Wellness Wednesday

Understanding Why America Eats So Unhealthy:

Healthy Food Priority Areas

Many Americans who live with a low-median income tend to eat unhealthy due to a variety of factors, including not having access to affordable, healthy food.

Food deserts are defined as areas that lack access to fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy whole foods due to a dearth of supermarkets, food markets, or other healthy food vendors in the immediate area. These areas are usually located in lower income demographics, and leave these families to rely on quick-markets for food that is usually packed with high-sugar and preservatives that lead to being overweight or obesity. The city of Baltimore, working with Johns Hopkins University, has recently re-branded the term 'healthy food priority areas'. The reason for this stems from the idea that the term 'food desert' implies that the area is completely devoid of food, where in reality it has plenty of food packed with preservatives and relatively no healthy food. 23.5% of all Baltimore City residents live in these 'healthy food priority areas', with 85% of them being African American. With a lack of access to healthy foods being the main concern of cause for researchers trying to solve the obesity epidemic in lower-income areas, that may not be the whole story/cause when it comes to choosing/having access to healthy food over preservative filled foods.

Sociology researcher Priya Fielding-Singh recently conducted a study in which she observed and interviewed 73 families in regards to their dietary habits. She discovered that the lower income families dietary problems in regards to nutritional deficit, was in fact more underlying from a sociological perspective than was previously understood. Through her research she discovered that lower income households continually purchase junk food because their children request it, and they are afraid to say no because this is one of the few requests that they can fulfill for their children. Upon inquiring how many times the lower income families said no to their children when they requested junk food, only 13% reported repeatedly declining their request while 96% of middle-to-upper class households reported repeatedly declining their children's request. While supplying 'healthy food priority areas' with the physical means to access healthy food is a must, education for parents and children alike are necessary to ensure that children receive the proper nutrition they need.