Chronic Disease and Food Insecurity

Diet and exercise are an important part of the management of many chronic illnesses. When someone is managing a chronic disease, such as diabetes or heart disease, eating foods that are low in sodium and sugar can make a big difference. That includes making choices to eat more whole, rather than processed, foods.

However, not all people who manage chronic disease have the means to make those decisions. If someone is food insecure, they may select the least expensive foods that they can access. Affordable, nutritious food may be difficult—if not impossible—to attain.

Food insecurity: “More than you think”

Last year, Freestore Foodbank served 47 million meals to people who live in 20 counties in the tristate area. Jessie Fossenkemper, its Manager of Community Partnerships and Programs, says “Food insecurity is more than you think it is.”

25 percent  of people in Cincinnati live in food deserts. The Food Empowerment Project defines food deserts as “geographical areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options is restricted or non-existent”—because those locations are too far away to get to easily. 

Bringing the food directly to people

Freestore Foodbank’s Healthy Harvest Mobile Market (HHMM) visits 11 Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods each week. The HHMM brings fruits, vegetables, and dry goods to people who would not otherwise be able to access these products. People can use cash, credit, SNAP/EBT, Produce Perks, or PRx (a program through which doctors prescribe free produce). 

Sam Colston, Mobile Market Coordinator for HHMM, says food insecurity has to do with both transportation and the financial ability to buy food. “A lot of people who come to our market don’t have transportation to make it somewhere else.” 

For example, “Some of the locations [HHMM visits] are packed apartment complexes without safe roads to walk on,” Colston says. “It can be isolating for people without transportation.”

Fossenkemper says that each location has a community partner. “We need someone in the community who is familiar with the area to do the grassroots work.” This helps Freestore Foodbank spread the word about the program and understand the needs of the population living in the area.

Fighting food insecurity on all fronts

Freestore Foodbank has an array of programs that battle food insecurity in the area. They include Power Pack, which elementary school children on free and reduced lunch can take home over the weekend. Freestore Foodbank also sets up full pantries for family shopping in partner junior high and high schools, as well as in health clinics. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, in partnership with the states of Ohio and Indiana, allows them to deliver 30-pound boxes of shelf-stable food and cheese to eligible senior citizens. 

These are but a few examples of the work being done. “We’re trying to get healthy food to anyone wherever they want it,” says Fossenkemper. “Some don’t have brick-and-mortar space. Some don’t have a fridge.  So we offer pop-ups in those cases.”

Health and happiness

“The inability to get healthy food can impact your health and happiness. Food insecurity affects so many parts of life other than just getting food,” Colston says. That’s why these kinds of programs can make a huge difference in the lives of people who need nutritious food to manage chronic disease. 

And, to assist those who are making dietary shifts to build healthy eating habits, Freestore Foodbank offers recipe cards that are available in pantries and included in boxes. “They’re all low sodium, healthy, and easy,” Fossenkemper says. “People on the [Mobile Market] truck also take interest in them,” Colston says. This kind of service is vital for people who have a chronic illness and need to modify the way they eat.

Freestore Foodbank works to fill in gaps in so many ways. “People are all working together”—on both sides of the equation. “Those we serve are doing a lot on their own, too. We’re super-grateful for all of them,” says Fossenkemper.