Big Mac — got it.

Fruits and veggies — not so much.

The city tops the list for having the most fast-food and convenience stores compared to supermarkets and produce vendors -- an issue that may be adversely affecting residents' health. (Read "City lacks options" in today's Californian.)

According to a new study, Bakersfield has 6.63 times as many "unhealthy food" options as "healthy food" options, said Harold Goldstein, executive director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which did the study.

The state average was 4.18.

As a county, we weren't as bad. Kern sits sixth on the list out of 25 counties with 4.87 times as many fast-food places.

A couple issues came up when I was researching this story:

• Do we have so many fast-food restaurants because we demand them, or do we eat so much fast-food because it's just here? It's kind of a chicken-and-egg situation.
  
• And just because a town has more supermarkets doesn't mean the people who shop at those are eating healthier. True, you do get the choice of leafy greens or Cheetos, but, as a person who worked in a supermarket for three years, I can tell you there are many people who go for the Cheetos first.
  
• And even if we did have more supermarkets, would people go to them? As the cliche goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Some people argue that there are enough supermarkets in Bakersfield that if someone wanted to go to one they could.
  

Goldstein brought up a good point when I was talking to him yesterday. Like the dangers of cigarettes, most people know eating greasy burger after greasy burger is bad for you. But eating healthy at fast food restaurants isn't as easy as you might think, he said.

Take McDonald's menu. Most people know a Big Mac is bad at 540 calories. You might think a chicken sandwich is healthier, but McDonald's Premium Crispy Chicken Club Sandwich is 660 calories. Add on large fries (570 calories) and medium Chocolate Triple Thick Shake (770 calories), and you're well over the suggested daily amount of  calories. The Big Mac was perhaps the healthiest thing you ate, calorie-wise.

The group's suggestions include increasing grocery stores and produce vendors in neighborhoods with limited access, setting reasonable limits on the number of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in an area, utilizing federal nutrition assistance programs (food stamps and WIC) to make healthy food more affordable, requiring food retailers to display nutritional information on menus and menu boards and supporting innovative retail strategies, like mobile vendors, direct farm-to-consumer sales and healthier options at restaurants.

More education on what "healthy food" is could also be added to this list. When 27.3 percent of adults in Kern County are obese and 7.3 percent have diabetes, the message isn't getting through.

To come up with their "retail food environment index," the group divided the number of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores by supermarkets, produce stores and farmers markets in an area. They included only counties and cities with more than 250,000 people.

Here's how California's cities fared:

1. Bakersfield: 6.63
2. Fresno: 6.23
3. Long Beach: 5.8
4. Riverside: 5.58
5. Sacramento: 4.97
6. Anaheim: 4.79
7. Stockton: 4.73
8. San Jose: 4.62
9. San Diego: 4.58
10. Santa Ana: 4.4
11. Los Angeles: 4.24
12. San Francisco: 3.85
13. Oakland: 3.81
    

Here are the counties:

1. San Bernardino: 5.72
2. Sacramento: 5.66
3. Fresno: 5.34
4. Orange: 5.13
5. Solano: 5.08
6. Kern: 4.87
7. Stanislaus: 4.79
8. Contra Costa: 4.66
9. Riverside: 4.63
10. Alameda: 4.61
11. Los Angeles: 4.6
12. Tulare: 4.42
13. Santa Clara: 4.32
14. San Diego: 4.2
15. San Joaquin: 4.03
16. Ventura: 3.86
17. San Francisco: 3.85
18. Placer: 3.84
19. Santa Barbara: 3
20. San Mateo: 2.79
21. Sonoma: 2.52
22. Monterey: 2.14
23. San Luis Obispo: 2.01
24. Marin: 1.85
25. Santa Cruz: 1.84