You’ve likely heard the term food desert before, but don’t be fooled: these aren’t actually deserts. As a substitute, they’re areas without access to nutritious, reasonably priced foods typically present in under-resourced, marginalized communities in the USA. 

How food deserts and diabetes are connected

Food insecurity is defined as consistently lacking access to sufficient amounts of food for a healthy, lively lifestyle. Often probably the most available foods in these areas are fried takeout, meals high in sodium, sweets and soft drinks—limiting options for correct whole balanced nutrition. For this reason limitation, living in a food desert is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D). 

Diabetes is connected to food insecurity in several ways. For instance, having complications from diabetes might make it difficult to acquire and maintain a job, while people may additionally have to come to a decision between paying for food or purchasing diabetes medications when on a limited budget. Black people usually tend to experience food insecurity; in addition they have the best levels of disease and mortality, that are connected to diabetes and hypertension. 

Impacts on communities

Biancha Jackson, a registered dietitian whose majority of patients live in food deserts, says that these areas have a big impact on individuals with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes.

“Food deserts make it difficult for people to search out nutritious brands of foods, reasonably priced foods, higher quality foods, or simply access to buying healthier foods basically. This negatively impacts individuals with T2D or prediabetes since it makes it tougher for them to buy foods equivalent to whole grains, fruits, vegetables and leaner protein options. Most significantly, food deserts are impacting children. Food deserts are placing children at greater risk for obtaining chronic disorders equivalent to T2D, obesity or heart disease resulting from limited access to healthier foods. As well as, there’s a scarcity of nutrition education in food deserts.” 

One other registered dietitian, Natalie Reed, works on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. Of the roughly 200,000 people living on the reservation, an estimated 76.7% of households experience food insecurity. 

With regard to the high levels of chronic illnesses inside the population, Reed says “Traditional foods were stripped away. Traditional practices were robbed. Of their stead, [community members were] given low-nutrient-dense commodity foods. Commodity foods became immersed into the culture, to the purpose where they at the moment are viewed as cultural foods. Commodity foods like Spam, Crisco and white flour could also be related to the heightened affected by chronic disease.” 

Several other aspects have played a task within the sharp increase in chronic illnesses within the Navajo community, including lack of nutrition education, a shortage of grocery stores, absence of water and electricity in some areas and high food costs.

Getting help when you live in a food desert

When you live in a food desert, there are actions you possibly can take to mitigate the results of your environment. 

Government and personal programs

There are each government and personal food assistance programs you possibly can turn to for help like the next.

Government programs:

Non-government programs:

• Meals on Wheels and Moveable Feast deliver medically-appropriate meals and nutrition education to create racial, social and health equity.
• Food Not Bombs is a program that provides out free vegetarian and vegan meals around the globe.
• Healthful Wave is a company that works with community programs to combat food insecurity and provides healthy food to people in need.
• Local food pantries, soup kitchens and food banks operated by religious or community organizations give food to people in low-income communities. 

Local progressive programs

Cities around the USA are putting fresh ideas to the test. 

In Baltimore, Real Food Farm uses a mobile market to sell fresh produce and likewise provides a CSA program. Karen Washington works with Bronx neighborhoods to remodel unused land into community gardens through her work with Latest York Botanical Gardens. She also helped start a City Farms Market, which brings fresh veggies to the Bronx community, through her work as co-founder of La Familia Verde Garden Coalition. 

A Minnesota community has a program called The Open Door Pantry which supports low-income individuals and families in the world. They provide 4 programs: a food pantry, a traveling food distribution, lunch delivery to students throughout the summer months and food harvesting (where people plant their food themselves in local gardens).

With increasingly cities implementing programs to handle food insecurity, chances are high there’s a program where you reside!

Suggestions from registered dietitians

Each Jackson and Reed have suggestions for individuals who live in food deserts. 

First, Jackson recommends that individuals discover if there are reduced or free nutrition or healthcare services of their area. Through these programs, people can connect with a registered dietitian who can assist in creating budget-friendly meal ideas, refer them to numerous food assistance programs, teach tips about  budget-friendly grocery shopping and discover which stores within the food desert provide the most effective food options.

She also recommends shopping on the local dollar store. They typically have more number of nutrient-dense food options including popcorn, pretzels and bread. As well as, most dollar stores accept Electronic Advantages Transfer (EBT) cards.

Meanwhile, Reed says learning the right way to garden can positively impact people’s ability to eat fresh produce. She also recommends purchasing for high nutrient-dense foods with an extended storage life, equivalent to frozen and canned fruit and veggies.

Shelf-stable grains including brown rice and whole wheat flour in addition to protein options like canned chicken or fish are all items that increase the dietary value in a budget-friendly way. She also recommends reaching out to area people or senior centers, since many offer food assistance programs. Utilizing food distribution programs can be an awesome idea, while you possibly can complement what you don’t receive from there with foods from the shop. 

There is no such thing as a doubt that living in a food desert adds an additional layer of difficulty to stopping and managing diabetes. While the answer to eliminating food deserts isn’t as easy as constructing more grocery stores, fortunately there are programs run by the federal government and personal organizations which offer assistance to people in need. With so many cities offering progressive programs to assist fight food insecurity, it’s value a glance to see what is on the market where you reside.

Editor’s Note: This content was made possible with support from Lilly, an lively partner of Beyond Type 2 on the time of publication.