New Fast Food Restaurant Ban In South Los Angeles Won’t End Obesity, Says Ronald McDonald
6 October 2009, 1:20 PM. By Alex Alvarez
South Los Angeles recently implemented a ban on new fast food restaurants in an effort to quell obesity, especially in lower-income areas. However, a study released by Santa Monica’s Rand Corp says the ban won’t likely help South Angelenos drop inches from their waists or bacon-wrapped pork skins from their lips.
The study, which included survey responses from 1,480 Los Angeles County residents and was funded by the National Institutes of Health with “no financial support from fast food industry,” showed that combatting fast food establishments was not the answer - at least, not solely.
For one, there are less fast food restaurants per resident in South Los Angeles than in other parts of the city. Also, hi, why are you hurting everyone when obesity is entirely the fault of Latinos?:
Though the authors noted that obesity takes a “disproportionate toll on minority populations, especially among African American and Hispanic youth” who live in South Los Angeles, limiting the type of restaurants that move to the area isn’t likely to solve the problem.
Nutrition experts who looked at the ban said getting rid of fast food establishments will do nothing unless South Los Angeles opens more inexpensive eateries and grocery stores that will provide residents with healthy, affordable meal options:
“What we know already, and this study confirms, is that people living in poor inner-city areas do not have easy access to healthful, affordable food, especially fresh food. Lack of food access is highly correlated with diet-related health conditions,” said Marion Nestle, nutrition professor at New York University.
Though she doesn’t object to the type of moratorium Los Angeles enacted, Nestle said there are plenty of other things the city can do “to encourage more healthful food consumption in low-income areas.” She said cities could start with improving nutrition and nutrition education in schools as well as encouraging farmers markets, fruit-and-vegetable carts and community gardens.
Like we mentioned in our post on Rudy Ruiz and his ideas for promoting healthy eating habits from a young age, we’re not convinced that penalizing those who do eat and enjoy fast food (ie, us) makes for healthier eating habits if there is no place to buy fresh produce and unprocessed food in the first place, and if that food is beyond your food budget anyway.
Besides, chains like Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Subway do provide some healthy (or healthier, anyway) choices, like salads, apple slices in place of fries for kids’ meals, baked potatoes, veggie-packed sandwiches, grilled meats, etc. Plus, they allow for portion control - you know exactly how much you are consuming every time, because it’s regulated and the nutritional info for these foods are readily available.
Can’t we have both healthy, affordable foods and fast food chains? Pleeeeeeaaaaase?
Ban on fast-food eateries is no fat cure, study says [LA Times]
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i believe farmer’s markets are the way to go in helping out this fatty problem. but not crazy expensive ones where they sell $5 blue cheese and walnut bread (which is delicious). but i digress.
there are farmer’s markets in oakland and san francisco which are located to lower income communities. so it is possible. as that is where i’m currently located, i cannot speak for other areas on personal experience at this moment in time.
however, as a resident of fort greene, brooklyn almost 10 years ago, i do remember that grocery stores were closing left and right, and if i wanted to eat, all i could get a $2 cheese sammich & doritos from the corner of adelphi & sketch. i shopped in manhattan or a few neighborhoods away to bring groceries home. that was my first foray in understanding the difficulties of produce reaching certain communities.
recently, there have been more than a few communities in nyc (and all over the country) that were fed up with this fact and started making their own community gardens. now that is something awesome.
additionally, just because we enjoy something that is bad for us doesn’t mean it shouldn’t come without penalties. smokers still smoke, drinkers still drink. if they tax soda, fast food, etc&whatever, people will still engage in those activities whether in moderation or not.
Fort Greene?! You know my food pain! I have to go all the way to Atlantic Ave. for a reasonably-priced supermarket and so much of the food there, the produce especially, is expired / moldy.
the shitty thing was there was a grocery store right there on myrtle, a block away from the aformentioned corner bodgea, then it closed. i went to the associated (or whatever it was) out by pratt, but fuck that was far for all of us to walk with our little cart & 3 peeps worth of food. and we were healthy, able-bodied young women who could do that. i can’t imagine what familes do around there. probably why there’s a mcDeeees right there next to the grocery store (at least there was).
but imagine to have a farmer’s market right there at ft. greene park…i think there are local food gardens around pratt & the like. i do think there’s a farmer’s market at grand army plaza, but that’s not exactly convenient as food should be for all of brooklyn.
we didn’t have any of these issues when we moved to boerum hill. of course. we also would do bikey things to get food, but it was much more convenient. sahadis anyone? we didn’t resort to joining the park slope co-op like a lot of my friends did at the time. phew.
Boerum Hill now has a Trader Joe’s because it is Fancytown, USA.
ah, of course it does. let me take a guess with no internet snooping: corner of atlantic & either court or smith? they were building some urban monstrocities around there when i fled to the west.
and also…TJ’s also has horrible produce in comparison with other places. at least in california. i actually buy pretty much everything else there but produce. and the cycle begins again.
Haha, yup! Right on Atlantic and Court.