of people living with type 2 diabetes and obesity because of food deserts. Food deserts are affecting the lives of older generation and could follow into the next generation if nothing is done to eliminate the harmful consequences of food deserts in the United States. A complete wipe out of food deserts will not be an easy process, it will years to change the eating habits for lower-income communities. It is less of a challenge to just put a supermarket in a community that needs it, but changing poor nutrition is not as easy. To dispose of food deserts, there are several ways to take action within rural communities. Since fresh fruits and vegetables are troublesome

Poverty is an issue that can be discussed at great lengths, but the real challenge is finding effective ways to reduce or eradicate poverty. It is important to spend quality time developing approaches to the issue of poverty and how to alleviate it. Individuals living in poverty lead a life of limited opportunities and one of these limited opportunities is access to good quality healthy food. The American Nutrition Association considers this lack of access as a Food Desert defined as, “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas” ("USDA Defines Food Deserts | American Nutrition Association," n.d.). One way in which American’s can work towards a future with less poverty and eventually one with little to no poverty would be to eliminate the existence of Food Deserts.

According to the United Nations, food security is defined as “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (“Rome Declaration,” 1996). Canada has adopted this definition, although they monitor food insecurity per each household and analyze financial barriers causing the situation. Research has shown that 62.2% of households

For numerous amounts of people, fruits and vegetables may take a backseat to other foods such as junk food, but for many these healthy food choices are just not options. This is a very widespread issue that has swept the nation and the individual cities that formulate it. In particular, the lack of food security in Columbus, Ohio has had devastating effects for many residents, especially those who live in rural areas and the many underserved communities. These effects include being more prone to chronic diseases and unhealthy Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements. For adults “Twenty-five percent of Franklin County, Ohio, adults say they don’t eat five servings of foods and vegetables each day” (NLC). The residents of Columbus City should be able

Can you imagine not being able to access good quality, fresh food? That’s the struggle that the residents of Homewood, Pennsylvania, face every day. Homewood is a food desert, which is defined by google as “an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.” For our last project in my Urban Research and Design class this year, my teacher challenged us to turn our newfound knowledge into action, and attempt to apply what we’d learned to a real community problem.

Although the United States is seen as a top tier nation among the countries of the world, we still have problems such as the growing rate of food deserts. As Americans, we need to put an end to this and do everything within our power to help reduce food deserts. Some policy relevant issues that need to be addressed include the concern of low-income neighborhoods across the country having little to no access to supermarkets that provide affordable, healthy, fresh foods. These neighborhoods consist of impoverished areas where diseases such as obesity and diabetes are on the rise and general health is on a downwards

“Food Desert” refers to an area in a rural or even urban region with little or no access to big grocery stores that provides affordable and fresh food for people to have a healthy diet. These areas are mostly composed of low-income households who are often Hispanics and African-Americans (Ploeg and Breneman et al). They are often “trapped” in a geographical location where only small convenient stores, which do not have sufficient supply of all common, fresh and healthy food, are available. Currently, there are 13.6 Million Americans who have difficulties in accessing to super markets and large grocery stores. People living in such areas with limited access to grocery stores spend 19.5 minutes more to travel, comparing to the people living in non-food-desert areas (Ploeg and Breneman et al).

Food security is historically defined as the overall regional, national as well as global food supply and shortfalls in supply as associated to requirements (Foster, 1992). The same author contended that, even though, the increased observation of differences in the sufficiency of food intake by certain groups despite overall adequacy of supply, the term has been applied recently at a local, household, or individual level and it has been widened beyond notions of food supply to include elements of access (Sen, 1981), vulnerability (Watts and Bohle, 1993), and sustainability (Chambers, 1989). Different organizations, scholars and institutions define food security differently. However, basic concept remains the same.

Food insecurity is one of the leading public health challenges in the United States today, since millions of people (children and adults) are food insecure because of insufficient money income and other socioeconomic and demographic factors. (Seligman, Kushel, & Laraia, 2010)

The Greek physician and father of medicine Hippocrates once said “Let medicine be thy food and let food be thy medicine.” This simple statement encompasses my view of many global health problems that I believe could be resolved utilizing urban agricultural techniques and provide access to a healthy food source. Medicine has long been aware that an apple a day will keep the doctor away. Wouldn’t it be nice if it could be said that an eggplant a day will keep cancer away? If individuals change the source that their food is derived from to urban farms it may be possible to keep many ailments away. Urban agricultural programs also referred to as urban farms or ZFarms, have the potential to have a positive impact on communities worldwide by affecting eating habits, social interaction and economic patterns.

The potential of crossbreeding indigenous chickens to improve rural food security and nutrition in southern Africa- a review