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| Tuesday, December 02, 2008 |
| A Call to Action |
Robin Marantz Henig’s recent profile of the “fat-acceptance movement” asked whether the “association between obesity and disease was due to fatness itself or to the risk factors that tend to go along with being fat.”
“Fat-acceptance activists insist that epidemiological studies that link fatness to disease often fail to adjust for non-weight-related risk factors found more often in fat populations. Poverty, minority-group status, too much fast food, a sedentary lifestyle, lack of access to health insurance, the stress of self-loathing and being part of a stigmatized group all are common among fat people, and all are linked to poorer health outcomes at any weight.”
It is an unfortunate coincidence that South Los Angeles, California matches the description above almost perfectly. It is “the city’s poorest section and sits at the crossroad of a number of policy trends in the state and, increasingly, in the nation, in which governments seek to limit the availability of foods deemed by the medical community to cause harm.”
In July, “California stepped up to the ‘plate’ and began to limit the risk factors of obesity and disease,” becoming the first state to ban trans fats in all restaurants and bakeries.
In August the City Council of South Los Angeles, California made history once again when they became the first to ban new fast-food restaurants. They are determined to bring change to a population whose current diet of fast-food has burdened them with the “health risks” and “associations between obesity and disease,” “poverty and fat.”
Few restaurants offer fresh or healthy choices. A population “with high rates of obesity and related health problems” mostly rely on public transportation, limiting the 550,000 residents of South L.A. to a choice between the “fast-food chains which account for 45 percent” of restaurants in the area. “One nine-and-a-half mile stretch of this area contains 32 fast-food chain restaurants, nine burger outlets and just eight other restaurants.”
The city council of South Los Angeles has made a heroic and historic attempt to battle both the “non-weight-related” and “multiple weight-related risk factors of poverty, minority-group status, and too much fast food,” addressing the issues of fat-acceptance advocates and worries of health experts. To specifically combat these issues and attempt to improve the health crisis that is affecting local residents, the city is trying to encourage new merchants to bring healthy, fresh food choices to this area, in addition to the ban on any new fast-food places.
They “proposed a one-year moratorium, now signed into law and effective as of July 30, 2008, banning NEW fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile area.” They have also offered “tax credits, loans and energy discounts” to “grocery stores, fresh food purveyors, and sit down restaurants that would settle in the area” and create fresh, healthier choices for the neighborhood.
The new law has generated tremendous publicity, debate, and opposition. Some critics called the plan “misguided and an ineffective way to alter consumers’ behavior.” Others said you can’t “legislate away the eating habits” of “thousands of neighbors in South Los Angeles.”
Community activists, health experts, and some local residents saw a chance to make a positive change for a community of 550,000 residents. “In the face of that, a general call to action is taking place.” They recognize that availability, or “actual food access” may be only the first step. Resistance to change, both habit and taste may take some time. “Over the past five years, three farmers’ markets have opened in South Los Angeles” but a community limited by past habits and availability to fast-food has been slower to shop here than communities with “other urban farmers’ markets.”
The concept of health by legislation may not appeal to any one of us. The appeal of a healthier population has to be a concept we all applaud and wish success.
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”
- Nancy
Labels: food for thought, Healthy Planet, Mindful Eating, Nancy
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posted by The Sensei Team @ Tuesday, December 02, 2008   |
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