The social conditions in which homeless youth find themselves can result in a lack of or poor access to nutritious food. This can be defined as food insecurity, when a person is unable to follow an adequate diet (Health Canada, 2012). For young people living on the streets, education becomes an obstacle, which can lead to unstable work and therefore irregular income. They have to settle for low-value jobs to earn just enough to feed themselves on a daily basis – the concept of hand-to-hand combat. As a result, the options available to homeless youth when it comes to food are very limited. When shopping for food, they tend to choose cheaper alternative foods that are generally unhealthy and have little or no nutritional value for the body. Examples of these types of foods include pizza, hamburgers, or ready-to-eat perishable foods (Dachner & Tarasuk, 2002). From our daily experience, it can be said that too much unhealthy food can lead to long-term health problems, ranging from diabetes to heart disease. Eventually, the immune system weakens and serious complications can arise for the individual. It can be difficult for homeless youth to access health services; Very often, the symptoms of these diseases can go unnoticed. Sometimes homeless youth tend to go long periods without food, leading to intense hunger. Hunger is the consequence of food insecurity. It is the resulting feeling of discomfort, weakness, illness and pain – all of which play an important role in the health of young people (Jovanovic, lecture 9). Although free food is available through charitable food programs such as food banks, it may not be accessible and traveling may not be an option, especially if they are suffering from...... middle of paper. .....vanovic, Lecture 9). While they can help reduce hunger, they only perpetuate the problem of food insecurity among homeless youth, but they do nothing to solve the problem. Increasing the number of food banks is therefore not a suitable solution. Often you will find that the people who take advantage of food banks are not the ones who would benefit the most. Homeless youth tend to feel embarrassed and ashamed about having to use food banks. They may believe there is a stigma attached to being homeless and using food banks, so they avoid doing so altogether (Jovanovic, lecture 9). This may also be the reason why they avoid using the health care services that are available to them. Faced with health problems, the stress of instability and the inability to predict what the future holds, many young people develop mental illnesses..