Food banks get just what the doctor ordered: fruits and vegetables

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1 Food banks get just what the doctor ordered: fruits and vegetables By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 719 People line up to receive fresh produce at Oak Forest Health Center in Oak Forest, Illinois, September 22, Six health clinics are working with the Chicago food bank to host a mobile pantry filled with fresh produce. Photo: AP Photo/ Tae-Gyun Kim OAK FOREST, Ill. The problem: low-income families struggling to afford nutritious food face dietary health problems. Prescription: Fruits And Veggies The solution: Load fresh fruits and vegetables into a truck and drive it to a health center, then have a doctor write a "prescription" for the food to improve the diets of these lowincome people. Prescriptions are usually written by doctors so people can get medicine. Instead of medicine, in this case, doctors are recommending healthy food. U.S. food banks are organizations on the front lines of fighting hunger. Food banks distribute free food to people who don't have enough money to provide for themselves. Food banks are increasingly promoting "food as medicine" programs designed to address the high rate of long-term health problems among the poor.

2 Fighting Diabetes Many poor people have diet-related health problems, like diabetes and high blood pressure, according to Feeding America, a national network of 200 food banks. However, more than half the people who go to food banks say that they want fresh fruits and vegetables but their food bank doesn't provide them. "I'm on a very limited income," said James Cline. The 53-year-old has diabetes, receives a very low income and lives with his mother in suburban Chicago. Cline was a former loading dock worker who was left with a disability after an accident. He knows he should eat more fresh produce. But the cost of a healthy diet is difficult, so he took his doctor's advice and showed up for a recent produce giveaway at Oak Forest Health Center. "It helps a lot," Cline said. Food Banks And Doctors Since August 2015, health centers in Chicago have hosted 26 "Fresh Truck" visits. At these events, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a food bank, provides more than 100,000 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to thousands of families. Food banks across the country are working directly with doctors to identify low-income patients who struggle to pay for food. Some doctors in Idaho plan to add small food pantries to their offices. In Delaware, pediatricians write "prescriptions" for fresh produce. A family can get up to 25 pounds each month from the local food bank. Two hospitals, in Alabama and Florida, collaborated with a Gulf Coast food bank to offer free lunches during the summer to children with hospitalized relatives. Nutritious Foods Are Expensive Dr. Hilary Seligman is senior medical adviser for Feeding America. She said that food banks are trying to do a better job at providing a wide range of healthier foods, like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. "The nutritious foods that are expensive for our clients are also expensive for food banks," Seligman said. "We're figuring out how we can do this and do it better." Seligman is leading a clinical trial to see if food banks can help people with diabetes improve their blood sugar levels through education and specific food packages. Researchers have enrolled 572 food pantry clients in Detroit, Houston and Oakland, California. Results are expected in Hoping It Works "If this works, we'll spread it across the Feeding America network, and if it doesn't, we'll try something else," Seligman said.

3 Food banks, whose supplies are stocked through purchases and food donations, have hired dietitians to teach classes. Some are barring donations of sweets. "We don't accept candy. We don't accept soda," said Kim Turner of the Delaware Food Bank. "We want to make sure the foods we're giving to low-income people are the best nutrition possible." Food banks distributed 1.25 billion pounds of fresh produce from July 2015 through June this year. "That's double what it was five years earlier," said Ross Fraser of Feeding America. Food banks rescue fruits and vegetables that don't look nice enough to be sold in stores. "Produce that is too small, too big, too round or not round enough." Grocers Donate "Beautiful Produce" Grocers have answered the call, said Idaho Food Bank CEO Karen Vauk. "Boy, did they respond," Vauk said. "We have certainly been overwhelmed by the increase in produce. Most of it is right out of the field. And it's not all potatoes. It's peaches and plums. Beautiful produce." On Thursday, Cline showed a visitor the bananas, onions, cantaloupe, potatoes, kale and other produce in the box he was taking home. "It's a big help," he said.

4 Quiz 1 Which sentence from the article would be MOST important to include in its summary? Prescriptions are usually written by doctors so people can get medicine. Two hospitals, in Alabama and Florida, collaborated with a Gulf Coast food bank to offer free lunches during the summer to children with hospitalized relatives. She said that food banks are trying to do a better job at providing a wide range of healthier foods, like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Food banks distributed 1.25 billion pounds of fresh produce from July 2015 through June this year. 2 Which answer choice describes two MAIN ideas of the article? Food banks are working to help offer healthy food options to low-income communities; doctors are researching new medicine to help people stay healthier. Eating healthy foods can help prevent people from developing health problems; food banks are working to offer healthy food options to lowincome communities. Doctors are setting up classes on the importance of eating healthy; food banks do not accept any unhealthy donations. Eating healthy foods can help prevent people from developing diet related health problems; the Feed America network promotes eating healthy food instead of taking medicine. 3 Why does the author include the information in the section Fighting Diabetes? to describe how illnesses affect the way people eat to offer a way to make healthy food less expensive to show that medicine is better than healthy food to show how difficult it can be to get healthy food

5 4 Read the paragraph from the section "Prescription: Fruits And Veggies." U.S. food banks are organizations on the front lines of fighting hunger. Food banks distribute free food to people who don't have enough money to provide for themselves. Food banks are increasingly promoting "food as medicine" programs designed to address the high rate of long-term health problems among the poor. Why does the author include this paragraph in the article? to provide examples of the benefits of eating healthy to show how food banks can help people earn enough money to support themselves to give examples of how food banks are helping people eat healthy to emphasize the importance of eating healthy foods