When Mark mentioned exploring food deserts as our new
project, post $3 Diet, I thought about what a challenge it will be for him to
find healthy, affordable, minimally processed foods in convenience stores which
rely heavily of the sale of processed foods.
I challenge you to think about the last time you stopped in a
convenience store for food, whether it was to grab a gallon of milk, eggs that
you ran out of and need for breakfast in the morning (and the grocery store is
closed), or just because the boredom of driving makes you hungry.
In the open economy, I’ve noticed a change in what
convenience stores of today offer versus those of the past (or let’s just say,
those of my youth). I remember many road
trips growing up where a stop at the gas station meant maybe a bathroom break
(if we were lucky enough to find a gas station that actually had a public restroom
along the way), or an occasional snack
for the road (pretzels, crackers, dried fruit, etc.). Usually my mom was savvy enough to pack our
snacks for the road, but in the event of a hunger emergency when all of mom’s
snacks had been consumed and the natives in the back seat (me included) became
restless, we would resort to “on the road” snacks.
As I compare road trips of today with my own children to
those of the past with my parents and siblings, there’s a definite
difference. Along the open road, you can
now find fast food chains like Subway, Burger King, Starbucks, or good ‘ole KFC
co-located with convenience stores at gas stations. Now, a bathroom break with my 3 and 5 year
old means that I usually come out of the store with something edible. Even though I try to pack healthy snacks
just like my mom did back in the day, there’s something enticing to kids about
the food in convenience stores, as Mark can definitely attest to. After much negotiation, or as much as you can
do with a young child focused on eating a whole package of cookies he just
found at his eye level on the shelf (thanks to the darn food marketers!!), we usually settle on
the best of the worst snack I can find.
That usually still means something processed like crackers (preferably whole wheat/whole grain if I can
find them), nuts or trail mix (hopefully not covered in salt and sugar), or fruit
cups (packed in water and their own juices).
Most of the time one of these items works to satisfy the hunger for “junk”,
but the plethora of bright colors and pictures of the food inside (although I’ve
found the food inside rarely looks as good as the packaging makes it look) can
unfortunately make it difficult to convince otherwise. Maybe that’s one of the reasons childhood
obesity has reached epic proportions?
And yes, in case you
were wondering, sometimes I am THAT parent at the checkout counter with the
determined child, on the edge of total break-down clutching his cookies like they
are his last meal, using distraction like a champ to scrape them out of his
tight grip. Sometimes it works,
sometimes melt-down ensues. But, in the
end, by the time we get to the car, open the snack, and venture out on the road
again, those cookies are a distant memory of now healthier indulgence. We both win in the end!
As I reflect back on much of the road travel I have done
over my lifetime, I realize I have experienced food deserts along the way
without having put much thought into it at the time. Sure, I could have left the main road in
search of options other than a convenience store for my traveling snack attacks,
but usually the cost of increasing the time to my final destination was not
worth it to me. So, I would settle for
the healthiest of processed food I could to satisfy my immediate need for
nourishment as I also filled up my gas tank to accomplish two things in just
one stop.
Another example of food deserts relating to travel, actually
fairly recently, was a trip I took to Atlanta for a conference. I stayed downtown where there was a plethora
of expensive restaurants, but what I really wanted were fresh fruits and
vegetables (that I could pick myself and not pay an exorbitant amount of money
for in a restaurant). I didn’t have a
rental car and it was a bit of a hike to the train, so I was limited to foot
travel. The closest grocery store was a
Whole Foods, about 2 miles away. Sure, I
could have walked or run there, but 2 miles is a long way to carry groceries
and because I would have to carry them, I would have been limited by their
weight and what I could reasonably carry for 2 miles. Plus, I was there for a
conference. I didn’t have time to walk
that distance to Whole Foods, although I actually considered it! I
opted instead to venture out to the local convenience store, only a couple
blocks from where I was staying. Surely
I would find something there. While I
did find fruit, the apples were bruised, and the bananas were already “banana
bread brown” with a swarm of flies circling them. Not to mention, the cost ($2.00/lb for bananas) was far more than I was willing to pay for rotten fruit. No thank you…..I will do without, I thought! I eventually settled for canned fruit, which
is never my first choice, but in desperation I caved.
While my experiences in food deserts have fortunately been
few and far between, they are a daily reality for many people. And you may be thinking….but there are so
many grocery stores today, and isn’t a new one always being built in someone's neighborhood? Well, yes, but just because they are out
there, doesn’t mean there is equal access to them. For some urban dwellers, a convenience store
is just that, the closest and most convenient place to purchase food. The cost of travel to the suburbia supermarket (both time and money, ie. purchasing
a train, bus, or subway ticket or hailing a cab) is simply too great compared
to just walking down the street a couple blocks to the local C-store (even
though the cost of food is typically higher in a C-store than in a grocery
store). For some who shop at the
convenience store on a regular basis, timing is of essence when it comes to
hitting the jackpot with fresh produce.
I would like to think the fruit I saw in the C-store in Atlanta had been
sitting there for a while and that it didn’t just arrive already rotten. I guess Mark will soon get to the bottom of
this!
I’m excited to be part of this 30 day experiment with him. It will be interesting to see what he finds
out there in the food desert, and whether or not he can sustain the healthier ways
of eating he has become accustomed to over the past year. Similar to the $3 Diet experiment, I’m here
to provide nutrition coaching and support along his journey.
Cheers to you, Mark, and to a (hopefully) healthy food desert experience!
