Nutritious Food Should Not Be A Luxury

Healthy eating is vital to eliminating sickness and diseases in one’s life. Many people suffer from diabetes, obesity, heart conditions, and high blood pressure because of improper eating habits. To a degree, most of these eating habits are related to limited access to produce healthy foods. The increasing amount of food deserts and lack of family income contributes to African-American obesity rates, and lack of healthy choices. Ironically, these food desserts reside in communities plagued by poverty. These income restrictions also add to the problems that are part of being in a food desert.

School lunches are often unsung heroes of many modern American households. Frequently overlooked and disregarded because of their stigma, school lunches are a key ingredient that may help make the world a better place. Unknowingly, great numbers of individuals in our communities deal with food insecurities every day of their lives. It baffles me that in an advanced society many people do not have the resources to provide food for themselves or their families. Until it affected me personally, I was unaware nor passionate about the struggles of food insecurity. My passion for solving food insecurity in my local community has led me to gain both experience and leadership through understanding and advocating for those around me.

Introduction Dayton, Ohio has many current food issues. An especially large issue is food access. Low income families cannot provide food for their children on a regular basis. According to the USDA Food Access Atlas, Montgomery County has a large issue regarding food access. Much of the county is considered to have low income, the US Census Bureau states that 13.5% of the county’s population lives in poverty, so people are less able to provide themselves with food. Many people also have low access, so accessing food is difficult because in low income areas grocery stores and markets are scarce. The USDA Food Atlas states that 29.56% of the population in Montgomery county have low access to a store, which is 158,183.23 people (USDA Food

For centuries, the United States has been seen as a food and food-product paradise; with a constant bombardment of daily specials, “two-for-one” deals, and never ending combo options oozing from every corner of the food-scape. For many Americans, over indulgence is a frequent occurrence-studies show more than 50% of adults say they eat out at least once a week (“58% Eat at A Restaurant”, 2013). Even in this scene of gluttony, the poverty stricken and systematically oppressed find themselves in food deserts across The States; that’s more than 45 million Americans without access to healthy, reasonably priced foodstuffs. Of this group of 45 million, the African American community holds the seat for the highest poverty rate among various racial and ethnic groups at an astounding 26.2% in 2014 (DeNavas-Walt, 2015).

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

Many areas in the United States contain an abundance of neighborhoods that function with little to no healthy food sources nearby because of the large number of people in poverty. With the fleeing number of locally owned grocery stores and convenient fast food restaurants sprouting in urban and rural areas, residents do not have an adequate quantity of fruits and vegetables readily available. The City of Baltimore defines a food desert as “an area where the distance to a supermarket is more than one quarter of a mile; the median household income is at or below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level; over 30 percent of households have no vehicle available; and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score [convenience stores, corner stores, and supermarkets] is low” (Food Deserts). Baltimore City today “ranks second among similarly sized cities for the number of low-income people living in food insecure areas” (Freishtat, 2014). Leaving eight percent of white Baltimoreans living in food deserts compared to the 35 percent of black Baltimoreans, and 30 percent of children living in food deserts in Baltimore alone (Buczynski, 2015).

The rate of childhood obesity in New Jersey remains high, and put children at risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood. Children living in low-income communities are more vulnerable due to several factors influencing their food choices. Thus, through the Nutritiously Me program, The Rak Foundation for Nutritional Awareness (RFNA) envisions to produce a healthy dietary behavior change among low-income communities of New Jersey.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the federal Healthy, Hungry-Free, Kids Act 2010 (Public Law: 111-296), provide an overview of the literature, discuss the implementation process, evaluate the policy, and provide explanations for continued support, or provide rationale on why the program should end. The Healthy, Hunger-Free, Kids Act (HHFKA) currently awaits re-authorization, and funding by Congress. The HHFKA was originally included in the Congressional reauthorization process, of the original 1966 Child Nutrition Act, (CNA) which establishing several nutrition programs for school aged children. The CNA was introduced as part of President Johnsons’ “war on poverty” (Matthews, 2014). The Healthy, Hungry-Free, Kids Act 2010, set new

A good and healthy nutrition is essential for your health. However, a survey that was conducted in 2007 proves that the Australian adolescents consume less fruit and the intake of the saturated fat and the sugars have increased in consumption (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Some of the studies have shown that adolescents who frequently eat with at least one family member has a greater chance of having better food and also have a good nutritional intake. It is very evident that having the family meal a priority and by creating a positive family meal atmosphere, associates with a decreased rate of disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders in adolescents (DAA, 2016). Research shows that the Australians are eating even less fruit and vegetables before all the fast food companies started growing. The data received by the Bureau of Statistics show that the teenagers are the main charge in unhealthy eating dominated by the fast food. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015).

There were neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia where residents couldn’t easily buy healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. And science shows us that people who live in these underserved neighborhoods are more at risk for serious diet-related diseases like obesity(Food Trust website). They began with one farmers market at Tasker Homes, a public housing development in South Philadelphia. Once a week, with the help of the Tasker Homes Tenant Council, they set up one long table overflowing with produce. It happened to be the only source of fresh fruits and vegetables in the community. The Food Trust works with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers in Philadelphia and across the country to change how we all think about healthy food and to increase its availability. The Food Trust efforts with its partners resulted in the creation of the Fresh Food Financing Initiative. It was the nations first statewide financing program to increase supermarket development in underserved areas. The Food Trust is a nonprofit organization that continues to ensure that all children who live in communities have access to safe, healthy and affordable food. Their key goal of this project is to stimulate the development of supermarkets in lower-income neighborhoods.

Bringing Healthy Food to Underserved Areas. Washington: Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2010. ProQuest. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Most all parents want their children to have a healthy life and meal every day, but “More than 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket”(Let’s Move). This makes it very difficult for millions of Americans to provide that organic nutrition to their families. Without meaning to they have put themselves and their families in a “food desert since they lack access to affordable and nutritious food”( Let’s Move). Many people may not know that they are in the situation until the children have already developed the fixed mindset on who gets to eat the healthier

Customers can also get meal plan, prepared their own menus, for example juice bar and a delivery service.

When cheeseburgers are consumed by today's society, they do not realize how laden it is with fat and calories. Through the fancy pictures of restaurants’ unhealthy foods, customers are easily drawn in. The cheap prices of the common junk food play another factor in luring in individuals. Young people need to make a change in their diets, along with watching what they eat and how much they eat. When ordering food in restaurants and other eating locations, individuals get served large portion of foods. In order to significantly reduce the rate of obesity, people and businesses along with the government need to make a change.

While this concept has competition in the market, the shop is unique in that it will focus on being a continuous solution for busy people; this will be achieved through menu design and consistent quality. The menu will be composed in such a way that the daily offerings will be healthy enough to be enjoyed as frequently as desired with enough variety that a patron won’t get bored with the options. Additionally, major diet trends (vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten free) will be taken into consideration during menu planning to make sure that clients in each category can select enough items to assemble a few different meals out of each day’s offerings.