When hearing the term “healthy eating,” most imagine the familiar, colorful food pyramid of years past. Almost a decade ago, that pyramid shifted into a plate, giving far more real estate to vegetables and healthy proteins. Regardless of its size and shape, everyone knows that a well-balanced, nutritious diet is a key part of a healthy lifestyle. But for many, it can be a lifeline too, as nutrition has a direct impact on the overall health and risk for chronic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, and certain cancers.

It’s especially beneficial to adopt healthy eating habits early in life. Proper diet, exercise, and sleep can help children grow and avoid the development of long-term health issues down the road. Yet even for a developed country like the United States, poor nutrition is a major issue. According to the CDC, 16% of pregnant women and 14% of children aged 1-2 are deficient in iron, and fewer than one in 10 adolescents and adults eat enough fruits and vegetables. At the same time, 19% of young people under 19 and as many as 40% of adults are categorized as obese. 

In our current culture, limited time and resources can prevent many people from getting the right foods on their plates. Fresh, nutritious foods can be expensive, and hard to access for families living in food deserts—low-income expanses in urban and rural areas with few or no grocery stores. Multiply these factors with the current pandemic and it’s easy to see the challenge behind getting a balanced meal on the table—especially with remote learning, as typically 22 million children rely on free or reduced-price lunch at school. With healthy eating so closely tied to lifelong wellness, it’s never been more important to examine the foods we eat as essential medicine for our bodies and to understand how we can prioritize them as such.

USDA food desert map 

From health care providers to Congress, more and more organizations are moving to formally recognize the significance of nutrition in overall health. In 2018, a bipartisan initiative led by Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts founded the Food is Medicine Working Group, a coalition to support research and legislation that partners food access with public health. For example, the Group explores how government-sponsored food programs can address hunger while curbing Medicare costs from complications due to chronic diseases. This year, the Group introduced the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meal Demonstration Pilot Act of 2020, allowing medically compromised seniors to have doctor-tailored meals delivered to their homes.

Food delivery is also a helpful perk of Foodsmart by Zipongo, a digital nutrition platform and new partner of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. By taking a simple quiz, users are given nutrition recommendations and personalized support. Based on their location and profile, the app also sets up smart grocery lists and online ordering through familiar services such as Instacart, Amazon Fresh, Walmart Pickup, and Grubhub, so that fresh, healthy food is always accessible. The goal of this partnership is to improve nutrition and health care costs for members with nutrition-sensitive conditions, from hypertension to autoimmune diseases.

Members can access a variety of services through the Foodsmart app, such as: