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Solutions to food insecurity in the United States
Food deserts impacting low income families
Solutions to food insecurity in the United States
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Food insecurity is a condition in which people are limited to, or do not have access to, adequate food. This means that these people do not have access at all times to enough food for an active and healthy lifestyle. When the insufficiency of money, or other means to buy food, begins to interfere with eating patterns or diminish the food consumption of a home, this is food insecurity. Individuals do not have foods that are beneficially nutritional and safe, and they are not guaranteed the opportunity to obtain these foods in ways that are tolerated by society. For example, food insecure people may have to result to emergency food supplies, food stamps, scavenging, and stealing (Coleman-Jensen, Gregory, & Rabbitt, 2015). Those with food insecurity …show more content…
Generally, these areas do not have grocery stores or supermarkets. The only source of food people who live in food deserts have access to is fast food restaurants and maybe a convenience store that does not have healthy options. There are a few different reasons food deserts could exist. The first is because of the lack of grocery stores with nutritious options available in a community. Another reason food deserts could exist is because of the lack of transportation to grocery stores. Low-income families generally do not own vehicles, so they have to stick to the fast food and local convenience stores nearby. A third reason that food deserts could exist is insufficient demand. According to Bitler & Haider (2010), people living in a food desert could value healthy food, but the time and cost it takes is not worth it to them. In addition, if the government were to open a large grocery store in the middle of a food desert, food purchases may not be affected. This is because the low-income budget of the individuals has not been changed or increased. Food deserts help contribute to health disparities in the U.S. by providing the U.S. with more food insecure people. Individuals that live in food deserts do not have money or access to food. This leads to many health issues including obesity, developmental issues, mental health issues, and chronic illness. These people generally do not have access to medical care because they are uninsured and cannot afford it. Citizens that live outside of food deserts are not affected by these issues like occupants of food deserts are; therefore, this creates a health disparity. Pima County, Arizona, is an example of a food desert. The characteristics that make it a food desert are that it has a relatively high number of households without vehicles that are more than one half of a mile from the supermarket. There are 3,332.94 low-access people at one half of
Many in the U.S., today, try to eat well,balanced, meals to order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They do so by purchasing their food at farmers markets or making their own meals, so their food isn’t processed or genetically modified. Even though people are trying to maintain health in order to live long lives, without medical complications, many don’t have the opportunity to pursue life like this. In “Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods,” the author, Kelly Brooks, portrays an anecdote and logical reasoning, from Kelly Bower’s research, to thoroughly describe the food deserts in poor minority neighborhoods and how this issue needs to be repaired.
Alviola IV, Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., and Michael Thomsen to learn more about what food deserts and how they impact the society around them. I believed that this was a good source because it went into what food deserts are and how they might be connected to the increase of obesity. I learned that a food desert is an “area where access to healthy foods is limited or constrained” (Alviola 106). I also learned that studies have shown people who live in food deserts “are likely to pay higher prices for food and have limited options in terms of purchasing healthy foods” (Alviola 106). After reading this article I have realized that Xavier may also be in a food desert because the closest grocery store is Kroger whose produce is almost always non-fresh and does not look edible to eat which encourages people to leave and resort to eating fast food for every meal. Needing more information about the effects of Food Deserts I started to look at an article called, “The Effects of Food Deserts on the Weight Status of South Dakota Children”, written by Emily Niswanger, Elizabeth Droke, Suzanne Stluka, and Kuo-Liang Chang. I believed that this was a great next source to look into because the name of the article was exactly what I wanted to get more information about. The source was about one study that was made in the state of South Dakota to discover if food deserts do have an effect on
Food insecurity is one of the major social problems that we have in our world today. The concern about this problem is the increasing number of people that are beginning to experience hunger more often. “While hunger has long been a public health concern in developing countries, it has received varying degrees of attention in the United States, most notable during the 1930s and 1960s” (Poppendieck 1992). In addition to lack of food, there are consequences that follow. People, especially children, who suffer from food deprivation also undergo some health issues such as malnutrition and obesity, which leads to more health care and hospitalizations. “In the early 1980s, most reports of hunger involved families with children, the elderly, the unskilled and unemployed youth, the mentally ill, the homeless and minorities” (Brown 1992; Nestle and Guttmacher 1992). However, a particular ethnic group that is greatly affected by food insecurities are the Hispanic...
America is by far one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations worldwide. But to be such a powerhouse and beacon of some much opportunity, The United States is struggling to provide families with the sufficient amount of food. The parts of the country that lack adequate food supply are known as food deserts. The term food desert can be used when describing areas with limited resources and little to no access to fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products. Affordable and nutritious food is almost impossible to gain access to in food deserts. Approximately 2.3 million of Americans live over a mile away from a supermarket and do not have a car. This equates to about 2.2 percent of all U.S. households. These statistics are according the data provided by the United States Department of Agriculture. The reports also indicate that some of these areas include vast, rural parts of West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as urban areas like New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. The people residing in majority of these food deserts are predominantly African Americans.
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Roseland, Pullman, South Deering, Riverdale, South Chicago, and West Pullman (Grossinger, 2007). The communities are usually served by junk food- filled corner stores, which do not offer an abundance of healthy foods. The communities are in desperate need of change.
Many of the people living in food deserts are people with low incomes. These low-income families often turn to the junk food provided at the convenience stores and fast food restaurants because it is all they can afford. Socio-economic status is a defining characteristic of food deserts. Food deserts are most commonly found in areas dominated by minorities and low-income families. Studies show that wealthy areas have about triple the amount of supermarkets as poor urban areas do.
Stuff, Casey, Szeto, Gossett, Robbins, Simpson, Connell, and Bogle (2004) Household Food Insecurity Is Associated with Adult Health Status. Journal of Nutrition, 134, 2330-2335. Retrieved from http://jn.nutrition.org/content/134/9/2330.full
The United States Department of Agriculture defines food unsecurity as the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food, is limited or uncertain for a household. Food insecurity also does not always mean that the household has nothing to eat. More simply stated it is the struggle to provide nutritional food for ones family and/or self. The people that suffer from food insecurity are not all living below the poverty line. In 2012 49.0 million people were considered food insecure in the United States of those 46.5 million were in poverty (Hunger & Poverty Statistics, 2012). For some individual’s food insecurity is only a temporary situation for others it maybe for extended period. Food insecurity due temporary situation such as unemployment, divorce, major medical or illness can be become more long term. The vast majority of these are families with children.
“Food Deserts” as defined by the CDC, are “areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). In simpler terms, a food desert is a community with little to no grocery stores. Many reports show that neighborhoods with less access to neighborhood grocery stores have a higher risk for obesity and unhealthy diets unlike neighborhoods where residents have better access to neighborhood grocery stores. The “USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that are than one mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that ...
Studies have shown that there is a link between food security, performance in the classroom, and obesity. If this issue is not faced head on, America will have a generation of children not fully prepared for the workforce and high health insurance rates due to obesity health issues. In providing help to people who find themselves in food insecure households, people can be found who are skeptical of their true need. One of the biggest myths of the disadvantaged is that they have poor shopping habits or shop in convenience stores where prices are extremely high compared to those in grocery stores. Another myth is that in America, the land of plenty, those that cannot afford food are lazy or cheats.... ...
The world that we live in is inevitably problem stricken. There will always be a challenge that we are given to overcome, may that be a natural disaster, war, poverty, hunger, etc. As a whole we need to come together to find a ‘solution’ for all of these issues that are so detrimental to this world and those living in it. Some may be more preventative than the others, however, we must work together in times of distress to rebuild. I will be addressing the problem of hunger and food insecurity in America. Food security is define by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as access by all people at all time to enough food for an active, healthy life. On the other hand, food insecurity is outlined very well by the National Research Council.
When considering the topic of poverty and hunger, many Americans look outside the borders of the United States. However, food insecurity is an issue that plagues millions of American households each year. The United States Department of Agriculture found that 14.5% of American households faced food insecurity during 2012. These households were defined as having “difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources” (Nord, Singh, Coleman-Jensen).
In the year 2015, around 40 million U.S. citizens were food insecure (Randall para. 3). Food insecurity can be defined in paragraph 3 by “[having] difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. This 12.7% of American citizens also contains another group - children. Aged 10-17, 6.8 million adolescents struggle with a food insecurity. There have been several years of cuts to the social programs designed to help these people, along with the Great Recession continuing to leave an impact on the U.S. economy (para. 6). Under the Obama administration, $8.6 billion was cut from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. From 1993-2001 under the Clinton administration, former President Bill Clinton’s administration “gutted the welfare system” (para. 15). Because of these budget cuts, the families who rely on food assistance from the government have been allotted less throughout the years. From a sociological perspective, the concepts of sociological imagination, class stratification, and social location are in effect when it comes to child hunger in the United States. Being hungry is an issue larger than any one individual can control.
Formal equality is known as the formal, legal equality. This is the equality that is seen as one law should be applied to all people, social and personal characteristics are no factor. Formal equality aims to distribute equality fairly and evenly, and aims to treat people the same. Formal equality does not ensure the wellbeing of individuals based on race, ethnicity, sex, age etc. Unfortunately, this side of equality does not recognize diversity and is insufficient for promoting social inclusiveness. Even though it may give the illusion of equality and justice, it is actually creating inequality and is actually ending up discriminating individuals (EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, 2004).
Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.