Apparently, The Food Desert Is In Brentwood
That's a largely wealthy neighborhood on LA's West Side. Gina Kolata writes in The New York Times that the poor urban "food desert" appears to be a myth according to a two new studies:
It has become an article of faith among some policy makers and advocates, including Michelle Obama, that poor urban neighborhoods are food deserts, bereft of fresh fruits and vegetables.But two new studies have found something unexpected. Such neighborhoods not only have more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than more affluent ones, but more grocery stores, supermarkets and full-service restaurants, too. And there is no relationship between the type of food being sold in a neighborhood and obesity among its children and adolescents.
Within a couple of miles of almost any urban neighborhood, "you can get basically any type of food," said Roland Sturm of the RAND Corporation, lead author of one of the studies. "Maybe we should call it a food swamp rather than a desert," he said.
Some experts say these new findings raise questions about the effectiveness of efforts to combat the obesity epidemic simply by improving access to healthy foods. Despite campaigns to get Americans to exercise more and eat healthier foods, obesity rates have not budged over the past decade, according to recently released federal data.
"It is always easy to advocate for more grocery stores," said Kelly D. Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, who was not involved in the studies. "But if you are looking for what you hope will change obesity, healthy food access is probably just wishful thinking."
What we need is for the government and Kelly D. Brownell (no Jack Sprat himself) to stop advising people on what to eat according to "science" (low-fat, high-carb diets) instead of science: that carbohydrates including sugar, flour, potatoes, juice, soda cause the insulin secretion that puts on fat.
Eat bacon. Buttered green beans. Asparagus. Steak. Salmon. Chicken with the skin on (but not breaded). Cheese. Butter. Eggs. And see that you eat plenty of fat.
By the way, this NYT piece and the studies reported within echo Caitlin Flanagan's piece in The Atlantic a couple years back about illiterate kids growing vegetables as a school activity:
As it happens, I live fewer than 20 miles from the most famous American hood, Compton, and on a recent Wednesday morning I drove over there to do a little grocery shopping. The Ralphs was vast, well-lit, bountifully stocked, and possessed of a huge and well-tended produce section. Using my Ralphs card, I bought four ears of corn for a dollar, green grapes and nectarines (both grown in the state, both 49 cents a pound), a pound of fresh tortillas for $1.69, and a half gallon of low-fat milk for $2.19. The staff, California friendly, outnumbered the customers, and the place had the dreamy, lost-in-time feeling that empty American supermarkets often have.But across Compton Boulevard, it was a different story. Anyone who says that Americans have lost the desire and ability to cook fresh produce has never been to the Superior Super Warehouse in Compton. The produce section--packed with large families, most of them Hispanic--was like a dreamscape of strange and wonderful offerings: tomatillos, giant mangoes, cactus leaves, bunches of beets with their leaves on, chayote squash, red yams, yucca root. An entire string section of chiles: serrano, Anaheim, green, red, yellow. All of it was dirt cheap, as were the bulk beans and rice. Small children stood beside shopping carts with the complacent, slightly dazed look of kids whose mothers are taking care of business.
What we see at Superior Super Warehouse is an example of capitalism doing what it does best: locating a market need (in this case, poor people living in an American inner city who desire a wide variety of fruits and vegetables and who are willing to devote their time and money to acquiring them) and filling it.
Heck check any Asian Ghetto you will find fresh, heck I would bet live produce too.
Different culture, different food. Plus attitudes...
Well I bet there some correlation between poor people and work habits. More poor people tend to be on some sort of social service / welfare. People who have been on welfare for a long time by choice. Thus more likely to be lazy. Lazy people do not want to cook, so will likely go for instant or fast food which tends to be either high in fat, carbs, or sugar.
John Paulson at April 20, 2012 5:41 AM
Statistically, I've read, the poorest and the fattest do not live in California. They live in very rural areas of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, etc. In a lot of these towns, Wal-mart has killed the local supermarkets.
