My food desert

                I’m hoping that my last few posts have given you an idea of what the implications of living in a food desert are, and some of the challenges that they pose to eating a healthy diet.

                As I briefly mentioned in my introductory post, I want to experience a small glimpse of what it may be like to rely solely on fast food and convenience stores for my diet. I will begin this “diet” starting on Monday and go until Sunday. Now I know a lot of people who have adopted a certain lifestyle or diet for their blog have volunteered to do the diet for as much as 2 months. That is pretty impressive and hats off to them! However, I’m not sure my wallet could handle the financial strain for that long, and my fear of scurvy is making me hesitant.

                So, a week it is. Welcome to my “food desert”.

                Now in reality, I don’t ACTUALLY live in an area which is far enough away from affordable food and grocery stores to really be a food desert. I am restricting myself to this convenience store by choice. As far as convenience stores go, this one is pretty great! I am in there quite a lot during midterms and exams when I need some emergency chocolate or icecream to keep me going. The couple who owns the store is very sweet, and they have agreed to let me write about their store and take pictures to put on my blog.

                I am mostly going to be looking at the diversity of food that the store offers, and how feasible it is to eat a healthy balanced diet from food sold there. I am also going to look at their prices, and see how they compare to a grocery store such as no frills (my usual grocery store of choice). Exciting!

                On an unrelated note, I thought I’d share a picture of my Halloween costume. For the nutrition students out there, what could be scarier!?

Just kidding. I love McDonalds.

Thanks for reading!

Karoline

Closer to Home...

To start out this post, I wanted to post a 5 minute clip I found on you-tube from the feature length documentary “Polycultures: Food Where we Live”. It talks a little bit more about food deserts in urban areas, but in a more interesting and engaging way then I can. It was shot in Ohio, but the same concepts can be applied to the conditions here in Canada.

Looking into some of the research conducted here in Canada, we are a little bit farther behind than our Southern neighbours (more on that later). When I first heard about food deserts, I immediately thought about Toronto. Sure enough, a study conducted at the University of Toronto actually mapped out the areas in inner-city Toronto and their respective “closeness” to a grocery store[3].

The areas that are shaded with grey are the areas within 1 kilometre of a grocery store, basically within walking distance. This makes up about half of the map. The other half of the map, shaded with pink and purple do not fall within 1 kilometre, and these are the areas that are considered to be in “food deserts” [3]. This map also incorporates income into the equation. The lighter colours indicate lower income, meaning that these communities likely have a smaller food budget, no access to a vehicle, and basically less resources[3].

HOLY COW, what are those communities eating?

 …probably not a lot of fresh produce, dairy and milk. As mentioned before, a lot of their diet comes from convenience stores and fast food outlets. AKA high in fats, sugars and sodium. 

 

What about here in Guelph?

                Unfortunately, I have not yet encountered a study on the prevalence of food deserts here in Guelph. However, I luckily found a study done in London Ontario, a smaller city more similar to where we live than Toronto. The article that came out of the University of Western Ontario showed startling results. Just like the previous study, they use a Geographic Information System to map out the areas in the vicinity of grocery stores, including changes from the 1960s up until now. What shocked me was that back in 1961, about 75% of London had access to grocery stores. Now, in 2005, that number has gone down to 20%![4]

 ...Just a little bit to think about. I'm planning on starting my week-long convenience-store diet soon, within the next 2 weeks.

Thanks for reading,

Karoline

Introductory Post

Imagine the sun’s rays beating down on your head. Sweat trickles down the back of your neck, as you squint desperately into the horizon. Your mouth is parched and you are desperately in need of a square meal. You are stuck in the middle of a desert…

…a food desert. A food desert is an area where access to affordable healthy food is a challenge. They were first identified in a study conducted in Scotland, defining industrialized areas prevalent in fast food vendors providing high-fat and nutrient-poor food [1]. Now, the term has expanded to cover both rural and urban areas, typically prevalent in low socio-economic status communities [2]. Residents in these communities face the challenge of having no grocery stores in the vicinity of their homes, with the additional barrier of not having access to their own vehicle. As a result, these residents often turn to the fast-food stores prevalent in their community as well neighbourhood corner stores offering very little healthy food, sold at high prices.

            As a 4^th year student in Applied Human Nutrition at Guelph, it comes to no surprise to me that people living in food deserts also face associated health and nutrition problems. With the consumption of high-fat nutrient poor food, and little to no healthy fruits and vegetables, also comes the well-known problems of malnutrition, obesity, cardiovascular disease and lack of knowledge about healthy food and nutrition.

            My mission in writing this blog is to explore some of the research that has been done on urban food deserts, the consequences in the community and the prevalence in Canada as well as in the Guelph-Wellington district where I go to school. I want to experience a small glimpse of what day to day meals and nutrition is like for someone living in these areas with no access to a grocery store. As part of my journey in writing this blog, I plan to shop exclusively at my corner store for a week, and examine the feasibility of eating a healthy diet. As well, I’d like to compare prices of some standard grocery items between an urban corner store and a typical grocery store.

            As I learn more about this modern day nutritional-paradox, I welcome any comments, additional information or personal experience any readers have to share. I hope to learn as much as I can about the issues of food deserts in my community and on a national-level, and explore ways to help overcome the problem.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to learning more!

-          Karoline