Posted on 04/10/2014 3:30:44 PM PDT by Armen Hareyan
Findings that unhealthy meals are being pushed by restaurants in public housing developments are disturbing. Clearly, good nutrition is the single most important initial factor for good health in body and mind. The finding that there are not as many healthy meals served in restaurants in public housing developments as elsewhere implies the health and lives of poor people in such instances are being sacrificed for quick profits by such unscrupulous businesses.
Restaurants in public housing development neighborhoods offer less healthy entrées
Researchers decided to compare restaurant marketing by restaurant and neighborhood type, reports the American Journal of Health Behavior. In the public housing development neighborhoods there was lower income and a higher minority population than in comparison neighborhoods. The restaurants in public housing development neighborhoods had less healthy entrées than in comparison neighborhoods. Fast food restaurants were found to offer:
1: Cheaper beverages
2: More children's meals
3: Supersize drinks
4: Free prize with purchase
It was concluded that residents of lower socioeconomic neighborhoods appear to be differentially exposed to unhealthy food options.
The researchers found that restaurants in public housing developments serve less healthy meals and about 75 percent of the entrées are unhealthy, reports Kansas State University. This study found that when it comes to your making healthy food choices at restaurants, the location of the restaurant plays as much of a role in calories as what you eat.
The researchers observed that about 75 percent of entrées served at restaurants located near housing developments contained too many calories and fats and not enough fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Katie Heinrich, a Kansas State University assistant professor of kinesiology, has said, "There is the thought that people are unhealthy because they make poor choices, and that can certainly be true. But there is a huge influence from the environment that people are in that goes beyond individual responsibility." Heinrich goes on to point out that 75 percent of the time it's going to be way too easy to select an unhealthy entrée from a menu because the majority of a menu is made up of those unhealthy entrées.
Information dealing with body mass index, level of physical activity and nutritional habits, was also collected and analyzed among some neighborhood residents. The data also revealed that most of the residents in the housing developments were primarily African American and had lower income levels.
Aside from discovering that restaurants in housing developments had less options for healthy entrées, the researchers observed:
1: Fast-food restaurants used more "point-of-purchase" advertising, such as in-store advertising which presented options to supersize meal items, toys with purchase, mascots and other tactics which are aimed at younger consumers
2: Table-service restaurants offered more entrées and more healthy entrées than the fast-food restaurants
The quality of food available to public housing is significantly lower
There is significance to the finding that restaurants in housing developments had less options for healthy entrées. As Heinrich has pointed out if you go to a restaurant which has a few healthy choices and a lot of unhealthy choices, the chance of selecting an unhealthy entrée increases dramatically. This study showed that both higher income and low income neighborhoods had equal access to foods, but that the quality of food available to public housing was significantly lower.
One reason for the variance in available quality food between different neighborhoods is that fast food restaurants outnumber table service restaurants in the housing development neighborhoods. This imbalance can clearly influence residents who have financial constraints to spend their limited money on food which is not healthy. This creates a tragic problem due to a literal lack of opportunity for the residents in the poor neighborhoods to make healthy choices when eating.
It has always appeared to me that overall people from poor neighborhoods are not as well nourished as people in more affluent neighborhoods. Junk food joints appear to be located at every corner in the public housing neighborhoods. The owners of these places have a cornered market and are not likely to be pushed by competitive forces to offer healthier food which may not be as profitable to offer for low income families.
This therefore raises a serious public health concern for the people in the poorer neighborhoods. It will take a dramatic shift in attitudes in the fast food industry to realize a stress on healthier low cost food. The entire present situation paints a picture of the thriving economics of poverty in the poorer neighborhoods being a major part of the food industry with human health and lives literally being sacrificed for quick profits.
When money is tight my family doesn’t eat at any kind of restaurant. We only eat out if we have a little extra cash in the budget, AND we if choose to spend it in that manner. Food prepared at home can be very inexpensive and very good. Restaurant meals, even “cheap” fast food items, are a luxury. All I can say is poor people have poor ways.
No kidding. If people don’t like it they should learn to cook and eat whatever they want.
How about restricting EBT use to legitimate necessities.
Here’s a thought: if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
I thought it was conservatives force feeding them candy that made ‘poor’ folks fat.
And making them buy lottery tickets is done by the Koch brothers.
And making them smoke is that evil Joe Camel.
And making them have kids they can’t afford is because they can’t get free contraception due to the republican
‘war on women’.
His favorite was a large slice of Pizza and an Iced Tea at Sam's Club.
He, at six, eats more junk food than I would like, loves whole milk, rather than the water his mother gives him, and all of the high fat foods I feed him when I baby sit.
His body build is typical of my family at his age and he is very active.
I think this article was intended to be sarcastic humor and was actually Howie Mandell.
Maybe the author can team up with Moochelle and open up an arugula and tofu stand in one of these developments and see how well they do in the “food deserts”.
On the contrary, I don’t wonder at all...I know exactly why they’re fat...they take our tax dollars (EBT) and instead of buying groceries and making meals at home, they go to these establishments.
Poor people can make a decision to use their God given brain to educate themselves instead of watching God knows what on tv while munching on their SNAP/EBT provided crisps and other junk food.
They can choose to get off their FAT a$$es and go walking around the block to burn off calories, moderate their consumption, whatever...
Many, however, as is apparent, elect not too...
Can’t generate much sympathy for willful choices and decisions...
Fast food joints carry all kinds of salads and will, if the demand is there, carry more options.
They sell what the market in that area demands.
I decided to moderate my intake of junk...I do have my vices, but I also choose carefully where I eat and exercise to compensate for my caloric intake.
Choices and decisions is what it all boils down to. RE: the Trader Joe’s fracas...
LOL!
this
The article compares apples to oranges. It’s comparing relative quality and advertising of fast food joints with sit-down restaurants. You find more of the former and less of the latter in slum neighborhoods because that’s what the market there dictates, one can hardly blame the restaurants for that.
But blame them they shall because it’s what class-warfare leftists do.
THAT’S enough to make anyone go on a diet...RIGHT NOW!
The poor in public housing are too stupid to chose for themselves so Moochelle to the rescue. Make decision FOR them. And yes... Chances are. If you’re on public housing, you’re not too bright.
Linen service costs money, but since the dipstick left wants employers to increase wages and pay for Obamacare, it’s an expense that can be dispensed with.
This article is just nannystate tripe, a solution in search of a problem to justify the paychecks of our overlords and the experts they employ to manage us.
Is that McDonald’s new Surly Meal?
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