New Yorkers know a good thing when they see it. As the New York Times recently reported, the Big Apple wants to make healthy nutrition more available for everyone. It is common knowledge that fresh groceries are harder to come by in poor neighborhoods than in affluent places, not only in big cities but almost everywhere in the country.

This is why the New York City Planning Commission is now taking steps to attract more grocery stores and supermarkets to set up shop in under-served communities by changing zoning laws and adding tax incentives. If things go according to plan, a significant number of new grocery outlets will soon be opened in northern Manhattan, central Brooklyn, the South Bronx and in Queens.

Underprivileged neighborhoods have long suffered from a scarcity of supermarkets and grocery outlets. Fresh produce, meat, dairy products and other perishables are among the most expensive items those stores carry. Many of the foods with high nutritional value are unaffordable for people who have to get by on a limited budget.

Moreover, as critics of the proposed program are quick to point out, it is unclear whether easier access to healthier foods would automatically improve people’s health. This is not a simple “supply and demand” issue. Although the underprivileged are disproportionately hard hit by diet-related illnesses, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, it is by no means guaranteed that the availability of better quality foods will make them change their existing eating habits. Poor diets are common among poor people, but so are alcohol and drug abuse.

What needs to be taken into account as well is a widespread lack of knowledge and education about issues of health and nutrition. Without accompanying educational efforts to raise nutritional awareness, we can’t expect behavioral changes to take place by themselves.

Yet despite of all these obstacles, accepting the dismal existing situation is no longer an option. Health care for the poor on an emergency basis is unsustainable. Access to healthy nutrition for everyone is the best preventive health care measure we have. In other words, instead of treating people only when they are sick, we have to do everything we can to keep them healthy. Sound nutrition is the cornerstone in this effort.

Government can play an instrumental role in providing preventive health care, especially for those in society who are the most vulnerable. But whatever course of action government officials will eventually decide to take, it must be practical and it must be reality-based.

This should be quite feasible! For instance, I read recently with great satisfaction about the increasing acceptance of food stamps at farmers markets. As a friend of mine once said, local farmers markets are candy stores for health nuts. So are the “urban farms” that are springing up in inner cities all over the country. For inexperienced food shoppers, these small, individually owned outlets are far less overwhelming and intimidating than the upscale supermarkets – and, of course, much more affordable.

The great success of Alice Water’s “Edible School Yard” project, which she started to help improve the quality of school lunches for inner city kids, did not come from the food that she grew on a deserted lot in downtown Oakland. It came from the spirit she awakened in everyone she engaged and challenged to spread the idea of healthy nutrition in their homes and their communities until it took hold and changed people’s lives.

Timi Gustafson R.D. is a clinical dietitian and author of the book “The Healthy Diner – How to Eat Right and Still Have Fun®,” available in bookstores, at http://www.timigustafson.com and at Amazon.com. You can also follow Timi on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TimiGustafsonRD