This is a statement made by a an individual who is learning about the dangers of eating many of the unhealthy foods that are commonplace in Southern culture.
(goupstate.com) Spartanburg residents can catch the scent of crackling bacon grease in the morning air.
Afternoon atmospheres fill with aromas of chicken, fried to a glistening golden crisp; onion rings and fries so weighted down with grease they sink to the bottoms of stomachs; vegetables flavored with fatback; sandwiches smothered in cheese; and potatoes christened with gravy.
That tantalizing culprit, sweet tea, washes it all down.
“I see people who were brought up with fried everything,” said Sue Whisnant, a diabetes educator for Mary Black Health System. “That was the typical way down here.”
That typical Southern way is toxic. Diets laden with starch, fat, sugar and salt have cost many South Carolinians their health – clogging arteries and driving up cholesterol, blood pressure and rates of Type 2 diabetes.
It’s not just the poor diets, although in 2005, fewer than 22 percent of South Carolinians ate five fruits and vegetables a day, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
That year more than half of adults here – 52 percent of whites, 65 percent of blacks and nearly 71 percent of black women – did not meet the recommended amount of physical activity or were physically inactive. (more…)
The article continues by making the point that “limited access to health care (enter “why we need a nationalized health care system” despite the fact that countries like Canada have experienced longer wait times and limited access to state of the art medical technology) is one of the main culprits. While I do agree with this to a measure, diet is something in most cases we can control in most cases. I completely understand those situations out there where a person with kids does not have the time to create full meals because he/she is working 2+ jobs to make ends meet. This is where fast food becomes an easy option for this particular demographic. However, if we can take the time to cook baked macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, peach cobbler, mashed potatoes, a full ham, etc., we can equally take the time to learn and divert some of that same money to purchase more healthier options. Trust me, I KNOW!!! Some habits are just hard to break, but with some online research on your part, much of this generational bad health can be avoided.
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