Posted on 05/14/2010 4:19:46 PM PDT by Libloather
First ladys plan targets food deserts
posted by Landon Hall
May 13th, 2010, 7:42 am
No, not food desserts. Thats the way I first read it, too. Michelle Obama isnt trying to take away our pie and ice cream.
Were talking deserts, places across America where people dont have easy access to basic, healthy foods like fresh vegetables. The first ladys Childhood Obesity Task Force report, released earlier this week, says 23 million people live in low-income urban or rural areas that are more than a mile from a supermarket.
As a county somewhere in between urban and rural, O.C. doesnt have this problem to the extent that surrounding counties have, but it does exist, says Dr. Patricia Riba, founder and medical director of the Childrens Wellness Program with the Coalition of Community Clinics. One such place is the Oak View neighborhood of Huntington Beach, a diverse one-square-mile area where Riba and her friends are trying to get a farmers market going.
Riba says she drove the neighborhood looking for healthy-food purveyors and found surprisingly few. There were plenty of food trucks, however, selling mostly junk food. Some of these trucks do sell healthy foods, like peppers, but you have to dig for it, Riba said. Its easy to see, she says, how a mother with no car trying to keep track of three or four kids would rely these mobile vendors as the first option for meals or snacks.
A key element of the first ladys road map to drastically reducing childhood obesity is a program called the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Under the Obama administrations proposed budget for fiscal year 2011, $400 million would be spent on providing innovative financing to grocery stores to expand into low-income areas. The money also would be used to help smaller stores like bodegas and convenience stores stock healthier foods, as well as bring more farmers markets to underserved areas.
Some seed money is just what the people in Oak View are trying to round up to start their farmers market. Iosefa Alofaituli, community director of the Oak View Renewal Partnershp, says $35,000 has been raised and another $15K is needed to get a weekly market going at Ocean View High School.
Yesterday I went to the weekly market in downtown San Juan Capistrano and got a lot for about $20. You know how puny the green onions are at the store? I got a massive bundle for one whole dollar. But this market is only open from 3 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. Heres a list of certified farmers markets around the state, and heres a more navigable local list.
About 17 percent of children in the U.S. are obese, and the overall rate has remained steady the past decade. But heres a troubling trend among that stack of data: More than 10 percent of kids age 2-5 are obese. This is a demographic that doesnt shop for its own food.
Mrs. Obamas Lets Move! initiative seeks to bring the overall childhood obesity rate back to 5 percent by 2030, which is where it was in the 1970s.
...asking doctors to measure Body Mass Index at all pediatric annual exams, if even just to be able to start a conversation with parents and kids about what BMI means.
Michelle Obama in nude raises furor in fashion
Just another outrage against We The People by these wannabe Dictators.
Like these two really care about anything but total power, greed, and destroying the country.
I saw that when Obama was in Buffalo it that wing joint the other day they asked if he wanted fries or onion rings.
He said Both! Bust his narrow ass Michelle!
Why can’t these self appointed micro-managers of our personal lives stop spam...or control the outrageous volume of TV commercials?
Do they realize that millions more people in this world live miles from a source of water? WALK, G.D. it!!!
It's all well and good when the commie/socialists want to scold us about gas prices ("Do you know what they pay in Europe? You should be grateful for $4 gas!") But suddenly, when it comes to veggies, we're supposed to have them friggin' hand delivered?
So she is going to launch a frontal attack at the gangs that control the desserts.
Why can’t these self appointed micro-managers of our personal lives stop spam...or control the outrageous volume of TV commercials?
Don't ya just love living in a Nanny State?!
Farmer’s markets are open about 3 months of the year. The little kiddies are going to need some body fat to get them through the next 9 months...
Is it any wonder they are not going to present their budget until after the election?
“$400 million would be spent on providing innovative financing to grocery stores to expand into low-income areas.”
Boondoggle for Food Inc.
first “lady”
that’s such a stretch
Oh. The All You Can Eat for Free Food Stamp Program. Time to do some serious program cutting!
Don’t worry they’ll get around to it. There is nothing(or little) that they don’t want to control.
[23 million people live in low-income urban or rural areas that are more than a mile from a supermarket]
So what. I live 20 miles from the nearest supermarket.
It's time for the Queen of the Damned to mind her own business. Who does she think she is? Screw her.
If she wants a few more kids to oppress - she can adopt.
That may be the most elegant outfit
I’ve seen her wear.
LLS
How many people in rural areas aren’t more than a mile from a food store?
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