Two researchers specializing in establishing connections between nutrition and mental health recently wrote an article about Wholesome Wave, an American nonprofit focused on improving access to proper nutrition.
Drs. Bonnie Kaplan and Julia Rucklidge outlined four areas where the nonprofit has excelled in the 7 years they have been established:
- They make it possible for people living in under-served communities to buy fresh, locally grown fruits and veggies.
- Their efforts also help small farms and boost local economies
- They have managed to spread their primary initiatives to 26 states and Washington, DC.
- They are in over 300 farmers markets across the country.
The way they accomplish this is quite ingenious, and at the centre of their success are two programs: the Double Value Program and the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program (also known as FVRx)
The Double Value program encourages people to spend their federal nutrition benefits in farmers markets, where they get 2 dollars worth of fresh produce for every dollar they spend.
. . .
FVRx is to help overweight children gain access to healthy food choices. Physicians working with such children can write a prescription that can be redeemed for healthy fruits and veggies, equivalent to a dollar a day per person in the family.
As we have established time and again here on this blog, there is a strong association between proper nutrition and mental health. Wholesome Wave’s efforts not only mean that many people can improve their diets, but potentially, mental health can improve for many of them as well.
It is critical that governments do all they can to improve access to proper nutrition, not only to combat obesity, which appears to be the overarching goal of Wholesome Wave, but to also improve public mental health.