Food Insecurity and the Chronically Ill

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season. For many, it can mean overindulgence in heavy plates loaded with turkey, rich stuffing and mashed potatoes. However, for food insecure households in our community, celebrating the holiday festivities is a bit more difficult.

Access to affordable healthy food is a challenge for many DC Metro Region residents. In the District of Columbia, more than 13% of the population faces food insecurity. Along with hunger, lack of access to healthy food contributes to poor health outcomes.

Food insecurity frequently leads to a diet which is void of basic vitamins and minerals but overwhelmingly high in saturated and hydrogenated fats, simple carbohydrates and sodium. Elevated rates of depression, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, increased risk of infection and malnutrition are all associated with food insecurity.

For those living with a chronic illness, proper nutrition can minimize the side effects of harsh medications and treatment, risk of infection and hospitalizations. Consistent access to good food plays a powerful role in preventing, treating and surviving serious health conditions.

People who are HIV positive are more likely to routinely face food insecurity. Food insecurity within the HIV positive community at the national level impacts an estimated 48-50% of the population. Food & Friends’ consistent provision of well-balanced and nutritionally complete meals is beneficial to clients by improving adherence to antiretroviral therapies and supporting CD4 cell levels, helping to keep HIV clients’ viral loads in better control.

Rates of food insecurity are also much higher for people living with cancer (approximately 56% of the population). Delivering food to these individuals and their families helps them maintain their weight throughout treatment which reduces rates of malnutrition, decreasing overall mortality and disruption to treatment due to infection or hospitalizations.

Chronic illness has profound impacts on the demand for food nutrition services, especially the need for medically-appropriate nutrition. Food & Friends’ clients have unique nutritional needs and challenges that need to be met. With the support of our partners, volunteers, and donors, Food & Friends will continue to connect the community with our most vulnerable neighbors to ensure that they receive the nutrition needed to battle their illness.

Eating Right for Older Adults

With the help of our friends at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, we've been sharing healthy living tips in honor of National Nutrition Month®. Check out a resource from their website (www.eatright.org) that outlines some important nutrition tips for older adults.

Since the average age of Food & Friends' clients is 50 years old, these tips are something that our registered dietitians consider when they develop specialized meal plans, conduct nutrition assessments and teach cooking classes.

Healthy Eating for Older Adults

 

Eating a variety of foods from all food groups can help you get the nutrients your body needs as you age. A healthy eating plan emphasizes fruit, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat or fat-free dairy; includes lean meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts; and is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium) and added sugars.

Eating right doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with these recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

• Eat fruits and vegetables. They can be fresh, frozen or canned. Eat more dark green vegetables like leafy greens or broccoli, and orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes.
• Vary your protein choices with more fish, beans and peas.
• Eat at least three ounces of whole-grain cereals, breads, crackers, rice or pasta every day.
• Have three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy (milk, yogurt or cheese) that are fortified with vitamin D to help keep your bones healthy.
• Make the fats you eat healthy ones (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats). Switch from solid fats to oils when preparing food.

Add Physical Activity

Balancing physical activity and a healthful diet is your best recipe for health and fitness. Set a goal to be physically active at least 30 minutes every day. You can break up your physical activity into 10-minute sessions throughout the day.

If you are currently inactive, start with a few minutes of activity, such as walking, and gradually increase this time as you become stronger. Check with your healthcare provider before beginning a new physical activity program.

(Source: http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6838)

Delivering Hope to Hope this Thanksgiving

On the wall of Tricia Hope Ripley’s home, she has a calendar to keep track of her busy schedule. The calendar dawns several red marks which indicate her doctor’s appointments.

These appointments are nothing new for Tricia.

Tricia: "With Food & Friends, I know
they’re going to do what they say."

In 1971, Tricia’s life changed drastically when she was in a motorcycle accident. After the crash, she went through 22 operations which led to multiple complications, including a leg amputation. To make matters worse, she developed a potentially fatal liver disease. Tasks such as grocery shopping and preparing meals became difficult as she lives by herself and is restricted to a wheelchair.

In 2011, Tricia began receiving Food & Friends’ home-delivered, nutritious meals. Before then, she didn’t eat much and was only going to the grocery store once a month. She explains that Food & Friends changed the way she views and accesses healthy food: “It’s wonderful because my blood sugar is always stabilized.”

Food & Friends has delivered so much more than food to Tricia – our services have given her a new sense of hope. “I was literally in bed for almost five years…living and dying,” says Tricia. “Now I have much more of a life to look forward to.”

This November, Tricia looks forward to our annual Thanksgiving meal delivery. Last year, she was able to feed herself and four others – she hosted her caretaker, who she hopes to adopt next year, and her soon to be grandchildren.

“She didn’t have any money for Thanksgiving last year and they showed up here. I was in bed recovering and we had a Thanksgiving dinner,” says Tricia. “They wouldn’t have had anything.”

Perhaps even more than the meals, Tricia loves her relationships with the volunteers. After two years with Food & Friends, Tricia considers the volunteers members of her extended family.

Tricia is restricted to a wheelchair and depends on
Food & Friends' meals for her daily nutrition.

“There were many days I felt like giving up, but then one of the volunteers would show up. Since I’m homebound for so much of my life, it makes me feel like I have a family. And I love that. It makes me feel like they’re involved in my life.”

These new additions to the family have done so much as they share stories about their kids, ask for advice on anniversary gifts, recap a Supremes concert and deliver Ripley emergency water when her apartment complex faced a shutoff. Food & Friends has created a community of people that Tricia can depend on during her fight with illness.

“I haven’t had food many days. I haven’t had people to do what they say they would do,” Tricia says. “With Food & Friends, I know they’re going to do what they say.”