Topic:	Kern County Connections (click to view all messages in thread)
Author:	KCSOS Webteam
Posted on:	2/5/2008; 8:57:24 AM
Root Msg #:	13 (click to view top msg in thread)
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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser



Chew on This
by Eric Schlosser & Charles Wilson

Schlosser shows how the fast food industry conquered both appetite and landscape”

What does it have to do with Kern County?

Bakersfield is #1 in California in having 6.63 times more “unhealthy” food options as “healthy food” options (Kern County averaged 4.87; California averaged 4.0*).

58.7% of adults in Kern County are overweight or obese on the body mass index scale, 10.1% have heart disease, 10.4% have diabetes.**

E. coli outbreaks and food-borne illnesses, which author Eric Schlosser researched extensively in the late 1990’s, are still occurring. What measures must be taken to ensure a safe, yet still affordable food supply?

Local adults 50 and over remember a time when most of our shopping and restaurant visits were to non-franchised, locally owned neighborhood establishments. The societal effects of the now widely franchised American marketplace deserves our recognition, study, and discussion.

Each of us as citizens needs to look at and examine the effect our food choices as a society have on our national and personal health, our culture, and our environment.

The Martin Luther King Center will incorporate "Chew on This" into their Community Garden program. Children in the after-school program are reading the book between January and March. Planting in the garden has begun and harvesting will coincide with the read. Program staff will focus on educating youth on their food choices. Nutrition curriculum will inform the children about the environment and the importance of balanced diets.

The Silver Creek After-School Program's theme for the year is "Being Healthy Can Be Fun". The children will be reading Chew on This, focusing on good nutrition and the benefits of physical activity