Don't get me wrong. Wal-mart has produce sections, but not any where like the ones in the urban areas where they have to remain competitive in prices.
These small towns across the Southeast and Midwest have little to offer in the way of high paying jobs. The manufacturing jobs that used to support the communities have been disappearing one by one for thirty years. All that is left is working at Wal-mart or the public school sector for the educated.
The old ways of growing your vegetables and small farming operations are being abandoned as they push the best and brightest to go off to college. They tell their children whether subtly or straight forward "physical labor will fail you eventually so get an education so you don't have to do this for the rest of your life, like I did".
And while home-grown vegetables can be competitive in prices to processed carbohydrates. Meat is still expensive, and a luxury that some, can not afford at every meal. Had my husband and I not had cattle on his grandfather's farm, there have been moments in our life that we simply could not have went to the grocery store and bought meat.
Cat at April 20, 2012 6:17 AM
I'll bet the place smells exotic and wonderful, too. I love places like that, or the Asian stores my wife sometimes goes to.
Old RPM Daddy at April 20, 2012 7:20 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150404">comment from CatCat, I can get vegetables at the 99 Cent Store. The one next to Whole Foods. The one where they sell the same huge bin of organic spring lettuce for $1 instead of...maybe $7.50. I wouldn't know, because I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods.
"Processed carbohydrates" are what's expensive. And you can get hamburger that's on quick sale quite cheap.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 7:25 AM
You could make your point on this topic much better without bringing in
the food faddism of Dr. Eades. Calling it "science" is especially
grating, as what he has is, at best, a hypothesis. Science involves
proof, as in controlled studies. Proof by vigorous assertion isn't
actually proof. Neither is proof by user testimonial accounts; if that
were proof, then we'd also have to belive in dozens of quack cancer
cures, too.
I note that Dr. Eades declined the chance to make an easy $20,000 for
his favorite charity by offering real proof (see the web page at
http://anthonycolpo.com/?p=36 for the details). Note the results quoted
there for real food science, "In metabolic ward trials -- the ONLY type
of trial where identical caloric intakes can be assured -- low-carb
diets have repeatedly failed to show any fat-derived weight loss
advantage over high-carb diets." ... "But as it stands, seventy
years' worth of tightly controlled metabolic ward studies completely
fail to prove the MAD paradigm."
Ron at April 20, 2012 9:24 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150679">comment from RonRon, are you a bunny lover? Eades lays out the science meticulously on his blog in every post so even lay people can see it's evidence-based. Anthony Colpo is some whack job who went after Eades -- Eades debunks his crap attack on his blog. I have two huge deadlines in the next few days, so I can't go find the links now, and really don't care to.
Here's a biologist who finds Eades' and Taubes work based on very good science -- and whoopsy, where'd that 70 pounds of hers go? http://freetheanimal.com/2011/03/phd-med-school-biology-researcher-goes-paleo-racks-up-70-pound-weight-loss-gets-hot.html
Gary Taubes' books lay out the evidence -- a mountain of it. Good Calories, Bad Calories. But, for people who can't deal with a mountain of science, here's Why We Get Fat -- sort of a Cliff's notes to GCBC.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 9:46 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150684">comment from RonOh, and PS The Eades don't need Colpo's money. They not only have their dietary work, they created one of the top kitchen products, award-winning, etc.
Here's the smaller one: SousVide Supreme Black Demi Water Oven Electric Vacuum Cooker
Here's the Supreme: SousVide Supreme Sous Vide Water Oven
They're incredibly smart and innovative entrepreneurs.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 9:50 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150694">comment from Amy AlkonOh, and you're wrong on the studies, too, but I hope somebody else will go study-searching.
For anyone new here, this is well-supported in Taubes' books: It is carbohydrates -- sugar, flour, starchy vegetables like potatoes, apple juice -- that cause the insulin secretion that puts on fat.
