Like Bustamante, Jan Perry Could Lead by Dieting
It's no surprise that a dietitian from that hot bed of nanny-state socialism, UC Berkeley, has a screed in Sunday's Daily News supporting Goofy Jan Perry's plan to ban fast food in South Central. Juliet Sims says that "South L.A. residents bear the burden of a toxic-food environment while nearby communities have access to better food." Sims seems to think its the work of a racist cabal that seeks to foist high fat, mega-caloric food on minorities.Like Perry, Sims doesn't get the fact that its simply a function of the market. Where there is demand, product is sold. For whatever reason, a large percentage of people who live in South Central don't want to purchase what could be considered healthy food. When fast food outlets offer "healthier" choices they find sales of these items are very low.
Here is a collection of various views on Perry's proposal.
Forcing people to get thin by government fiat is not going to be successful. I
speak from personal experience; I was able to change my eating habits and enjoy significant success without municipal assistance. Our leaders need to lead by example and educate the citizenry to make better choices. Indeed, Cruz Bustamante did that very thing. Perhaps Perry should be dieting rather than going on a legislative binge.By the way if you want tips on how to eat healthy at a fast food place, click here.
Perry would be far better off working to ban crime, violence and irresponsible behavior in her district. But that doesn't get you on CNN.
Labels: fast food, jan perry, los angeles politics, nanny state, uc berkeley
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 11/26/2007 12:19:00 AM
22 Comments:
Don't ya know, everything is the fault of "the man," pushing toxic food and drugs and booze on the inner city to keep them down and fat. We sure wouldn't want them to be healthy thinking and productive citizens, who can shop and cook intelligently and not starve if they can't huff to the nearest fast food restaurant and eat the fattiest food they have.
She'd be better off teaching them to shop, eat (bring in supermarkets already -- Fresh & Easy is going, but it'll take them 3 years -- why hasn't she gotten another store way before?) -- they have deli sections for the lazy. But the poor should learn to cook and save their money.
Even using pasta, canned sauce and canned or frozen veggies and some fruits will be healthier, cheap and easy for a whole family. Is that too hard?
Yes it is too hard because nowadays everyone believes we must have the government take care of us.
I think Jan is dieting, and did see her in some event promoting senior health, dancing on stage, kicking up her dress (don't ask.)
She has gained a lot of weight in office. Do they only serve fast food at City Hall?
How OFFENSIVE for Jan Perry to suggest that blacks and latinos can't lose weight on their own.
Can you say Munchausen by Proxy? Big Jan feels that only SHE can cure them of their weight problems!
It's amazing how racist this blog has become! Why do the people who live in South L.A. need to be "taught how to shop and eat" like 11:49 says? And, the theory that South L.A. residents demand unhealthy food is absolute bullshit, Mayor Sam. If that's the case, your fat ass must live there. This blog has never accurately covered South L.A., and when it attempts to do so, it fails miserably because the people who run the blog couldn't find it on a map. So what we constantly have to suffer through is what a bunch of white guys think about South L.A. Shameful!
Jan Perry needs to keep her big, fat mouth SHUT!!!! Who the fuck cares about what people eat??? Stay out of our lives and mind your own business! What a bunch of retarded moronic asses!!!!
No wonder this city is a lost cause!!! JUST SHUT UP!!! What a waste of taxpayer dollars for these ignorant idiots in city council! Just vote their asses out!!!
So which one is it 859? The people in South Central don't need to learn how to make better food choices or they prefer fast food? Either way they're not creating enough demand for healthy food.
If that was not the case you know that Whole Foods would be there in a minute.
Perhaps though you are suggesting that they are so racist that they are turning a blind eye to all the people in South Central who want to buy tofurkey and gluten free bread.
By the way the one time the people in South Central tried to do something about healthy food and created a farm where families could grow fruits and vegetables, the Clowncil sent in Cowboy Denny Zine under cover of darkness to roust the place and then did nothing for the people there.
So shut up is right.
11:49 is not "racist," is responding to the situation exactly as it was put. The REASONING for the measure and South L A residents quoted said that the reason they need to ban the fast food places is that they're fat because those are the only restaurants they can easily get to.
Many people have pointed out that other poor people, especially in areas of immigrants from Chinese to Russian, shop and eat healthy and save money, too, by COOKING.
Clearly it's a lack of education about how to shop, eat and exercise that makes people think they are somehow forced to eat at the local fast food places -- and choose fried food instead of their salads and healthy choices. Denying truth perpetuates these problems. It's Jan Perry and that leftie Berkeley prof, blaming it on the authorities that they're fat and unhealthy, which makes the people sound stupid. What IS racist is comment about 11:49 -- a couple of insecure people keep screaming "racist" any time anyone says anything not crap PC, like that the racist white establishment is the cause of all the problems of blacks and Latinos. They need personal responsibility.
Why do Perry and Parks' districts have almost 40% obesity, while Manhtattan Beach has 4%? Sure, it's the white establishment's fault. But if anyone suggests how they can help themselves be more like the healthy people, they're "racist." But why bother talking to the kinds of no brains who learned from the likes of that prof at Berkeley, who make livings turning students' heads into blind mush.
Personal responsibility notwithstadnding, part of the problem is access to healthy foods. There should be incentives to bring in more healhier options like Farmer's Markets as well as an educational component for the community. For anyone interested, the Community Health Councils (http://www.chc-inc.org) are very active on this front.
Tell Jan Perry to try and get the low income area a decent market first then maybe people would eat better. When you have nothing but illegal vendors and crap little stores selling old shit how does Perry expect the people to cook a decent meal? Her fat ass with all the money our taxes pay can afford a chef or and to live in a nicer area. I say have her live right in the heart on Central and Adams to see without a car where she would go shopping. Again the government telling us now how to eat.
