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Eat Healthful Food...If You Can Find It
For those who embrace the wellness movement, two federal departments have just issued two separate reports that hearten and frustrate for the same reason.
First, the Department of Agriculture issued a report on Wednesday that found that healthful foods such as fresh vegetables cost no more "per calorie" than processed foods and junk foods. That bit of economic analysis eliminates a lame excuse that many of us have used while waiting in the $1 menu line at McDonald's.
One day after this report was released, however, the Treasury Department issued a report that found that 24.8 million Americans live in areas with limited supermarket access, what the feds call LSA, a problem significant enough to warrant its own acronym.
The Treasury report, Searching for Markets "identifies 1,519 communities where supermarkets do not exist, and where the unmet demand within the community is large enough to support a full-service grocery store." Treasury says LSA communities are 2.28 times more likely to be low-income and have larger minority populations.
These reports underscore a stubborn hurdle that faces well-meaning wellness advocates. While it is heartening to know that fresh foods are just as affordable as junk food, that information is teasingly useless for 25 million generally poorer Americans who could greatly benefit from healthier diets but have limited access.
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Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
Patricia (5/25/2012 at 2:32 PM)
Eating better and regular exercise requires ongoing education for staff about these issues, and time. It takes time to exercise. Where in the workday have you allowed for your staff to have time for exercise? Is there a safe place for them to walk? Does your policy even allow your staff to leave the building? Nurses are allowed to leave a department for lunch, but facilities often have policies that prevent nurses from leaving the building. Thus, going for a walk is out of the question. If we want people to be healthier, we need to look at the work environment. Is it stressful? Why? What can you do to make it a healthier place to work?