Preview

Food Deserts Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
859 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Food Deserts Essay
Obesity is one of the most prevalent health problems in the world—especially in the United States—and with people searching and striving to find a way to curb this epidemic, it is wise to be prudent in searching for answers to this problem. Therefore, we should consider all possible options in order to drive back obesity-related issues in our nation. One factor that deserves to be studied more is the phenomenon of food deserts. There are many ways to define a food desert, but a common way to define it is as a low-income census tract where a great portion of its residents have low-access to a supermarket or a large grocery store. This phenomenon occurs nationwide and is an issue that should be acknowledged and dealt with.
Currently however, food deserts is a phenomenon that has yet to gain the proper acknowledge for the threatening occurrence that it is and for the role it has in shaping the lifestyles of the people that live in these low-income communities. Food deserts should not be overlooked, and should be a focal point in tackling obesity and other related diseases. How food deserts can be dealt with is by enacting a policy that decrees providing more funding towards healthier foods and providing less funding towards sugar and fatty-based foods. This would make buying healthier food much more accessible than
…show more content…
People tend to dismiss the concept of food deserts or its implications, and this prevents a more aggressive stance against food deserts. There is a large portion of people who believe that diet and a healthy lifestyle is all about choice, and it is this attitude that prevents such people from considering the possibility that a thing like food deserts could be a phenomenon that impairs people to make healthy choices. In order to undermine such an ideology would require evidence that support the notion that food deserts do push people to make unideal lifestyle

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Combatting food deserts is not an easy task, however that does not stop some communities and its members from bringing urban agriculture to life. According to a local community member, a food desert is a geographic area where affordable and nutritious foods are difficult to obtain, particularly for those without access to a car. Food deserts can often be located in rural and urban neighborhoods where access to affordable, healthy food options, such as fruits and vegetables are limited or non-existent because grocery stores are too far away. The Seedfolk Store is a business incubation under the supervision of ProsperRochester, Inc, a non-profit community engagement organization in the Southwest area.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Society must look at other obstacles including cost. Tracie McMillan is the author of The American Way of Eating who also wrote the article “The New Face of Hunger” in which she points out how the government subsidizes processed food and crops that are not as healthy, but does not subsidize the healthy food needed. McMillan explains that, “In 2012 [the government] spent roughly $11 billion to subsidize and insure commodity crops like corn and soy, with Iowa among the states receiving the highest subsidies. The government spends much less to bolster the production of the fruits and vegetables its own nutrition guidelines say should make up half the food on our plates. In 2011 [the government] spent only $1.6 billion to subsidize and insure "specialty crops" -- the bureaucratic term for fruits and vegetables” (McMillan para 26). That lack of subsidy on speciality crops causes the prices to be higher to cover transportation costs; resulting in members of society not being able to afford fresh produce. It is unethical for the government to ask for healthier options be served in places like schools when in turn the prices of wholesome food are still too high for many budgets to afford. In short, no one should be denied the right to eat healthy regardless of economic background. Everyone should have equal opportunities to receive healthy food and live a healthy…

    • 1939 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Food insecurity is a concern not only because of hunger, but also nutritional excellence since higher calorie foods are often less nutritious and can put people at amplified risk for obesity or other chronic diseases. Watauga county has an estimated 9,730 people who are food insecure, while 1,920 of those are children (ACS, 2009-2013; Map the Meal Gap Study, Feeding America). Poor transportation cuts off access to many food outlets, specifically for those people who do not own a car and or have access to reliable/affordable public transportation, such as the AppalCart. Many urban areas in Watauga face a double bind that severely limits their access to fresh, healthy food. Full service supermarkets and farmers’ markets are scarce in low-income…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food deserts are defined as areas which have little to no access to traditional supermarkets with a wide variety of fresh and nutritious foods. (In my opinion this is a little odd beginning. Starting a paper with a definition doesn’t draw the reader in.) Frequently, the deserts exist in outlying (but urban) areas which have a high population of low-income and elderly residents, many of whom are without regular public transit. Due to the lack of nutritious food options, and the…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A food desert is an area where low income residents have limited access to affordable and nutritious food. Englewood has just recently built a Whole Food’s market on 63rd street. Whole Foods ;however, is one of the most expensive wholesale food markets in America. They charge higher than any other store because of its fresh produce, but if they would look at the area do they believe that was the best place to build it. Englewood is one of the most impoverished areas in Chicago: homeless living on every corner, foreclosed homes, and low income is a norm.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Food Deserts In Chicago

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page

    Chicago is number three among the largest cities in the United States of America having an estimated population of 2.7 million individuals. According to the community survey conducted in 2007 by the US. Census Bureau found that the racial makeup of the city as 42% white, 36.8% and 4.4 percent Asian. The research showed that 26 percent of the populace is was Hispanic of any race. A food desert refers to a large geographical area without grocery stores, but if there is, it is located several miles from the residential areas (Shannon & Jerry, 255). People living in the food desert areas have to travel a long distance to reach the fast food restaurant. This paper will discuss food deserts in Chicago from the view of how food deserts have influenced…

    • 156 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food deserts are reported as geographic low-income areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options is nonexistent and inaccessible due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance. In other words, a food desert is a location where supermarkets, healthy foods, and fresh produce is not available for the people who live in low-income locations. There are many American residents who are affected by this crisis today. According to a report developed by DoSomething.org, “About 23.5 million people live in food deserts. Nearly half of them are also low-income. [Also,] Approximately 2.3 million people (2.2% of all US households) live in low-income, rural areas that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket.”…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Improve Food Deserts