You guys have all lost your minds. The government is not telling anyone how to eat.
The council woman is simply saying that there are no grocery stores available to the residents of South Los Angeles.
For any parent, and especially working parents, it is extremely difficult to plan and cook meals and therefore it is faster and easier to go get fast food. These people have homework to help do, and they have to try to keep their kids off the streets and away from gangs and drugs. Cut them some slack, would you?
When you start making fun of people's weight, think karma.
"COUNCILWOMAN BOBBLE BOOTY" needs to back the "DIPPER TRADE" via the CIA, to slim down her constituents
11:49 DID say Perry should have brought in healthy supermarkets and options long ago, like Fresh & Easy which won't be ready for years. BUT then many people still need to be educated about going there and heading for the outside lanes, the fruits and vegetables and fresh milk and dairy, not the center with frozen and fried chicken in the deli. (Although those are great in addition, no one expects all or nothing.)
Along with the availability there needs to be re-education and personal responsibility for their health. It's a fact, not racist, that even in wealthier areas, where black women come to work in my medical offices, schools, and all capacities, they tend to be heavy, and choose high-sugar, high-fat foods. They have plenty of options for restaurants and grocers, but usually choose things like brownies and fried chicken anyway. I've personally passed out exercise and diet books, even gym memberships, to a couple I see all the time, but after tying the gym a couple of times, they give up. They stay with their traditional habits. It will take a more society-wide effort to get people to change. Peer pressure, starting with Perry.
The more educated black women from Baldwin Park or outside of S L A, tend to be slimmer, eat healthier and exercise. Opportunity plus education and choice.
Sam at 10:11: You choose to forget that the "healthy initiative" they created, a communal farm, was on private property.
For a dead Republican who supposedly believes in property rights, you're quite a hypocrite, or amnesiac when it suits you to dump on the Council.
(Dennis playing up his cop stuff, though, especially the leather outfits, you can go to town on.)
If 3:18 is the best spinner Jan Perry can get, she should just give up trying to justify herself.
To claim Perry was just pointing out that people don't have grocery stores when SHE has been asleep at the switch in bringing them into her distict, is pathetic. OF course she should have done that long ago -- ironic, it's Fresh & Easy that went to her offering to put their fresh foods, groceries and delis, in her hood -- and their stores include cooking and healthy eating tips and classes.
Then to claim parents who have to help kids with homework don't have options but to go to the nearest fast food place, is thinking only the low-income, low-educated would use. Yes, you do see ignorant fat, white families from less wealthy areas, where everyone from parents to kids are fat and don't exercise, stuffing themselves with unhealthy food.
It's just that the contrast between these people (black, white or brown) and their educated, healthy- eating and exercising thinner counterparts on the westside in Santa Monica, just a few miles away, is very glaring.
You just prove that it takes both access to opportunity and personal responsibility to make a difference.
When Jan Perry drops a few pounds, we be listening.
I am not a Jan Perry spinner. I don't even like her. I just agree with her that the part of the city in question needs markets.
Thanks 3:18
I can tell that you've actually been to South L.A. The statement about "teaching people how to shop" is not only racist. It's unrealistic. For the most part, the relatively few grocery stores South L.A. has are not nearly as high in quality as the ones in other areas. Therefore, "teaching them to shop" won't do any good if they only have access to sub par food. This issue is really simple. It's about having a variety of foods in your neighborhood to choose from. No one should have to drive miles and miles to get what they want to eat. You can probably imagine the effect that this has on traffic.
The point you last couple posters keep missing, is that if Jan Perry wants people in S L A to eat better, she should have worked to bring in grocers LONG ago, since it can take years. She woke up one day, realized people were fat and decided to ban fast food -- even though lots of their offerings are grilled, or they can have salads, etc.
Stop justifying her stupidity and laziness so far on white racism, discriminating against the area, etc.
And stop denying that education is essential -- when overweight black workers come to the westside or Hollywood, where there are plenty of food choices available, I've seen them still stick with high-fat and carb and sugar choices, both in restaurants they go to and foods they bring to eat at their desks.
My kids' school has a number of black scholarship students, and the ones from low-income areas tend to be heavy, as well as their mothers and grandmothers -- they bring KFC fried chicken and homemade fatty foods to potlucks, yet clearly they have access and exposure to healthy foods. But they grew up that way, and it will take AN EDUCATION PROGRAM to get them to change.
And darn right they need to be taught to cook: any Asian, South Indian or European immigrant could go into the same area and buy and cook healthy, delicious tasty meals. And these people are hardly ever fat, but they're healthier and save money, too. (Even sit-down restaurants tend toward fried cajun or "roscoe's house of chicken and waffles," heavy, heavy stuff, fried and with greasy gravy.)
Immigrant communities have always made do, it's how you choose to shop -- you can stock up on veggies and fruits weekly.
Yeah, it hurts your "self-esteem" to acknowledge that it's a matter of education -- but if your mother didn't cook, and going to fast food joints is what your neighbors all do, you NEED "nanny state," but Jan is going about it wrong, with the stick instead of the carrot.
(Save the crap that you can't do this if you have kids in school -- that's althemore reason to learn to cook and take the time to do it.
This leadership can be taken by the middle class black community, which has pretty much literally and mentally moved on as they left SLA)
To 8:20 AM:
I am 3:18 and I NEVER made any kind of comment about "teaching anyone how to shop". I have been to South L.A. and I didn't make any unrealistic statements. I think you confused me with 3:49. That person said those kinds of things.
I just said that South L.A. didn't have enough markets and they had more convenient fast food. I know that's true because I have been there.
As a parent, I also know when I use a fast food restaurant for convenience. I always feel guilty.
So take your hate out on me.
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