Why we have the obesity epidemic

[bhskittykatt]

This was one of our guests, but he wasn't sucky towards me. Mods feel free to move if I have this in the wrong spot.

Guest from out-of-state needed a grocery store and/or a drug store. We have a local grocery store and an Aid of Rite, and I direct him there.

Guest comes by later, and we have the following conversation:

Guest: Wow, things sure are different there. It's kind of expensive over there, isn't it? Back home it's a lot cheaper.
Me: I dunno. I guess I'm used to it. (I always have people complain about the 8.4% sales tax here making things expensive.)
Guest: I mean, everything's all healthy-like and...it's so exotic! It's all natural and healthy and...it's just different from back home. Are all places like that around here? Do you shop there?
Me: Well, I prefer [local chain up the street], which is probably a little cheaper, but it's not too different.
Guest: It's just so healthy and exotic! Even at the [Aid of Rite]! I guess things are just different here!
Me: I guess. I mean, that's my normal, so I can't really say...

I mean, yeah, we're on the West Coast, and we're all about emphasizing the organic, fair trade, locally sourced, healthy foodstuffs, and the supermarkets reflect that, but I never realized that the rest of the country was so bad that healthy food=exotic food! I weep for humanity's future.

[FenigDurak]

I'm willing to bet that guy is completely unaware that his grocery store back home even *has* a produce department.

[Sleepwalker]

I was unaware that there was such a thing as a hot sandwich, a white pizza, or a fried steak until I moved east.

Similarly, I was shocked when I went into a grocery store and instead of an endcap in the bakery section, there was AN ENTIRE AISLE of pastries. Two WALLS of ho hos, ding dongs, and other assorted signs of the apocalypse.

[Hellzar]

8 percent sales tax! At my hotel we have an 11 percent sales tax. You would not believe how many people look at me like I ate there baby when I tell them their 109.99 rate jumped to 122.09.

And it is a sad fact that here in the eastern states it is eaiser to find non-food food than freash fruit and vegatables, I have some horror stories about the quality of the produce sections many of the stores around my house.

[Mystic]

My in-laws came for their first visit to where we live a few months ago and they are from the west. One of the comments my mother-in-law made kind of caught me off guard, then I began to notice how true it really was.

She said, "People around here really don't seem to care about the way they look."

After they left, I started to notice it myself. This isn't the land of beautiful people like where they are from. People don't care if they look trashy or fat and so our grocery stores are filled with things that are absolutely horrible for you with very little in the healthy department. I wish that wasn't so as I try to eat as healthy and organic as possible and it's very difficult to do so.

[Golden Phoenix]

Um, i have to ask, what's white pizza?

I recall working in Shmesco (Big UK Supermarket) in Wales, right on the coast, popular holiday destination for folk from the midlands area and how our (teeny) supermarket had a whole aisle of fresh fruit and veg plus a fresh bakery, fish counter and deli.

I moved to the midlands to study and began working in a Shmesco here, the (gigantic, to me) store had half a section of fresh produce, two aisles dedicated to ready-meals, two aisles dedicated to snacks. A cheese counter and a hot deli only.

The difference between the relatively affluent costal area and one of the UK's poorer cities*...wow.

*not in the top 10 but still not great either.

[Darkforge]

He he, Shmesco, i like that.

I've seen the same thing near me, now that I live near the centre of a big city and near a large student population the Shmesco's have really got a lot of quick easy food rather than interesting wholesome food (never mind the sheer amount of caffinated drinks and snacks)

[IT Grunt]

A white pizza around here is usually one that is just pizza crust and cheese with oil and garlic instead of the tomato sauce.

[Sleepwalker]

Because tomatoes are either afruit or a vegetable and must be avoided at all cost!

Lol, I'm sure they are tasty, pretty much all pizza is, but I missed my old, dripping with tomato guts pizzas.

[chainedbarista]

mm, i thought a white pizza was one with creamy garlic sauce...but then again, i'm also a west coaster.

AN ENTIRE AISLE of pastries

sweet jesus, no. between all the sweets, fast food, miscellaneous crap and a profound lack of exercise, it's no wonder we're one of (if not THE) the heaviest nations.

[wheeitsme]

I LOVE white pizza with broccoli and chicken!

[MoonCat]

I guess in a way I'm lucky, where I live we have some pretty good produce depts in the grocery stores, plus lots of farmers' markets and a store dedicated to organics/fair trade products, etc. They can be expensive, though, and in a lot of poorer neighborhoods, there's no fresh produce, and people who don't have a car or money for the bus will just walk to the corner store and buy the processed, high-fat stuff because it's affordable.

The paper did a story about this and about a local school that partnered with some farmers to sell fresh produce from a van that went around to the inner city. *Note: This is not meant as a criticism of lower-income or inner-city people. I've been both.

[KiaKat]

The neighbourhood I live in has a weekly Farmer's Market, two co-ops, a Natural Foods Store, and three produce markets within walking distance. That's not even counting the Jewish Main Street, with all its Kosher markets.

The neighbourhood I work in has one tiny supermarket, a just-barely-opened gourmet goods store (no produce yet, but a lot of organic dairy and semi-processed foods), rumours of a possible organic produce market, and a deli/bodega/convenience store on every corner.

And then the locals wonder why the kids here are so fat.

It's a neighbourhood in transition, certainly, but it's not transitioning quickly enough.

[Bella_Vixen]

I recently read how some state(s) are coming out with a card that can only be used to buy healthy foods.

[Dips]

Wow.

We've got taxes, the obesity epidemic, generalizations based on region...

It's the fratching trifecta!

Feel free to carry the conversation on over there. I'm closing it here.