A Rationale for the Development of Access Fresh

Fruits and vegetables are a vital source of many important nutrients for the human body, but in the United States the adolescent population seem to be choosing processed foods over fruits and vegetables. In the United States only about 12.2% of the population meets the daily fruit recommendation and only 9.3% are getting their vegetable intake (CDC, 2018). In the state of Michigan about 43% of the adolescent population consume less than one serving of fruits and vegetables in a day (CDC, 2017). In Kent County, Michigan this number goes up to 74% of high school students consuming less than one serving of fruits and vegetables per day (London, 2017). The population of Kent County is about 656,955 with 23.9% being under 18 years old (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). This means that in Kent County there are around 157,012 people under 18 years old, out of that number 74% are not getting the proper fruits and vegetable intake. Based on those numbers, 116,189 adolescents are not getting the nutrients that fruits and vegetables provide, that is 18.5 Wings Event Center’s full of adolescents. This is a problem because adolescents are in a critical period of life where behavioral risk factors associated with chronic disease, such as a diet lacking fruits and vegetables, may follow them into adulthood and is something they may pass down to their families (Ziaei, Shahi, Dastgiri, Mohammadi, & Viitasara, 2019).

Access Fresh is a proposed program designed to educate high school seniors on the importance of including fruits and vegetables in their diet, how they can gain access to them, and teaching them the proper techniques to ensure they are reaching the recommended nutrient intake. Using the Downtown Market in Grand Rapids will provide a safe space among many fresh food sellers to help provide students with a more in-depth experience. The long-term goal of this program is to teach these students techniques that they can use to develop healthier habits that will be passed down to their families. This program will work to address the intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, and sectors of influence levels of the social-ecological model on behavior change. This approach is used in many different levels to address many influences in a person’s life that affect their behavior (Contento, 2016).

This program will provide thoughtful discussions and lectures on fruits and vegetables so students may evaluate their intake and the importance of including a wide variety of them in their diets. The students will be educated on places where they can access fruits and vegetables within their community and how working with places, such as the Downtown Market in Grand Rapids, can give back to the local businesses and give back to the community. Safe nutrition tracking will be taught so students can make sure they are reaching their recommended intake of nutrients each day. In addition to all that, Access Fresh will make use of the kitchen in the downtown market in Grand Rapids to provide minor cooking lessons to these students on preparation for fruits and vegetables. Cooking lessons are shown to be a great way to improve food literacy and fruit and vegetable consumption (Garcia, Reardon, Mcdonald, & Vargas-Garcia, 2016).

This program looks forward to improving the health of the Kent County students and generations to come, while teaching them how using local resources can bring about a greater community.

 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). DNPAO data, trends and maps: explore by location. Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpao_dtm/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=DNPAO_DTM.ExploreByLocation

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). 2018 State indicator report on fruits and vegetables (Rep.). Retrieved November 10, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/downloads/fruits-vegetables/2018/2018-fruit-vegetable-report-508.pdf

Contento, I. R. (2016). Nutrition education: linking research, theory, and practice (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Garcia, A. L., Reardon, R., Mcdonald, M., & Vargas-Garcia, E. J. (2016). Community interventions to improve cooking skills and their effects on confidence and eating behavior. Current Nutrition Reports, 5(4), 315-322. doi:10.1007/s13668-016-0185-3

London, A. (2017). Kent County community health needs assessment (United States, Health Department). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from https://accesskent.com/Health/pdf/2017KC_CHNA.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau. (2019). U.S. Census Bureau quick facts: Kent County, Michigan. Retrieved November 11, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/kentcountymichigan

Ziaei, R., Shahi, H., Dastgiri, S., Mohammadi, R., & Viitasara, E. (2019). Fruit and vegetable intake and its correlates among high-school adolescents in Iran: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Public Health. doi:10.1007/s10389-019-01084-2