A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow of Iron Man and Shakespeare in Love recently tried to live off a food stamp budget for a week for the #FoodBankNYCChallenge. Her groceries, laid out and arranged neatly on her marble counter, looked more like rabbit food than a sustainable diet for a week. Her purchases included various fruits & vegetables, beans, brown rice & eggs, avocado, garlic, parsley, and seven limes.
Within four days the actress gave up, stating publicly, “My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days.” Little did she realize that her small budget was only part of the nutrition problem crippling the United States. Even scavenging for money for healthy, more expensive alternatives to junk food, soda, and snacks, families living in low-income locations often have no access to healthy products. The USDA estimates that 23.5 people in this nation are stranded in food deserts.
Food deserts exist in rural and urban impoverished areas with limited access to affordable, nutritious foods. In Baltimore, the sixth poorest city in America, one quarter of civilians live in food deserts. Families in food deserts have little or no access to fresh produce, low-fat dairy, whole grains, or other healthy alternatives, like Paltrow did.
Often, the only option in a food desert is fast food and convenience store products. These families struggle with obesity and chronic, diet-induced conditions that lead to heart trouble and premature death. As geographical scientist Paul Robinson acutely put it, “food is the first medicine. The doctor tells you you’re pre-diabetic and to eat healthy, but where do you go to get the food that the doctor has told you to eat?”
Obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipemia, gout, and arthritis—all of these chronic diseases may result from poor food choices and a lack of fresh, unprocessed foods. Doctors and health care providers try to educate patients in food deserts about eating healthy, but without the money, access to healthy food, or a history of eating healthy, it can be difficult to affect positive long-term change.
Doctors, public health officials, and non-profits are trying to tackle this health epidemic. Farmers markets are beginning to accept food stamps. Non-profits are attempting to bring community gardens and healthy food trucks to impoverished, urban areas. There may be no capitol gain to opening a supermarket in a poor area with less money and less demand for healthy food, but the effect on a community would be paramount.
A good grocery store would not only generate jobs within a community; it would help provide healthy meals to families and break a cycle of poor nutrition. It is not enough, but it is a start. If we can sympathize with skinny, starving Gwyneth Paltrow, surely we can find a voice for these impoverished communities too.
Pingback: Deficiency in Rural Health Services
Pingback: drugs for sale
Pingback: weruybsd.fireblogz.com39575666four-issues-to-do-immediately-about-online-pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online
Pingback: https://625a9a98d5fa7.site123.me/blog/age-dependence-of-healthcare-interventions-for-covid-19-in-ontario-canada
Pingback: online pharmacies
Pingback: canadian drug
Pingback: https://kerbiss.wordpress.com/2022/04/27/14/
Pingback: canada pharmacies online prescriptions
Pingback: canadian online pharmacies
Pingback: canada rx
Pingback: canada drug pharmacy
Pingback: https://deiun.flazio.com/
Pingback: canada drugs
Pingback: online canadian pharmacy
Pingback: kerntyast.flazio.com
Pingback: canadian pharmacies that are legit
Pingback: legitimate canadian mail order pharmacies
Pingback: canadadrugs
Pingback: legitimate canadian mail order pharmacies
Pingback: Canadian Pharmacies Shipping to USA
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online prescriptions
Pingback: canada medication
Pingback: kertvbs.webgarden.com
Pingback: swenqw.company.site
Pingback: Canadian Pharmacy USA
Pingback: canadian pharmacycanadian pharmacy
Pingback: ksorvb.estranky.skclankywhy-online-pharmacies-is-good-friend-to-small-business.html
Pingback: northwest pharmacy canada
Pingback: canadian pharmacy meds
Pingback: https://heklrs.wordpress.com/2022/06/14/canadian-government-approved-pharmacies/
Pingback: canadian pharmacy online 24
Pingback: online drug store
Pingback: canadian online pharmacies
Pingback: www.formlets.comformstH7aROl1ugDpCHqB
Pingback: canadian pharmacy online
Pingback: canadian pharcharmy online
Pingback: canada drug pharmacy
Pingback: canada pharmacies
Pingback: canadadrugs
Pingback: pharmacy
Pingback: Northwest Pharmacy
Pingback: prescriptions from canada without
Pingback: online canadian pharmacy
Pingback: https://lasevs.estranky.cz/clanky/pharmaceuticals-online-australia.html
Pingback: Canadian Pharmacy USA
Pingback: Northwest Pharmacy
Pingback: londondrugscanada.bigcartel.comlondon-drugs
Pingback: canadapharmacy.teachable.com
Pingback: canadian pharmacy meds
Pingback: canadian government approved pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacies mail order
Pingback: canadian drugs
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online
Pingback: canadianpharmacy
Pingback: canadian pharmacy no prescription
Pingback: canadian pharmacies shipping to usa
Pingback: drugstore online
Pingback: canadian drug
Pingback: canada pharmacy
Pingback: canadian pharmacies without an rx
Pingback: drugs for sale
Pingback: stromectol effectiveness
Pingback: stromectol drug
Pingback: stromectol pharmacokinetics
Pingback: canadian pharmacies mail order
Pingback: stromectol overdose
Pingback: stromectol from costco
Pingback: best canadian mail order pharmacies
Pingback: stromectol medicine
Pingback: canadian online pharmacy
Pingback: canadian pharmacies mail order
Pingback: online pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online prescriptions
Pingback: northwest pharmacy canada
Pingback: canadian medications
Pingback: canadian drugs
Pingback: discount stromectol
Pingback: how much does stromectol cost
Pingback: medicaments stromectol
Pingback: stromectol composition
Pingback: canada online pharmacy
Pingback: canadian prescriptions online
Pingback: canadian pharmacy world
Pingback: canadianpharmacy
Pingback: drugs for sale
Pingback: top rated online canadian pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmaceuticals online
Pingback: canadadrugs
Pingback: canadian prescriptions online
Pingback: canadian mail order pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online prescriptions
Pingback: erectile dysfunction treatment
Pingback: solutions to erectile dysfunction
Pingback: prescriptions from canada without
Pingback: canadadrugs
Pingback: northwestpharmacy
Pingback: pharmacy
Pingback: canadian government approved pharmacies
Pingback: canada drugs
Pingback: best canadian pharmacies online
Pingback: online drug store
Pingback: bitbucket.orgcanadianpharmaceuticalsonlineworkspacesnippetsk7KRy4
Pingback: online canadian pharmacy
Pingback: pharmacy
Pingback: canada online pharmacies
Pingback: canadianpharmacy
Pingback: www.giantbomb.comprofilereatticamicblogcanadian-government-approved-pharmacies268967
Pingback: Canadian Pharmacy USA
Pingback: www.passivehousecanada.commembersonline-drugs-without-prescriptions-canada
Pingback: canadian pharmacys
Pingback: no 1 canadian pharcharmy online
Pingback: canadian pharmaceuticals
Pingback: discount canadian pharmacies
Pingback: canada pharmacies online
Pingback: online canadian pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacies online
Pingback: canadian government approved pharmacies
Pingback: canadian pharmacycanadian pharmacy
Pingback: canadian pharmacy meds