Last summer, Southern L.A. was banned from opening new fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. Lawmakers were concerned about increasing obesity rates, and wanted new health conscious restaurants to open in an area where fast food restaurants outnumber supermarkets and grocery stores.
A professor from the
Tuft University's School of Medicine thinks the ban will help make the already established fast food restaurants more health oriented but doesn't think a ban will help unless other measures are taken:
It represents an important first step in environmental approaches to eating well. The ban alone will not likely have an immediate impact on eating habits in the community because there are plenty of existing quick-serve restaurants, but in my view it is responsive to community calls for such change. Plus, it puts the fast-food restaurants on notice that they need to continue to make healthy options available at an affordable price. It may also empower other communities to advocate for similar changes in their locales.Others want to see the farming and supermarkets grow in neighborhoods with fast food chains.
Michael Jacobson, the executive director at the
Center for Science in the Public Interest, says a ban might not do any good. Instead he says the city needs "
to provide incentives for supermarkets and farmers’ markets to make healthy food accessible to local residents.”Will banning fast food restaurants help or should their be an increase in accessible supermarkets and farmer's markets?
healthkicker.com
Mr. Cheeseburger
Comments (49)
No I think banning fast food won't help
obese people will still eat unhealthily
it's their lifestyles that they have to change
Having more accessible farmer's markets however, is a good ideaI have a farmer's market every wednesday a couple minutes from my house :]
banning it wont help unless you give people healthy alternatives.
i'd be so pissed if they pulled that shit here..
people dont just get fat from fast food. there is plenty of unhealthy foods in grocery stores. more farmers markets is a good idea but i dont see how they will increase if there is a ban on fast food. shouldnt they focus on opening more healthy stores and markets instead of just putting a ban on fast food?
I don't think it would help people that are happy being fat, that dont care. But i believe that the people who were intentionally trying to eat healthier would choose healthy options over fast food if they choices were there. i know i would.
We have NOTHING in the way of healthier restaurants where I live. McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Hardees. There is one Mexican restaurant, and one old country buffet type place, then a BBQ Shack. All are disgusting. I would even take a Subway over the junk we have...
i was pissed as it is when mcdonalds stopped serving "super size" and "bucket of fries". just because the obese people of america can't say, "NO" when asked if they want more food, the skinny, high metabolism people of america can't eat what they want!! FUCK THEM FOOLS. it's not our fault that we're skinny, it's all their damn faults.. JUST SAY NO.
i can see kids growing up in school now.. with not just a "just say no to drugs" program, but a "just say no to sugar and fatty foods" program now. *face palm*
Sure, it'll totally work. There are absolutely no other fast food restaurants there already. Grocery stores only carry healthy food, too. Come on, you know they totally don't carry food that is full of fat and calories.
*sigh* In reality, grocery stores carry fatty foods that are sometimes worse than what you can get in fast food joints. In reality, if they want fast food that bad, they can simply go somewhere else. Keeping a few fast food restaurants from being built won't do much to help the obesity problem.
YES, banning more fast food restaurants in an area will HELP! At least it will prevent an area from being flooded with only fast food restaurants.
I agree that the ban will not have an immediate impact on the community, but as long as people are trying to get more farmers market and other alternatives to fast food into the community, then eating habits will change in time.
But to answer your question: banning fast food restaurants alone will not fight obesity.
I live in a very health-conscious mountain town in Colorado where I go to college. We don't have much fast food here (at least not compared to California, where I grew up), but that sure as hell didn't stop me from gaining 25 pounds my first year away at school from eating too many chips and cheese its.
mcdonalds should be banned everywhere.
gross.
lol
people do it to themselves
they don't have to buy it
I think that having more farmers markets & supermarkets would help. Banning fast food won't help unless people are presented with better & healthier alternatives that are convenient.
Banning fast food wont do shit
ITS PEOPLE* THAT MAKE THE DECISION
We can CHOOSE* whether or NOT to buy fast food
If we want it WE'LL GET IT
it wont do anything.
It should be banned EVERYWHERE.
wouldnt it be great if they had SUPER healthy fast food?
Well, both. I think there should be some sort of maximum capacity for fast food places in areas that aren't right off the highway. Groceries and supermarkets are a must. You can't encourage use of something that isn't there!
@phuck_diz_shiz@xanga - That's true, but people who eat fast food out of convenience will be less likely to do so, I think. I mean, if someone's gonna go way out of their way for their Micky D's, more power to them, but I think a lot of people just eat fast food because it's there and it's convenient. I think banning fast food from places can put a decent dent in the patronage at fast food joints in general. It may not make us overall healthier, but then at least nobody could say that the clown made them do it.
it might help but i think theres a lot of other stuff that need to be banned
It will help to some extent, but people will still retain their junk food from supermakets.
more health conscious restaurants please...
i dont think just because fast food restaurants are banned the obesity rate will go down. people will still eat but its how much you work it off afterwards that matters.
no it wont work. especially in urban areas where poor people go to get a really cheap meal (that's why many of them are overweight, not underweight due to malnutrition). anyway, so they aren't gonna just go to Whole Foods and buy groceries,,, theyre going to go to 7-11 and buy bags of cheetos for 2 bucks. that's even worse than a big mac.
okay so if you made the healthy food accessible would it also be affordable? that's my question...
"It's like putting a bandaid on a tumor." - Gene Brewer
Ugh. I can't stand this fucking nonsense. America again wants the to play the goddamn blame game on fast food for being fat. It's a goddamn business, get over it. If you don't wanna eat there cuz you think it makes you fat, DON'T GO THERE. Stop trying to get something out of nothing and forcing your goddamn weight watcher BS down my throat.
It shouldn't be banned anywhere. To even think it should be is retarded. If you think that Burger King, Taco bell, McDonald's, is making you fat then go home and eat a fucking salad. Jesus.
I do not buy fast food very often, I dont like this rubbish but a treat now and again does not hurt.
i never liked fast food. but im in love with panera now. so good, and relatively healthier too, not to mention more food for the same price.
That's a completely deranged 'solution.' It makes me feel like a human lab rat, and oh, the other humans care so much about me that they'll take it upon themselves to step in and take care of all of my personal health choices, because quite a few of my cell-mates are overweight.
It's like enforcing an excersize law. If people don't care about their health, locking down isn't going to make them stop and think. They want balls of greasy lardy rot in their faces, they're going to get it. It infuriates me to no end. We dumb socioty down so much that other people have to start taking care of our health. It is not their business, and shouldn't be their right.
But we're just trying to HELP you!
It's hurting in the long run. Generations get dumber and dumber by the amount of decisions they don't have to make for themselves anymore. Down to the food we can eat? If they load their fat faces with carelessness, let them, and allow them to drown in what they started for themselves. When they're ready to change, when they decide it's worth it to get over their greasy addiction, they can do it.
I don't need the great parent in the sky grounding all the kids. I'm not incompetant.