Big-city dwellers less obese than small-town residents

[building babel]

My second crop of raspberries is coming on nicely. I have to hack my way through the back garden with a machete to get at them, but it's worth it. Mash 'em up with plain yogurt, maybe mix in a few blueberries ...

 

[rbtaylor]

If one is unable to find a healthy vegetarian option at a restaurant in a small town then....shock of shock....make it at home.

Cooking quality meals at home is one of the first things people seem to drop when time is constrained. Good advice is advice that will be followed.

Telling someone to cook for themselves is getting pretty close to telling someone to grow their own food when they're not happy with the produce at the grocery store.

The typical small town Ontarian and the average person on this message board have very different priorities.

 

[building babel]

There is no reason why community gardening can't take off in Toronto in a big way. All it takes is the collective will to do it - not too difficult surely in an era of growing "green consciousness"? You don't have to be a landowner to benefit.

When I take the 505 Dundas car downtown I pass an allotment in the grounds of a church near Parliament that has all kinds of veggies growing in it. No doubt the people who plant it are renters in the low income housing nearbye. There have been several other such local initiatives in Regent Park.

Many people have planters on their balconies and plants in pots indoors. There is no reason why condo and apartment dwellers can't get together and use common outdoor areas to grow food, just as babel and the rest of the jam-loving petit bourgeois do in our little back gardens.

 

[RJR123]

rbtaylor:
I don't get the whole "small town Ontario" thing that you keep bringing up. My original post was in response to someone who suggested that the obesity problem is related to socioeconomic status. How is that the same thing as living in "small town Ontario" ???
My point, again, is that if you are poor you are not consigned to eating at McDonald's or purchasing overly processed, unhealthy, ready-to-eat meals from a grocery store. There is an alternative, and it's called cooking your own meals from scratch. By doing so, you can eat much healthier than buying pre-made or fast food, for the same price or even less.
A single potato bought at a grocery store costs much less than an order of fries at McDonald's...do you see my point??
And if time is an issue, that is not necessarily related to socioeconomic status or where someone lives...that is another factor altogether.

 

[adma]

Yes, but shhhhh. You're subverting mass marketing logic. Restaurants are cool; home cooking is for nerds...

 

[rbtaylor]

My original post was in response to someone who suggested that the obesity problem is related to socioeconomic status. How is that the same thing as living in "small town Ontario"?

The article is about obesity in small towns. The socioeconomic point was raised as a possible correlation since folks in small towns generally have a lower household incomes.

A single potato bought at a grocery store costs much less than an order of fries at McDonald's...do you see my point??

I know, follow, and used to preech that point. Nearly a decade since I last ate at a fast food restaurant. That said, you're advice is useless.

For advice to be good, it needs to be something that can be accomplished by the person receiving the advice.


I came from a small town and can tell you that in Hanover, Wingham, and Lucknow much of the weight problem is is directly related to working double shifts at the local factory, farm, or feed shop and the weekend entertainment; sitting on your ass in a barn drinking beer. I still goto a stag/doe now an' then.

 

[gboykovekin]

I noticed since I moved to midtown, that I've been walking much more often than when I lived in exurban East Gwillimbury. Of course, the amount of cycling I do hasn't changed all that much but the dense urban environment makes walking enjoyable. Of course, in terms of distance (and as a holdover from my rural upbringing), I still think in kms rather than city blocks. I'm also cheap, so I would rather walk 45 minutes from St Clair/Duff to downtown than take a bus.

 

[Brighter Hell]

Telling someone to cook for themselves is getting pretty close to telling someone to grow their own food when they're not happy with the produce at the grocery store.

The typical small town Ontarian and the average person on this message board have very different priorities.

You're making it sound like it's impossible to get fresh produce in small towns. I don't know about Hanover, Wingham, and Lucknow, but in Omemee, Ennismore, and Lakefield it's easy to get good quality produce. Plus it's a short drive to bigger centres if a big Loblaws or Sobeys is what you're after. And working double shifts at the local factory is hardly typical. Yes, salaries are a lot lower than in Toronto, but living costs are too.

 

[adma]

Well, maybe it's also mentality, i.e. rural folks like their good, filling, hearty meals (so to speak) more than their urban compatriots.

Kind of like how an ethnic peasant mama's more prone to wanting to fill you up 'til you're roly-poly...