Food deserts

I recently did a group presentation on Food Deserts for my Environmental Health class. According to the CDC, food deserts are "areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet." One thing we learned while researching food deserts is that there's even one in Iowa City. There's a great online tool available that was developed by the USDA that allows you to search by address and see if there's a food desert in your area. The food desert in Iowa City included the very place where we were giving our presentation (which was in the University of Iowa medical school building, part of the health sciences campus).

Even though I had known some about food deserts before this presentation, this USDA report to Congress about food deserts was very interesting and had a lot I didn't know before. One of their major findings was that access to food actually isn't an issue for the majority of people - the bigger issues may be easy access to unhealthy foods and the cost of food. They also outline a lot of neat potential solutions to food access issues, including community food projects, and some of the major gaps in the research.

Anyway, next week is the last week of classes and I have two big papers due on the same day and then two big tests on the same day (it seems like it always works out like that, doesn't it?), so I should probably get back to work!

Here are some articles I thought were interesting:

Emergency Room Closures Hit Minorities, Poor Hardest - Kristopher Husted, NPR
Depressing.

Xeni Jardin Live-Tweets Her First Mammogram, Is Diagnosed With Breast Cancer - Dodai Stewart, Jezebel
I've been reading BoingBoing for years - a blog that Xeni Jardin helped found - so when I read this, it almost felt like it had happened to someone I know. I thought this article had some good points about the fact that she live-tweeted her experience getting her first mammogram and her results is a "sign of How We Live Now." Stewart also notes that "Jardin's decision to update her followers as she went for her breast exam highlights a positive aspect of public sharing: The ability to reach out of a community, and have that community embrace you, in turn."

Scooby-Doo and Secular Humanism - Chris Sims, Comics Alliance
This has nothing to do with public health, I just thought it was a really good read. My partner Tim, who is a major Scooby-Doo fan, showed it to me, because I am not a big fan of the show (I've just always found out pretty boring and formulaic.) This article does make a compelling case for why Scooby-Doo is awesome. As a person who values rationalism, I was somewhat moved (although I still don't have an urge to watch Scooby-Doo).