World We Dare To Imagine - Post 1
Back in 2017, I started doing a lot of research into nutrition and stumbled across a selection of documentaries on veganism and its effects in improving personal health and the environment. I was so moved by these films that I actually ended up going vegan for 2 years and only stopped because I thought it would be too difficult to maintain during college. While I think that veganism is definitely drastic and not always the healthiest option for some people, I believe that nutrition is one of the most pressing matters in the world and one that I think needs to be tackled in order to make the world a better place for everyone.
When delving into the topic of nutrition and how to improve the health of people worldwide, I often split my thoughts into two categories. On one side, I consider the poverty and lack of food resources in some places, where people simply do not have access to the nutrients and calories they need to survive. This issue of food insecurity is pressing and unfortunately has been ongoing for a long time in our society. The other category which has arisen more recently is the obesity epidemic and people over consuming certain nutrients which is in turn causing a different type of food crisis.
Where these two categories overlap is where I am most concerned. This is when people do not have the means to access healthy food so in turn are made to sacrifice their own health in order to consume sufficient calories. Especially in America and England, the countries where I have grown up and lived in, there are high correlations between low income and obesity. This is because good quality food is often more expensive and more inaccessible. No child should have to suffer from Type II Diabetes because they do not have the financial means to access healthy food.
While I am not an expert in nutrition, it is an area I have always been very passionate about. I therefore hope to use this project as a way to brainstorm different ideas to provide increased access to healthy food, no matter of a person's income.
Florence, I absolutely love that you are passionate about nutrition. Like you said, good quality food is inaccessible often times to lower income families which is heartbreaking. Although creating something like this would take time, maybe in the future you can start some kind of food assistance program that helps low income families gain access to healthier foods and offers them nutrition education.
ReplyDeleteHey Florence - glad you're addressing this. Financial well-being shouldn't have any business affecting physical well-being. If you haven't already looked into it, Everytable is a restaurant chain that has a really compelling business model, providing healthy food at prices scaled by the income of the community they operate in (~$5-$7 for South Central LA). Hope that helps with inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHi Florence, I definitely agree that food insecurity causing obesity is an important problem, especially when a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables are thrown away because they're not "good looking" enough to be in grocery stores. I think one possible solution would be for food banks to partner with local farms that often dispose of their food waste because of this aesthetics problem. This way, food banks get fresh food while farms have a way to reduce their food waste!
ReplyDeleteHey Florence, it really is a shame how the food most accessible to families in the low income bracket contain little nutritional value. I've read some stories where individuals will start a community farm to help combat this issue and make healthier alternatives more accessible.
ReplyDeleteHi Florence, I really think this is a great topic and it has been something I have been interested in for a while now. One thing that could be helpful to look into is food deserts. These are disproportionately found in high-poverty areas, creating hurdles for the people living in these communities to access food. Some people have helped combat this by creating community gardens.
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