The Way to a Healthier Lifestyle Begins…At the Supermarket

How ironic that the highest rates of child obesity are in low-income children!  When I worked in Mexico with malnourished children in the late ‘80s, the poorest children struggled to get food in their stomachs; in the states, programs like WIC (Women, Infants and Children), school free lunches, and also state cash assistance programs allow families to get food on the table—but less healthy food is often cheaper, and certainly perceived by many as less time consuming to make.  Families pressured for time and money often choose fast food or junk food as a filling, but less-than-nutritious means of feeding their children. 

Adult and child obesity rates have exploded across America.  According to the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), obesity rates continue to rise.  Since 1980, the number of obese children doubled—and incredibly, for adolescents it tripled!  With sixteen percent of children and adolescents age 6 to 19 overweight (9 million children), childhood obesity remains a pressing public health concern.

A recent NCSL report notes:
“Being overweight puts children and teenagers at greater risk for developing type 2 diabetes, risk factors for heart disease at an earlier age, and other health conditions including asthma, sleep apnea, and psychosocial effects such as decreased self-esteem.…61 percent of overweight 5- to10-year-olds already ha[ve] at least one risk factor for heart disease, and 26% ha[ve] two or more risk factors for the disease. By adulthood, obesity-associated chronic diseases – heart disease, some cancers, stroke, diabetes – are the first, second, third, and sixth leading U.S. causes of death.” http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/ChildhoodObesity-2005.htm

The explosion in childhood obesity levels across the country means increased state and private expenditures on health care, reduced quality of life and self-esteem concerns for children, and negative impacts on family life.  So what can we do?  Well, lots of legislative proposals focusing on school lunches and junk food (and, yes, I include in these my own preference to limit schools from serving marshmallow fluff as a lunch entrée!), but one non-legislative route to better health is public education—education which starts with education in the grocery store.

I went last weekend with Kat Powers, the editor of the Somerville Journal, for a Saturday morning jaunt to Market Basket in Somerville.  We focused on finding foods that were affordable and easy to cook, but still quite nutritious. 

The visit was greeted with great excitement by management at Market Basket and Somerville

So check out the Journal—we discuss butter and butter substitutes, milks, wild and farm-raised fish, red and white meats, sugary cereals and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.   Journal writer/camera gal Meghan Ackermann filmed it for the Journal’s site [link].  After shopping , we went to my house and each cooked some healthy recipes with our purchases—all on video link on the Journal site.   

If you’d like some additional resources on obesity and diet, check out the official CDC site – lots of links to useful information: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/resources.htm

Below find a couple of recipes featured in the article:

Brazilian Collard Greens (“Couve”)
Serves 4
One large bunch of collard greens, well washed.
8 – 10 cloves of crushed garlic
4 Tbsp of olive oil
4 Tbsp lemon juice

Chop collard greens lengthwise very thin—1/4 inch in thickness.
Heat olive oil till it just begins to smoke and add garlic.  Sauté till it starts to brown slightly and then add greens, stir frying rapidly for a couple of minutes.  Greens should be wilted but not have turned olive-colored or you have overcooked them.  Remove from heat and toss in lemon juice.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

Sweet Potato fries (Baked not fried!)
Serves 4
2 medium sized sweet potatoes
Olive oil spray
Salt to taste
Salsa cruda --Carrot Dipping Sauce (below)
Heat oven to 400 degrees

Slice sweet potatoes into medium sized fries and spread onto an oiled cooking sheet.  Spray with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. 

Salsa Cruda de Zanahoria—Carrot dipping sauce
1 medium-large carrot, cleaned and chopped
1 medium sized Spanish or sweet onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves of garlic
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup white or cider vinegar
Salt and Pepper

In a blender or food processor, combine carrot, onion, garlic, olive oil and vinegar until liquefied.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  This can also be used as a healthy salad dressing

Comments

[Orato]

If you want to read an interesting first-person account of childhood obesity, check out:

http://www.orato.com/node/2009

[rebecca rabinowitz]

Dear Mr. Barrios,

I'm a big fan of yours and I appreciate your work.

On this topic, I'd like to ask you to consider a different angle. Much science these days is questioning the equation of fatness=unhealthiness (or health risk). All of the specific diet tips you mention are healthy -- but fat people and thin people need them equally, and you can't always tell who is eating healthfully by their body size.

I strongly urge you (or someone in your office) to read The Obesity Myth by Paul Campos. It accessibly and unquestionably debunks the notion that fatness is the health risk our society assumes it to be. It reveals the flaws in the scientific studies, and it reveals who funds those studies. Even C. Everett Coop's "Shape Up America" research was funded by weight-loss corporations.

Healthy eating and exercise are terrific -- needed equally by fat and thin people. You can't tell who's doing what by looking at their body. Fat people suffer widespread discrimination, and it would be a small step towards challenging that discrimination if you were to look into this idea, and perhaps change your angle on the topic.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Rabinowitz, loyal constituent

[Kathleen Powers]

guest post from Kathleen Powers

I say potato, you say batata

I went shopping with Jarrett Barrios to continue my Market Basket education. This started close to 20 years ago when I would look forlornly at plantains and yucas in the produce section and someone very nice from Haiti or Columbia or Cape Verde would explain how to cook whatever it was I was trying to figure out.

Then when I was asked to blog about our recent shopping trip, I was trying to think what Web site I could link to that would explain what a yuca or a batata is. (They're used like potatoes in the U.S., but being from the sweet potato family, they're healthier.) But just surfing for a Web site doesn't really explain the powerful connection talking over food creates. This is why people break bread together. This is why there's nostalgia about mom's white bread sandwiches. And I think that's why eating habits are so very hard to change, even for folks committed to a really healthy diet.

But as my family loves to try new things, I made batata steak fries with carrot sauce for my family this weekend, and they were a hit. We're using my shopping trip as an opportunity to keep trying new things, and add new recipes to my little black box above my stove.

Check out SomervilleJournal.com for my recipe for mac & cheese with complete proteins. I just ask you send your recipe for whatever healthy your family eats to the Journal blog at http://blogs.townonline.com/somerville/?p=3962

And I promise, I'll give you credit in my black recipe box, right next to "Sen. Jarrett Barrios' sweet-potato steak fries."