Local Food Environments

We regularly find ourselves in food environments that promote the consumption of high fat and sugary foods rather than encouraging us to eat more fruit and vegetables. However, because of increased media attention, people are becoming more interested in alternative approaches to improving the many food-related decisions we make daily. Transforming Food Environments features evidence from several disciplines exploring initiatives that have improved food environments and discusses the importance of achieving success in equitable and sustainable ways. The book presents information on diverse food environments followed by methods that help readers become aware of the design of interventions and food policies. It covers food environments in schools, workplaces, and community centres as well as fast food establishments and food marketing. The book presents methods to help encourage better food choices and purchase of healthier foods. It explores persuasion tactics used by health professionals such as changing availability and/or price, using nudging techniques, and food labelling. Led by Editor Charlotte Evans, Associate Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition at the University of Leeds; and written by an international range of authors from countries including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom, this multidisciplinary book appeals to students, researchers, public health professionals and policy makers. It also raises awareness and provides a comprehensive treatment of the importance of our environments on food choice.

Local Food Environments: Food Access in America provides information on the complex nature of food delivery systems as well as the historical and political trends that have shaped them over time. The book presents the empirical evidence demonstrating disparities in access to healthy affordable foods across the United States and how these disparities may explain food consumption patterns for some Americans as well as potential risks for diet-related illness. The book describes the current body of research surrounding these associations and presents the methodological issues pertinent to this area of public health. Evidence from these studies is placed in context of current and past American food policies that have supported the existing food retail market including the production and retailing of foods and ways in which the consolidation of the food system has affected Americans. Research conducted regarding local food environments in Canada has also been included as a point of comparison. Methods are discussed as well as the current state of knowledge regarding factors associated with disparities between local food environments, the effect of these disparities on the diets of residents within those communities, and the impact that local food environments have on diet-related health outcomes, such as obesity. Also described are solutions garnered to minimize local food environment inequalities currently being conducted by federal, state, and local government agencies. Although this book focuses on US local food environments, similar issues regarding access to food are concurrently taking place outside of the US. In all chapters, readers are encouraged to critically consider the current research methods as well as recent programs and policies that aim to address local food environments.

Overeating and obesity are on the rise. Despite public health warnings, availability of diet books and programs, and the stigma associated with obesity, many people find it difficult to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. While there are many books on the topic of caloric or need-based eating, obesity and overeating can also result from eating that is not driven by hunger. Recent research found that excess food intake is largely driven by the palatability of food and the pleasure derived from eating. Hedonic Eating: How the Pleasure of Food Affects Our Brains and Behavior discusses the pleasurable aspects of food intake that may cause and perpetuate overconsumption. Broad in its scope, this book examines the various behavioral, biological, and social rewards of food. The comprehensive chapters cover topics ranging from the neurochemistry of food reward to the hotly debated concept of 'food addiction,' while providing relevant and up-to-date information from the current body of scientific literature regarding food reward.

This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and consumption of food in the current period of climate change. All of these add up to looming, momentous challenges to food security, especially for people in regions where malnutrition and famine have been the norm during numerous decades. Furthermore, threats to food security do not stop at the borders of more affluent countries – governance of food systems and changes in eating patterns will have worldwide consequences. The book is arranged in four broad sections. Part I, Combating Food Insecurity: A Global Responsibility opens with a chapter describing the urgent necessity for new paradigm and policy set to meet the food security challenges of climate change. Also in this section are chapters on meat and the dimensions of animal welfare, climate change and sustainability; on dietary options for mitigating climate change; and the linkage of forest and food production in the context of the REDD+ approach to valuation of forests. Part II, Managing Linkages Between Climate Change and Food Security offers a South Asian perspective on Gender, Climate Change and Household Food Security; a chapter on food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa; and separate chapters on critical issues of food supply and production in Nigeria, far-Western Nepal and the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon. Part III examines Food Security and patterns of production and consumption, with chapters focused on Morocco, Thailand, Bahrain, Kenya and elsewhere. The final section discusses successful, innovative practices, with chapters on Food Security in Knowledge-Based Economy; Biosaline Agriculture in the Gulf States; Rice production in a cotton zone of Benin; palm oil in the production of biofuel; and experiments in raised-bed wheat production. The editors argue that technical prescriptions are insufficient to manage the food security challenge. They propose and explain a holistic approach for adapting food systems to global environmental change, which demands the engagement of many disciplines – a new, sustainable food security paradigm.

Local Food Environments: Food Access in America provides information on the complex nature of food delivery systems as well as the historical and political trends that have shaped them over time. The book presents the empirical evidence demonstrating disparities in access to healthy affordable foods across the United States and how these disparitie

"In this book, Morland, Lehmann, and Karpyn discuss the critical need for healthy food financing programs as a vehicle to improve food access for all Americans. In my career as a public servant, there are very few legislative achievements that I’m prouder of than the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which started in my home state of Pennsylvania. The program gained status as a proven and economically sustainable federal program that is helping to improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods: by allowing millions access to healthy, affordable food." – Congressman Dwight Evans United States House of Representatives, Pennsylvania, District 3 "If we work together, we can create a healthy food system that is equitable and accessible to all. This book highlights the importance of healthy food projects like grocery stores, farmers markets, co-ops, and other healthy food retail in revitalizing local communities across the country. Without basic nourishment, kids and families simply won’t be successful – which is why this book is a must read." – Sam Kass President Obama’s Senior Nutrition Policy Advisor and Executive Director of Let’s Move! "Morland and colleagues’ new second edition provides an excellent foundation for courses in food policy and community nutrition. Their detailed review of the economics of local and national food financing will open students’ minds to the complexity inherent in measuring and interpreting outcomes." – Robert S. Lawrence, MD, MACP Founder and Former Director of the Center for a Livable Future Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health Features ● Describes how disparities in food access formed in the United States ● Includes federal policies and programs aimed at addressing food access in underserved areas, including the Healthy Food Financing Initiative ● Features examples of state initiatives that address poor access to food retailers ● Provides methods for program evaluation utilizing principals of implementation and dissemination science ● Includes critical thinking questions and embedded videos aimed to generate discussions on how restricted local food environments in the United States are rooted in economic disparities that impact food access as well as housing, education, and job opportunities

Considering the detrimental environmental impact of current food systems, and the concerns raised about their sustainability, there is an urgent need to promote diets that are healthy and have low environmental impacts. These diets also need to be socio-culturally acceptable and economically accessible for all. Acknowledging the existence of diverging views on the concepts of sustainable diets and healthy diets, countries have requested guidance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on what constitutes sustainable healthy diets. These guiding principles take a holistic approach to diets; they consider international nutrition recommendations; the environmental cost of food production and consumption; and the adaptability to local social, cultural and economic contexts. This publication aims to support the efforts of countries as they work to transform food systems to deliver on sustainable healthy diets, contributing to the achievement of the SDGs at country level, especially Goals 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action).

The Close Linkage between Nutrition and Environment through Biodiversity and Sustainability: Local Foods, Traditional Recipes, and Sustainable Diets” is focused on the close correlation between the potential benefits and “functional role” of food and territory, and it includes papers on the characterization of local foods and traditional recipes as well as on the promotion of traditional dietary patterns and sustainable diets.