  Kingofdetroit Member Username: Kingofdetroit Post Number: 13 Registered: 10-2006 |
"Parts of this beleaguered city, where 33% of residents live below the poverty line, may qualify as a "food desert," a term used to describe urban areas devoid of healthy, fresh food choices. That may explain why 30.4% of its population, and that of the surrounding area, is obese. Still, it seems the state also suffers from unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity: Michigan was recently ranked the ninth heaviest state in the nation by the research group Trust for America's Health. The state already promotes healthy living through an initiative called "Step Up Michigan," but the epidemic might require a more aggressive intervention. *Figures for the Detroit Metropolitan Statistical Area were not available; we combined the area's two Metropolitan Divisions to approximate the obesity rate for the Detroit MSA." It's better than 2... Haha. http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/ 14/health-obesity-cities-forbe slife-cx_rr_1114obese_slide_10 .html?thisSpeed=15000 | ||
Aoife Member Username: Aoife Post Number: 42 Registered: 04-2007 |
Does the "food desert" really make that much of a difference? You can get produce anywhere, and if it isn't the freshest when you get there (I know my Kroger has perennial nasty fruit) what is wrong with frozen? I guess it just seems silly to me- look at all the overweight people in the suburbs where they have huge markets. People are heavy all over the region. It seems more about eating habits rather than availability. | ||
Crystal Member Username: Crystal Post Number: 70 Registered: 05-2007 |
I agree wholeheartedly. It is about eating habits, not availability. Suburbs and exurbs are just as fat as cities. | ||
Lowell Board Administrator Username: Lowell Post Number: 4329 Registered: 10-2003 |
We're getting skinnier then; we were always 1 or 2 along with Houston. | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 8 Registered: 11-2007 |
The homicides probably help trim some of the fat. | ||
Futurecity Member Username: Futurecity Post Number: 694 Registered: 05-2005 |
"food desert" ??--more bull-shit excuses to justify idiot behavior. You can get produce anywhere. If you choose a Frito-Lay and Faygo diet, that's what you will look like. | ||
The_ed Member Username: The_ed Post Number: 1213 Registered: 10-2007 |
I choose hot apple pie with a slice of sharp cheese on top. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2252 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Really? I'm hard pressed to remember the last time I saw carrots (fresh or frozen) in a gas station or a liquor store. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6835 Registered: 02-2004 |
YAY! Detroit is FAT! We're going to see lots of obese folks who can gobble up those burgers and fries and fart it out. | ||
Elsuperbob Member Username: Elsuperbob Post Number: 94 Registered: 03-2007 |
Not only is it availability. In some places you have to go pretty far to find a grocer. But add to that that perhaps they're already spending the majority of their days working 1 or 2 jobs and making the long commutes by bus to those jobs in the suburbs. So if you can grab a filling "meal" for 5 dollars at a fast food place along the way rather than spend a few more hours getting to and from a grocer and spending double or triple that for a meal it all makes sense. | ||
Diggelicious Member Username: Diggelicious Post Number: 67 Registered: 08-2005 |
In the hospitals, it's quite rare to get a patient who has a normal body habitus. Its often commented when a skinny patient is brought in and before they are worked up, "This patient isn't the typical detroiter". While this statement cannot be used as pure fact (obese people more likely to be hospitalized, etc.), its interesting to see how many patients require the "Big Boy" bed, which was used only in special cases and now is part of the regular flow/admit orders. | ||
Jluke Member Username: Jluke Post Number: 3 Registered: 09-2007 |
I travel a lot and most Detroit residents are very obese! Why is that? Why are Detroit women (yes, mostly the women) so much fatter than the rest of the country? They really look ridiculous . | ||
Fmstack Member Username: Fmstack Post Number: 15 Registered: 06-2007 |
There are deep structural reasons why Americans in general, poor Americans in specific, and poor Americans in the two "food deserts" (deep rural areas and rotting inner cities) in even-more-specific are fat. These have very little to do with willpower and a lot to do with farm policy -- something that most urban and suburban Americans don't really think affects them. Basically, meat and dairy -- which on the whole carry a lot of calories but not a lot of nutrients -- suck up about 75% of our farm subsidy budget, compared to under 1% for fruits and vegetables. Unsubsidized fruits and vegetables are, calorie for calorie, much, much more expensive than hyper-subsidized hamburgers. As a result, eating the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables would suck up about 70% of the food budget for poor urban and rural families. After that, there simply wouldn't be enough money to buy food to provide needed calories. Add to this the complication of getting to places where one can actually buy fruits and vegetables, and it's pretty clear why people on shoestring budgets in isolated areas choose to live on high calorie, low nutrient foods, rather than starving on low calorie, high nutrient ones. This calorie calculus affects everyone to some degree, it's just that it's only immediately and obviously apparent for the lower-class, isolated populations of our cities and rural areas. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 866 Registered: 09-2007 |
"Does the 'food desert' really make that much of a difference? You can get produce anywhere, and if it isn't the freshest when you get there (I know my Kroger has perennial nasty fruit) what is wrong with frozen?" It's not the injury, but it is an insult. Many people that live on Mack and Mt. Elliot or Linwood and Dexter don't have the money or proper transportation to travel long distances (beyond walking distance) to and from a market every other day just for fresh food. As others have mention, that increasingly turns them on to food that's closest and cheapest in reach (knowing it's something, healthy or not), and the crappy markets in th ecity feed on that to keep their standards low, because they know it's too troublesome for some to go through all that mess for fresh food. On the other hand, bad eating habits is the injury. Many people choose to eat unhealthy, no matter how easily of a choice and opportunity they have to eat healthy. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2257 Registered: 04-2006 |
Actually, Michiganders period seem to be a little more portly than average... IMO. | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 417 Registered: 05-2006 |
This study is based on the Behavioral Risk Survey, which basically asks "Are you fat?". The results of this study could also just prove that Detroiters are somewhat more honest than others about their weight. A better study would use actual height and weight measurements. Unfortunately, no one is doing that. I would like to see that children get regular health evaluations including weight measurement, but I am sure that would be very controversial. Maybe once obesity-related conditions become the #1 cause of premature death in children and youth those attitudes will change. | ||
Nainrouge Member Username: Nainrouge Post Number: 418 Registered: 05-2006 |
Oh, and the food desert study did show a statistical link between the ease of access to quality grocery stores and health outcomes. See: http://marigallagher.com/proje cts/2/ | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 364 Registered: 08-2006 |
Detroit: #1 murder city #5 fattest city #64 most livable city on the entire planet #shut the heck up about these stupid rankings already. | ||
Larryinflorida Member Username: Larryinflorida Post Number: 1049 Registered: 02-2007 |
There is a big difference between my desire for Detroit favorites like Buddy's and what represents a Big Boy hamburger these days, and missing Detroit cuisine in general. After I have my fix, I say "What's with this place? All they serve up here is fried crap." What I'm saying, is that, unlike other places, Detroit has been late to the health game. That's not the case now, but awareness drives customer request. So the ship turns slowly, but it will turn. | ||
Arrogancy Member Username: Arrogancy Post Number: 26 Registered: 02-2007 |
All you have to do is go to a club/bar in Detroit and compare the women to a club/bar anywhere not in the midwest. The women wear the same stuff, but the difference is, in one case, lumps and rolls and cellulite is squeezing out of the cracks, and in the other, this is not the case. |
