How to Make Healthy Foods Accessible for All Students

Eating healthy is key to fighting obesity, but millions of Americans don’t have access to fresh, nutritious food and drinks because they live in “food deserts,” or areas without grocery stores that offer healthy options. A nutritious breakfast like oatmeal with fresh fruit can increase students’ verbal fluency and short-term memory, but what if your only options are sugary cereals?

More than 23 million people live in food deserts and rely on fast food restaurants and convenience stores as their only food sources, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In a food desert, most of the available foods are high in calories and fats, making it difficult for families to eat healthy and thus increasing the  risk for chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes.

Luckily, there are groups working to alleviate food deserts across the U.S. Below are three initiatives that are providing fresh and healthy foods that are accessible and affordable:

Making grocery stores mobile
An old Chicago bus has been transformed into a “mobile produce market” that stocks fresh fruits and vegetables from cranberries to kale; the bus parks at schools and local community centers to make nutritious food accessible to hundreds of people living in local food deserts. The founder of the “Fresh Moves” bus understands that access to healthy foods alone won’t solve larger problems like obesity, so the bus also offers recipe cards and cooking demos to motivate people to eat and enjoy the nutritious produce. Read more in this FastCoExist.com article: http://bit.ly/182i2Jp

(Photo credit: Fast Company)

Launching community gardens and farmers markets
A Birmingham, Alabama community launched a small farmers’ market and a garden at an elementary school to provide access healthier options to their food desert community. In addition, food-assistance programs, health organizations and schools are working to provide garden training for kids and adults to build excitement about the new nutritious options: http://on.msnbc.com/1gXabiX

(Photo credit: MSNBC)

Building a safe, walkable grocery store
St. Louis, Missouri experimented with a grocery co-op to provide healthy food options in a safe, walkable location for families. In addition, a team of university students started a mobile food bus similar to the one in Chicago to bring fruits, vegetables and healthy food education to people living in the city’s food deserts. Read the full story: http://bit.ly/1ecKh7a

(Photo credit: Erin Williams via St. Louis Public Radio)

What other ways have you seen communities working together to make nutritious food more readily accessible? Tweet us @BagtheJunk, write on our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

Related story:
“There are no grocery stores around here, and gas stations don’t sell fruit.” Educator Clint Smith provides a behind-the-scenes look at the reality of his students’ limited access to healthy foods and the affect it has on student achievement.