A Fast-Food Ban That Looks Like a Bust

In regard to gluten on any table of foods "that make you fat" if you will notice 90% of those foods are primarily wheat, ie, fried foods, breads, cakes, pies and other desserts. MANY condiments and sauces have wheat hidden in them. It is everywhere in our diet. It's a logic problem. DUH!

Kudos on Mr. Farkas's cogent summary of important facts! I'd like to take this opportunity to share additional facts: About 40% of obese Americans are so because of a genetic predisposition of one kind or another. I'd like to discuss one distinct possibility: celiac disease. According to the National Institutes of Health, the MOST-underdiagnosed disease in the country is celiac. This autoimmune disease, which affects 1 in 133 Americans, results in underweight in some patients, and obesity in others (usually in the form of excess water weight). Being the most neglected disease, 95% of celiac patients don't even know they have the disease, which has a strong genetic component as well as a known trigger, i.e., the "gluten" in wheat, barley, rye, and similar grains. Anemia is perhaps the most common symptom. The disease is defined as the immune-mediated destruction of the hairlike villi upon ingestion of "gluten." Thus, malnutrition and, potentially, obesity result in the vast population of unwitting celiac patients. Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity (a related condition sans the destruction of villi) may explain malnutrition and/or obesity in a significant number--perhaps a quarter of all malnourished individuals in an area like South L.A. Therefore, in addition to more supermarkets, South L.A. residents need greater and greater access to good healthcare until the day the county's most-underdiagnosed disease is no longer so. Paul Jackson Moderator, Gluten Free Way 105 health.groups.yahoo.com/group/GFW105

Enjoyed reading through this site, I will send this site to a few of my friends

I agree that education and motivation are the real goals here, but if a commercial culprit is partially responsible, it is the increased number of small markets, and less supermarkets. Most neighborhood markets stock less nutritious and higher calorie snack-type foods and less fruits and vegetables than supermarkets. Motivation can be difficult, but a complete health-oriented plan with improved nutrition and access to opportunities to exercise can help.

I have been to South LA many times on business. The number of fast food locations in the area is not a pressing issue for the people who live there. Unemployment, shootings, gangs, poor educational facilities, lack of any assistance to protect familys living in neighborhoods, those are issues South LA citizens care about. Banning development of new QSR locations was simply a way for a few politicans to garner publicity while taking on the role of holier than thou self appointed food police. Their next move will be to pass a law dictating to people living in South LA what they can have in their refrigerators .If they really want people to eat better they should stand on corners and pass out free fruit.

Americans want to eat there way thin! Those who scoff at menu labeling for calories or fat content, salt or carbs will themselves be laugh out of their C-level suites over time. There are more diet books titles than restaurants in the US. My point is simple, whether they chose to eat items with less calories or not is not as important as consumer desire to EAT THERE WAY THIN! Consumer will back menu labeling in cities, town and then statewide. It time to get ahead of this cure, reality is times they are a changing.

This is an educational problem. I do not live in an affluent neighborhood by any means but I am smart enough to figure out how to eat properly, exercise and stay away from fast food restaurants. South LA is in peril in many ways and the nutritional problem is a reflection of this peril. Education is the answer. As a nine year VEGAN I urge anyone and everyone with an eating problem to research and learn. It is up to all individuals to take care of themselves.