Report: Nye lacks wide access to healthy food

Finding healthy food options in Nye County can be difficult according to a recent health study ranking the healthiness of Nevada counties.

The 2015 County Health Rankings, released last month by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, ranked Nye County last in the state based on 30 factors.

In Nye, 19 percent of residents have limited access to healthy foods, compared to the state average of four percent, the study revealed.

With a tougher time obtaining healthy food options, the obesity rate in Nye is also above the state average, as it is 29 percent as opposed to Nevada as a whole sitting at 25 percent.

U.S. Anti Hunger Coalition Chief Executive Officer Joel Berg explained that the area’s low wages play a big factor in the availability of healthy food.

Berg was in Pahrump on April 17 to talk about anti-hunger initiatives for rural communities in partnership with the NyE Communities Coalition. Berg is nationally recognized for his work in domestic hunger, food insecurity and is the author of “All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?”

“There’s a significant low-income population here,” Berg said. “Everywhere in America, whether it’s urban, whether it’s rural, whether it’s suburban, and it’s a low-income population, they have trouble affording healthier food and they have less time to exercise.”

Nye has an average household income of around $40,000, compared Nevada’s average of about $53,000, according the United States Census Bureau. The poverty in the county is also higher, as it sits at 19 percent in contrast to the state’s average of 15 percent.

In addition to wage issues, the rural settings of Nye County create a different set of issues for residents to obtain healthy food.

“In rural areas you have an extra set of problems, although gas is a little less expensive than it was, a gallon still equals a quarter of what a low-income person makes in an hour,” Berg said. “It’s more expensive to truck stuff in. Even though you have a good climate here, there’s not much fruit and vegetable production.”

Food that is harmful for a person’s health is easier to obtain for the average citizen due to pricing, so there is a direct correlation between lack of healthy food and people being overweight.

According to the study, access to larger grocery stores provide healthier options than rural communities that have to rely on convenience stores or smaller grocery stores. In a rural area, that is measured by living within 10 miles of a grocery store, which many in Pahrump do, but other rural areas such as Amargosa Valley and the northern part of Nye do not.

“Healthier food tends to be harder to find and more expensive than less healthy food,” Berg said. “So one of the greatest ironies in the world is that hunger and obesity are actually flip sides on the same malnutrition coin.”

Berg said that the NyE Communities Coalition is doing great work on nutrition education and other areas of promotion for healthy eating, which in time, can help curb the numbers seen in the survey.

Mary Duff, Americorps Vista Food Security, who’s working with the coalition, has been implementing ways to address and educate Nye residents on healthy food options.

“We work with policy and an infrastructure that’s sustainable once we leave because we only serve in the community for a year,” she said.

“I’ve been working with all of Nye County… and one of the things that I find interesting is that we’ve identified nutritional standards for food that is purchased from food banks,” Duff said. “We try to strive for fresh fruits and vegetables, and we also get light syrups and low sodium items from the food pantry. Although we can’t dictate what is donated, but as far as purchasing goes, we do try to purchase more healthy foods.”

Working with all of Nye, Duff said that Pahrump has benefits when it comes to access to healthy foods, that other areas in the county don’t.

“One of the advantages Pahrump has is this food securities committee that’s focused on bringing the town closer to a food secure state,” Duff said. “We’ve done nutrition classes, we have these Hunger one step tool kits, and resources in place here.

“These other towns don’t have those committees that I am aware of, but in Tonopah we just started one. So that’s the best thing about Pahrump, is that we have the resources and that we work together and communicate.”

With various food programs Berg knows that they aren’t perfect and can be tweaked to help use them to their full potential.

“There’s problems in the summer with the summer meals programs where your not aloud to take them home and again, it’s really hot here in the summer, so places like here and in Texas and Arizona they have the lowest participation rates in summer meals,” Berg said.

Out of all the ways access to healthier foods can be addressed, nothing is more important that increasing those who call Nye County home’s income and financial aid when it comes to obtaining food.

“Certainly increasing wages gives people more money,” Berg said. “The truth is, if you have enough money you can get healthy food,” he said. “Or you can afford more gas and go to Vegas once a month to shop for food or whatever you need.

“So, creating jobs, raising wages, increasing access to the SNAP program, that used to be called the food stamps program, which increases the purchasing power of low-income people.”