Access to Healthy Food

Team members: Natalie Botnik, Tori Burke,

Marquell Fulson, Advait Madabhushi

Mentor: Rhonda Chapman

What is healthy food and how do food banks help people who can’t get healthy food?


Healthy foods are what you need to eat to stay well and keep your energy. Healthy foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low fat dairy products. Having healthy food available in food retail service settings allows people to make healthier food choices.


In the Cleveland area, 450,000 people don't have access to healthy food. They live in places where they don't live close to stores that have healthy food.


Food banks are where people of all ages can get healthy food. The Food Bank is actually a big warehouse that sends food out to 7-8 counties and over 200 food pantries. They also have Little Free food pantries where people can go anytime 24/7 to get what they need.


The food bank we talked to cooks meals and delivers 1,000 meals per day. They try to supply all food items. They make sure kids have fresh fruit. Without food banks, there would be no way to get healthy food to people who can’t afford their food. They want to have healthy food but it's hard to have perishable food in a food bank. Food banks need to find a way to make sure that people are getting fresh fruit and vegetables.


Everyone should have access to healthy foods and food banks help people who need it get healthy food.

How does cost impact access to healthy food?


Now let’s talk about the price difference between healthy food and unhealthy food.


Why is healthy food more expensive? Nutritious crops are more expensive because they require more human labor. Researchers suggest a junk food tax on unhealthy food for public health policy.


What is the price difference between junk food and healthy food?

The Harvard school looked at ten high income countries and conducted a study that compared prices per serving of food and costs per calorie. The study concluded that eating healthier each day cost $1.50 more than processed food and $550 more by the end of the year.


How does unhealthy food affect the human body? Food is very important for life. It provides energy, keeps us growing, and keeps us healthy. Research has shown how food can affect our physical and mental health conditions. Most get affected by depression. This makes research about food and mood a lot more important because maybe people will find a way to prevent depression and help when they get it. If it goes the right way maybe more mental health conditions will be cured.


How can you eat healthy on a budget? When you are eating healthy, here are a few tips to stay on a balanced budget. Buying frozen fruits and vegetables is one budget friendly way to stay healthy and it keeps them fresher for longer. Another thing you can do is plan your meals for the week, and look for coupons ahead of time. That concludes price differences healthy food vs. unhealthy food.

What are schools doing to improve healthy eating for kids?


Schools are putting larger amounts of fruits and vegetables alongside lunch. Weekly veggie choices have to consist of legumes, dark green and red/orange vegetables. For every breakfast, schools must offer children a full cup of fruits or veggies. Students are told to take at least one half-cup serving of fruits or veggies along with every school meal. Some other options schools might consider to improve healthy eating by students include:


  • Schools should make sure that they replace soda and other sweet drinks with water.


  • Schools should make sure that they put a salad bar or a fruit bar to give the children nutrition.


  • Schools should take out vending machines and take away unhealthy foods such as soda and thick crust pizza.



What are the daily recommended servings for children?


Boys between the ages of 9-13 years should be eating 1.5 cups of fruit, 2.5 cups of vegetables and 6 oz. of grains a day. Girls between the ages of 9-13 should be eating 1.5 cups of fruit, 2 cups of vegetables and 5 oz. grains a day.



Copy of Advait Madabhushi's Healthy Food Survey of Fourth Graders

What are the effects of not having healthy food?


When people don't have access to healthy food, it affects their life. The nutrients from the foods we put in our bodies give our cells the right to do their necessary functions. It’s kinda like a garden. If you are planting a tomato seed, you need to use the correct soil and the perfect amount of sun for a delicious tomato. However, if you use the cheapest soil you can find and don’t give it quite enough sunlight you might still get a tomato, but it will be not very tasty, ripe, or any features you might want. In other words, giving our bodies to a healthier version of yourself.