I barely exercise, and this is how I look from cutting out carbs:
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/06/28/la_press_club_a_4.html
I get countless emails from people who have dropped pounds and curtailed diabetes from eating as Eades, Taubes, and others who go by science instead of veganism or just plain old intransigent crapthink advise. Of which you seem to be a purveyor. How unfortunate.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 9:54 AM
Amy: Thank you for the links. However, none of them point to
medical journals. Any assertion that requires you to believe
that most other scientists are involved in a conspiracy will,
naturally, require more than the average dose of skepticism.
I could provide you with similar links to books and "science"
claims (including some by scientists) showing that homeopathy
and "creation science" are also proven.
I have no doubt whatsoever that your dietary regimen works great
for you. That doesn't mean that I must therefore accept your
explanation of the mechanism whereby it does so.
Ron at April 20, 2012 10:15 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150778">comment from RonEades and Taubes post COUNTLESS links to journal articles, and I've linked frequently to their posts/books that back up their thinking. They support their work well. It isn't up to me to be your errand girl. Feel free to buy Good Calories, Bad Calories and actually, you know, read it.
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 10:41 AM
Any biochemistry textbook that you pick up points towards insulin being the primary hormone that puts on body fat. It regulates the glucose levels by putting in the cells for short term energy, but storing the unused glucose as fat. Unfortunately, humans are not as active as our predecessors, and our body's metabolism is not used to the overwhelming amount of glucose in our diet (since we evolved on a diet of animal fat and protein with a little vegetable) so most of the dietary glucose is stored as fat. If you don't mobilize your fat stores by eliminating the main source of body fat in your diet (glucose), then you will not lose weight and continue to get fatter.
Katie at April 20, 2012 11:04 AM
Ron you forgot the most important fact. This is Amy's site. She can do whatever she damnwells want to do.
Still if we are whining Amy can you
1) Stop picking on the Muslims with every post of terrorism.
2) I know some grabby TSA "officer" fonddled you and you have a need to mention it with every TSA does bad post.
3) Please stop picking on the Mormons and Christians for our beliefs.
4) What is up with the constant referals to rude people and your book. Yes I get you published a book.
5) Ignore all my previous whines. It is your place your rules. Do what ever the damn well you want.
Plus thanks for being a guide and a voice with the low carb. It helped me lose weight. Without your constant reminders like above, I would still be a fat ass. From a 40 waist pant size to a 34.
Just to think if Amy followed Ron advice and did not post the low carb stuff. Who might not see or find that diet might change their life or even save it. That little side bar could be that one small step that changes a person. It might not be low carb, it could be a change in beliefs, to maybe a change in attitude to how you treat people.
Keep up the good work. Sorry for the off topic post.
John Paulson at April 20, 2012 11:35 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3150916">comment from John PaulsonHere -- just posted -- is one of a bunch of emails I get every month thanking me for pushing low-carb dietary science:
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/i_annoy_yet_ano.html
Amy Alkon at April 20, 2012 12:03 PM
That's exactly my point. You can go get fresh vegetables at a cheap price. And anyone living in the cities and the surrounding suburbs can do the same thing. However, statistically where obesity is the biggest problems can not. Most of these towns are at the mercy of one or two grocery stores with ten to twenty miles in between. Think rural Mississippi, not Compton...that's the real food desert.
And 2.00/lb for ground beef compared to .99/lb for potatoes. That's what most people consider when buying groceries for a week, not so much which is better for them.
Cat at April 20, 2012 12:23 PM
I'm not a believer in carbs being poison--I believe in moderation and a balanced diet--however, I have been cutting back on my carbs. Getting my proteins up was easy. Trying to increase my fats, in a good-taste way, is a pain. The anti-fat fanaticism of the 80s and 90s is still with us.
Joe at April 20, 2012 12:41 PM
Hispanics cook with TONS of fresh ingredients. If access to fresh food prevented obesity there would be no fat hispanics. Well, except the beer they swill by the case.
