{"id":63686,"date":"2018-12-10T00:14:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T00:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wellvyl.com\/death-abs-smoothies\/?p=63686"},"modified":"2020-06-09T07:48:24","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T07:48:24","slug":"finding-wellness-in-food-deserts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellvyl.com\/media\/finding-wellness-in-food-deserts\/","title":{"rendered":"FINDING WELLNESS IN FOOD DESERTS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The desire for people to eat healthier these days has gotten higher. But what do you do if you are from the Bronx and there are almost NO healthy food options?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Where do you find fresh ingredients in a food desert? How does living in a neighborhood whose only restaurant chains are Dominos, KFC and Popeye\u2019s affect one\u2019s holistic health? These are questions the mainstream wellness industry, oriented around wealth and luxury, often neglects to ask. But Annya Santana has built a business on them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWellness is for everyone, but because it\u2019s a luxury it feels so inaccessible,\u201d Ms. Santana, who hails from the Bronx, said. \u201cThe question is: How can people who have experienced systemic economic and social oppression feel wellness in their lives?\u201d<\/p>\n

For one, it doesn\u2019t always have to be expensive. Some of Ms. Santana\u2019s family members have been vegetarian since the \u201980s. \u201cMy uncle was always preaching that\u00a0meat causes cancer<\/a>, and we would just laugh it off as a conspiracy,\u201d she said. But eight years ago Ms. Santana began to consider how food might be affecting her own body, specifically her skin. \u201cI decided that I would finally stop laughing at my uncle\u2019s theories, do a 10-day juice fast to clear my system,\u201d she said. Afterward, she stopped eating meat altogether.<\/p>\n

Her interest in wellness led to her founding\u00a0Menos Mas<\/a>, a beauty company that offers\u00a0six multi-use body and face products\u00a0with the tagline, \u201cgender-fluid skincare. A wellness lifestyle for the culture.\u201d All of the products are made by hand with locally sourced, organic ingredients, and the company\u2019s marketing speaks visually and directly to African-American and Latinx communities. \u201cFirst, it\u2019s about putting the faces forward that I recognize,\u201d Ms. Santana said. \u201cMy visuals show what\u2019s beautiful to me \u2014 to us. Black skin, big lips. It\u2019s who we are, and it\u2019s beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n