Well, I’m still getting caught up on my reading after taking a week off for family fun. So this link might be old news for some of you, but it’s worth sharing, for those who missed it. At the end of September, Rick Wright did a guest post over on Chattarati. It’s about food. I urge you to just go over and read the whole thing. Really. I’ll excerpt a bit here, but you’re missing out if you skip the full article.
At the same time we are creating this nation of food schizophrenics, access to fresh healthy vegetables and whole foods is shrinking, and such foods are completely unavailable in many of our cities’ neighborhoods.
Here in Chattanooga—our own city—there are several areas where people do not have access to fresh, healthy food. Families must shop at fringe stores to purchase packaged and manufactured foods, which have high caloric content but are nutritionally deficient.
We are becoming a nation of starving fat people.
This very real irony is ruining the health of Chattanooga and contributing to so many other problems: increased childhood diabetes, autism, heart disease, attention deficit disorders, substance abuse, and so many cancers. I could just go on and on.
Manufactured food is not food, and everyone needs to know that. When we go to our local grocery store—which contains, on average, no less than 30,000 items—what we are seeing is branding. Not diversity. In truth, about 6 or 9 companies control what is in the store. And they are not concerned with your health or your human right to a diverse and fresh diet; they are committed to producing profits for their shareholders.
Something must be done.
Now, in a fit of pique, I wrote something about my own personal journey with food on Tuesday, but that post only tugged at a thread of what is becoming a hobby horse of mine. I live in the South, pretty much in the obesity capital of the US. Further, I live downtown, in a very diverse neighborhood that does not have a decent grocery store within walking distance.
I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have a car. I can ride my bike to the farmers’ market, but beyond that, the only grocery stores that are within reach to the self-propelled only carry a cursory selection of produce. The market that is closest to my home carries maybe three brands of bread and they are all heavily-processed, pasty, hyper-refined white loaves that barely resemble real bread (think Wonder Bread, at best).
Eating out is a similar burden. Just about the only dining I have access to without a car is either fat-laden southern cooking or, even worse, fast food (there are two notable eateries where a healthy meal can be had, but one must approach their menus with care and choose wisely).
Some of my neighbors have no choice but to get their food at these places. A few make a special effort and can often be seen walking in from the bus stop carrying grocery bags. But many of the rest suffer from the health issues that rise out of a lifetime of eating what I increasingly think of as the American Diet (fast food, convenience food, processed food and restaurant food that is made without regard to the nutritional, fat or caloric content) — and according to the record keepers, their problems with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and immune system disorders are appearing at younger and younger ages. This is a sad thing for the individuals and their families, and a huge burden on our health care system.
Rick is right. Something must be done. I read an article in Newsweek a few years ago that stopped me cold in my tracks. In The Cultural War On Diabetes, Andrew Murr looked at the battles being waged by a couple of Los Angeles doctors who were alarmed by the sudden explosion of type 2 diabetes in many (most?) minority communities. There is not only an access problem when it comes to food in poorer neighborhoods, but also cultural issues (like fast food as a status symbol or a history of food shortages that encourages overeating) and plain old educational issues (you can give a butternut squash or a bag of dried beans to a person, but will he or she know what to do with them?).
These are all things we need to think about as we reform our health care system, conduct business in our communities, discuss our visions for the future, and while we educate — and feed — our children.
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