Food Desert Research Paper

Food deserts are an area with limited access to healthy affordable food locations. Often times areas that consist of lower socio-economic status have more fast food chain restaurants, than supermarkets that carry wholesome nutritious food.5 Also, many people start to create habits when it comes to their nutrition. People can get so used to eating unhealthy food that many times when presented with options for healthier choices, such as, fruit stands and corner markets that sell vegetables and fruits many people can opt out. They simply are not used to having these options available to them.

After compiling all of the ingredients into a numbered list, I find out that every product “purchased” at Harris Teeter would account for $116.19 over the budget. The few adjustments I made to my shopping list beforehand did not help reduce the total to a reasonable price either. While I was going through all of the products at home, I crossed out a few unnecessary items that were optional or switched to products with a lower price just to see if I could be within the budget. Eventually, after I was done “shopping” and tallying up all of the prices, the cost still exceeded the price that I calculated in my head. As I went down the aisles searching for foods on my grocery list, I kept a close eye out for products that had nutritious labels such as organic, fresh, or low in sodium so that the college student I chose could receive the right amount of nutrients needed for a healthy lifestyle.

Catalyst Facilitation Scenario • A local group you work with has identified food deserts in the county. In one of these areas, a local faith organization is a community hub for many residents. A few members would like to set up a farm stand on Wednesday nights to improve access to fresh foods. They have contacted you for assistance in connecting with farmers and ideas for educating people in the area about the importance of healthy eating and how to prepare fresh foods.

Northeastern Illinois have a food pantry located in building E in room E50. The food pantry was founded by the student Advocacy Program. They have created an emergency relief system to support NEIU students experiencing food insecurity. The Student Food Pantry seeks donations of nonperishable items and personal hygiene products to help the students who is in need of them. These donations are a collaborative effort among NEIU faculty, staff, and students.

The Weight of the Nation is a four-part film that focuses on the consequences, choices, children in crisis, and challenges of obesity in America. In class, we watched the segment about consequences, and it definitely opened my eyes to many things. Watching this film made me realize and acknowledge all the problems, causes, and possible solutions to this crisis. Coming from a family with many people who are obese, hearing these facts hit me very hard.

Living a nutritious diet comprised of consuming a proper meal that has been made preferably from raw meals. In actual fact, getting fresh local dishes can be hard due many factors in the way that there are only limited choices indulge by the provider or living in a distant place from the sources that can provide these fresh raw foods. These remotely factors lead consumers to purchase foods that can be stocked up inside the cupboards or would take lesser time in preparing the meals which is in the form of processed food. Processed foods are the type of food that during production has been amended and freezing, canning, baking or even drying are the ways food are processed. With this, processed foods are convenient due to its easy handling and less time consuming in preparations.

Food deserts are areas, urban or rural, lacking access to full-service supermarkets or fresh fruits or vegetables. Urban food desert is a “symptom of disinvestment, spatial concentration of poverty, and institutional racism (Blumberg, 2015).” Processes that lead to the creation of food desert is the U.S cities include: low income, low access, and low quality. Individuals with low incomes are likely to live in an area where nutritious foods are scarce. They are least likely to afford a lot, or if any, of fresh produce.

Theoretical Perspective and Related Studies Several theories have been offered to summarize and explain the relationship between food insecurity and subjective evaluation of well-being. Based on the degree of empirical support, the econometric models and the risk and protective factor theory will be some of the theories that will be used in explaining the determinants of food insecurity and its association with psychological wellbeing of pregnant women. The econometric model (Pearl, 2000) specifies the relationship that exists between the various economic quantities pertaining to a particular economic phenomenon such as the purchase of food.

A Literature Review Investigating the consequences of austerity on British cities and the people within them? Introduction - Understanding Austerity, who and what it has affected? The UK's social situation has changed since 2010's government call for austerity, which has continued to today. Austerity is how a government changes their use of spending, through taxes and cuts welfare, to reduce the budget deficit; the spending of more money than it makes in taxes and other incomes received (Financial Times, 2018).

2.1 Diet Eat According To Food Pyramid The Malaysia Food Pyramid provides a simple guideline for individuals to vary their supplements of food according to the total daily food serving as recommended. An individual should consume a balance diet in order to stay healthy. It is impossible to achieve sufficient nutrients by consuming only a single type of food. Generally, a food pyramid consists of four levels that represents five food group.

Food deserts are becoming a growing issue not unique to the United States. In 2010, it was estimated that 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, lived in an urban or rural food desert (Let’s Move, 2015). A food desert can be defined as a geographical area where communities lack access to healthy, inexpensive food options. The limited access to an affordable healthy diet presents a major challenge to residents living in food deserts. Instead of people’s main source of food being from a supermarket, communities will rely on eating at restaurants, fast food chains and convenience stores as their main sources of nutrition.

Food deserts are areas where individuals have limited access towards healthy food alternatives that are reasonably priced such as vegetables and fresh fruits. This absence is due to the lack of grocery stores within suitable traveling range. Growing up in Bridgeport Connecticut I played a lot of basketball, traveling with my cousins and my brother we would play all day during the summer. Going to camps and different leagues around the city felt like the best times and the only thing that would make it better was finding pennies and nickles on the ground along the way. This made our day because with five cents you can buy a piece of candy and if we ever had a quarter or more it felt like we hit the jackpot.