Let Medicine Be Thy Food And Let Food Be Thy Medicine

“In the earliest surviving texts on European farming, agriculture was interpreted as two connected things: agri and cultura, and food was seen as a vital part of the cultures and communities that produced it. Today, however, our experience with industrial farming dominates, with food now seen simply as a commodity, and farming often organized along factory lines (Pretty 54).” In the essay “The Pleasures of Eating” by author Wendell Berry, he criticizes how today’s urban population is so blind to how their food is produced and how the food industry does not help people understand. Berry wants to educate and convince his urban consumer audience how to eat responsibly, shop locally, be informed of where of food comes from, and how to grow their

It is a known fact that the way humans produce food is not sustainable for a bright future. Here in America we discard almost half the amount of food we produce, which could be used to feed the enormous amount of starving people in the world. Not only are we being wasteful, but we are also greatly contributing to the amount of pollution and greenhouse gases because of our practices. After reading “What’s for supper?” my eyes were further opened to how damaging our agricultural system is and inspired me to take on a “greener” lifestyle.

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

Adding local foods to people’s diets can be a small step to big change, for local foods have many nutritional and flavorful benefits. If fruits and vegetables are given more time to ripen, they can absorb more nutrients.The nutritional value of a food decreases over time. Farmer’s markets have the food picked within 24 hours allowing the food to have its potential nutrition (Source A). Cynthia Sass, a dietitian, mentions in Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon’s book Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally that phytochemicals and really powerful disease-fighting substances can “never get as high” when “a food never really reaches

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.

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

Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation is creating an urban garden that would use the joy of gardening to provide intergenerational and cross-cultural connections within a food desert with access to fresh fruits and vegetables and weekly physical activities using the joy of gardening. The program will promote positive behavioral changes that include better nutrition and increase physical activity among participants while teach entrepreneurship skills to the youth through the farmers’ market. In addition, the garden and market would be used to teach youth and low-income families gardening and entrepreneurial skills while also providing the low-income community to be served with regular access to fresh fruit and vegetables. TWEF will also provide

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

Would you rather find a bug in your apple and have your salad be on the wilted side, or take a big bite of artificial flavors and chemicals? What would you rather eat for dinner; a quick pick up from a fast food restaurant or a nutritious home cooked meal? For some, there may be no choice but to pick off the dollar menu at McDonalds or Burger King. Due to this circumstance, the consequences include an all-time rise of childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes in the U.S. However, this circumstance is usually due to parents not being around, or a parent not having enough time or money to purchase fresh produce. The access to fresh, local, organic produce is difficult to come by, especially in low-income neighborhoods or towns. “I tend to sympathize

Our future goals are to provide the society with a sustainable source of food. We hope to provide and educate everyone with a modern way of farming. Our project hopes to bring down the food desserts, and start a domino effect of positive outcomes, and result in healthy and prepared to go into their future. Not only does our project have a direct effect on individual’s health and energy levels, but it will revolutionize urban

Therefore, design can be used as critical tools for combating social isolation, epidemic obesity and depression. As food security and access to healthy food becomes a bigger issue, landscape architects are being encouraged to change their focus from aesthetics to edible fruits and vegetables. Gardening must therefore be encouraged as a therapeutic and defying act in the inner city. In our current food desert, food is the problem and food is also the

gardening, and to providing fresh, local fruits and vegetables to the hungry in local community”.

As the population increases and urbanization continues to develop and become more popular, an important, life-sustaining product is left behind. Most relevant in western civilization, the scarcity of locally grown and produced food is a problem that exists, whether people realize it or not. Per the Food Access Research Atlas, provided by the United States Department of Agriculture, there are 8,959 food deserts in the united states as of 2010 ¹. An Urban Food desert is any location deprived of supermarkets and other access to fresh fruits and vegetables, which usually plagues places of lower socioeconomic status. The low demand for food is attributed to lack of affordability and education, and perceptibly retailers ought not bring their business to places with very little demand for the product. If these deserts are ever to be omitted from the world, it is not enough to hope for the eventual emergence of supermarkets or farms, communities must work together to improve their range of reachable sustenance. It is every person’s duty, as a member of humanity, to aid in fixing the problem and ultimately improving the world, which gives way to defining the common good approach to ethical reasoning. Using the common good approach, a simple, yet collectively beneficial solution is the emergence of local gardens/greenhouses, which would largely combat the detrimental dining options of an urban food desert.

With so many diseases and medical conditions to take care of, mental health often takes last place on the list of priorities. Dementia, depression, post-traumatic stress and other disorders affect every country alike. While developing countries need to develop access to mental healthcare, developed nations will need to improve their current facilities. Most westernized nations are experiencing a gradual aging of their population. As the populations aid, mental health will need more mental health professionals in place to handle their care.

It has been reported that the number of people with mental disorder is increasing in our communities at an alarming rate. Environmental and social changes are among the most mentioned causes of the accelerating rate of mental illness in society (Häfner, 1985). Despite the prevalence, about one fifth of the adult population will battle with mental illness every year ("Facts and figures about mental illness," 2014) and the acknowledgement of authorities mental illness is still given less attention then is needed to treat the problem successfully. Health bodies need to be putting more resources into this area as