Help…I’m stuck in a food desert and I can’t get out!
What if you were stranded in the middle of the Mojave Desert?
No food, no water and not another person in sight.
What would you do…would you survive? Could you survive?
Well, I personally hope you never have to face a situation like this but what if I told you people live in deserts economically?
These deserts aren’t full of sand but are devoid of nutritious food thus the term food desert.
Food deserts are real- visit any inner city or small town and you’ll see.
Small Town Blues
I grew up in a small town. Small towns afford you simplicities you can’t get anywhere else but certain limitations exist.
Some small towns can’t offer the “big city experience” when it comes to food.
There are things I have access to in Florida, I didn’t have access to growing up in a small town.
Since I’ve been living in a bigger city, I realize how limited a small town can be.
For example, after several years of living in Florida I went back to my hometown and experienced a rude awakening.
It was difficult to find food items I took for granted in Florida.
Things such as coconut oil, almond milk, or grassfed beef.
As of late, some things have changed yet much are the same.
I can’t help but recall the correlation between access to nutritious food and sickness.
I was keenly reminded of this right before my mom died from breast cancer.
The local hospital was full of cancer patients just like her who may or may not have survived.
Inner City Dysfunction
If you visit any major city, you’re going to visit the good parts.
You don’t visit the poverty stricken, crime ridden areas unless you end up taking a wrong turn and end up there by default.
In major cities like L.A. or Chicago, the disparity between the “haves” and “have nots” can be discouraging.
While those people who have an economic advantage have grocery stores in close proximity, this isn’t the case for the less fortunate.
In those less fortunate areas, there is an imbalance in the food environment.
People have to travel miles to get to a grocery store.
This usually means there are more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than there are supermarkets.
As a result, poor health and violence usually are the norm.
In the Latin and African American inner city communities higher rates of death occur due to diabetes.
There are also higher crime rates.
I’ll never forget watching Dr. Russell Blaylock’s lecture, “Nutrition and Behavior” in which he cites the correlation between nutrition and criminal behavior.
Would the health and crime rates improve if people had access to good, healthy food?
Oh SNAP
I was a proud recipient of food stamps when I was a kid.
I grew up with a single mom and only one income.
I had no idea how she managed to feed two kids and provide us with clothes.
She did it…I just don’t know how!
I vividly remember eating “gubment” cheese and partaking in powdered milk.
I’m not so upset with the “gubment” cheese because it made one helluva grilled cheese sandwich but you had to slice it thin!
Today, the food stamp program has evolved into Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) and WIC programs.
Both of these programs provide assistance to economically disadvantaged people but there’s a cost.
In most cases, recipients of the program can purchase specific brands of foods from a list which in most cases are cheap, inferior products.
These products are “food stuffs”- not real food.
If I’m someone who lives in the inner city without a grocery store in sight my WIC card will be used heavily at the bodega or convenience store on cheap food items which contribute to disease.
Keepin’ It Real
In 1923, the Bridgeport Telegraph said, “Ninety percent of the diseases known to man are caused by cheap foodstuffs. You are what you eat”.
This makes complete sense. If we are what we eat, the inner cities are an incomplete shell of us.
What happens to the less fortunate will always affect everyone else as a whole.
Poor health, violence and crime touch our communities and pockets in more ways than one.
I’ll admit I’m guilty of being selfish and just thinking about me, most of the time.
But when I do, the kid who was once mixed powdered milk in the kitchen to make pancakes comes out.
I then think of those less fortunate.
We all have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness via the constitution but what about access to nutritious food?
Food affects us more than we’ll ever know.
That’s why everyone deserves access to healthy food and why food deserts should be a thing of the past.
If you know someone who’s unaware of food deserts please share this post with them!