Hunger and Obesity Understanding a Food Insecurity Paradigm: Workshop Summary (2011) / Chapter Skim
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8 Socioecological Perspectives: The Institutional Level
8 Socioecological Perspectives: The Institutional Level
Pages 115-124
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From page 115... ...
These institutions create the macroeconomic, taxation, and policy conditions that may contribute to the coexistence of food insecurity and obesity, noted Katherine Alaimo, who moderated the session on institutional factors at the workshop. In particular, food assistance programs and emergency feeding systems, which were the primary focus of the session, can have a profound effect on the lives of low-income and food-insecure people.
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From page 116... ...
They understand the demands and stresses of their lives and adapt or adjust. They use family management strategies such as maintaining a family meal time or going out for fast food to feel like a normal family.
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From page 117... ...
found a small increase in weight gain when participating in the food assistance programs -- "maybe a 10 percent increase in risk." As with any large institution, SNAP has multiple effects, some of which are positive and some negative. One way to view this problem is through what researchers call the "multiple streams theory." Multiple problems such as obesity, hunger, and increasing agricultural yield are attacked with very broad solutions, such as "taking care of poor people" or "reducing the size of government." As Jones said, "The solutions are driving the problems, or the politics are driving the problems, rather than the other way around." In addition, said Jones, agriculture is a classic example of an "iron triangle" where policy makers, interest groups, and bureaucracies are tightly linked in making policy.
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From page 118... ...
ADDRESSING OBESITY THROUGH THE EMERGENCY FOOD SYSTEM Food banks, which originated in the 1960s, were originally intended to be used for emergencies and to help people in disasters, said Tom Slater, executive director of the Food Bank of Central New York, which is part of the Feeding America network of 200 food banks across the United States. Food banks glean, purchase, store, and distribute foods to their subsidiary emergency food programs (EFPs)
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From page 119... ...
The Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance Program within the New York State Department of Health, which is a major funder of the food bank, is very supportive of this process. Food banks tend to accept every food donation that is offered, said Slater, because even if the donation is not healthful, food banks may be concerned that rejecting certain items might preclude people from making future donations.
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From page 120... ...
More than 70 percent of food recipients said that they preferred fresh fruit rather than frozen or canned fruit, and 51 percent said they preferred to receive fresh vegetables rather than frozen or canned. Perspectives of Food Pantry Directors About 80 percent of directors said they "strongly agree/somewhat agree" and 20 percent said they "strongly disagree/somewhat disagree" with the statement "the role of the food pantry is to provide healthy items only." Only about twenty-seven percent said they "strongly agree/somewhat agree" with the statement "the role of the food pantry is to provide a variety of foods including soda and candy," with about 74 percent indicating that they "strongly disagree/somewhat disagree" with that statement.
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From page 121... ...
It has partnered with neighborhood stores so that people can redeem milk vouchers for 1 percent or skim milk and food banks do not have to store and distribute as much milk. Of the people surveyed in the territory served by the bank, 97 percent were happy with the quantity of food that they received, 98 percent were happy with the quality of the food they received, and 95 percent said that they were treated with respect.
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From page 122... ...
Similarly, only about 10 percent of overweight children are food insecure, but about a quarter of overweight children are poor. "Maybe we would have more of an impact if we worked on poor people rather than food-insecure people." If one is concerned about obesity, the other problem Rose mentioned is that focusing on the narrower food insecurity-obesity linkage removes physical activity from consideration.
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From page 123... ...
Rose argued that this wasn't necessary because "food" assistance programs had modernized to become "nutrition" assistance programs -- offering nutrition education and better access to healthful foods. GROUP DISCUSSION Moderator: Katherine Alaimo During the group discussion period, points raised by participants included the following: The Rationale for Studying Food Insecurity and Obesity Researchers need to understand the relationship between food insecurity and obesity because the public blames poor people for having obese children, said one participant.
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From page 124... ...
Changes in advocacy and communication also have been made, and other states are adopting these changes, just as other state food banks have adopted changes pioneered in New York State. In response to a question about how he has managed to have so many nutritionists on the staff of the Food Bank of Central New York, Slater responded that he has been able to hire four nutritionists by convincing government of the importance of their positions.
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