Is Walmart Creating a Healthier Diet For Americans?

[hoodat]

Lord knows I'm no Wal Mart fan but people have to stop thinking a business (any business) has their interests at heart. If enough people stop buying unhealthy food Wal Mart will stop selling it. Simple as that.

 

[Jared77]

The problem is your treating symptoms not the problem. The problem is the lack of money for those individuals to buy food thats actually good for them. Low income folks will usually have poor diets because it costs too much to feed themselves correctly. Thats not Walmarts fault. Thats a social economic issue thats won't be going away.

All this is polishing a turd if you ask me. Sure its shiny but its still a turd. Oh lets heap praise upon Walmart for its sound self limiting decisions. Never mind the fact that the people who can't afford better food will still be buying meals from the gas station. Walmart still sells enough soda to drink ourselves into diabetes, and enough sodium and high cholesteral foods to put us in cardiac arrest. Until we make better decisions/regulations about whats acceptable as well as put the funding in the right areas to make a difference (school lunches, and food stamp programs) nothing is really going to change.

A pack of hot dogs is still cheap and easy to cook, while a pitcher of kool aid is still cheaper than milk and tastes better than water. We allow soda and candy to be sold in schools, and fast food to be served in our cafeterias.

Too busy to cook? Have dinner in 10 minutes just put it in the microwave. Running late? Have breakfast from the microwave. We've allowed ourselves to get so busy that we don't even take time to eat anymore. Its go grab some horrible junk, shove it down our throats and away we go to do whatever it was we were doing that was more important than eating. Then we have the audacity to expect corporate America to come "save our souls" and give us better options. How about you actually cook a smarter, healthier option for youself and stop waiting for Walmart, McDonalds, or Pepsi to swoop in like Captain America and give us better alternatives.

Then again that means taking responsibilty for ourselves, something that lately we haven't been very good at.

 

[lesa]

I am not a big fan of Walmart- however, because of their efforts, growth hormones aren't used in milk much anymore. Their customers said they wanted hormone free milk- and walmart is big enough to make that demand.

 

[hoodat]

My point exactly. Wal Mart is constantly testing various things to see what the public wants. When they offered them (quietly) the choice between cheaper milk with the hormones or slightly higher milk without enough people went for the hormone free milk to make it worth their while to carry it.
As far as cost goes Jamie Oliver has proven many times that healthy food is actually cheaper than processed food but it's amazing how few people know how to cook from scratch any more. It's easier to just grab the microwave it and serve junk.

 

[lesa]

You are so right, hoodat! I was just reading an interesting article in our local paper, that was saying since so many people find themselves pinching pennies and not going out to eat- that there actually are a bunch of people learning and enjoying cooking!! So, maybe there is hope!
I find the better cook I become, and the more of my own food I grow- the less I consider eating out a treat...

 

[hoodat]

Very few restaurants can equal the quality or taste of food cooked at home. They have to cook in large quantities for the average taste whereas a home cook can cater to the tastes of their own family.
Speaking of taste, take alook at this funny clip
http://comedy.video.yahoo.com/?l=3774749&v=8711169

 

[thistlebloom]

That was cute Hoodat, reminded me of the time a friend s daughter was clamoring for the lemon wedge in her tea. When my friend finally caved in and let her little girl have it the expression on her face was priceless! And hysterical!
It's easy to blame companies for our problems, and try to remedy them(our problems) with restrictions and legislation, but that just shackles our liberties. We all have the ability to choose. I can buy a bag of dried beans and make several healthy meals from it, or I can buy something over processed for quadruple the dollars and have one meal from it.
I'll step on some toes here...
Throwing more money around for "programs" and "education " has obviously not worked either. I mean who doesn't know that smoking causes cancer? Yet we have a leader who is supposed to be extremely intelligent who still smokes. Go figure.

 

[Hattie the Hen]

You are so right, hoodat! I was just reading an interesting article in our local paper, that was saying since so many people find themselves pinching pennies and not going out to eat- that there actually are a bunch of people learning and enjoying cooking!! So, maybe there is hope!
I find the better cook I become, and the more of my own food I grow- the less I consider eating out a treat...

I volunteer in a very well organised charity bookshop (Oxfam) here in the UK. All of our donated stock is sorted into categories & a record of how many books are sold in each section is noted every week. We have noticed since the end of last year that we are selling many more cookbooks as well as do-it-yourself repair & craft books than we than before. We get asked for advice as to which are best for beginners. Mothers are also requesting cookbooks for children so they too can learn to cook. We also sell a huge number of gardening books & specialist books on bee keeping & poultry. When we have a window dedicated to these subjects it brings in a huge number of new customers.
I think our fairly recent new coalition government & their tough cuts in so many areas have rally changed a lot of peoples habits. On our television channels all the chefs/cooks are all pushing suggestions for simple, fast recipes that are versions of old nutritious recipes presented with a new twist. The supermarkets here are doing special price offers on groups of ingredients (plus a recipe) to make a specific dish (they call them 'bundle' offers. I reckon when supermarkets make changes like this times & habits are definitely changing......after all they are after our money. I think people are realising they can cook simple good quality food rather than pay for all that packaging & additives etc of the fast fix.

Hattie

 

[lesa]

That is interesting and welcome news, Hattie. History amazes me- my grandmother cooked everything from scratch on a wood stove, my mother hardly cooked at all, and I had to learn to cook in my 40's! Everything old is new again....Love the "bundle" idea!

 

[wifezilla]

I have to disagree about the money thing. I am not exactly rollin' in the dough. A bag of beans is only 89. Can of tomato paste? 40. Chili powder is $1 and so is either container of dried onions or a raw onion. Add some ground turkey ($1.50) or ground beef ($2.10) and you have a very large pot of chili with DAYS worth of food. The difference between the homemade chili and a bag of ramen, is the chili with actually nourish you while the ramen will rob your body of nutrients and make you hungrier causing you to eat way more.

The problem is a lack of REAL nutrition knowledge. Not the garbage you were taught about the food pyramid, but things you would learn from the Weston Price foundation and from Sally Fallon's book "Nourishing Traditions".

Eating REAL food can be as cheap as gvmmt subsidized garbage like processed "foods" made of wheat, corn or soy. It is especially cheap in the long run considering processed foods cause you to spend lots of money on health care you wont need if you eat the real stuff.