Well, I personally agree with the latter half of the article, which speculates that food deserts really don't exist at all. Based on what I'm learning this summer, I think that people will continue to choose the same unhealthy foods no matter what the options are, simply because most people do not understand which foods are healthy and nutritious. Some of the women that I work with were raised to believe that a hot meal, or one that was cooked, is healthier than a raw meal. So, by this logic, fried chicken makes a more wholesome meal than a sandwich on whole wheat simply because the chicken has been cooked. Some people don't understand that canned fruit, with additives and sweeteners, has nowhere near the nutritional value of fresh fruit. And when they see on the "food pyramid" that they are required to have a serving of grains, they reach for sugary cereal, bleached white pasta, or white bread, prefering those options over whole wheat any day.
I know that the Food Pyramid is in the process of being changed to "My Plate"... but I think we need to eliminate both of these images and simply teach people the value of whole, fresh, unprocessed food.
Like the article says, though, the problem is also the price of this food. Healthy food tends to be more expensive than unhealthy food - and that's a problem that I think we've all run into so far these past four weeks.
Sydney
No comments:
Post a Comment