An annual local health and nutrition report recently released designates 78 percent of the population of Koochiching County as living in a “food desert” in 2011.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, an area is considered a food desert if at least 33 percent of the population resides more than 10 miles from a large grocery store. The report was conducted by the University of Minnesota Extension’s Health & Nutrition Center for Family Development.
“We’re really considered a food desert in terms of access to whole, healthy nutritional food,” said Cathy Gordon, Koochiching County community nutrition director, noting that the county historically had more “mom and pop” stores “on every corner” offering fresh produce, meats and healthy foods near more homes. That’s not the case anymore, and there are no longer several stores in each community, Gordon said. Now, there are two large grocery stores in International Falls, and none of similar size in other areas of the county.
“It’s a huge county but really the population is widespread so it’s hard for people to have access to whole foods, especially in the outlying areas,” Gordon said.
The issue deeply impacts people in poverty or those with a low income because of the cost of traveling to a large grocery store for healthy options, she added.
“When I talk to people in poverty that’s a huge barrier — transportation,” Gordon said. “It’s a big issue in getting to a store.”
Gordon has taught more than 400 Koochiching County residents about nutrition, according to county statistics. She conducts nutrition education in the community and in schools that have more than 50 percent of students participating in the free or reduced lunch program. Littlefork-Big Falls School, Northome School and Indus School qualify for the education. The classes are funded through the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also called SNAP. SNAP was formerly known as the food stamps program. The courses are “Go Wild with Fruits & Vegetables” for students and “Simply Good Cooking” for adults.
The classes are conducted in a series with the philosophy that information presented more than once leads helps people remember it in their daily lives.
“What we’ve found from people who are evaluated, there’s a 100 percent behavior change in more fruit and vegetable consumption,” Gordon said of the people in the classes. “It might not be (a change in) everything, but they might increase their vegetable consumption, eat a variety of different colored fruits and vegetables for phytonutrients, lessen their sodium, fat intake — doing anything with nutrition.”
The education is based on research and helps people keep up on “what’s fact and what’s fiction” about nutrition because with so much information available, it’s hard to tell which parts are reliable, Gordon said. The classes also focus on how to stretch the dollar and introduce healthy recipes.
Gordon said when she began working for the county, she was surprised to see how many people deal with inaccessibility to healthy food — not only because of lack of nearby large grocery stores but because of low income.
The annual report shows the county poverty rate at 12.4 percent, compared with the statewide rate of 11 percent.
“It was amazing to me how many people just struggle just to put food on the table,” Gordon said. “It was eye-opening. That kind of hunger really predisposes people to all kinds of health risks.”
The county report shows “people with limited resources are often challenged to find food that is healthy, safe and affordable and often run short of food at the end of the month.”
Hunger predisposes people to physical health problems, psychological and social dysfunction, increased health care costs and lower productivity in the labor force according to the Cost/Benefit Hunger Impact Study conducted in 2010 through Hunger-Free Minnesota.
Koochiching County’s adult obesity rate is 28 percent, compared with the statewide figure of 26 percent. The child obesity rate is 30.5 percent while the state’s rate is 21.5 percent. The local adult diabetes rate is also slightly higher than the statewide figure: 7 percent in Koochiching County compared with 5.9 percent for the state.
The link between nutrition and health risks is strong as the report states “people who have access to and eat healthful food live more productive lives — children do better in school, adults are more effective at work, and with good nutrition, seniors stay in their homes longer and have lower medical bills.”
To teach children about nutrition at a young age, Gordon also operates a community garden program in Littlefork every summer. Children grow fruits and vegetables, harvest them and learn to incorporate them in healthy meals. This is the fifth year of the program and 27 children within the Littlefork community participate, with ages ranging from preschool to high school seniors.
“It’s just awesome how they get positive peer pressure to try new things,” Gordon said. “I don’t think people garden as much as they used to, and that couples with the huge amount of processed foods that are available that just contributes to poor nutrition — and poor nutrition leads to poor health.”
Gordon said she’s noticed that there’s an interest in finding healthy foods in the community; she sees that the amount of people at the community market each week has “increased a lot.”
“That’s great to see,” she said. “The biggest thing is that what we eat really impacts our health. We need to make good choices and put meals together that are nutritionally sound, even on a tight budget.”
