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How do we fix food deserts? I have no idea but I wish we could solve it. If I was a billionaire I would subsidize running Whole Foods in impoverished neighborh

How do we fix food deserts? I have no idea but I wish we could solve it. If I was a billionaire I would subsidize running Whole Foods in impoverished neighborhoods.

cpursley 11y ago
A big misconception about fixing food deserts is that if we could "just add healthy options", the problem would be solved. But it's not that simple ~ it's an education and cultural issue. Where I live has a lot of red dots on this map and is not considered a food desert, I've got several grocery options. The issue is folks here are deeply steeped in modern southern food culture (fried on top of fried everything. all white bread and meat. very few vegetables, if any) combined with low income and education. They simply don't want to eat "rabbit food" (I'm quoting from actual conversations). Suggest anything different to them and they are offended. My (obese with numerous health issues) neighbors think my wife and I are "libruls" because we eat normally. It's a whole different mindset that you must empathize with and understand before talking about how to fix it.
- minority-one 11y ago
  Wow, there's a ton of condescension and prejudice in your reply. First of all, if anything needs to be fixed about the diet you described, it's eating less. I am not young and all my life the only vegetable (including fruit) that I ate was french fries, and to this day if I lift my arm you can see my rib-cage; so it's not the food that is making the people you described "fat", and they don't need to start eating "rabbit food" to "fix it". And whether you eat "rabbit food" does not make you more or less "normal" than other people. Humans are omnivores, we each choose what we want to eat and bear the consequences. I have a close friend who is a personal trainer who also does not eat a single vegetable (nor fruit) and eats what you listed. He is very much in shape and his blood-work is "normal". I don't know what to tell you, but you're almost demonizing the food they're eating; if not, you certainly think there's something wrong with their choice of food. It could be that the specific choice is wrong (the quality of the meat and bread, for instance) but the general choice (meat and white bread) is not something that remotely has any correlation with the symptoms you wish to "fix". The fact you so hastily wish to fix something you don't fully understand is probably what is leading people to call you a "librul".

How do we fix food deserts? I have no idea but I wish we could solve it. If I was a billionaire I would subsidize running Whole Foods in impoverished neighborhoods.

cpursley 11y ago

A big misconception about fixing food deserts is that if we could "just add healthy options", the problem would be solved. But it's not that simple ~ it's an education and cultural issue. Where I live has a lot of red dots on this map and is not considered a food desert, I've got several grocery options. The issue is folks here are deeply steeped in modern southern food culture (fried on top of fried everything. all white bread and meat. very few vegetables, if any) combined with low income and education. They simply don't want to eat "rabbit food" (I'm quoting from actual conversations). Suggest anything different to them and they are offended. My (obese with numerous health issues) neighbors think my wife and I are "libruls" because we eat normally. It's a whole different mindset that you must empathize with and understand before talking about how to fix it.

minority-one 11y ago
Wow, there's a ton of condescension and prejudice in your reply. First of all, if anything needs to be fixed about the diet you described, it's eating less. I am not young and all my life the only vegetable (including fruit) that I ate was french fries, and to this day if I lift my arm you can see my rib-cage; so it's not the food that is making the people you described "fat", and they don't need to start eating "rabbit food" to "fix it". And whether you eat "rabbit food" does not make you more or less "normal" than other people. Humans are omnivores, we each choose what we want to eat and bear the consequences. I have a close friend who is a personal trainer who also does not eat a single vegetable (nor fruit) and eats what you listed. He is very much in shape and his blood-work is "normal". I don't know what to tell you, but you're almost demonizing the food they're eating; if not, you certainly think there's something wrong with their choice of food. It could be that the specific choice is wrong (the quality of the meat and bread, for instance) but the general choice (meat and white bread) is not something that remotely has any correlation with the symptoms you wish to "fix". The fact you so hastily wish to fix something you don't fully understand is probably what is leading people to call you a "librul".