Posted on 02/11/2014 6:49:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It turns out that you can bring produce sections to poor neighborhoods, but you can't get poor people to eat healthier food. This comes as a shock to liberals who believe in the comprehensive theory of victimology -- that all problems afflicting people who fall into ethnic, sexual, or other identities regarded as victims are due to external factors, not to their own choices.
Patti Neighmond writes for NPR:
In inner cities and poor rural areas across the country, public health advocates have been working hard to turn around food deserts - neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce, and greasy fast food abounds. In many cases, they're converting dingy, cramped corner markets into lighter, brighter venues that offer fresh fruits and vegetables. In some cases, they're building brand new stores.
"The presumption is, if you build a store, people are going to come," says Stephen Matthews, professor in the departments of sociology, anthropology and demography at Penn State University. To check that notion, he and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine recently surveyed residents of one low-income community in Philadelphia before and after the opening of a glistening new supermarket brimming with fresh produce.
What they're finding, Matthews says, is a bit surprising: "We don't find any difference at all. ... We see no effect of the store on fruit and vegetable consumption."
The deranged premise behind the entire "food desert" theory was that crass corporations were bypassing the opportunity to sell healthy foods to poor people out of malice, or at best ignorance. The idea that local people weren't interested in buying healthy food, and that led to low demand, and hence low supply, was unworthy of consideration. These people did not understand that demand creates supply in a free economy
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My wife and I laugh about how often the couples looking for houses on their house shows are homosexual couples. Just by watching HGTV, a person would think the country was about 20-30% homosexual.
I’m surprised people with no family structure, no desire to learn, no desire to work, no desire to better themselves don’t like to eat healthy. Shocked I say!
That has been one of the main themes of liberals/leftists for as long as they've been around. In their view, the common person is just a helpless pawn in the great scheme of things easily manipulated by gigantic, evil i.e. capitalist forces who make them act and think the way the evil capitalists want them to act and think. Nobody is responsible for their actions in lib world....unless, of course, they're the evil capitalists.
What almost no one is admitting is the fact that-if people don’t like the taste they won’t eat it. No matter how healthy it is. Add kelp to everything....uh, no. Sneak cauliflower into the potatoes...I’m not eating it. Our tastes develop early in life. Gagging down something you hate because its good for you just isn’t going to appeal to many-no matter how sensible. You can’t legislate the gag reflex.
You must be about my age...I took an English class my freshman year of college (’91-’92) and my professor said I wrote better than most of the seniors he had taught. I am not sure if that was a compliment or not, looking back on it. I also typed my papers with a Brother word processor that my parents gave me for Christmas that year. There was no ‘internet’ and email was in the near future.
Yes, asparagus is expensive. But there are many other veggies that are not - a lot more. Cabbage, green bells, potatoes, cukes, carrots, greens, etc.
My favorite all time fruit is the pomegranate. I've seen them as high as $3 each. Guess what? I don't buy it. Many other fruits available.
Also, see if your town has a farmer's market. Some vendors will sell you their leftovers for cheap rather than cart them all back home.
Chips are expensive. Soda is expensive. Pop tarts are expensive. Candy is expensive. Fast food is expensive. Seasonal vegetables are no more so than most of the junk food eaten.
The only people that I know who were born poor and are no longer poor, left their neighborhoods as early as possible. Most of them joined the military and never went home again for more than a weekend.
And for good reason...
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Army-Veteran-Shot-Killed-Lancaster-148521235.html
well, I sometimes do that. This was to be as quick as possible, and there wasn’t much of a sauce…just the liquid from the canned diced tomatoes and canned artichoke quarters, less than a cup combined. Most of the liquid cooked into the half-cooked pasta. I was surprised at how very fresh all these canned ingredients tasted! The pre made pesto was good, too.
I will say you can learn to like certain foods. When I was growing up, my mother never served broccoli. So I never tasted it until I was an adult. Didn’t like it much at first, but really like it now. I couldn’t stand cheese, especially cheddar, when I was young. Now I love the stuff. I think a lot of the people with unhealthy diets don’t necessarily hate vegetables as much as they love junk food. But you’re right...you can’t make people eat food they hate.
Also, the kids I knew who came from rural backgrounds acted more mature than the city kids. If I ran a business, I'd have hired most of those farm kids before I'd hire a lot of those city kids.
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