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page

    As far as resources needed go, I will need to find ample volunteers to drive the bus into “food deserts”, we will not need to pay these volunteers because they will be gaining volunteer hours for themselves. I will need a small amount of money to purchase the bus and hopefully the state will help in finding these resources that will essentially be helping improve “food deserts”. I will also need grocery stores to be on board and willing to donate their supplementary food to the cause. The volunteers will be working for free and the grocery store will donate the food for free, so this shouldn't require a great deal of funding.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lacks Family

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For families like the Lacks’ who live in impoverished communities, lack of income leads to food deserts, a setting with the continual purchase of high, energy-dense fast foods in light of the inaccessibility to proper nutrition, and while often disregarding symptoms of diabetes and heart disease that result from this high-caloric diet, they are “less likely to visit a doctor and get routine screenings” and “less likely to be referred to specialists.” Consequently, African Americans are twenty times more likely than whites to be diagnosed with heart failure (New England Journal of Medicine), and 69% of black men and 82% of black women are considered obese in America (State of Obesity), nearly 1.5 times that of white men and women. Along with the lack of proper nutrition comes twice as much fast-food advertising in black children compared to white children and…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Food Desert Community

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page

    A food desert is a community where the residents have little or no access to fresh, affordable, healthy foods. A place that could be considered a food desert near me would be Warner Robins, a densely populated urban area. Food deserts impact our lives because you cannot be healthy without fresh affordable foods, and our bodies need a certain amount of nutrients from those fresh foods. Without access to these foods it can do harm to ones health. Also it effects low income families that do not have access to fresh foods, especially the children in low income families that are not receiving the necessary nutrients from these foods. One potential solution could be to encourage others to start a garden wither it be on a large scale or a smaller…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Baltimore Childhood Obesity

    • 3208 Words
    • 13 Pages

    1). Studies have shown that this is a major cause of obesity, especially in Baltimore. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a food desert is an area that lacks access to affordable health foods (2012, par.1). Areas that are food deserts are missing grocery stores, but often have many fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Children who live in food deserts tend to eat more junk food and fast food because it is cheep and readily available. Consumption of foods that are processed, hight in fat, and lacking nutritional value leads to obesity, especially in children (Demas, Kindermann, & Pimentel, 2010, p. 251). Children who grow up in food deserts may lack the ability to choose healthy foods over bad foods. The variety of food distributors is a reflection of the socioeconomic state of the community. Food deserts are typically located in poor, urban, neighborhoods. The inhabitants of food deserts lack the money to purchase health food and transportation to areas that sell healthier food. In 2010 the Maryland government passed a bill that promised tax incentives to grocery stores located in low income areas (Advocates for Children & Youth, 2010, p. 2). Although this was a step in the right direction, little change has been seen Baltimore City. Because of the lack of choices, children growing up in…

    • 3208 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Food Empowerment Project

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Food deserts is a serious topic that communities need to consider looking into. Residents are struggling to obtain healthy food because they are isolated from the urban areas. Ideally they are low-income and do not own a car or access to public transportation meaning getting around places is a challenge. According to the “Food Empowerment Project’s”, they stated that high incomed districts have three times of accessible supermarkets as low incomes locations. As they specifically mentioned that in white neighborhoods, they have at least four time as many supermarkets compared to black neighborhoods. Living in a food desert, it is very limited to supermarkets that are usually miles away. People who have limited access to grocery stores only have…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Have you ever wanted to learn about food deserts?Food deserts are problematic,because they don't give access to healthy foods and stores that sell them.I would help them by getting the healthy food and going to neighborhood so that low income neighborhoods would have healthy food in their area.community gardens can be put in the center of a food desert neighborhood or community so that everybody in that area a would have healthy food in thier neighborhood,another way to help food deserts is to get major brand grocery stores to build in requested areas to save gas money and time.more farmers markets to help the people in the city to get healthy food.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Food Desert

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Food deserts around the world are becoming more frequent. A food desert is an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food, for the most part they are found in poor or run down areas that do not have a grocery store nearby to where the citizens have to take a rather long trip to bring fresh food and supplies. Food deserts are mainly caused because most food or grocery companies do not want to take the risk of building a store where the criminal record is high. One of the numerous city's suffering from the lack of food is West Savannah, although they are using many methods to try and stop the problem; it is still an ongoing issue.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Hunger In Africa

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The problem is that people are ignorant to what goes on around them. People are surrounded by social media and things that aren't as important, so people tend to ignore the situation as these such as hunger in Africa. Hunger in Africa could be solved if people actually supported the organizations that are around trying to help families in the towns and cities in Africa. In addition, in the article,”Ending Hunger In Africa,” by the WorldWatch Institute, the author states that,”Organizations like AVRDC and DISC, by inspiring our future farmers, working with current farmers and reigning an interest and appetite or indigenous crop varieties, are helping to improve diets, livelihoods and local ecosystems around the world.” (WorldWatch. 1). With this in mind, the author illustrates that farmers cannot do it alone. If we could help organizations like these, we could accomplish keeping Africa away from deaths and starvations little by little. However, we are blind to the fact that people in Africa are severely ill and have been dying because of starvation in their…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays