English Food Deserts Ms. Mulligan
https://www.commonlit.org/en/assignments/food-deserts-3628302/student_assignment
Food deserts cause serious problems across many parts of the United States, leading Americans to struggle with unhealthy eating habits and obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 37% of Americans suffer from obesity, which means being overweight to a degree that affects a person’s health. Even though they are aware of this growing problem, many families face serious challenges when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet. As you read, take notes on the factors that cause food deserts.
Food deserts cause serious problems across many parts of the United States, leading Americans to struggle with unhealthy eating habits and obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 37% of Americans suffer from obesity, which means being overweight to a degree that affects a person’s health. Even though they are aware of this growing problem, many families face serious challenges when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet. As you read, take notes on the factors that cause food deserts.
ASSIGNMENT IN PROGRESS FOR 8th Grade ELA: A Day Due November 29, 2019
Food Deserts
Food
deserts cause serious problems across many parts of the United States,
leading Americans to struggle with unhealthy eating habits and obesity.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 37%
of Americans suffer from obesity, which means being overweight to a
degree that affects a person’s health. Even though they are aware of
this growing problem, many families face serious challenges when it
comes to maintaining a healthy diet.
As you read, take notes on the factors that cause food deserts.What is a food desert?
areas, a food desert must be at least ten miles away from a fresh food source.”
Why Do Food Deserts Exist?
The
reasons for food deserts vary widely depending on location. One of the
most common reasons is a simple lack of fresh food vendors
in an area. Living one mile away from a grocery store may not seem very
far, but in urban areas where many families, especially low-income
families, do not own a vehicle, a one-mile hike to and from the grocery
store is not practical or efficient. Instead, people buy their food from
fast-food restaurants or small convenience stores, which have less
selection and a greater amount of packaged and processed foods.
Average
income is another significant factor. Food deserts most often occur in
low-income neighborhoods, largely because healthy food is more expensive
than packaged food. Since 1989, the price of fresh foods has increased
dramatically, while processed foods have only become more affordable.
For these reasons, the USDA also takes affordability of fresh food into
account when determining whether an area is a food desert.
Rural
food deserts are quite different from those in urban areas.
Supermarkets are even harder to access for low-income families because
everything is spread far apart in rural areas. Additionally,
supermarkets in rural areas struggle because they often do not have
enough customers to purchase fresh food in bulk. This causes food to be
more expensive for grocery stores and for consumers.
What are the Consequences?
The
lack of fresh food that results from living in a food desert poses
significant health risks. Fast food and processed foods have a lot more
calories per meal than fresh, whole foods. People who eat fast food
twice a week are almost twice as likely to face obesity than people who
eat it only once a week. Those who do not have access to plant-based,
nutrient-rich foods are much more likely to suffer from obesity, heart
disease, and type-2 diabetes. Living in a food desert can be dangerous
for your health!
Moreover,
buying packaged foods is more expensive overall. Vegetables are
actually cheaper per calorie than fast food, but the up-front costs
are higher. Additionally, because convenience stores are usually much
smaller than supermarkets and often independently-run, their products
are more expensive than they would be at a larger grocery store.
What Can We Do?
Former
First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, beginning in 2009,
was one of the first programs to bring the problem of food deserts to
national attention. As part of her goal to end childhood obesity, Obama
encouraged the national government and individual communities to address
the problem of access to fresh food. Here are some of the solutions
people have developed:
Expanding supermarket access — perhaps one of the most obvious solutions is to give supermarket chains more incentives
to build branches in low-income, underserved neighborhoods. Local
governments could give them tax breaks in exchange for building a new
store.
Community gardens
— one very local solution is the expansion of community gardens.
Community gardens are plots of land set aside by city governments for
residents to plant and maintain their own fruit and vegetable plants.
These gardens allow families to grow their own healthy food (which is
often cheaper than buying it), and they bring communities together to
cooperate and make new friends.
or private charities can drive people to the grocery store or deliver fresh foods right to their homes.
Increased safety
— urban areas usually have reliable public transportation, but in some
food deserts people are unwilling to go to a supermarket because they do
not feel safe. Decreasing crime in these areas can make families more
comfortable walking or riding the bus to the grocery store.
Changing convenience stores
— private charities or local governments can also give financial
support to convenience stores that want to sell more fresh foods. People
prefer to shop in stores where they already feel comfortable, so if
existing convenience stores can provide more fresh foods in place of
their packaged foods, low-income families are more likely to take
advantage of those healthy options.
Food Deserts: Not the Whole Story
While the solutions to food deserts around the country have been highly innovative
in the last several years, it is important to note that food deserts
are not the main factor in unhealthy eating habits and obesity. In fact,
researchers have found that even when fresh food access is expanded
through one or more of these programs, people’s eating habits do not
change much. Researchers are still trying to figure out why this is the
case. It could be that people do not want to change their shopping
habits by going to a new, larger supermarket that overwhelms new
customers with options; it could be that people do not want or do not
know how to switch to eating healthier foods all the time.
Obesity
and unhealthy eating habits are much more closely tied to poverty than
to food deserts, and while no one has fully explained why this is the
case, many argue that in addition to expanding access to fresh foods,
governments and charities must address the problem of poverty directly
in order to improve health outcomes.
Notes
1. The
United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for developing
and executing federal laws related to farming, agriculture, forestry,
and food.
2. Urban (adjective) : relating to, typical of, or being in a city
3. Rural (adjective) : relating to the country, country life, or agriculture
4. Vendor (noun) : someone who sells a good or service
5. Up-front costs are one-time expenses that one has to pay before the desired purchases can be made.
6. Incentive (noun) : money, goods, or services offered to encourage people to make certain choices or behave in a certain way
7. Meals on Wheels is a program that delivers meals to individuals at home who are unable to purchase or prepare their own meals.
8. Innovative (adjective) : introducing or using new ideas
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