Food Deserts

The increase in fast food and convenience stores and simultaneous decrease in supermarkets and grocery stores decreases access to healthy foods. This phenomenon,   called a food desert, usually occurs in low-income neighborhoods, making where you live determinant of what kinds of foods are easily available. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) a food desert is a low-income area that has limited access to a grocery store or supermarket. They occur in either rural or urban environments. To see if you live in a food desert check out the Food Desert Locator. This interactive map has information on the continental 48 states about their access to healthy food. Using tools like the Food Desert Locator can help us find areas of concern and where we can come together to help solve this issue.

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In order to combat this issue a two-pronged attack is necessary, increasing access to grocery stores while limiting fast food and convenience stores. There are many ways to encourage access to healthy food sources such as business incubators and local farmers markets. Community-wide efforts are now underway in Philadelphia and Detroit, two of the nation’s poorest cities (and largest food deserts). In many communities corner stores are a main source of food for people. Healthy corner stores initiatives are ways to include fresh produce in smaller convenience stores. These efforts make sure it is easy and affordable for everyone in a community to have access to healthy foods. The other approach is through fast food zoning which can limit the number of joints in a given area or ban them altogether. To fix the problem of food deserts communities must work together to come up with creative solutions that work for them.

Working to end food deserts is just one of the many steps needed to combat the obesity epidemic in america. Public awareness about eating healthy and making healthy foods affordable compared to convenience and fast foods are also needed. Making sure everyone has access to healthy food is an important step in the process, that involves the community, urban planners, public health, businesses, and producers.

Fast Food Kids

Looking for something to eat? Chances are in many communities you will see multiple fast food places before you will find a grocery store. Fast food is everywhere, it is cheap, it is convenient, and it tastes great. Many fast food joints have extended hours so you can stop in and get your “4th meal,” but how late is your local grocery store open? Many fast food places offer drive-thru, increasing convenience for those of us with a busy schedule.

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Fast food offers many high calorie low nutrient food options, often high in fat, sugar, and sodium and regularly eating these types of food can lead to adverse health consequences such as obesity and cardiovascular disease. To support a healthy diet people need to eat a variety of foods that include fresh fruits and veggies and components of all the food sources; protein, carbohydrates, and fats. A recent study  found that obesity rates were 5% higher for school kids whose schools were within 1/10th of a mile of a fast food joint, suggesting that proximity to fast food does matter. Marketing policies against fast food in schools are a great strategy to reduce the exposure, but community level action will have a broader reach.

To help solve this problem public health officials and planners are teaming up to make a change in their communities. Cities are putting restrictions on drive-thru and chain restaurants to keep their citizens from becoming obese. They are limiting building amount per square mile and in some cases banning them all together. Other cities are taking alternative approaches to make their citizens healthier. In 2008, Los Angles stopped any new fast food restaurants construction within a 32 square mile area for two years. In 2010, Santa Clara County was the first to stop restaurants from giving away toys with their meals and many since then have followed.  New York City’s recent proposal would ban the sale of large sugary drinks.

As the obesity epidemic in America continues to grow we need to start taking action against fast food to protect our public health. We have suggested a few ideas that are working in different communities.  If you think these are drastic steps that are infringing on our rights, just remember this was the same many people felt about smoking just a short time ago. For a detailed essay on fast food and zoning check out this report.