Out of work = hungry?

Disability is responsible for putting many people out of work and therefore, these people do not have the financial earning power that they would otherwise. Even living off disability checks becomes difficult. I know this first hand because my mother is trying to support two children on disability. It is nearly impossible without any other source of income. But what does this mean for those who don't have the funds to buy healthy food because of their job status. Surely it isn't their fault...

Food insecurity at the household level is said to be due to one of two factors: low earnings or high expenses. Guess what? Disability of working aged adults (18-64) increases prevalence of both of these factors. In the best of situations, people with disability are unable to go to work and therefore do not bring in some money to support the family. However, in the worst cases, those on disability need extra care (which eats into paid employment time) and/or need to purchase medication or other expenses. A representative of the United States Department of Agriculture states that extra expenses can include "wheelchairs, special telephones, or other adaptive equipment. In addition, people with disabilities may have difficulty shopping for food and preparing healthy meals" (Coleman-Jensen, 2013).

Disabilities include:
-Hearing disability: Deafness or hard of hearing
-Vision disability: Blindness or unable to see even with aids
-Mental disability: Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions due to a physical, mental, or emotional condition
-Physical disability: Difficulty in mobility
-Self-care disability: Difficulty in bathing and dressing
-Going-outside-home disability: unable to leave the home alone without help.

Of course we can easily attribute food insecurity to disabled adults who are unable to hold a job, but what about those who are disabled and still hold a job? The USDA's research found that food insecurity was more common in households where working aged-adults were kept out of work due to disability rather than those who hold a steady job. Similarity, people with disabilities but maintained a job, had a higher prevalence of food insecurity over those with no disability.

So what are some steps that we can take as a community to help those with disabilities? Heads of households that are disabled usually need to hire in home maids in order to keep their house clean. These weekly expenses can add up and take away money needed to buy medication. If you know someone with disability in your neighborhood, offer to do their dishes once a week or to mow their lawn once a month. This will mean that they will not need to hire and pay someone to take care of chores. Though it will only be a volunteer position for you, it is an opportunity to build rapport and potential learn through the experiences of another. These people greatly appreciate any help they can get. Another possibly is to help disabled people start a garden in their yard. This way they will be able to grow fresh produce in their yard and less of their money will go toward groceries because seeds are cheaper. Of course, the upkeep of a garden may be too much for them to handle but if there are children in the household try to get them to find a new hobby in gardening. Watering plants twice a week is an easy task for children but will exponentially provide more food for the family.

Finding solution to help those with disabilities can be difficult. Do you have any suggestions?

References:

Coleman-Jensen, Alisha. Disability is an important risk factor for food insecurity. Feb 12, 2013. United States Department of Agriculture. 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/02/12/disability-is-an-important-risk-factor-for-food-insecurity/

Disability Pic.jpg Retrieved from: http://www.pompeoinsurance.com/disability%20pic.jpg

How available is your food?

Now that we have learned what food insecurity is, the programs to eliminate food insecurity and the importance of food banks, we have to ask ourselves what leads to food insecurity in order to stop this global problem. To understand the causes of food insecurity we must first know exactly that it means. Food insecurity is not as simple as just having access to healthy foods. There are actually three pillars that define food insecurity:

-Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
-Food access: access to resources for a nutritious diet
-Food use: knowledge on proper nutrition as well as water sanitation.

A family that lacks just one of these categories is considered food insecure. We have briefly discussed food access and food use. Now it is time to tackle the factors that determine food availability. 

A common misconception is that there is not enough food in the world to feed everyone. However, this is not true. There is enough food but the problem stems from limitations in food distribution. The amount of food on the planet actually exceeds need. Farms are constantly "throwing away" or decomposing living crops because they have no room to store their fresh produce. It costs too much money and time to effectively distribute all of the fresh food. Also many people that need food from these farms live too far away and would not be able to retrieve the food even if it was free. My personal solution to this problem is to endorse small scale farming rather than that in large fields. In the small scale farming method, there would be farms close to everyone that would be able to distribute food for their small region rather than it having to be imported from someplace far away. This will also cut out travel time for the produce and the beneficiaries would not have to worry about their foods going bad.

Another factor that plays into food insecurity are environmental factors such as the weather. When there are weather problems, the whole world is not affected. Typically if there is a hurricane, it is confined to one region. When weather hits, a farm loses all of its crops. Larger farms feed people on a larger scale and therefore if something is to happen more people would go hungry rather than having to bounce back from annihilation of a small farm due to weather.