There is a link between the foods we eat and our health. Having an unbalanced diet leads to about 678,000 deaths a year in the U.S. because of nutrition and obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. In just the past 30 years, obesity rates have tripled in children, doubled in adults, and quadrupled in adolescents. The average American diet lacks food that is healthy such as veggies, calcium, fruits, whole grains, and fiber. Instead it has added sugars, too many calories, high in saturated fat, and too much sodium.


Having a rich diet in calcium helps keep your bones and teeth strong and can help slow down bone loss (osteoporosis) connected with getting older. Calcium is usually connected with dairy items such as milk, cheese, yogurt, ect. You can also get calcium from foods like sardines, pilchards, tinned salmon (with the bones), dark green veggies such as broccoli and kale, calcium-fortified foods - like fruit juices, soya products, and cereals. As vitamin D helps your body take in calcium, make sure you go outside (the sun gives your body vitamin D) and have plenty of foods containing vitamin D in your diet, maybe oily fish or healthy cereals.


Eating healthy is connected to learning. Healthy eating improves brain function. Studies show that eating healthy improves brain function in school-aged children. It also shows that improvement in eating healthy can influence the intelligence level in school-aged children. A good nutrition level helps students attend school more frequently and be ready to learn because they are healthier. In addition to being healthier it improves students’ behavior. Researchers are finding that the healthier the student is, the better their test scores are. Healthy eating makes a brighter future for students.

Thanks to our primary source experts!

Noel Rivera, Advocacy & Education Analyst,

The Greater Cleveland Food Bank

Anne Kline, President/Founder/Owner,

Little Annie's Hope Train

Interview highlights

  • The mission of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank is to make sure everyone has access to healthy food

  • They have a warehouse to store food

  • They get donations from lots of places

  • Food donations from grocery stores- Giant Eagle and Heinen's

  • Giant Eagle sends a semi truck with food 3x a month

  • Grocery stores share food that cannot be sold

  • Money is used for food that cannot be donated like fresh fruits and vegetables

  • The money donations are also used to pay the bills- 19 delivery trucks, electricity, staff

  • They take everything, but it cannot be opened; it must be sealed

  • Dry imperishable items (cans, bottles, boxes)

  • Biggest needs is canned protein- tuna and chicken, peanut butter, cereal, mac n cheese, beans

  • There are about 200 food pantries that the GCFB supports

  • There are over 1,000 food pantries around the county

  • Churches often run food pantries in neighborhoods which is especially helpful to people who don’t drive

  • People can go to the food pantry right in their community

  • There is a very small percentage of home delivery- mainly for elderly and disabled

  • Neighborhood churches help get the word out and share the GCFB phone number to the help center

Interview highlights

  • Takes fresh fruit to nursing homes 1-2x a month- fresh fruit is a necessity and a special treat

  • Stock 18 little free food pantries in Lake and Geauga Co.

  • Take hygiene kits to homeless people-washcloths, shampoo and soap

  • Everyone is a volunteer- no one gets paid so all money goes to people in need

  • People donate food or money so she can get the supplies- then deliver

  • 1 in every 6 people goes hungry every night

  • Both provide food to people in need of food assistance

  • Personally go into the woods and under bridges and shelters and provide meals directly- provide a healthy bag lunch- bottled water, ham and cheese sandwich, fruit

  • Food banks- provide food to food pantries; people come to food pantry- only last three days

  • Little Free Food Pantries provide specific foods they need

  • Like a little free library- small little free food pantries- stock 2 locations once a week; cool thing is anyone who needs food can go; they’re outside whenever they need and get what they need; open 24/7- different from regular food pantries- people can pick what they need; sometimes food pantries/food banks give out food they don’t want or can’t eat

  • Provides more than food- hygiene kits, laundromat vouchers, haircut vouchers, bus passes, motels if shelters are full, 2 portable restrooms in Cleveland

Click here to see how you can help The Greater Cleveland Food Bank help our neighbors in need!

Click here to see how you can help Little Annie's Hope Train with their amazing work!