Junk Food County

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.

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.

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.

As a country we have become too reliant on processed foods and have forgotten how to grow and cook wholesome food. Shoving a box in a microwave and coming back four minutes later is not cooking and it's far more expensive. If we want to combat the problems of obesity and cronic disease we've got to get away from eating out of paper sacks and microwaves and get back to balanced home cooked meals. To a large degree this may not be an access issue as much as a convienience issue.

You know, junk food shouldn't even be allowed on food stamps, or perhaps just a small percentage of what they get. This would force people to look for better alternatives and, as someone mentioned below, choose the can of baked beans or corn instead of junk.
People will throw out any excuse they can to blame circumstances for their problems. Fact is they don't want to stop eating junk. If they did, they would not buy it.
And as mentioned, I've lived rural. The farthest I've lived from a normal grocery was 60 miles and I lived as a vegetarian!

no store,no sidewalks and no public transportation, welcome to the boonies with worst air then L.A. and a wheelchair do not make my life a joy! No i'm not obese im 6:1 180 so no fat here, just the lack of mobility and food with no car, so hunger is normal for me. On an income of 700 a month i only get to AFFORD to eat twice sometimes 3 times a week if my son buys pizzia other than that i don't get to far! No medical [no doctors to take Medicare patients, yes they must take Medicare but they can refuse service to anybody] all doctors can, but a hospital cannot, but our hospital does not employ one doctor on there payroll, so much for hope! why do i live here at 700 a month you tell me what investments can i afford to make without becomming homeless ergo i cannot afford to move unless i just ROLLED away! We are stuck and the norms don't give a hoot about the disabled no matter what you say! WELCOME TO NM

Whoa, this was a surprising article. I, too, live in a rural area. My residence is over 7 miles from the small Oregon town I call home. We have less than 10, 000 in the city limits and surrounding area and it gets below freezing for large parts of the winter. We have community gardens as well as small raised gardens on porches, decks, backyards, etc. They are many cold weather crops to grow (lettuce, broccolli, brussel sprouts) and taking in exercise is marvelous without the smog of big cities. I noticed the article did not post any prices, but rather mentioned poor rural folk "binge on cheap, high-calorie foods that fill them up". Oh really, how many chips, cookies or candy bars does it take to fill one up considering they are empty calories and at what cost compared to an apple and a glass of milk? Or some cold well water, a crunchy salad with some chicken? I think that is the study to be done. I whole heartedly agree with the other commenters...seems more like an "immediate gratification thing" and "an unwillingness to change one's lifestyle" more than poor folk who are slaves to the convenience stores. A bunch of statistics don't necessarily make for good reporting, going to several rural communities and learning the truth does. Besides, I am not to in to the 2007 Farm Bill that would allocate $2.75 billion over 10 years to buy fruits and veggies for school breakfast and lunch programs if those kids are being trained by their parents to eat Pop Tarts for breakfast. Come on, what's a normal kid going to choose when offered an apple or a pastry! Throwing money at a program does not necessarily equal fewer "heart attacks at 40".

I've lived rural and we had a huge garden. We'd can and freeze produce for use throughout the year--vegetables, jams, corn....you name it. And there are lots of healthy things one can buy in bulk at grocery stores that are inexpensive: oatmeal, brown rice, dry beans, etc.
And I've never been to a convenience store that did not have a can of green beans, corn or peas or something. Though the choices are limited, they're usually still there.
As far as fruits go, they're not that expensive if one buys what's in season. Can or freeze the extras, make jam or applesauce or something. Same with greens and other vegetables.

Umm, garden and orchard? Canning and freezing for winter months? Unless something has changed in the last, oh, 5000 years, things still grow when put in the ground and properly tended.

I'm sorry, but no grocery store close by is no excuse. I grew up in a rural area and we only bought beef, eggs, and milk, flour etc at the grocery store (high maintenance items or foods that require processing). We slaughtered 2 pigs annually yielding enough canned/frozen sausage, ham, chops, bacon, livermush, etc for an extended family of 8 . People are just lazy. Period. Frankly, i'm tired of hearing this kind of nonsense. We shouldn't be giving people in rural areas food stamps, we should be giving them a hoe and box full of seeds.

There was a time when the government was encouraging people to grow at least some of their own food. And more and more people in cities are keeping bio-intensive (small spaces, high yield) veggie gardens and even chickens (http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/). Growing food is cheap, if you know how and why. This makes me think I could start a gardening/nutrition program in our little rural community. Good stuff.

