Posted on 03/13/2012 7:36:05 AM PDT by CNSNews.com
Defending the concept of “food deserts” last week, HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius said a mile may be too far for families to walk to get healthier foods. But, First Lady Michelle Obama says kids should walk 4-5 times that far every day, and adults should walk more than three times that far.
Challenged by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) regarding the administration’s definition of a “food desert” (being a mile away from a grocery store), HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a House hearing last week:
“Well, I think it’s very difficult for a family buying groceries – if they have to walk a mile with bags of groceries, it may be too far to get healthier food.”
“You really think that?” Rep. Kingston asked.
“I do,” Sebelius replied.
But, according to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, both kids and adults are supposed to walk several times that far – every day.
The “Let’s Move” website says that, if you’re under 18, “You can count your daily activity steps using a pedometer (girls’ goal: 11,000; boys’ goal: 13,000).”
For adults, Michelle’s website says the goal is 8,500 steps.
But, wait, you say – how many steps are in a mile? 2,640, apparently.
So, if you’re a boy, you should walk nearly five miles a day (13,000 divided by 2,640 = 4.92), and if you’re a girl, you should walk more than four miles (11,000 divided by 2,640 = 4.17).
For adults, it comes out to 3.22 miles a day (8,500 divided by 2,640).
Of course, there is the added burden of carrying bags of groceries. But, if you’re on the Obama diet, how much can a bag of steak and arugula possibly weight?
And, here’s a wacky idea: if a mile is too far to carry groceries, why not take the bus – or, the family car, since the average household has 1.9 of them.
In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) says there are more vehicles per household than there are drivers. And, they've got nearly one adult-sized bike per household, too, so they could just put the grocery bags in the little basket on the handlebars.
So, who’s right? What does this mean? Are we supposed to “move” or not?
Maybe, Sebelius should take a walk over the White House so she and the First Lady can come to an agreement.
‘Till then, might as well stay put, I guess.
Never forget that "the family" is the primary target of the left. Making it more difficult for you to get food to a larger family is a goal, not a problem, for the left.
This was in Birmingham, Alabama, Southside in the late 60’s. Hills everywhere. Up one side and down then up another. I also had an after school paper route. I peddaled my bike loaded with Birmingham News up and down those same hills after school......and on Sunday mornings.............
anyone else see the inherent problem with this?
WOAH! I thought the a-holes wanted us to give up automobiles and walk everywhere.
Very much in tune with sustainable development - move everyone into compact communities. No one allowed to sprawl a mile beyond the store. Must live in multi-story, multi-family housing. It is more efficient.. and European
Fedgov is HUGELY in debt, and simultaneously playing parent with the “Let’s Move” media blitz, which cannot be cheap. This is absurd.
How large is your backpack? Or, if only a standard size, do you buy enough food for 1-2 meals at a time? What about carrying perishable items like milk or ice cream?
Close, but considering their background, Obama and his minions probably think of it this way:
They want all the proletariat afoot
working "the collective farm" (ie, all land owned by govt), and bowing down as the "commissars" ride by in their "Zil limos".
As an aside, I still think that the fact that the Bin Laden raid was done on May 1st (ie. Communist May Day) last year was no coincidence.
You joke, but I did have to walk a mile to buy groceries when my children were growing up. Why? Because I thought it was more important to send my children to private school than to spend the money on a car. My 4 children and I would all walk to the market and only purchase what we could carry home. It was a happy day when they were older and had part time jobs and we finally bought a second hand car. Yea we could finally buy a watermelon.
Obviously, taxpayers need to buy every welfare family a new Chevy Volt and pay their electric bill in addition to the food stamps they use to go the 1 mile to buy their nutritious food!
It would make sense if the neighborhoods were only poor. Unfortunately, many are also crime-ridden and violent. The enterprising person would almost certainly be robbed and assaulted on a regular basis.
Or just use a wagon or shopping cart to carry the grocerie over the one mile stroll.
Or just use a wagon or shopping cart to carry the grocerie over the one mile stroll.
In the olden days we had the “Manor Man”. He drove through the neighborhood three days a week and you could get regular delivery of milk, eggs, butter, orange juice and the most wonderful cinnamon rolls. If you weren’t home you filled out your order slip, put out your empty glass milk bottles and they would be replaced with full ones. Other items were left in a metal container on the front porch. Worked great.
If there is a 'food desert' in Chicago, then it's the liberal DemonRat's fault.
Most people can carry 40 pounds a mile or two without great difficulty. With a decent backpack.
40 pounds is quite a bit of food.
Might have some trouble with frozen stuff melting before you get it home.
Does it? If the answer is having to raise your own food, then that's hardly independence. It is forced labor necessitated by the oppressive policies of an overreaching regime. I don't want to be a farmer. I want to enjoy a healthy society where free enterprise allows us the freedom to be a factory worker, or a doctor, or an artist or whatever our skills and hard work allow us to achieve. I do not want to be forced to spend a certain amount of my time directly producing so much of my own basic staples.
We live in the 21st century. I do not want to return to the life of a serf from 500 years ago.
My point, exactly.
Given this fantastic discovery, both Michelle and Sebelius can be expected to - next year - win the Noble Prize for Chemistry.
I grew up in the days of milk deliveries. I still remember the insulated metal box sitting at the back door. Milk arrived in glass bottles, and it always seemed to taste better than milk from plastic bottles. The kids had a rivalry over which milk tasted the best. They really did taste different too, since the dairies didn't all have the same breeds of cows, and might have different pastures for their grazing. The simple pleasures of a Michigan childhood.
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