1385: Food Deserts | Skeptical Sunday

**The map says oasis; the aisles say Doritos. This Skeptical Sunday, Jessica Wynn explains why grocery stores failed to fix how low-income neighborhoods eat.** Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of *The Jordan Harbinger Show* where **Jordan** and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn**!** **Full show notes and resources can be found here:** jordanharbinger.com/1385 **On This Week's Skeptical Sunday:** - **A 'food desert' is the USDA's label for a low-income neighborhood where hundreds of people live over a mile from a large grocery store — too far, the theory goes, so they eat worse.** Build a store and diets improve. Yet billions of dollars later, most residents were already driving past one to shop elsewhere. - **Distance was never the driver — equalizing access and prices closes just nine to ten percent of the diet gap.** The rest is preference, and preference isn't fixed taste; it's learned from culture, marketing, price, and stress. West Harlem got a great supermarket 15 years ago, yet obesity stayed high. - **The same government building stores to fix diets spends roughly $9 billion a year subsidizing crops like corn and soy — the raw material for syrup, seed oils, and cheap meat. Fresh produce gets under ten percent.** No wonder a pint of blueberries costs more than a family-size bag of Blue Takis. - **The sharper problem isn't the desert but the swamp — neighborhoods saturated with fast food, dollar stores, and junk promotions.** Counties with the worst swamp scores saw 77% higher obesity-related cancer deaths. A store can even be a mirage: it's there, but the shelves are mostly Doritos. - **You can't buy health by proximity, but you can build it through knowledge. Don't abandon the food you love; adjust it. Swap corn oil for olive, tweak a method, make one familiar dish a little healthier. Preference is learned, which means it can be relearned, starting now.** - **Connect with Jordan** on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [jordan@jordanharbinger.com](mailto:jordan@jordanharbinger.com) and let him know! - **Connect with Jessica Wynn** at Instagram (and Instagram!), and subscribe to her newsletters: *Between the Lines* **and** *Where the Shadows Linger***!** And if you're still game to support us, please leave a review here **— even one sentence helps!** - **Sign up for** Six-Minute Networking **— our free networking and relationship development mini course — at** jordanharbinger.com/course**!** - **Subscribe to our once-a-week** *Wee Bit Wiser* **newsletter today and start filling your Wednesdays with wisdom!** - **Do you even Reddit, bro?** Join us at r/JordanHarbinger**!** **This Episode Is Brought To You By** Our Fine Sponsors**:** - **Xero:** One month of Xero for free: xero.com - **Orion:** 15% off: orionsleep.com/jordan - **Castbox:** Find, organize, and subscribe to the world's best podcasts: castbox.fm - **FlyKitt:** 15% off: flykitt.com, code JORDAN See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.