Junk Food County

I live in SC 21 miles from Orangeburg. I find it difficult to believe and can't imaging anyone living 46 miles from a store in SC that sells fruits and vegetables. Are the facts in this article accurate?! Come on!!!

The article suggests that if every convenience store vanished overnight, all these poor fat people would die of starvation because they couldn't get to a supermarket, which betrays the bogus thought processes of the author.
The W.H.O. has declared there are more obese people than starving people in the world, which is an interesting turn in human history thanks to advances in food technologies.
50 years ago, it was financially impossible for anyone below the poverty line to buy the food to balloon to 240lbs. Look at photographs of financially devastated people from the depression...you won't find any porkers in those snapshots! Now that starvation has become a thing of the past, leave it to journalists to pine for the days when we were malnourished from a lack of calories, than malnourished from an excess.
People are fat because they choose to eat fattening foods that actually cost more than healthy food on a per calorie basis. If there were an actual demand for healthy food by poor folks, you could bet your free-market dollar those convenience stores would happily stock it and adjust to the reduced maximum profits of that market.
If you truly, sincerely, honestly, lovingly want to eliminate obesity amongst poor people, cut their benefits and they???ll eat cheaper, healthier food. It's Just That Effing Simple!

The article suggests that if every convenience store vanished overnight, all these poor fat people would die of starvation because they couldn't get to a supermarket, which betrays the bogus thought processes of the author.
The W.H.O. has declared there are more obese people than starving people in the world, which is an interesting turn in human history thanks to advances in food technologies.
50 years ago, it was financially impossible for anyone below the poverty line to buy the food to balloon to 240lbs. Look at photographs of financially devastated people from the depression...you won't find any porkers in those snapshots! Now that starvation has become a thing of the past, leave it to journalists to pine for the days when we were malnourished from a lack of calories, than malnourished from an excess.
People are fat because they choose to eat fattening foods that actually cost more than healthy food on a per calorie basis. If there were an actual demand for healthy food by poor folks, you could bet your free-market dollar those convenience stores would happily stock it and adjust to the reduced maximum profits of that new market.
If you truly, sincerely, honestly, lovingly want to eliminate obesity amongst poor people, cut their benefits and they???ll eat cheaper, healthier food. It's Just That Effing Simple!

get a job and buy a car

am from a rural area in Arkansas, and I found the article to be condescending and insulting. I grew up 30 miles away from the nearest grocery store and 40 miles away from the nearest Wal-Mart supercenter We, like pretty much everybody else I knew, had a routine scheduled trip once a week to the grocery store to buy a weeks supply of groceries. During the spring and summer we planted/harvested a large vegetable garden. When older family members can't or do not need to be driving, somebody more able and with a car drives them to the store. We took turns taking my Grandmother to the store. My overweight (350+), diabetic uncle or my Dad would help start her yearly garden by tilling. Despite her health problems caused by her age and her aneurysm, she would go out and pick what she wanted and would upkeep the garden once started. The article even states that she goes to the grocery store once a week; why can't she get enough food to last the week instead of walking to the convenience store to buy junk food everyday? People who live in urban areas, inner city residents or not, are just as likely to be unhealthy, overweight, diabetic, and have heart problems as rural residents. It is wrong to look down on people because of their geographical location and have the nerve to dress it as compassion.

Grocers stock what their customers ask for. If skim milk isn't in demand with limited shelf space you don't carry it. Simple supply and demand. As long as people can use "food stamps" to buy Twinkes abuse will always be obese! Chew on that fat.....

Grocers have to stock what people buy. Supply and demand. If people came in asking for skim milk the small biz would have it. Also as long as you can use your "food stamps" to buy Twinkes, abuse will always be obese.... Chew on that fat....

Seeds are very cheap. So are several other very nutritious items in the grocery that have a long shelf life: oats, other whole grains, dried beans, textured vegetable protein, dried milk.

