Food Insecurity

For most Americans, a majority of their calories come from highly processed foods. Our reliance on these foods has shifted our perceptions on what makes up a healthy meal, changed our expectations of how foods should taste and impacted our abilities to prepare meals from whole nutritious foods. Overconsumption of processed foods is linked to poor health. Increasing people’s access to healthy food and empowering them to choose that food can improve community health.

How We Think About Food Insecurity

When people can’t afford, physically access, or prepare whole nutritious foods, they lack the choices and ability to change their dietary habits. When someone cannot access food that supports an active, healthy life, it is referred to as a state of food insecurity.

Hunger vs Food Insecurity

We live in an age of very cheap and convenient processed food that has low nutrient value. For most people experiencing food insecurity, the challenge is not getting enough calories. The challenge is getting enough nutrients. The term food insecurity reflects this modern reality.

Food insecurity describes a barrier to accessing food that supports an active, healthy life. While the term hunger is simpler and more relatable, our understanding of hunger as discomfort, weakness, or a physical condition from prolonged lack of food does not represent the true challenge facing many in our community.