Slowing The Fast-Food Effect

One Community Seeks To Put The Brakes On New Fast Food Restaurants

(CBS)  As a doctor at the Los Angeles Department of Health in south central L.A., Maxine Liggins has seen her patients and the community get bigger and bigger, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.

“Fast food is abundant in this community,” she said. “A high percentage of fast food venues make healthy living very difficult.”

Combined with low incomes, few parks for exercise and the rare grocery store, Dr. Liggins says even people who want to lose weight are fighting an uphill battle.

“Nothing but fast food. You walk down the street, you see KFC then Poppey’s chicken then you see this place,” said Vera Rodriguez. “You don’t really see nothing but liquor stores and donut shop. We want supermarkets we want vegetables we are not a bunch of greasy eating drunk people.”

With fast food on almost every corner, Dr. Liggins is not exaggerating, by one analysis, 45 percent of the restaurants in south Los Angeles are fast food, compared to 16 percent in other parts of the city.

Obesity rates go hand in hand: in South Los Angeles, 30 percent of the adults are obese. Just 20 percent in other parts of the city.

“It's classist. It's elitist,” said local leader Jan Perry, who wants to put an end to it.

“Enough is enough, that is a good way to put it. We are inundated with fast-food outlets in this community. People want a grocery store; they want a restaurant,” said Perry, a member of the Los Angeles city council. “Can we have some diversity? Can we have some choices for the people who live here?”

In an area where there are 40 fast food restaurants within a mile of where Whitaker visited and only one grocery store - the city council is taking a bold move - proposing a two year moratorium on all new fast food restaurants in south central - calling it "health zoning."

“If all you ever show people is fast food then they may believe that is all they are entitled to have,” Jan Perry said.

Critics call the moratorium government meddling and say the fast food industry is only feeding customer demand.

"I don't think the government should ever be in the position of a parent, in effect, and telling people you are eating too many burgers stop doing that eat more vegetables,” said Onkar Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute.

Still the moratorium idea has struck a chord in the community.

“Everything's fresh, and it's good and sometimes the prices are good,” said one mother, Maria Velasques.

Ligging fought for years to get this farmers' market in Watts - it's been open just a month.

“Changing from being an overweight country to a healthy country is going to take incremental changes,” Liggins said.

The first change here could soon come from city hall, with elected officials helping decide what's on the menu.

[r2b2phoenx]

Short but great points! Dr. Liggins and SoLA health folks should be commended for engaging in the long-term challenge of reeducating generations on better eating habits. The WattsHealthy endeavor is an excellent approach where fresh foods and interesting ways of cooking ethnic dishes can be shared within a neighborhood park setting. Best Wishes for Continued Sucess.

No one mentions that processed foods are so profitable and this is the problem. Fruits and vegetables cost less and are full of living enzymes in the raw uncooked state. Take it from one that lost 60 lbs in 90 days on a raw food diet. Processed foods is a cancer diet.

[eggy1620]

%u201CCan we have some diversity? Can we have some choices for the people who live here?%u201D %u2013 LA city coucil member

Exactly. So why aren%u2019t the ambitious, local, grocers to be lined up to open their businesses? Sounds to me that the folks in these neighborhoods might be just plain lazy.

[newsguy11]

Who wrote this story? It''s poorly written and there''s several cases of lack of punctuation and run-on sentences. Come on CBS, have somebody edit what you''re posting on our site.

[ianlou]

I read that in France, the government ensures that a small grocery store is within walking distance of all it''s urban citizins.
Immagine the health benifits of walking to the grocery store.

In America we have a new word applied to many of our cities: Food-Desert.

[jairod]

This is a good start, but education is the key. It is proven that home cooked food is cheaper, and by far more healthful than fast food. In the end, the parents have to make wise choices for their children who then follow the example set. If you grow up with good habits the rest will take care if itself. The old adage is true in reapect to diet choices: As the twig is bent so grows the tree.

[fitedafuture]

Wonder when our Mcdonalds in Iraq will start getting complaints by Iraqis complaining they are getting fat?

[slim1h2o]

I think it''s what you call Karma, If those people didnt burn or destroy all those businesses during the Rodney King riots, maybe they would have more, and better choices. But, also, as some one pointed out, fast food does not make one fat. Over consumption does.

[skinnyminny2]

I have mixed feelings but will say this: I grew up tending and eating from a garden and am more likely to be drawn to eating vegetables than fast food or junk food. I suppose if there aren''t alternative choices for food nearby, fast food establishments could indeed cause a problem because it''d set a bad pattern. People also won''t learn how to prepare food; it''s simply easier for others to do it. Cutting some fast food places and putting a some markets or groceries wouldn''t hurt, but ultimately it''s up to the individual to decide what to or not to eat.

[kansas1946]

You are right about the corn syrup, but I would argue about the Splenda and malitol. Those don''t impact blood sugar. Fructose does, but in a lesser degree.
You could get a lot of the sugars out of food if you put the fat back in (not trans-fats). Fat is what makes things taste good and makes foods filling and satisfying for long periods of time.
When they took the fat out, they replaced with salt and sugars, to make it palatable.
This started in the 70''s big time and people have gotten fatter ever since.

[kansas1946]

%u201CFast food is abundant in this community,%u201D she said. %u201CA high percentage of fast food venues make healthy living very difficult.%u201D
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This is such a bunch of hooey. Fast food is just food, and if you eat enough food, you are going to be fat, period. Doesn''t matter if it is fast or slow. A red velvet cake that took two hours to mix, bake, and, frost, is going to still make you fatter than and McDonalds hamburger. Forget low-fat. Get the sugar and corn syrup (same thing only worse) out of almost everything we eat. The low-fat craze has made people fatter and fatter and sicker every since it started in the 70''s.

[nswanson5]

Regarding Slowing the fast food effect, Instead of constanting blaming the fast food industry.. why is no one considering the effect of all the fructose, splenda, malitol and the worst offender of all corn syrup ....all of which the food industry uses as additives to our food? I find it strange that the medical industry as well as the news industry cannot figure the corn syrup link to the increase in diabetes in this country. Perhaps diabetes would not be on the rise if our packaged food did not contain and abunance of these items-- including adding them to canned vegetables.