Do You Live In A Food Desert?

The newest Administration catch word is "food desert" which means that someone lives more than a mile away from a grocery and therefore cannot get healthy foods.  It seems that they feel that if a citizen lives that far from a store, he or she cannot walk more than a mile to get good food and ends up going to the nearest fast food restaurant.


This is the most idiotic, nanny society idea we have ever heard. It does not even make sense.  We wonder how they plan to solve this disaster.  Maybe put government stores every mile or government trucks to deliver fresh food to every house.  Hey, we could privatize the mail service and turn the mailmen into delivery drivers for the new food delivery service! That would be a double winner. Mail would be delivered quicker and at less cost and unemployment would go down!  Sometimes we are so brilliant (said with tongue deeply embedded in our cheek!)


We grew up in eastern Colorado, 11 miles away from the nearest store and our parents made sure that we ate healthily. In fact, most of the time we drove to Colorado Springs (over 35 miles away) to get our groceries.  If you want to do the right thing you can.


Now, we live in the suburbs of Detroit and  we do have a store a mile and a half away. So we must live in a food desert! However, there are many areas in the 'burbs that are three or four miles away from a store.  Wow, we did not know that we lived in such a poor area.


To think that the government could make  healthy food available for all its citizens, might be a noble goal if one lived in a third world country without infrastructure, roads, and transportation. However, we live in the United States and even in the worst areas of this country, our citizens live better than most people in the world.  When you compare our living standards with those of people in China, India, and even some places in Europe, our poorest of the poor, live much better.  Try going to Mexico and compare living conditions, there is no comparison.


If someone wants healthy food for themselves and their family, they will find a way to get it.  However, the issue is not the availability of the food, it is the desire to eat it. A lot of people would not eat fresh vegetables or fruit, even if it was given to them.  They would rather go to the fast food down the street ( probably over a mile) and eat there.  Isn't choosing to eat food that is not good for you, a personal choice?  Are we everyone's mother? Should we not let everyone live their own lives and suffer the results of bad decisions?


The idea of providing "healthy foods" to people who make other choices is a ridiculous and    will fail just like all other programs like the "Great Society" whose was to eliminate poverty, which it has not!  Or the "No Child Left Behind" which continues to leave thousands behind. Idealism is great, but it rarely works in reality.


Sebelius should spend time on things that have some practical outcomes and if she cannot find any, maybe it is time to close down this department also!


Conservative Tom

Sebelius: Living a Mile from a Grocery 'May Be Too Far to Get Healthier Food'

By Penny Starr

March 6, 2012

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said at a House hearing on March 6, 2012 that families having to walk a mile to a grocery store might not be able to get healthy foods. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

(CNSNews.com) – The administration’s definition of a “food desert” – an urban area where a significant share of the population lives more than one mile from a grocery store – came under the microscope during a Health and Human Services appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

Questioning HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Republican lawmaker said it was likely most of those present at the hearing lived a mile from their nearest grocery store.

“Do you think that definition should be revisited, because one of the things is, if you are in an urban area a mile away from a grocery store you’re in a food desert – which I would think in so many cases is ridiculous,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). “Have you thought of – have you looked at their definition?”

“Ah, we have sir,” Sebelius responded.

“And you think it’s a good one?” Kingston asked.

“Well, I think it’s very difficult for a family buying groceries – if they have to walk a mile with bags of groceries, it may be too far to get healthier food,” Sebelius said.

“You really think that?” Kingston asked.

“I do,” she replied.

Sebelius agreed to take another look at the definition after Kingston pointed out that the definition is silent on how people must travel the one mile to a grocery store – whether on foot, by car or by some other means of transportation.

“Because I suspect in this room most of us might live a mile away from a grocery store,” Kingston said.

“And you walk a mile to get to the grocery store?” asked Sebelius.

“Well, I don’t think the walking part is in the definition,” Kingston responded.

“Well, I’m just suggesting to you sir – “ Sebelius said.

“But it’s not in the definition so, you know, it would also be bad if, you know, you didn’t have a driver’s license, but that’s not in the definition so that’s not relevant,” Kingston said.

“We’d be happy to look at the definition,” Sebelius replied.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last May announced the effort to locate food deserts, which were defined as a “low-income census tract where either a substantial number or share of residents has low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.”

“Tracts qualify as ‘low access’ tracts if at least 500 persons or 33 percent of their population live more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles),” stated apress release announcing the campaign.

Vilsack said that the effort, and an associated online interactive “food desert locator” map, was in keeping with First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which aims to reduce childhood obesity by increasing access to food deemed healthy and increasing exercise.

“This new Food Desert Locator will help policy makers, community planners, researchers, and other professionals identify communities where public-private intervention can help make fresh, healthy, and affordable food more readily available to residents,” Vilsack said at the time.

Tuesday’s hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education considered President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget request for $940.9 billion for HHS. The subcommittee is responsible for approving $69.6 billion of that funding.