IS YOUR DIET YOUR FAULT?:
LEADERSHIP
THE FOOD DESERT EPIDEMIC
What are
food deserts?
Across the United States there is a misconception that obesity is a choice. For some, they may have total control over their diet and food choices. However, for others they do not have this control. These people live in what are known as food deserts. Food deserts are areas that lack accessibility to fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthy food options. For communities to be considered to have low access, thus a food deserts, at least a third of the population lives more than one miles from a large grocery store. This is a problem that affects over 23 million Americans, 6.5 of those people being children. In South Carolina alone over one million people live in food deserts. Food deserts are most commonly seen in low income areas. There is less money to spend on healthy foods, quality choices are low, and for reasons such as transportation and time healthy food is not an option. A study in Pennsylvania found that there is a positive correlation between school districts that lie in food deserts and childhood obesity. Another study found a definite relationship between obesity and areas that were low in supermarket numbers but high in convivence stores.
My key insight states that social determinants and socioeconomic status play an important role in medicine. I have seen first hand through my internship that when people aren't able to eat a healthy diet, all aspects of their health is effected, not just weight. When people are at a disadvantage to live a healthy life health disparities form. In communities all across the country there are people suffering from nutritional deficiencies because of the food deserts they live in. When people have access to healthy and affordable food, the rates of diet related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, decrease significantly. People do not have the option to buy healthy foods so they resort to what is accessible: fast food.
I want to eliminate food deserts in rural South Carolina. If people are unable to access healthy foods within their community, the healthy food options must come to them. I propose the regular and more expansive use of mobile farmers markets.
Mobile farmers’ markets aim to create long-term change in local food systems. Communities will have access to fresh fruits and vegetables that they otherwise would not have. The mobile markets will be parked in central locations with high volumes of foot traffic, such as a school or church. This will be so as many people as possible have access to the food and will probably already be at the location, making it an easy option. There will be weekly routes that the food trucks will take, going to the same locations at the same times. At the mobile farmers’ market, there will be several options for purchase. There will be premade baskets that have a variety of fruits and vegetables with recipe cards that incorporate the food inside the box. There will also be options to pick and choose what foods you want, customizing your own box. Recipe cards will still be available for these customized boxes. Customers can pay for the food via cash, debit, credit, and EBT. There will also be a special discount to those customers that receive SNAP, WIC, Medicaid or Medicare benefits. I want people to not only have access to these foods but also be able to afford these foods. No matter how accessible you make fruits and vegetables, if the prices are not within reason, people will not buy them, thus negating the attempt to eliminate the food desert.
A detailed implementation plan is as followed:
1. I will work to find an unused truck, bus, or other large vehicle to serve as the mobile farmer's market. Myself and other volunteers will work to fix up the truck, painting the exterior so that it is appealing. I hope to receive the truck as a donation or get funds through local charitable organizations.
2. I will coordinate with contacts at the Department of Social Services to ensure that customers can pay via SNAP and other benefit programs. I will also set up a bank account and buy a debit/credit card machine and a cash register.
3. I will work with local farmers to come to an agreement about the produce they will be selling through the mobile farmer's markets each week.
4. Before choosing the location and routes of the trucks, I will survey community members to see where they go most often in the community. If there is a large church, or common workplace, or any other location that many people frequent, I will choose this location as a stop along the route.
5. After the locations have been chosen and approved by the various property owners, I will begin to advertise and promote the food trucks. I plan to put ads in church bulletins, school and neighborhood newsletters, and at other local community centers.
6. After several weeks of promotion, the food truck route will begin. The food trucks will be at each location for 6 hours. They will begin during lunch time so that people can come shop during lunch breaks and perhaps have a healthier meal at work that day. They will stay until 6 pm so that as people are getting off of work they are able to access the trucks before going home to cook dinner.
7. After several weeks to months of the food trucks, I will coordinate with local community centers or churches to set up free weekly cooking classes using the produce from the markets.
What can I do about them?
A mobile farmer's market in Washington, D.C..
A mobile farmer's market in Ohio.
Evaluation
To make sure this program is impactful, evaluation before, during, and after implantation is crucial. As the food trucks run each week, I will survey people at the market and see how they heard about the mobile market and why they decided to choose to buy from here. I will ask them what they plan to cook with the fruits and vegetables. If people have limited cooking knowledge, I will begin setting up free monthly cooking classes, incorporating food that can be bought at the market. After a few months of the mobile markets running, I will survey customers to learn if they have begun to notice changes in their overall diet, lifestyle, and health. Overall, I hope to see a decline in diet related illnesses in communities. In rural South Carolina I would like to see diabetes and heart disease cases decline due to a direct correlation with change in diet and lifestyle.
Food deserts are something that many people do not have control over. If people are living in food deserts, the changes are that they have lower incomes and cannot afford to drive to other communities to shop at large grocery stores and farmers markets. These individuals have a disadvantage when it comes to overall health because they do not have access to the same healthy food as others. These people have to eat within their means, often resorting to fast food that is in close proximity to their work and home. Socioeconomic status and social determinants of health play a huge role in medicine. Food deserts have a direct correlation to these factors and I hope to work to close the gap that food deserts create. Mobile farmers markets are just one way to begin to close the gap by bringing healthy options right into communities.