Giving The Poor Easy Access For Healthy Food

One of the biggest problems facing American families today is the inability to afford fresh, nutrient filled food. In the United States today over 13 million families don’t have the money to buy fresh food and have to live on unhealthy diets. In the essay Prudence or Cruelty, author Nicholas Kristof talks about how much of a danger malnutrition is to poorer American families. Kristof mentions that the sole reason for such a high rate of malnutrition in poor U.S citizens stems from the lack of money to buy fresh goods. The price of fresh goods is too much compared to the amount of money these families are making. With multiple mouths to feed and a limited budget, going to the grocery store for these families is almost unheard of. These families

(Love & Das, 2016, para. 7). However, Love and Das (2016) expound on the inefficiency of this solution by stating that it “does not bridge the gaps to healthy food” because of their inability to invest in the community and understand their needs (para 12). Using vivid language throughout the article, the authors make their point emotionally impactful by emphasizing that big-chain grocery stores “lur[ed…] to the hood” leave when they no longer profit from maintaining a store in these neighborhoods (Love & Das, 2016, para. 9). Rightfully criticizing the existing solution, the authors expose the superficiality and inefficient manner of only bringing in more stores into neighborhoods. Moreover, by criticizing the superficiality of the existing solution, the authors suggest that eliminating food deserts involves a more personal investment into the betterment of the community. Overall, Love and Das permit the readers to gain an emotional insight on the impact food deserts have on low-income populations and understand the limiting nutrition conditions by appealing to

Three key elements are described in Sparks piece: proximity, variety and competition.“Proximity is important because research shows low-income people are less likely to own an automobile. Variety is important because research into retail choice suggests people value variety and do not always shop at the supermarket that is closest to home (Handy,1996). Finally, competition is an accepted price control mechanism, which is important when evaluating access for low-income populations.” (Sparks). These are described as the most important factors because they will play biggest role in where a person chooses to shop for food given the choice.

Closing the stores in the high crime-rate areas not only takes away from the community but also hurts the workforce. When stores close, there is job loss and left behind are vacant buildings that do not add any value to the community. Leaving the people of this community without a local grocery store is poor social responsibility on the part

“Food deserts,” areas characterized by relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food, may contribute to social disparities in diet and diet-related health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease and obesity (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). The term “food desert” reportedly originated in Scotland in the early 1990s and was used to describe poor access to an affordable and healthy diet (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). Although the term “food desert” can mean a literal absence of retail food in a defined area, studies of food deserts more commonly assess differential accessibility to healthy and affordable food between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged areas. (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). In other words, food deserts can simultaneously be “food swamps,” areas consisting in a saturation of access to unhealthy food (e.g., fast-food, convenience stores) and nonfood (e.g., gas stations) venues, characterized by calorie-dense, high-sugar foods (Brown & Brewster, 2015). As such, people living in these areas are at a clear disadvantage to how they obtain food.

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

In order to change the way the United States food system is operating at the moment, a change needs to be made in the education that people are receiving about the way their food is produced, manufactured, distributed and consumed. The U.S. food system has become increasingly reliant on mass production factories and multinational retail corporations while local farms and family owned food markets diminish. Economies of scale and opportunity costs represent barriers to change of the current food system because of the many different paths available, each creating different outcomes for consumers, sellers, large corporations and small farms, determining their profit, prices, capital and value. Educating the American people about the benefits of local food production and the downsides of large scale food production, such as nutritional value, disease and safety concerns, and economic advantages, will help to move our food system from “point A” to “point B”.

However, many corporations still avoid neighborhoods that have food deserts. For example, “Food retailers promised to open” at least, “1,500 grocery stores” in food deserts by 2016, but only about 250 have actually been opened (Associated Press 1-4). Many supermarket chains have made empty promises that they have no intention of fulfilling. By not going through with their promises, companies have ended up harming many people’s health. Due to businesses not building grocery stores in some areas, individuals from a lower social class are not given the chance to fix their

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “Forty-nine million Americans live in food insecure households in today 's society”. This is the problem that the current SNAP program isn’t addressing, that funding is not enough to help these forty-nine million Americans struggling to get enough food to feed themselves and their families. We need to provide them the food that they need in order to survive, but we also must devise a plan to give them the healthiest and inexpensive choices that they deserve. For example, why would it make sense that on average a box of strawberries is more expensive than a bag of chips and it holds less nutritional value? For those that are poor in our society and cannot afford healthy eating, they

