The Importance Of Food Insecurity

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.

Furthermore, federal assistance is also a cause of hunger. According to a study from the nation’s largest food bank operator, the number of Americans in need of food aid has jumped 46 percent in the three years. A growing number of people have had to make difficult choices about what to spend their money on. “These are choices that no one should have to make, but particularly households with children” (Escarra). The government and the community can help in many ways. Insufficient nutrition has adverse effects on the physical, behavioral and mental health, and academic performance of

Food insecurity is the “state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. It is a widespread problem on college campuses across the nation. While food insecurity only impacts 14% of households, 48% of college students claim to be food insecure. This problem disproportionately impacts first generation college students, students of color, and students who need financial aid, as noted by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness.

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

In our course of study we have learned the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels. Primary prevention is aimed at preventing or reducing the effects on populations. Primary prevention occurs when we educate our patients, families or the community, providing them with the tool of knowledge needed to prevent illness. My project on food insecurity promotes primary prevention in university students by attempting to identify those students experiencing food insecurity, then providing those students with the resources to obtaining supplemental food within their community.

Students need healthy, nutritious food choices to fuel their mind and bodies. Students experiencing food insecurity either don’t have enough food to eat or are eating a poor, nutrient- deficient diet. Either way, poor diets can affect the student’s physical and mental health which can lead to interruptions in their learning. Universities need to gather statistics on the portion of their student population affected by food insecurity and work towards a remedy. Not only does the student benefit from university interventions, but the university benefits by graduating students that are healthy, well-educated and have an instilled sense of the community involvement needed to invest in the future.

Many colleges and universities have utilized the food pantry approach. Food pantries are easier for campuses to utilize because of the ability to be flexible with the services rendered (Dubick., et al., 2016). Students can utilize the services without having to travel far, they are also more apt to use the services because it is a college program, not a community or public program. Seventeen percent of food insecure students utilized a campus food pantry, while 14 percent reported going to an off-campus food pantry or food bank (Dubick., et al., 2016). Traditional students are more apt to reside on campus and be aware of the services offered to them through their institution, they will also have the means to use the services provided without having to travel off campus. The student’s ease of access to food programs on campuses may not ease food insecurity, there is no research that indicates whether food pantries are effective in alleviating food

Eating as a college student can have it shares of eating problems, healthy, deep fired, homemade and fast food. When in college, there is a moment when we are free of problems when suddenly one problem shows up with another one showing up few moments with a third one not far apart equaling not one, not two but three problems that need to be fixed. From one of those three problems is hunger because it’s common for people to be hungry anytime of the day. Eduardo Martinez’s interesting argument article “A college argument”, has an interested argument that its target audience is college students because for starters, it has the subject college within the title making it easy to whom it talks about.

America, known for its economic success, livestocks, and some of the world’s most fortunate people, still leaves us pondering with one question: who does such a vast amount of our population go hungry? Exploring hunger in parts of the United States, it all comes back to the same statistics: one-sixth of American’s don’t have enough to eat. In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat. By whatever name, the number of people going hungry has grown dramatically in the U.S., increasing to 48 million by 2012. This is a fivefold jump since the late 1960s, including an increase of 57 percent since the late 1990s.

You have to think about it now, because if you’re privileged enough to go home to a food every night and everyday then you most likely never faced this issue first hand; You can’t truly fathom how it must be like to go to bed hungry and wonder when you’ll eat again. This essay shows how messed up how system is in the most blatant ,right there kind of way. It shows us

Food security is one of the ongoing nutrition issue mainly in low income population groups. Univeristy students also fits in this category under different circumstances like first time home leavers, limited income due to part time and casual working hours (Hughes 2012) According to a recent Australian research study, food insecurity has negative impact on the learning outcomes and health of students . Food security is defined as the situation which arises when people have sufficient access to safe and nutritious food in order to meet their dietary needs for an active life (Radimer 2002). A new strategy was introduced by the Australian government in promoting food insecurity through tertiary education as a longterm economic challenge mostly

An estimated 12.3 percent of American households were food insecure at least sometime during the year in 2016 (Coleman-Jensen, Rabbitt, Gregory, & Singh, 2018). In a paper titled “Assessing Food Insecurity on Campus written by Blagg, Gundersen, Schanzenbach, & Ziliak a study was done to understand food insecurity among college students enrolled in a two-year college, four-year college and vocational education. The findings indicated that “food insecurity for households with students enrolled in two-year colleges was 13.3 percent. This is an indication that nearly one in five two-year College students were identified as food insecure. By contrast, for households with students attending four-year colleges, the rate of food insecurity rate

Money, for a large quantity of people, potentially becomes an issue especially when it comes to certain necessities. The population of college students struggle with money, trying to pay loans and tuition with only the money they receive. In the article, “Meal Plan Costs Tick Upward as Students Pay for More Than Food,” Stephanie Saul outlines the problems that college students face when they are getting charged with meal plan fees when they chose not to purchase food off campus and addresses what colleges are actually spending this large amount of money on. Saul proclaims that one student, named Michael Miceli, “was in near panic at the thought of having to borrow more money” (Saul 1) because he received a “$300 bill he got from the university this semester — for food” (1), only the problem is Mr. Miceli always ate a large breakfast so he wouldn’t feel the need to buy food on campus,

Food -- it is a necessity. There is not one person who does not think about it on a daily basis. For a college student, the quality of food available is not always to the highest of standards. Many students can not afford to buy expensive food or eat out on a regular basis. Many times their only option left is to eat from their school’s dining halls.

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)