Food Deserts Research

So what exactly is the problem? Well, the USDA food desert locator (3) shows that ten percent of America is classified as a food desert. Households all across the country don’t have access to fresh and healthy food causing them to resort to unhealthy cheaper food like fast food or food someone could get from a convenience store. Food deserts can impact the health of our nation. Especially when it comes to obesity, because studies have shown that having greater number of convenience stores are linked to having higher obesity. While having access to fresh foods such as a grocery store or a farmers market has shown to lower obesity rates. Studies done by The Harvard school of Public health (4) asserts that our surroundings impact what we eat. Not having access to healthy foods, can corrode healthy lifestyles and promote obesity in areas affected the most by a food desert. Many times in these food deserts, fast food options are plentiful, convenient and cheap. People living in food deserts often see more advertising for junk food, or fast food, where in non-food desert areas you’ll see more advertising for a farmers market, or sales on produce at local grocery stores. Food deserts exist from New York, to Chicago to even our own

Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.

In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the

Fast food and convenience stores along with gas stations have become toxic oasis’s in these deserts. Such stores prove to be the only markets in the area that supply food. Despite the areas being mainly low income, prices for produce are steep. Causing families to either plan

In the world, there are one billion people undernourished and one and a half billion more people overweight. In this day and age, where food has become a means of profit rather than a means of keeping people thriving and healthy, Raj Patel took it upon himself to explore why our world has become the home of these two opposite extremes: the stuffed and the starved. He does so by travelling the world and investigating the mess that was created by the big men (corporate food companies) when they took power away from the little men (farmers and farm workers) in order to provide for everyone else (the consumers) as conveniently and profitably as possible. In his book Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, Patel reveals his findings and tries to reach out to people not just as readers, but also as consumers, in hopes of regaining control over the one thing that has brought us all down: the world food system.

“Part of education is to help students be prepared for jobs, all year schooling allows students to be more prepared for professional work day hours. In the real world, employees do not get 3 months off.“

The USDA considers several indicators of access such as, accessibility to sources of healthy food, individual-level resources that may affect accessibility, and neighborhood-level indicators of resources. The definition explains that food deserts can be areas where grocery stores do not exist within several miles or even that food deserts can be areas where most of a grocery store’s products are processed foods with little to no nutritional value. Many food deserts are defined by the low-income communities which is most Native American communities where the unemployment rate was 11.3% in 2014 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS 45). It can be difficult for most families to afford food on a consistent basis. The Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota serves as a prime example where reports show that nearly 40% of families experience food insecurity (Bauer). Food deserts are merely a contributing factor to the current health epidemic and are part of economic struggles faced in Native American

The rising health problems in the United States of America are caused by poor nutrition, people who are sedentary, the lack of healthcare prevention, and many more. As reported on the Tikkun website, “Of the many systems in our world today that need to be reimagined, none is more important for our future than our food system” (1). The lack of our food system is one of the many factors that has led the United States to its uprising dilemmas; one of the many factors are the food deserts across the U.S. Food deserts are geographic areas where access to affordable healthy and nutritious food are limited, or impossible to purchase, by residents in the area. Food deserts are prone to low-income areas that can’t afford transportation, and due to the lack of grocery stores and supermarkets that sells fresh produce and healthy food within convenient distance to resident’s homes, there is a difficulty in obtaining healthy food options which leads to countless health issues. According to the Diabetes Forecast website, “About 18.3 million Americans live in low-income areas and are far from a supermarket” (1). So the problem is, how can food deserts be eliminated in the

In a western society that continuous to renounce communalism and embrace individualism, it is easily noticed that the problems faced by few are ignored by the many. This ignorance, intentional or not, is allowing communal problems to accelerate the pace. However, the issue at hand is one that affects you whether or not you are aware of it; if you are an American, or in any western society for that matter. It affects nearly twenty percent of the under eighteen population in the United States and costs taxpayers on average 14 billion dollars per year. As a Parent, it can tack $19,000 onto the total of raising each child. The issue is childhood obesity, and it is only accelerating as a percentage of children in both America and all western nations of the world. Childhood Obesity is an issue relevant to all who consider themselves part of American society and it has profound adverse effects economically, physically for those afflicted with the issue, and mentally for those who live an obese childhood or within the family unit of a household with at least one obese child. The scope of the issue is massive and the impact of the consequences dire in many accounts. There is hope to reverse course and change the way of American-western living, and it starts with understanding the size and

In a country that wastes billions of pounds of food each year, it's almost shocking that anyone in America goes hungry. Yet every day, there are millions of children and adults who do not get the meals they need to thrive. We work to get nourishing food – from farmers, manufacturers, and retailers – to people in need. At the same time, we also seek to help the people we serve build a path to a brighter, food-secure future.

When you hear obesity, do you imagine malnutrition or simply an individual who “eats too much?” Well, these health threatening issues go hand and hand. Learning that a large number of obese individuals are low income, it can be concluded that a lack of funds results in cheaper, more fattening and unhealthy food purchases, which ultimately can develop into malnutrition and unsafe weight gain. The eye-opening film, A Place At The Table, provides viewers with a true representation of how the issues of hunger and malnutrition in the United States affect individuals on a daily basis. Throughout this movie, the filmmakers, Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush, examine the lives of three individuals who suffer from hunger and and lack of nutrition. Although our

Not only are these farms building blocks, but these local farms help with environmental contamination, rural economics, and exploited, immigrant work force. Local farms also bring a community together through local food as well as community health. Having fresh produce helps prevent diet-related diseases, which is a very important issue in America today. Through local food, people bond with their community as well as their food; for instance, knowing and understanding how the food is produced and accessed allows people to be more aware of their community and health. However, not all communities today have this way of thinking, many communities suffer from food deserts, when supermarkets and alike leave an area. This lack of food correlates to deindustrialization and employment loss, which creates brownfields and food deserts. Gottlieb showed his readers how food connects people and increases economy and sustainability, showing that food is more than just the nutrients for the human body but also the nutrients for society.

In the essay “Green monster” who do you believe is his intended audience and why?

In short, many people around the United States suffer from food instability and hunger. People can’t always help the situations they are in, but there are things almost everyone can do to help the hunger situation in

Food deserts are spaces that are at least a mile or more over from any super markets and/or shopping centers. They are usually located in places where most of the people who live there do not have reliable transportation. Most businesses in food deserts have corner stores and fast food restaurants, but there usually are not any healthy food places or choices in the area. Supermarkets have been harshly judged for leaving out a large population of the Black and Latino population in cities such as Memphis, Los Angeles and Detroit. These cities are desperate for more healthy food besides the many fast food places they have to offer. It is always good to have different choices to pick from when you go to different places but if you