I am from a pretty rural part of South Carolina. I have been blessed to be born into a middle class family that has provided for me and I can say that I have never known what it's like to go hungry or not have a basic need met. An article like this really pulls me in two directions - one where I feel very sympathetic to the plights of the type of people mentioned and another where I feel that some of the blame is on these very same people. In any case, I feel that there are several points that need to be made.

First of all, there have been several comments made about these folks walking to the grocery store. While it is very obvious that obese folks need exercise, I think that it is colmpletely ignorant to think that anyone should have to walk six miles (each direction) to the grocery store. I am not obese, but I can tell you that if I did not have a vehicle there is no way I would walk six miles to a grocery store in order to buy fresh fruit and vegetable when there was an alternative just a mile and a half away. I dare assume that those individuals who pose that these folks should walk 6 miles to the grocery store once a week have never had to walk anywhere further than a block or two out of necessity.

Now a comment to the other side of the fence. The article seems to assume that the food stamps we tax payers provide to the less fortunate are used for food and only food and that there are not enough resources being distributed to pay for more healthy foods. The devil's advocate part of me is assuming that the writers of this article have never been approached in the grocery store to swap someone else's food stamps for cash. Just a month or so ago I had a gentlemen approach me in the grocery line and offer to pay for the $20 or so in groceries I had in the buggy in exchange for me giving him the cash. This happens frequently in the stores in our community and I know in some cases the money is being used to pay for goods at the local ABC Packaging store.

Just some things to think about.

Why not educate these people to grow their own fruits and veggies. The benefits are two fold, not only do they have a variety of healthy food to eat, it is inexpensive and the labor involved is good excercise. We live 5 minutes from a large grocery store, but I choose to have a large garden and we eat fresh veggies during the summer and I "can" or "freeze" the harvest to eat them during the winter. You really do not need a ton of land to do this - many city folk can garden on a 1/2 acre or less. If these people live in true "rural" areas, then raising chickens for eggs may be an option. The cost is offset by the food that they produce and they can sell eggs to neighbors. What did our grandparents and great grandparents do before they had huge box stores for groceries? Most everyone had gardens or small farms. They shared with neighbors and visited the local farmer. We somehow, as a society, have come to be totally dependant upon convenience foods or convenience shopping. Work for what we eat? Never. Even if we live near a grocery store or can afford many of the foods in it, we still choose quick meals of processed foods, because we don't have or want to take the time to cook healthy. Just another symptom of an immediate gratification society.

I live and work in a mountainous rural community providing mental health services for people (on disability)with mental disorders. It's the cost of nutritious food that is a barrier to all of my clients. I used to think that cooking classes to show them how to prepare beans, stews, and other dishes would help them but...I finally just went to Wal-Mart and did my own research on prepared foods versus ingredients to cook from scratch. Guess what? The bad food won in a cost analysis. Social Security goes up by 10-20 dollars the first of the year. The food stamp allotment goes DOWN by that same amount. Convenience stores abound because every gas station has one. I have hypoglycemia and cannot eat dairy. There is not one thing other than salted peanuts that I can purchase in a conveniece store to stave off a low blood sugar incident. There are days when I am working from 8:00AM-6:00PM in desperately poor, rural, mountainous, regions and unless I have my lunch in the car, I can find nothing nutritious to eat - literally if my only option is a convenience store. This is a huge problem. There are direct links between mental and physical well being and diet. But one has to alway keep in mind that you cannot legislate behaviors/lifestyle. That said, institute incentive programs and start with the mothers who are raising the children. Then perhaps cycles in behaviors and diet choices can be altered.

Walk to the store well that should be easy right except the store is 40 miles away and no car. Gosh lets think about this, do you walk 40 miles to the store? And as far as well buy the better food, pound for pound junk food comes out cheaper, especially in rural America. It is easy for people who have always had to point out solutions, when was the last time you lived at poverty level. Here is an idea, try it for a month. Take the money a poverty level person(with a job) would have and try to live on it for a month. When I was below poverty level and mind you I had a job that paid more than minimum wage, I only spent $100 on groceries a month to feed a family of four. When you've given it a try then come back and comment.

Just another con artist article designed to justify farm subsidies and government welfare programs. Who cares if these people live on Cheetos and Beer, it is their right to do so! But the green police shall not have it, they must eat Brussels sprouts or else! And to accomplish this miracle, they will give millions to the sprout farmers, hire armies of illegal's to distribute the sprouts, and the end user will simply throw them in the trash and eat more Cheetos. It would be hilarious if I wasn't expected to pay for it all. Freedom means being able to make bad choices. As for those who claim they want better, get off your big butts and do something. You may not have much resources, but I can assure you if people collectively stopped buying crap the stores would stop selling it. Capitalism and the laws of supply and demand don't end at the city limits!