Does your neighborhood affect the size of your ass?

Whenever I visit California, I always find myself thinking, "Man, I would lose SOOO much weight if I lived here." And I wholeheartedly believe that, because even with all of the vodka drinks and cha siu baau buns, I still find myself walking much more and opting for the vegetarian fare and delicious, perfectly ripe fruit over fatty and carby options. When I get home, my jeans are loose. But the simple fact is that in California, it's just much easier to find excruciatingly healthy food as you go through your day than it is if you're living in Wisconsin (particularly in the non-summer months), when the only place you're going to find edible vegetation is at one of the grocery stores in the suburbs.

A group of scientists at the California Center of Public Health Advocacy have quantified my own observation and put it into a measurable statistic. God, I love those folks in the white coats! Check it: they calculated the proportion of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores near each adult's home compared to grocery stores and produce vendors. From our bffs at Slashfood:

"Based on their analysis of 40,000 people, the study's authors determined that the average California neighborhood has an RFEI of 4.5. According to their data, adults who live in an area with an RFEI of 5 or higher have a 23% higher chance of developing diabetes and a 20% higher chance of being obese than those who live in an area with an RFEI of 3 or less."

So, basically, if you have a bunch of Taco Bells and Sonics in your neighborhood, you're more likely to be overweight than if you are surrounded by farmer's markets and fruit carts. Although really, remember, correlation is not the same as causation: after all, these places are businesses. If everyone said "No way" to Big Macs, McDonald's would respond by changing their business strategy or they would go out of business. If the big money was in the fruit vending business, all the hot dog carts would start slinging bananas and carrots. It's easy to point fingers at the big baddie fast food guys, and we are clearly making the decisions, but there is something to be said about the fact that modern life can make it very difficult to eat healthy when you have ten minutes to run out and grab lunch and there are fast food joints as far as the eye can see.

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From the Community…

Comments 1-4 of 4

Posted by Mysterious Gryphon Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:02pm PDT

This is totally true. On the days when I haven't gone to the grocery store and my cupboard's a bit bare, I treat myself to lunch at the food court downstairs.
But while I may intend to snag a nice, healthy salad, I usually find myself in line for a Sbarro or Cinnabon. Actually, many salads have just as many calories as a fast-food sandwich, so that's not even as safe an option as you might think.
If only there were a friendly little restaurant that provided basic stuff, the kind of groceries you might keep in your own kitchen. The salad I'm yearning for is grilled chicken with reduced-fat belue cheese and dried cranberries, tossed with olive oil and labsamic vinegar and laid over mixed greens. It's like 300 calories and REALLY good, but it's impossible to find anything like that at a food court.

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Posted by Isky Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:55pm PDT

I live in SF where there are many restaurants that serve smaller portions, have healthy choices on the menu, will go low-fat or fat-free if you ask for alternatives and are happy to do all this. However, my stomach goes for whatever I yearn for at the moment. I seem to lose all vigilence for healthy eating in restaurants. And, of course, I do have a big ass. I definitely need help.

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Posted by rglo820 Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:03am PDT

I feel like I would gain weight if I lived in California! I live in Boston and rely completely on public transportation and my feet to get me where I'm going. Any place that would require me to drive a car would slash my physical activity (and cause my expenses to skyrocket - I haven't visited a gas pump in about 6 years, jealous?). Not to mention, while we do have all the usual suspects here fast food-wise, for every McDonald's or Taco Bell, there are four or five restaurants serving homemade healthier fare. I don't remember the last time I ate fast food - it's been months, if not more than a year. It just doesn't appeal to me with so much fresh, delicious food available.
Of course, all bets would be off if I had access to In-N-Out.
I guess the moral here is if you want to live a healthy lifestyle with minimum effort, you're better off in a city, and you're double better off if it's a city you can get around without a car! It's part of the reason why many cities have comapratively low rates of adult obesity.

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Posted by Bellisima Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:40pm PDT

Here in California where I live, there are sure plenty of naughty food joints, quite a bit of Farmer's Market, all in all a mix of whatever your little heart desires, but the question is...Is it good for your little heart? We're all trying to be sooo good. I like Trader Joe's you can check the sodium/calorie/msg etc..I like them in my neighborhood. Sure has help my ass stay in line LOL!!

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Comments 1-4 of 4

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