4 ms·

My experience for years living in several very rural areas of the US leads me to believe that one big factor is "positive peer pressure" and quality food availa

My experience for years living in several very rural areas of the US leads me to believe that one big factor is "positive peer pressure" and quality food availability. "Southern" people's rural lives may be calmer and richer in nature, but their hobbies and lifestyle are quite unhealthy. In big cities there is more social pressure for being good-looking, mainly a healthy BMI and muscles, both which are protective against cancer. They're also "food deserts" where supermarkets and restaurants with healthy food are extremely scarce. I've been to towns where you'd be hard-pressed to find any vegetables in their menu besides tomato sauce and a pickle. Health literacy is also abysmal. I don't see how they can avoid a heart attack with such food menus.

delfinom 3y ago
It's quite ironic that rural living is devolved to processed food garbage in America. I come from rural Poland, vegetables were very much on the table every day be it fresh or pickled. Rural regions are the ones that should be more capable of being self-sufficient compared to say a city because you actually have fucking land.
- abduhl 3y ago
  Yes but the push towards expansion and financial leverage means that you and your family are out working all day every day. So you have land but you don’t have any fucking time. Beef jerky and Red Bull it is then.
- dexwiz 3y ago
  Much of rural America grows corn or soybeans. You can drive for literally hundreds of miles and only see these two crops. And it’s not even a corn that is edible, it’s grown to be processed or fed to other animals. Vegetable production is isolated to a few areas. Even then they are often limited to a few crops with narrow seasonality. You can grow vegetables in these areas but it’s not profitable.
  - Kon-Peki 3y ago
    > Much of rural America grows corn or soybeans. Not in the parts of rural America this article is focusing on. In Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, etc, where they grow ridiculous amounts of corn and soybeans, the land is way too valuable to allow widespread poverty to occupy it. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but it’s nothing like the scale of the rural south.
    - dexwiz 3y ago
      Not sure what you mean by the is. Indiana, Illinois both have higher population densities than Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. (Although I bet Chicago distorts Illinois' population). Only Iowa's is lower and not by much. There are tons of small towns in these states with a few hundred in population that used to support some industrial center that has since been sent overseas or a farming economy that required more people. They also often have crippling poverty, high drug use rates, and low standards of living. Indiana literally had an HIV outbreak a few years ago. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27468059/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27468059/ I don't want to compare levels of misery, but these states aren't much better off.
kixiQu 3y ago
FTA: > The researchers found the expanding gap was driven by rapid growth in the number of women living in rural places who succumb young to treatable or preventable diseases. [...] Pregnancy-related deaths also played a role, accounting for the highest rate of natural-cause mortality growth for women ages 25 to 54 in rural areas.

delfinom 3y ago

It's quite ironic that rural living is devolved to processed food garbage in America. I come from rural Poland, vegetables were very much on the table every day be it fresh or pickled. Rural regions are the ones that should be more capable of being self-sufficient compared to say a city because you actually have fucking land.

abduhl 3y ago
Yes but the push towards expansion and financial leverage means that you and your family are out working all day every day. So you have land but you don’t have any fucking time. Beef jerky and Red Bull it is then.
dexwiz 3y ago
Much of rural America grows corn or soybeans. You can drive for literally hundreds of miles and only see these two crops. And it’s not even a corn that is edible, it’s grown to be processed or fed to other animals. Vegetable production is isolated to a few areas. Even then they are often limited to a few crops with narrow seasonality. You can grow vegetables in these areas but it’s not profitable.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  > Much of rural America grows corn or soybeans. Not in the parts of rural America this article is focusing on. In Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, etc, where they grow ridiculous amounts of corn and soybeans, the land is way too valuable to allow widespread poverty to occupy it. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but it’s nothing like the scale of the rural south.
  - dexwiz 3y ago
    Not sure what you mean by the is. Indiana, Illinois both have higher population densities than Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. (Although I bet Chicago distorts Illinois' population). Only Iowa's is lower and not by much. There are tons of small towns in these states with a few hundred in population that used to support some industrial center that has since been sent overseas or a farming economy that required more people. They also often have crippling poverty, high drug use rates, and low standards of living. Indiana literally had an HIV outbreak a few years ago. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27468059/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27468059/ I don't want to compare levels of misery, but these states aren't much better off.

kixiQu 3y ago

FTA: > The researchers found the expanding gap was driven by rapid growth in the number of women living in rural places who succumb young to treatable or preventable diseases. [...] Pregnancy-related deaths also played a role, accounting for the highest rate of natural-cause mortality growth for women ages 25 to 54 in rural areas.