[SustainableTompkins] Food justice article & question

[Elan Shapiro]

Here's a  sobering article about how we  sustain 
or don't sustain all members of our communities. 
Question: How can we ensure that 
relocalization/sustainability strategies 
(policies, economics practices,  agriculture, 
lifestyle, etc.) address this issue?

Healthy Diets Out of Reach for Many

Eating a healthy diet is getting so expensive 
that many American families cannot afford it. 
Not only are fruits and vegetables costly, but 
food price inflation is reducing the ability of 
low- and middle-income households to get the 
nutrients they need.  Recent research confirms 
these findings.

A University of Washington study, conducted over 
a two-year period in the Seattle area, found that 
good, healthy foods increased in price by almost 
20 percent, four times the rate of overall food 
inflation.  Meanwhile, less healthy, high calorie 
foods held steady in price or actually dropped. 

“We were shocked, said Adam Drewnowsky, director 
of the University’s Center for Public Health 
Nutrition and co-author of the study, The Rising 
Cost of Low-Energy-Density Foods, published in 
the December 2007 issue of the Journal of the 
American Dietetic Association.  “The 
nutrient-rich calories, the food we should be 
eating are zooming out of sight, he stated.  “So 
eating well is becoming unaffordable for many, 
even in the middle class.

As healthy foods get more expansive, unhealthy 
foods stay cheap.  “When it comes to empty 
calories, it’s very difficult to compete with 
sugar, noted Drewnowsky.  In Brazil, for example, 
sugar made locally from sugar cane “is produced 
at the cost of 30,000 calories for one dollar. 
Nothing else comes close.

The academic findings were recently confirmed by 
a federal study.  Are Lower Income Households 
Willing and Able to Budget for Fruits and 
Vegetables? is the title of a January 2008 report 
issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
(USDA).  It is not surprising that households 
with income near or under the poverty line spend 
less money on food than higher income households. 
But even when they experience a small increase in 
income, such households will allocate more money 
to only two of seven product categories – beef 
and frozen prepared foods.  For low-income 
households to prioritize fruits and vegetables, a 
household’s income must increase more 
substantially.

So, how can low- and middle-income families 
achieve a healthful diet?  “It takes three 
things, explained Drewnowsky.  “Education, money, 
and time.  If you have all three, you’re home 
free.  If you have two out of three, you can 
manage.  But if you only have one out of the 
three, or zero out of the three, you are pretty 
much screwed.  And a lot of low-income people 
have zero out of three

For additional information, see the USDA report 
at:  
<http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR54/> 
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR54/.  The 
University of Washington study is on the web at:  
<http://www.mdconsult.com/das/article/body/86804079-2/jorg=journal&source=&sp=20186529&sid=0/N/619891/If07018007003.fig>http://www.mdconsult.com/das/article/body/86804079-2/jorg=journal&source=&sp=20186529&sid=0/N/619891/If07018007003.fig

-- 
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Community Partnership Coordinator
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249    607-592-8402 Cell

"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
	          Mohandas Gandhi