In the United States there are States that go un aware of the many possibilities of having fresh produce in their cities. Michael Pollan examines how America is slowly becoming more aware of their food problems that have been created in the recent decade. He also explains how this has happened in America and who is partially responsible to blame. Michael Pollan leans towards the idea that big corporations and minimum wage workers who are very underpaid are all to blame for the lack of food diversity in many communities in America. Pollan uses facts that are relevant to his arguments subject to create a strong argument that persuades the reader. Terms in the article are clearly defined and help to stabilize and strengthen the argument. Pollan successfully presents his argument against big

The basic survival needs of human beings include a small list of four things: food, water, clothing, and shelter. After watching an interview with Robert Kenner, the director of Food, Inc., I began to realize that the food humans are eating is actually decreasing are survivability. Within the excerpts from the movie and the dialogue amongst the interviewers, it was made apparent that the food industry has been able to completely deceive the consumers. Instead of choosing food for quality, individuals choose food by lowest price. As Kenner said in the video, “we have skewed our food system to the bad calories” (2:38). Instead of healthy home cooked meals, families are purchasing fast food for its convenience and low cost. However, the video made a very interesting stance in regards to this mentality. Although individuals are paying the lowest price for food in history, the cost of treating diseases caused by unhealthy eating has grown to be higher than ever before (8:04).

Low income communities are most likely to suffer from food deserts due to the lack of money being bought into the community to keep big markets around. As a result, residents may have to travel a longer distance to get to the nearest supermarket, which can be difficult when the person does not have reliable transportation. According to the USDA, it is estimated that about 2.3 million people in low income areas live more than one mile away from a supermarket or do not have their own vehicle (2). Since supermarkets can be further away most people may have to take several buses, taxis and/or trains just to get the nearest grocery store which can get expensive when the person is on a fixed income. In rural area, residents have little to no access to public transportation especially to supermarkets are a distance away.

Society must educate itself on what type of food is healthy such as fresh or fresh frozen vegetables, lean meats, whole grains and fruits. Parents should take the time to explain what these are and why they are important, educating themselves if necessary. Families can also extend this education to a hands-on experience but starting a small vegetable garden which produces some of the vegetables they eat. Author and farmer, Sharon Astyk, and sustainable systems land planner, Aaron Newton, argue that people need to take back the control of the food selection and prices by growing their own or purchasing directly from local farmers. In their article, “The Rich Get Richer: the Poor Go Hungry”, Astyk and Newton (2015) write, “When we grow our own food, or buy it directly from local farmers, we take power away from multinationals” (p.518). I agree that society should become more involved and self-sustaining pertaining to food to retain independence from companies that are loyal to shareholders. This education will provide the current and future generations necessary resources to make improved food choices, thereby reducing the obesity and diabetes epidemics gripping our nation.

If asked, would you be able to explain in detail how the food you ate for dinner last night was made and what ingredients it contained? Furthermore, would you be able to identify the presence of corn in your meal? Unfortunately, the average American would not be able to. Food is one of the most basic and essential human needs, yet it is a topic that most of us know very little about. Tom Small believes that this should change. Small asserts that parents nowadays do not have time to cook healthy meals, let alone teach their kids how to shop for food and cook. This dangerous new phenomenon is compromising our health, our environment, and our consciousness. I agree with Tom Small; schools should provide and require courses that teach students how to cook and shop for themselves.

(White, pg.3) The calorie-rich fast food is cheaper than a lot of the supermarket food especially to the lower classes which would come to rely on the availability of these fast food chains for cheap and efficient calorie rich food to feed themselves sacrificing their health to just be able to eat overall. With this in mind, this shows that the lower class people are often trapped in an environment which forces them to eat unhealthy due to the cost of nutrient-rich foods and due to the placement of chain supermarkets as compared to the placement of convenience stores and fast food chains in their respective environments. Not only are these lower class stuck when it comes to income, they are stuck with the only things available and that is fast food and convenience stores which rarely have vegetables and