Food Insecurity Reflection 1

FOOD INSECURITY REFLECTION 1
Food Insecurity Reflection
Jenna Santoro
Sacred Heart University

FOOD INSECURITY PAPER 2
Food insecurity is a major problem globally throughout the world. Food is the basic
human need and without it people will become malnutrition and start experiencing major
problems mentally and physically. Food insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to
a sufficient quantity of affordable food. Many times, we see this in developing countries that lack
food production, economic access to food, and most of the food that is available is not nutritional
at all. Due to food insecurity many individuals end up with mental and physical problems along
with growth and development problems. In addition, there are higher rates of iron deficiency
anemia and hospital rates increase in society's where food insecurity is present. Hunger on the
other hand is pain, illness or weakness caused by prolonged food deprivation. Many times,
people complain and say they are hungry and can become aggravated but there are certain
communities where hunger is a real thing causing illnesses that could potentially lead to death.
The opposite of food insecurity and hunger would be food security. Food security is when
families always have a refrigerator stocked with nutritional food and there is always dinner on a
plate every night. In these communities there has been no reported indications of food access
problems or limitations.
I am currently a junior at Sacred Heart University, so my friends and I just got a house
off campus living in Bridgeport where I spend most of my year. I would say the majority of
people living here do face food insecurity unfortunately. Bridgeport itself is a low-income city to
begin with which makes them more prone to hunger and food insecurity. Like mentioned above
one cause of food insecurity is the lack of nutritional food and economic access to food. Most
food places near our house are fast food or chain restaurants that do not provide the nutrition
people need to live a healthy life. In addition, many of the people in this city have to eat these
foods due to the economic issues they face on a daily basis. When I go on a walk or drive with
my friends, we see many homeless people on the street that look very sick begging for food or
money which is another sign of hunger or food insecurity. Individuals in my community that are
facing these certain problems have access to different programs like Connecticut Food Bank
Mobile Pantry, Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP) and The Emergency Food
Assistance Program (TEFAP) that provide different access to different foods throughout the
community. The Connecticut Food Bank Mobile Pantry helps address food deserts and
transportation barriers that make it difficult for people who are food insecure to access the
adequate nutrition they need (Connecticut Food Bank, 2021). The SNAPS program on the other
hand helps individuals afford the cost of foods at different supermarkets, grocery stores and
farmers markets and the TEFAP program helps provide low-income Americans emergency food
and nutrition at no cost (Southern Connecticut University, 2018). All these different programs
are offered in the city of Bridgeport to decrease the amount of people experiencing hunger and
food insecurity.
People who face food insecurity and hunger in the United States compared to
developing/underdeveloped countries experience different outcomes but still have negative
effects on their health. In the United States we have more of an industrial lifestyle where food
insecurity results in many individuals becoming obsessed. It has been proven that 48 million
Americans live in a food insecure household and many times end up with heart diseases and high
blood pressure due to the foods they eat. Many individuals in America live in poverty so they are
forced to eat fast food which leads to obesity and many other health diseases. Compared to
underdeveloped/developing countries they have more of an agriculture lifestyle which results in
famine. Many times, there are droughts, floods and pests which destroy all of their food sources
and individuals become extremely underweight experiencing hunger and malnutrition. In

addition, these individuals are also facing extreme poverty along with no food choices. At the
end of the day both countries are experiencing health challenges which makes food insecurity
and hunger a local and global problem. Hopefully as generations go on more programs become
more available for these suffering areas around the world and health statuses increase.
Reference Page
Programs. Connecticut Food Bank. (2021, May 21). Retrieved October 18, 2021, from
https://www.ctfoodbank.org/get-help/programs/.
Other food programs. Other Food Programs | Southern Connecticut State University. (n.d.).
Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://inside.southernct.edu/basic-needs-resources/food-
security/other-food-programs.

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FOOD INSECURITY REFLECTION 1

Food Insecurity Reflection

Sacred Heart University

developing/underdeveloped countries experience different outcomes but still have negative

underdeveloped/developing countries they have more of an agriculture lifestyle which results in

and individuals become extremely underweight experiencing hunger and malnutrition. In

Retrieved October 18, 2021, from https://inside.southernct.edu/basic-needs-resources/food-

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