When I lived in Southern California, the LA school district banned soda in public schools. I thought this was a very good idea, because many behavioral problems are related to sugar highs and lows. Blood sugar instability can cause irritability, inattentiveness and disruptive behavior. Kids hopped up on junk food are nearly unmanageable, as was shown in a study of incarcerated kids whose diets were controlled - and improved, when they omitted refined sugar. (I'm looking for the New England Journal of Medicine article presently...)
Now Los Angeles has blocked fast food outlets from continuing to exploit low-income consumers. Now that I'm not salaried anymore and on a starving graduate student budget, shopping at Whole Paycheck or Fresh Market, or even in the organic section of any of the Krogers, is hardly an option. Gardening is looking more and more appealing, as is walking to the store rather than driving there - even amidst falling gas prices. Everything is expensive these days.
Eating healthy is largely socioeconomic question. If you have the money for tempeh, seitan and tofurkey, you can buy them. But for everyone else, it's manager's special ground beef - which occasionally backfires when you barbecue recalled beef for all your closest friends. (sorry, friends...)
To beat a dead horse, fast food diets are related to many things - hypertension, obesity, heart disease, diabetes... Morgan Spurlock demonstrated this in short order in Super Size Me. And anyone who hasn't read Fast Food Nation is sorely missing out. Presently as I am on vacation in Austin, I have been eating out way more often than I'm used to, and it is certainly taking a toll on me. I am seriously craving home cooked meals - even though I've been making my own lunches and sometimes dinners for the past two weeks. And it's not that I've even been eating unhealthy food - fish tacos, salads, the occasional burger... But I can certainly tell a difference.
The moral of the story is that eating healthy food should be available to everyone, not just an elitist option. And there's already a jump start on this in some areas of Memphis. We need more community gardens and to begin a dialogue similar to the ones in Los Angeles - banning soda in schools, and banning fast food from low-income areas - in Shelby County.
30 July 2008
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4 people threw in their $.02:
I was recently shocked to see how much my veggie burger combo at back yard burger cost me (nearly $7.00 with lemonade!). Other merchants are pricey too, which makes me wonder when it became the norm that fast food != cheap food.
Is the veggie burger more expensive than the beef burger?
Good information on community gardens and CSA agreements can be found here.
The "starving graduate student" ate pesto coated grilled lamb chops on a bed of wild rice for dinner last night and insisted I cook salmon to go with tonight's pasta salad.
The "starving graduate student" is immensely grateful to her foodie partner for vastly improving her diet.
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