Eating healthy is getting more expensive in the city, according to the results of an annual survey released Oct. 28 by Ottawa Public Health.
The 2013 Nutritious Food Basket Survey found 33 per cent of Ottawa households in the lowest income bracket are food insecure, or unable to access healthy foods. The monthly cost of feeding a family of four rose from $745 in 2012 to $789, a six-per-cent increase.
The survey says this reality is worrisome.
“Adults who lack access to healthy food report having poor physical, mental and oral health and other chronic conditions,” it reads. “Children who experience multiple episodes of hunger are more likely to have poorer health, including higher incidence of asthma and other chronic conditions.”
"This year’s results show that it is getting more difficult for many families to buy nutritious food," Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, chair of the Ottawa Board of Health, said in a press release Oct. 28. "With the cost of buying healthy food continuing to climb, it’s more important than ever to help individuals and families with programs and supports that make eating healthy more affordable and accessible."
Ottawa Public Health's Healthy Eating, Active Living strategy has put an emphasis on access to nutritious food. Capital Ward Coun. David Chernushenko, a member of the health board, says the city is concerned with finding the best way to ensure programs are in place to make healthy eating affordable and accessible.
“How exactly the city can intervene in a practical way to make healthy eating more affordable and accessible remains somewhat elusive,” he says.
Chernushenko says funding cooking classes to help people learn how to cook healthy meals and support for community gardens are two initiatives that are a start, but barely scratch the surface of the issue as a whole.
City-funded Just Food is one organization that supports community gardening in the city.
“Just Food works to increase access to healthy food by supporting broader initiatives including the community gardening network . . . and the development of a food hub in Ottawa to ensure fair prices for both healthy and local food,” says Moe Garahan, executive director of the city-supported nutritious-eating advocate Just Food.
The food basket survey acknowledges programs such as community gardening offer nutritional, social, and psychological support, but “these types of programs alone will not solve the issue of households not affording a nutritious diet.”
Garahan says another way to improve food accessibility in Ottawa is by supporting OPH’s provincial call for a living wage, which would mean people can afford to pay the cost of healthy food.
For example, a family of four on Ontario Works has a monthly income of $2,112, according to the press release. After spending a minimum of $1,377 on rent, and $789 on food, the family has only $54 to spend on other basic living expenses.
“We urge you to use the Nutritious Food Basket data to advocate for improved social assistance and minimum wage rates, affordable housing policies, improved employment insurance coverage and more accessible and affordable child care,” the survey reads.