Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Food Delivery Options Gone Wrong



This just in, Amazon is now catering to the rich with grocery delivery. I say the rich because if I told my audience the price I’m sure you guys will agree. I will state anyway it is not the price of income that low income communities can afford, but what they would afford is Burger King that is as well in the delivery business. It is upsetting because when you hear the word food delivery you automatically think how convenient, especially for neighborhoods that are highly impacted by food deserts. Not having grocery stores in their nearest radius makes food delivery sound more efficient,although everything has its catch of course.



Amazon Fresh chargers $299 yearly plus the charge on how much groceries are being purchased, Burger King has a $10 dollar minimum charge. Which do you think low income families would settle for first. Within the life we live it seems so much easier to be unhealthy and unmotivated because we lack the resources that is ceaselessly being paid by taxpayers but aren’t seeing where that money is going. An article by Science Daily States “The USDA’s Economic Research Service estimates that 23.5 million people in the U.S live in food deserts in urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh,healthy,affordable food” (2013). Those 23.5 million people are taxpayers so the question is where are the grocery stores and nutritional options that you receive in return of paying your taxes. The meal that children consume having the greater effect are predictably cooked by strangers and odds-on they consist of highly processed foods that are produced anywhere in the world. A fast food restaurant may be called a restaurant but all the food they provide is taken out of frozen packaging and drowned in frying oil. It breaks my heart to see children having to suffer because  the government lacks with something called equal distribution. The only thing I see equally distributed in my neighborhood are the fast food restaurant at your nearest “plaza” in which should contain a grocery store of some sort but instead is a gas station--fast food joint.


I express the most anger in this blog,the issue of having over priced nutritional delivery options like Amazon Fresh and then a choice of cheap fast food delivery not only makes it an easier choice to pick the unhealthy option, but rather influences young children to believe the disturbing message pricing is more important than quality. Food should be cheap because it is casually abundant, that abundance is permanent and the resources are infinite. There can be a solution to this crisis.

How would everyone feel if fast food restaurants rather spent the millions of money they make daily from serving fatty,sugar filled,deathly meals on producing fresh veggies and fruits ?





Monday, April 21, 2014

The Death Toll in Low Income Communities

A family’s income affects how much money they have to provide for the basic needs of daily survival: housing, food, clothes, health care, and education. The lower the income the greater the challenge to access nutritious food, good housing, and education.Higher incomes allow access to better quality housing materials that reduce the risk of contact with lead, asbestos,mold, rodents, and dust. Looking at low income communities you see just from walking into the city limit that they have no access to anything nutritious and healthy to survive in, better yet to strive from. Income can influence personal and community health, while we usually think of a disease, injury, or chemical as causing a health problem, a family income can indirectly affect their health. Employment, more education , and higher incomes are closely linked to improved health.

 Low income communities have more corporations or business that sell fast food, alcohol, cigarettes. People living in these communities are restricted to little amount of resources and have a majority of  products that cause serious health problems. Thank you Obama for stressing that Obama Care gets passed.How useful is Obama care for the poor though, did you know that it is a requirement  to purchase health care  by a specific date or you will receive a penalty tax. I find that radical because we are talking about the poor here, poor means having no sort of income better yet for food that they can afford health care. They are placed in communities that  are screaming out death, and I say this with anger because that is what I see everyday in my sight.
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       I came across an article yesterday on Huffington Post called “Millions are Realizing they are too Poor for Obama Care” the first thing that stood out to me was the story of this man stated “Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling and staunch Republican resistance, Marc Alphonse, an unemployed 40-year-old Marine veteran who is essentially homeless, cannot get health insurance under Obama Care”(2014).This man has served for his country and he as well as other low income American citizens suffer from job loss, what makes his story different is the fact that he is disabled and isn’t able to get a decent job that can help him and his family survive. I find Obama Care to be misleading because I am aware that this new law is called Affordable Care Act  but I guess the affordability part doesn’t reach the poor. This law is mostly taking effect in Florida but that is not very far from California. The effect that it has in California is that any poor person living alone is not eligible for Medicaid. Homeless families are often times to homeless to stay together. Survival strategies  prevent families from living like one big happy family. This Obama Care act is effective on those type of families because the rule that goes along with the law is, an adult without a disability who isn’t living with their children, like the veteran Alphonse whom I’ve stated previously--doesn’t qualify for Medicaid,no matter how poor he or she is.

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