Food Deserts: Dr Rebecca Busanich of Saint Catherine University On How They Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options

Businesses and large corporations need to cut off ties with corporate food companies and instead partner with local food organizations and local farmers (for example, cut off large vending contracts and instead start bringing in local foods to feed customers and employees).

In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis caused by people having limited access to healthy & affordable food options. This in turn is creating a host of health and social problems. What exactly is a food desert? What causes a food desert? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert? How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?

In this interview series, called “Food Deserts: How We Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options” we are talking to business leaders and non-profit leaders who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve the problem of food deserts.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Rebecca Busanich.

Dr. Rebecca Busanich is an Associate Professor of Exercise and Sport Studies at St. Catherine University. Dr. Busanich’s research explores the social and cultural narratives around physical activity, eating, and the body. She translates her findings to promote healthy and positive eating and physical activity experiences.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I have my PhD in Sport & Exercise Psychology from the University of Iowa, and have worked as a professor of health promotion and exercise & sport science for 10 years now. Prior to getting my PhD, I worked in sports medicine as an athletic trainer and a nutrition instructor. While working as a graduate athletic trainer for the University of Oregon track & field team, I became intrigued with the amount of disordered eating I witnessed in my athletes — and was desperate to know more about this experience, beyond what traditional medical models could teach me. So in getting my PhD, my dissertation research focused on deconstructing the idea of disordered eating in athletes, and looking at it as a socially and culturally constructed phenomenon. This allowed for new tools and ways to help athletes reconstruct their eating, exercising, and embodied experiences that would lead to healthier outcomes.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Where to begin… the constant challenges and creation of new knowledge and new ways of knowing are probably the most interesting aspects of my job.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

When I took on my current position at St. Catherine University as an Associate Professor in 2017, everything changed for me. I found myself at a university that shared my mission of empowering young women to lead and influence — something that I am very passionate about as a feminist scholar. Being in a learning environment, where the gender identity of both myself and my students is no longer the first thing that is seen and experienced empowers all of us to go to the next level of creative thought. The takeaways??? Women’s colleges and universities, along with historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s), are critical spaces to empower those in our society who are in disempowered sociocultural positions.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I would not be the scholar I am today without the help and support of my PhD mentor, Dr. Kerry McGannon (Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada). She is a brilliant researcher, creative thinker, and one of the strongest, most hard-working women in academia. I am eternally grateful that she pushed me every day and gave me the guidance and skill-set to be successful in my career. And she did it with humor and made it fun.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

• Perseverance — Academia (life in general) is a series of hoops you must jump through. And in most cases, it is set up by white men in power to keep white men in power. As a young woman trying to climb that ladder, I experienced many setbacks and sexist moments that shook me to my core. In those instances, you have to dig deep, hold your head high, know your purpose, stand strong in your knowledge, and persevere. One step at a time, just never, never quit.
• Passion — If you love what you do, it will show in everything you do. Lead with love. Do all things with love. And you will undoubtedly be successful.
• Creativity — Think outside the box. Don’t just follow the status quo and do things the way they have always been done. Reimagine the way things can be done. Find new ways of knowing.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” — Alexander Den Heijer

This is my approach that I take in my research, and in the subjects that I teach (e.g., health behavior psychology). When individuals do not thrive, when health and well-being are diminished, don’t just try to fix the individual. It is ESSENTIAL to look at their social and cultural world and the institutions and environments that have led to this outcome, and consider ways to fix that. We don’t do enough of this in our world. It is cheaper and easier to try and fix the individual, rather than take the time, effort, and energy to fix our broken world.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about Food Deserts. I know this is intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to expressly articulate this for our readers. Can you please tell us what exactly a food desert is? Does it mean there are places in the US where you can’t buy food?

A food desert is a place where access to affordable and nutritious food is limited. This could be in an urban environment, where supermarkets and farm fresh foods are not available. Historically, these have been in urban neighborhoods largely inhabited by people of color and low-income communities. This creates huge health disparities. It could also be in rural areas, where grocery stores are not available within a large distance.

Can you help explain a few of the social consequences that arise from food deserts? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert?

If affordable, nutritious food is not available and accessible, people in these areas are often left with only unhealthy food options to survive — foods that are largely processed and loaded with sugars, salt, and very little nutritious value. Without proper nutrition, the body can not thrive. Health in all dimensions will be negatively affected — this includes emotionally, mentally, cognitively/intellectually, socially, spiritually, physically. As such, secondary and tertiary problems may arise within this community — behavioral issues that can lead to violence and crime, poor mental health, poor physical health and higher risk of chronic disease and early mortality, an inability to thrive intellectually,…

Where did this crisis come from? Can you briefly explain to our readers what brought us to this place?

The easy answer: Systemic Racism, Classism, Sexism. The more complicated answer, a world where those in privileged and empowered positions are given more access (through policy, community programs, institutional availability, etc.) to environments that allow them to thrive in their health/well-being. Those who are disempowered and lack privilege along social and cultural lines live in communities that lack such access and availability.

Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?

I am proud that my students are becoming knowledgeable and passionate about social ecological solutions to health problems. They are partnering with local community organizations to help solve health disparities by looking at it through a social ecological lens (i.e., one that sees individuals as part of a larger world, where health behaviors are influenced by layers of social, institutional, community, and policy factors/determinants).

In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share your “5 Things That Need To Be Done To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.

1) Government needs to stop only subsidizing large corporate farms and the industrial food industry — and instead financially support local farms.

2) Businesses and large corporations need to cut off ties with corporate food companies and instead partner with local food organizations and local farmers (for example, cut off large vending contracts and instead start bringing in local foods to feed customers and employees).

3) Federal and state policy needs to support the expansion of affordable supermarkets and farm stands in lower income and minority neighborhoods.

4) Non-profit organizations can expand into minority and low-income neighborhoods to connect community to local and nutritious food.

5) The healthcare industry needs to stop labeling obesity as a disease, and instead see it as a potential symptom of a broken world that encourages unhealthy eating, physical inactivity, and high stress. The healthcare industry should partner with local and federal policymakers, food industry, and community organizations to try and solve this problem.

Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address food deserts? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work?

There are many local food organizations that are doing great work in these urban food deserts. Examples include Tiny Fields in Minneapolis (https://www.tinyfields.org/)

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My movement would be to stop focusing on obesity altogether. By worrying so much about weight in our society, we have done more harm than good. And people are encouraged to make decisions that combat weight, instead of positively influencing their health. Policies, programs, and even healthcare have labeled obesity as a disease — when it is not that. In fact, weight alone is not an indicator of health. We need to instead start focusing on health behaviors and health equity for all — and recognize that our bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and if you live in a healthy environment and lead a healthy lifestyle (with a nutritious diet, well-managed stress, and high physical activity), your body will look (and weigh) the way it is meant to.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Michele Obama. She is such a strong educated woman, and her activism and advocacy for health equity has been awe-inspiring. She has overcome a lot in her life, has led a life of great passion and inspiration, and is my absolute hero.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

https://works.bepress.com/rebecca-busanich/

This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.