I live smack in the middle of suburbia and my grocery store is more than a mile away-which according to one article on food deserts I read means we qualify.
momof4 at April 20, 2012 3:21 PM
Brentwood? A "food desert"? I hadn't heard of that. I have heard there was a surplus of OJ out there. Must be the supply chain.
Hey, Ron!
If your only criterion for something is whether it was published in a medical journal, look out. Andrew Wakefield's lies appeared therein, and sciencebasedmedicine.org routinely questions the editorial choices of the New England Journal of Medicine. The short story is that some goals of a publication interfere with the complete presentation of a problem or issue.
Here is a good example of a deconstruction of the argument over salt in your diet.
Radwaste at April 20, 2012 4:19 PM
Katie: please read a little further in your biochem textbook. See
the description of fat digestion and metabolism.
Rad: No, it's not the only criterion, but it's at least some
indication. See, the thing is, I do like a little science in my
science claims. A plausible hypothesis may be very convincing, but
the real test is whether it works that way in the real world.
Controlled testing has confounded many true-looking ideas.
Anyone can publish a book with plausible conclusions plus a bunch
of cites that don't actually prove what the book is saying. It
can make a lot of money, especially if it's a diet book. If I had
no ethics and a strong stomach, I'd publish a book about weight loss
via homeopathy.
Or maybe not. A quick web search indicates that it may already have
been done.
Ron at April 21, 2012 10:09 AM
You know, both as a former mormon and an athiest I never understood how protestant christians, you know those groups who broke away from the catholic church and later each other, believeing just a belief in christ(and not the catholic preisthoods intermediacy) was all that was needed to be a christian constantly label mormons and catholics as not being real christinas when according to their dogmas they belive in christ
I realise this is off topic and John Paulsons comment was a joke, but its always bothered me
lujlp at April 21, 2012 10:40 AM
"See, the thing is, I do like a little science in my science claims."
Sure, and I'm glad to see that. There's more to that than medical journals, though. Sometimes a single reference can be used to show whether someone's claim is correct without referring to a packaged study provided by others.
Radwaste at April 21, 2012 5:01 PM
Luj,
You can't be a "real Christian" and be Catholic because a basic tenet is that Jesus is the son of Mary, not of God.
You can't be a "real Christian" and be a Mormon because they ride bicycles wearing suits and have a dozen underage wives. Wait. I mean, only 144,000 will get into Heaven, and the "Egyptian alphabet" touted by Joseph Smith was wrong - it was just made up. The man didn't know about the Rosetta Stone.
You might find Adherents.com useful.
About as useful as the the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He boiled for your sins!
Radwaste at April 21, 2012 5:11 PM
The 144.ooo thing is jehovah's witnesses
lujlp at April 22, 2012 9:21 AM
Oh, OK. Can they be Christians?
Not real Christians. They don't do the Trinity stuff.
Radwaste at April 22, 2012 10:52 AM
Mormons believe that that Jesus is the son not of the God of the Bible, but of a man who became a god through his good works. They believe that every Mormon has the potential to attain godhood through good works.
This is contrary to the teachings of the Bible, which says that Jesus is the son of the one God who always was and always will be. Also that good works cannot save; only accepting Jesus as your savior effects an afterlife.
Core Mormon beliefs run against the Bible, so they're not Christian, but rather a cult. (Sorry, Mitt.)
Sosij at April 22, 2012 12:24 PM
Cult - n. - a religious organization too small to get a 10% discount at Cracker Barrel or Denny's.
Radwaste at April 22, 2012 7:21 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/04/20/apparently_the.html#comment-3154034">comment from RadwasteGreat, Rad.
Amy Alkon at April 22, 2012 8:16 PM
Sosij, yes and no, mormons do believe in the god of the bible, and that jebus is his son. But they arent the only religious orginization to belive god was once a mortal, a few catholic saints are reported to belive the same thing.
Also being raised mormon I can give you the list of bible verses they use to justify the belief that every man has the potential to become a god
lujlp at April 23, 2012 4:47 AM
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