Natural disasters, such as drought, kill many of the produce being grown on large scale farms. If the plants are not being watered naturally, the fields are typically too large to even attempt to water by hand. The solution of small scale farms also works towards a solution for the environmental problems. People that own small scale farms would have less land to take care of. Therefore, if there was a drought for instance, it would be much more possible to connect a hose to a water source and water the produce in a reasonable amount of time.

If you haven't gotten it by now. My proposition is simple. A way to eliminate some of the food availability and distribution problems is to integrate more small farms around the world rather than having a few centers that are in charge of mass production of fresh foods. In order to do so, we would have to increase global awareness and implement a program that ensures that each town has its own farm for food distribution.

References:

Food security. n.d. World health organization. 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story028/en/

Food security and food access. n.d. Grace food program 4 May 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.sustainabletable.org/280/food-security-food-access

Can we bank on food banks?

Every once in a while you'll find yourself at the grocery store and there are trucks outside waiting for your donations for the hungry. Everyone's first thought is to donate some ramen or canned food. They are relatively cheap and stay fresh for longer right? Not exactly. Though you are lowering the rates of those families going hungry, unknowingly you are widening the gap between those well nourished and those who are food insecure.

So with an influx of people donating their unwanted cans and processed noodles, where does that leave people who are actually receiving the donations? First off, these food banks are unable to say no to donations that will provide no nourishment. Sodas and candy are frequently donated food items because of their shelf life. But if someone is going hungry, they would much rather want to grab something substantial that represents a meal rather than snacks. in "Overburdened Food Banks Can't Say No to Junk Food", Farmer tells why junk food can actually be extra detrimental to certain families. A woman goes into the food bank frequently to feed a family that has diabetes and heart disease. Junk foods will not help these people! They will actually hurt them faster than someone healthy eating these foods. These families are forced to take the junk food because they are told that if they don't accept all offers, it will make them seem ungrateful and volunteers are less likely to help in the future.

Once we are informed why don't we just donate fresh fruits and vegetables to those in need? The first factor is cost. Fresh foods cost more and are more likely to go bad before they are put to good use. The donators are aware of this and would rather their money be spent well instead of wasting money on something that will be thrown out due to mold. In addition food banks don't ask for fresh produce because they expire quickly and are not able to be distributed to families in a reasonable amount of time. Items such as eggs, are plentiful in vitamins and minerals but are likely to break so the food banks don't even want to deal with this problem. Same with milk, it goes bad too quickly without refrigeration.

This topic becomes tricky because not only does it take end on the change of the donator but the food bank system needs to become more efficient to allow way for the more nutritious -perishable foods. My initial thought is to have a fridge section at food bank warehouses in order to store items such as milk, eggs and produce. Of course this would raise prices but the amount of "real" food given to families would be improved. Another option requires cooperation from grocery stores. They could have special deals for donations. For example, buy one gallon of milk, get the other 1/2 price for donation, or even free.  Having volunteers picking fruits in the fields rather than asking for donations at the grocery store would save time in the ripening process meaning fresh produce could be distributed more efficiently. Any ideas to maximize the amount of nutritious/perishable food that can be stored in these banks?


Reference:

Farmer, Blake. Overburdened food banks can't say no to junk. Jan 13, 2011. NPR. 23 April 2014. Retrieved from <http://www.npr.org/2011/01/13/132864584/high-demand-nutritional-dilemma-vex-food-banks>

FoodBank1.jpg Retrieved from <http://krapuul.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/foodbank1.jpg>

Lane, Melissa. Addressing the nutritional quality of food donations. March 1, 2007. Food and Nutrition. 23 April 2014. Retrieved from <http://www.foodandnutrition.org/Online-Exclusives/2007/Addressing-the-Nutritional-Quality-of-Food-Donations/>

Free food...kinda

For those without the means, there are programs in place to eliminate a national food insecurity. However, these programs are strictly monitored to help people in need that did not create their economic struggle. Thankfully the government is not fond of giving people money that don't strive to work to escape food insecurity because it would raise tax prices for everyone. There are primarily three programs that aid in eliminating food insecurity:

• SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) - Those that fulfill the requirements are given an EBT card to use like a credit card. The card is loaded with a certain dollar amount every month that is only able to be spent of food items. The benefits are primarily for larger families with low income and a high amount of school aged children. 
• WIC (Women, Infants and Children) - Pregnant women and women with children under five are able to receive assistance if needed. Some of the benefits include, receiving information on nutritious diets as well as provide foods that are abundant in vitamins A, D and C, which are vital to infant health. This program also allows mothers access to free doctor visits to make sure their child is healthy. 
• School Lunch Programs - In public schools, parents that make under a certain wage have the option of receiving free or reduced lunch. This makes sure that these kids at least have one nutritious meal a day, in the unfortunate case that they do not have access to healthy food at home

While I think that all of these are viable options to reduce food insecurity on a national scale, there are many "hoops" families have to go through in order to receive benefits. Sometimes the application and acceptance process takes a while, leaving these families hungry for longer. Although the application process to receive assistance is tedious, it is needed so people that are not working to dissolve food insecurity (and are just being lazy) do not take away the benefits from a family in need. 

Governmental funds are limited so we can't feed all of the crooks for free! An alternative would be to have churches provide free meals once a day for people in need. Of course, these crooks could show up at the churches too and eat some of the free food. Perhaps another idea is to have a pre-screening process on the families in need. Their family income could be checked for the past two years and could be compared to the amount of people in the household. Then, the people that pass the pre-screening could receive a small sum of money to feed themselves while their application for SNAP or WIC goes through. 

I think the free and reduced school lunch program is headed in the right direction. But what about all of the kids' other meals. There has to be a way to make sure school aged children get nutritious meals during weekday dinner and on the weekends. A possible solution would be to have "take home" meals for the children on free and reduced lunch. When these students go through the lunch line they would be able to pick up a packed meal to bring home. 

There has to be another option to provide food for those in need, in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Any ideas?

Reference:

Krishna, Meghna. (2014, January 29). What can we do to eliminate food insecurity. (20 April 2014). Retrieved from <http://www.neahin.org/blog/what-can-we-do-to-eliminate.html>

What are YOU eating?

Hello blog readers! It seems as if you are here to learn about how food insecurity effects everyone. THAT MEANS YOU! Food insecure is a term that refers to a household that does not have the financial means to provide nutrient dense food to their diet. However, this does not mean those in financially secure households are not at risk and are not effected. Beyond the obvious ways that food insecurity can be detrimental to those who do not have access to foods, tax payers are the ones who provide the government expenditure to help those in need. There are systems in place to close the hunger gap. 

Genetically modified foods is when the DNA in foods is altered using genetic engineering. These foods are easy to grow in excess and are used to close the hunger gap. When these foods are plentiful, it is easier to drop prices in crops. However there is some controversy whether these foods are more harmful than they are helpful tough there is not much solid evidence. 

The obvious reason as to why GM foods would be beneficial is that it would provide more people with foods, while taking them out of hunger. Their overall energy would be higher so they would be more capable of giving back to society and maintain a job. It would increase the bounty of food for everyone and drive down prices. Food quality would increase because the modification would allow for preservatives to increase shelf life. This would, in turn, increase food safety and stop people from getting sick from rotten foods. 

On the side of opposition, genetically modified foods introduce new traits in crops. Not all of which have been studied. Many of these foods have not been tested on whether increased exposure leads to long term health effects. Also when the genetic makeup of a crop is altered, some of the nutrient value can be lost. Many reasons that lead to food insecurity are due to a lack of nutrients, but some people are food insecure due to a deficiency in calorie intake. Crops such as vegetables which are high in nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, do not have as many calories as a processed food such as breads. These crops are more expensive and not as effect in providing energy. Genetically modifying foods would make it so that the fresh foods AND processed foods (which are high in calories) do not provide the vital nutrients to maintain a healthy body. GM foods add more fresh crops for everyone at a low price, but are low in nutrients. This means that people who are already properly nourished might go for a "cheaper option" and buy the GM foods. This would create more widespread food insecurity rather than eradicating the problem. Simply providing more foods will not take people out of food insecurity because by definition it means that a household has access to nutrient-dense foods. 

There are numerically more reasons to not allow farmers to genetically modify foods, however the price and sheer raise in calorie count of those in need may be enough of a reason to endorse GM foods. Feel free to leave what you think about whether introducing genetically modified foods to combat food insecurity is a viable option. 

References:

Food insecurity to food security.JPEG <http://thehungergap.org/about/>

Qaim, M., & Kouser, S. (2013). Genetically modified crops and food security.PloS one, 8(6), e64879. <http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0064879>