Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Ghetto-ization of America: Diet

The world is a ghetto.

-War

     You are what you eat.

-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

      This post is part of a continuing series I am doing giving examples of degradation of the United States, whether planned, or not.

     Firstly, have you ever been to the "hood"?  What about the corner store in the "hood"? That oft romanticized area of a city that non-ghetto suburbanites aggrandize where you can buy your Newports, your malt liquor, and your fried chicken, all in one place?  Usually run or operated by first or second generation asian or middle eastern owners, where the availability of anything of any nutrition is nowhere in sight.  Where the only apple is the flavor of a blunt wrap, or the flavor of some cold drink with no real fruit juice.

    Now, for those of us who don't live in those areas of town, we tend not to go into those areas, unless we are "slumming" to get some fried chicken.  And we usually feel bloated and disgusting after gorging on such fare.  But what if you ate fried chicken three times a week?  What if every day you drank a 20 oz of soda pop?  Let's just throw in a can of Chef Boyardee as well.  How do you think your physical health would be?  If after 20 years of this, at the age of 35 you developed Type II diabetes, or were factually obese, would you be surprised?  You might be.  Or cancer?  You might assume that, according to the mainstream media, it wasn't a lifetime of eating artificial flavors or preservatives, no, it was your genetics.  Yes, your genetics are why you have colon cancer, or breast cancer.

    

You can't live your entire life eating artificial colors, preservatives, and/or flavors and not expect to get cancer .

     That is just a truth, but I want to segway into my next point:  Quality of what you ingest not only affects the state of health of your body, but also your mind/brain.  Going further, your emotions.  There have been many studies linking high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and ingredients to many health consequences.  As well as attention deficit disorder and other behavioral disorders.  Nutrition is the base of behavior.  This is why I think you see the types of behavior in the ghettos.  From murder, to rape, to depression, to all sorts of rash behavior on the one hand to sluggish, apathetic behavior on the other.  In children, you see hyper-activity and attention deficit disorder from a high fructose corn syrup enriched diet.  In adults, you see the effect of decades of poor quality food on behavior. 

     Besides the actual affect of eating garbage, there may also be an unconcious understanding that you are eating sub-standard food, and the mental attitude that may create when you identify yourself with you are ingesting.

     Let's define ghetto, for a moment.  Just in case any one out there thinks that I am some how targeting blacks, in this; A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues (wikipedia).  It has been the "place" of Jews, blacks, Italians, Irish, and Chinese to name a few.  But I want curtail the definition as more an economic one. 

     I also want to defend myself to those neo-liberals who would chastise me in a characteristically off topic way in saying:  "Well, it's not their fault for eating so poorly.  It costs too much to eat well."  To this I would say that, "No, it doesn't."  It isn't the cost of fruits, vegetables, and good meats, it's the availability.  It is also the inclination to prepare such foods after a long day at work, or conversely a day of watching television with no energy.  It also the ability to cook one's own food.  Many in the last generation don't know how to cook the way the generation before us did (that's why we all KNOW that grandma makes the best food, she knows how to cook).

     It's also, and this topic has so many causes and complexities that I am just skimming a few, but it is also the belief that the food you are buying in the stores is good for you simply because it is there.

Just because the food is on the shelves and has been approved by the FDA doesn't mean that it is good for you.

     Up until five years ago, and throughout the majority of my childhood, which was the eighties and nineties, garbage food was the ticket.  We ate Hamburger Helper, Chef Boyardee, and Kraft Mac and Cheese.  These were our comfort foods.  Oreos, Doritos, and Happy Meals put the smiles back on our faces.  And though I would say that much progress has been made in running as fast as possible away from those foods, we still see garbage food on the shelves of all our grocery stores.

     Let me give a personal example.  Just this last November, I was in the northern mid-west hunting white-tail deer.  I stayed at my parents house briefly, and they fed me.  I, being a hipster, needed some coffee, espresso to be exact.  They smiled and told me that they had cappuccino.  They produced a can of powdered, instant cappuccino found in many gas stations.

Nothing sold at an American gas station is either good for you and/or the environment, nor is free of toxins.

     I accepted it, less as an actual coffee drink, but more an extension of my parents love.  I looked into their well-stocked refridgerator.  Most everything had some artificial ingredients.  Their basement was well-stocked with Diet Soda and domestic beer.  They make a few dishes from scraps, but they always pair them with a "Betty Crocker-style" side dish.

     Over the weekend, on our way up to the deer hunting land, I watched the passers-by in their automobiles on the highway.  Everyone we passed had a large McDonald's cup of soft drink. 

In America, we display brands to show status, to disavow any "other"-ness we may be suspected of.

     Driving back home from Wisconsin, I made drove through the "state" of Missouri.  I won't get into what I think of this state, but I will say that of all of the people I saw in Missouri, 99% looked unhealthy.  I think this has to do with the over abundance of fast food chains in Missouri.

     As America's economy goes to bed, we will see an increase in "garbage food" as the norm.  It's cheaper, and with our declining small farms, it will be the factory farms that will supply the nation it's wheat, it's Lucky Charms; it's chicken, it's 30% plastic chicken nuggets; it's tobacco, it's Marlboros.

The increase in cancer and chronic illness in the United States in 2011 is a direct consequence for decades of eating poor quality food.

     With all of it's people getting various ailments, this is why the health care industry is one of the two biggest growth sectors of the economy.  Not to cure any disease, but to treat the symptoms of a garbage lifestyle with garbage medicines that will undoubtedly leave the patient in the grave and his purse in the hands of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries that helped write and lobby for the mandatory health insurance (and unconstitutional) law. 

Solution

The United States policies are profit driven.  As more Americans demanded higher quality food in the last decade, we have seen a movement go from obscurity to mainstream.  Organic food and natural food are the new chic.  Rather than criminalize the use and purchase of cigarettes, booze, drugs, or Hot Pockets, reach out to people.  Let them know in a "none-preachy" way what food is good, and what is bad.  Rule of thumb:  If you read a label and don't know what it is, or where it came from, don't put in your body. 

  

Everyone these days is getting cancer.  If you know someone who has it, it isn't a bad thing. 

Cancer is your body telling you that you have too many toxins/garbage in your body.

Please, be strong.  Be strong of mind, body and spirit.  They are connected, and when one or two are toxic, the other becomes poisoned by proximity.