A blog about Food & Eating, Health & Wellness, and Kern County.
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Your top tunes to tone up to Bill bans weight, height discrimination Welcome to the 'calorie valley' Study: Obesity, smoking reduce some women's life expectancy Taking away recess is 'cruel and unusual' Schlosser gives some food for thought Author talks fries, farming, immigration Who's to blame? Bill: Do not feed the obese In her words January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 This blog accompanies The Califiornian's series of stories on obesity. To read the stories, go to www.bakersfield.com/weigheddown. 
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Welcome to the 'calorie valley'
In reporting the story yesterday about Kern being No. 3 for its concentration of fast food and convenience stores, I came across a couple of buzz words. Fast food jungle. Food desert. Considering we live in neither a jungle nor desert — well, most of us anyway — I came up with my own: calorie valley. A new study released today has Kern third, among the most populous California counties, with 5.23 times as many fast-food restaurants and convenience stores than supermarkets and produce vendors. The researchers argue that this results higher prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Kern was first for diabetes prevalence, among the counties surveyed, at 10.2 percent. For obesity, it’s fourth with 28.2 percent of residents obese. (Read "Study: Kern No. 3 for fast-food, convenience stores" in today's Californian. The study, which was done by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, PolicyLink and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is attached.) The researchers offer several solutions to counteract the fatty forest, the McTundra.
They are also promoting a farmers' market at the department's headquarters on Mt. Vernon Avenue, which will run weekly throughout the summer. This will hopefully start next month. The department is waiting to see what happens with menu labeling bills that are making their way through the legislature. Sen. Alex Padilla's SB 1420 would require restaurants to post nutritional info on menu boards. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year. Kern County Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's AB 2572, which is backed by the California Restaurant Association, makes restaurants post information on tray liners, brochures, food case stickers or posters, not menu boards. Kim praised the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program for tackling obesity issues locally. The group will officially unveil a new walking path in Greenfield May 10. What do you think of these solutions? Anything to add to the list?
— Emily Hagedorn, health reporter
7 comments from 6 users
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posted by
Roysan
on Apr 29, 2008 at 02:07 PM
This article is pretty funny since I was just talking to a friend about fast food in Bako. I started watching my calories to lose weight and was surprised to see the crap I was eating. A fraking Route 44 Grape slush is over 717 calories! In and Out Double Double 670 calories (I was eating two of these babies), Filet of Fish 410, Super Size fries 610, $1 cheeseburger 691 (at $1 I was eating 3-4 these puppies), it goes on and on. The only good thing was a taco Bell crunchy taco at 170 calories. What consumers need is a menu that lists the calories! Calories are all online http://www.chowbaby.com/, why can't we ask the fast food people to simply put a 3 digit number next to the price? Local politicians please hear us! posted by
weigheddown
on Apr 29, 2008 at 02:44 PM
The nutritional value of some foods is definitely surprising. Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, pointed one out to me that was particularly shocking. Quiznos' regular tuna melt with no cheese or dressing is 930 calories and 66 grams of fat. That's almost half of your recommended daily caloric intake, if you're on a 2,000-calorie diet, and more than 100 percent of your fat for the day. For some other surprises, I suggest reading "Belly-ssimo!" and "Reading nutrition labels: How many is too many calories?" on my other B.com blog, The Pulse, and reading "Eating out healthy?" that ran in The Californian last year. — Emily Hagedorn, health reporter posted by
randomfactor
on Apr 29, 2008 at 03:15 PM
I was shocked at the Sonic slush counts--even went and double-checked 'em. More sugar there than in a coke. Yikes! And me on low-carb! And buying 'em for a diabetic, too... posted by
johnburnssucks
on Apr 29, 2008 at 04:15 PM
Roysan, there's an ad in one of my workout magazines that shows a large order of fries, and above it, it says, "Do You Want 1000 Situps With That?" Lotsa fat calories, which are what make those foods taste so good. Drive by In-N-Out some night; you can smell the fat calories. posted by
theColorNine
on Apr 29, 2008 at 05:03 PM
Think these places serve "healthy" food? Chipotle beef burrito . . . . . 1026 calories and 46 grams of fat
Baja Fresh Baja Burrito with chicken (enchilado style) . . . . . 1750 calories and 90 grams of fat
P.F. Chang's Lo Mein Pork (lunch portion) . . . . . 740 calories and 25 grams of fat
El Pollo Loco Chicken Caesar Bowl . . . . . 539 calories and 29 grams of fat
Jamba Juice 24 oz banana berry smoothie . . . . . only 1.5 grams of fat, but 470 calories
Want to check out some of your favorite places to eat and what they serve, or maybe products that you buy in the grocery store? Go to www.dietfacts.com.
posted by
weigheddown
on Apr 29, 2008 at 05:13 PM
I knew Chipotle burritos were bad for you, but...wow. posted by
etbartley
on Apr 29, 2008 at 09:13 PM
Notice the politician's first reaction is to SPEND more money and pass more LAWS to protect us. Maybe we have a lot of fast food restaurants because we're fat and we like to eat? If the healthy people want to stay healthy, then let them eat tofu! As for me, I'll wallow in my king sized fries and Carl's JR double cheese burger! I'll even throw some chili cheese on the fries for the heck of it, then slurp down an extra large milkshake instead of a low calorie coke. Ever want to eat so much you puke then start eating again. Mmmm. Obesity, it's a great thang, once you come to accept it! The only thing I miss is not seeing little (well, not little) Evan once in awhile ;-)
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