I would have to agree that there is definitely a component of someone not taking personal responsibility for their own health. Having a garden is a whole lot less work than repeatedly walking 6 miles and pushing a grocery cart along side the highway. With even a small area of dirt, you can have a nice garden. There is even container gardening that can be done year round in your home for fresh vegetables and herbs. It is true that with more land there are more options, but this doesn't eliminate taking more personal responsibility and less sense of entitlement for ones own health and greatly enhancing things through your own effort.

i want to see home movies of all you who say we have a choice! Sit in a wheelchair and grow a garden, that would make a great comedy, or make it to a store and back with a months worth of food in a chair, with no sidewalks ie: MUD,ICE. I want to see you do what you claim we can do for ourselves, no help, as you wish on us! I want to see the movie as you try, and maybe when you get it, i want to see the sweat and your understanding face when you throw up your hands and scream this is impossible to do!!! If you got the guts to even try!!!

I grew up in a rural area or we like to call it "the country". We lived about 45 minutes from the closest city and about 10 miles from the closest town. We didn't live on junk food and we shop in the closest quick stop. We had a garden and we usually slaughtered a cow for meat. We also drove to the closest grocery store and bought real food. Meat, vegetables, eggs, bread and milk. The woman says that it is stereotypical that everyone in rural areas lives on a farm. Well this article makes it sound like everyone who lives in the country is unhealthy, dirt poor, has no car and is severly over weight. This has nothing to do with living in the country. The title should be "Diets of the poor and or lazy". I am sure that you could do the same study in most cities and find the same results. If she thinks buying vegetables is too expensive, then she should buy some seeds for a few cents each, plant them and have her own vegetables. Planting a little garden is very little effort with a high yield. It's called "taking care of yourself". Give it a try.

I grew up in a rural area or we like to call it "the country". We lived about 45 minutes from the closest city and about 10 miles from the closest town. We didn't live on junk food and we shop in the closest quick stop. We had a garden and we usually slaughtered a cow for meat. We also drove to the closest grocery store and bought real food. Meat, vegetables, eggs, bread and milk. The woman says that it is stereotypical that everyone in rural areas lives on a farm. Well this article makes it sound like everyone who lives in the country is unhealthy, dirt poor, has no car and is severly over weight. This has nothing to do with living in the country. The title should be "Diets of the poor and or lazy". I am sure that you could do the same study in most cities and find the same results. If she thinks buying vegetables is too expensive, then she should buy some seeds for a few cents each, plant them and have her own vegetables. Planting a little garden is very little effort with a high yield. It's called "taking care of yourself". Give it a try.

Out in the country, nothing is open,..it take like 30 minutes just to go somewhere. The stop and go places are the only thing that is available for most people living out there. People will say, "Then go to the store before they close" well its easy for people to say that but the fact is people are people like you and I. We forget and get lazy sometimes.

I grew up in a rural area or we like to call it "the country". We lived about 45 minutes from the closest city and about 10 miles from the closest town. We didn't live on junk food and we shop in the closest quick stop. We had a garden and we usually slaughtered a cow for meat. We also drove to the closest grocery store and bought real food. Meat, vegetables, eggs, bread and milk. The woman says that it is stereotypical that everyone in rural areas lives on a farm. Well this article makes it sound like everyone who lives in the country is unhealthy, dirt poor, has no car and is severly over weight. This has nothing to do with living in the country. The title should be "Diets of the poor and or lazy". I am sure that you could do the same study in most cities and find the same results. If she thinks buying vegetables is too expensive, then she should buy some seeds for a few cents each, plant them and have her own vegetables. Planting a little garden is very little effort with a high yield. It's called "taking care of yourself". Give it a try.

I grew up in a rural area or we like to call it "the country". We lived about 45 minutes from the closest city and about 10 miles from the closest town. We didn't live on junk food and we shop in the closest quick stop. We had a garden and we usually slaughtered a cow for meat. We also drove to the closest grocery store and bought real food. Meat, vegetables, eggs, bread and milk. The woman says that it is stereotypical that everyone in rural areas lives on a farm. Well this article makes it sound like everyone who lives in the country is unhealthy, dirt poor, has no car and is severly over weight. This has nothing to do with living in the country. The title should be "Diets of the poor and or lazy". I am sure that you could do the same study in most cities and find the same results. If she thinks buying vegetables is too expensive, then she should buy some seeds for a few cents each, plant them and have her own vegetables. Planting a little garden is very little effort with a high yield. It's called "taking care of yourself". Give it a try.