The Experience

So it has been awhile since my last blog. The combined forces of schoolwork, laziness, and forgetfulness have led to my late update. However, I'm back now, and with new stuff to say about my lovely topic of choice.

During my time away, I decided that the best way for me to write about the importance of fresh markets to health would be to visit one. So, I did. I went to the Fresh Market, which I previously talked about in my last blog. What I found was a store with an old-styled construction and an overall comfy atmosphere. I was instantly entranced by it.

The only reason a person would go to a food market would be for the sake of healthier and fresher foods. All the food in the store looked delicious, considering its mainly a grocery store. Healthy food, on the other hand, seemed to be harder to find then someone would expect. The store had whole shelves filled with sweets and snack foods. Granted, some of them were made out of fruits and vegetables, but were coated with enough sugar and salt to still be considered “bad for you”.  That's not to say that there isn't fresher and healthy foods to be found in the store; there is an abundant amount of it.  Not only that, it is also more expensive then the average grocery store.

Still, I love the place.  Something between the atmosphere and the two free chicken wing samples I got while I was there just stuck to me.  I'm goin next week to see if that lady will be working there again, for more free samples.

                                                                                                                                                 Godspeed

The Fresh Market

Okay, so maybe not all of Alabama's residence are all about fried chicken and greasy whatever. In fact, Alabama does have several food markets that people can go to for healthy and fresh farm-grown foods. But exactly how many of these are in the state? Or better yet, how easy are they to find?


So I did some research on this. More precisely, I typed in Alabama Food Markets in Google and saw what came up. What came up was a map of several places in the state where food was sold. Not what I was looking for, but it did give me one place I could look at: The Fresh Market. Located on the Eastern Boulevard in Montgomery, AL, this food market provides much more then the farmer's fresh grown tamaters. The store also includes candy, meats, fish, coffee, and even a floral center for the buyer's needs. It's a store grown straight from the ground, in a more literal sense than one might think. Also, it seems like a great place to do your Sunday shopping. It says it sorta in the store's description: "Inviting…comfortable…convenient."

For those who are interested in this healthier and fresher style of foods and flowers, give it a look see. The store is on 2759 Eastern Boulevard or the site at http://www.thefreshmarket.com/index.html

I hope many of you who read this will consider it.



Godspeed

Fat for Thought: The Start of a Revolution

     America is fat.  Alabama is fat.  Alabama gets fatter.  Although the first three sentences are harsh, and I admit that, they are also factual.  A huge number of news stations, newspapers, radio stations, and other multimedia groups talk about the continual rise in the percentage of obese people in the country.  According to an article in the New York Times titled "Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officals", obesity rates have reached 26.7 percent in 2009, raising the total amount of fat people to 72.5 million.  And as for Alabama, the total reaches 30 percent along with nine other states.
     However, there's a huge problem with Alabama having one of the highest obesity percentages in the country.  Alabama is an agricultual state, meaning that in this state, farmers grow healthy food that is available first to the people of this state.  What this says is that instead of buying healthy and state grown food, people in this state will by frozen foods that were probably enduced with chemicals and toxins.  Instead of eating food that would be better for them, they would eat food that isn't?  Something is very wrong with that.   
     Granted yes, obesity can be caused by an ample amount of variables.  From genetics to disease, the list can go on and on.  And also, eating foods that are bad for you may or may not make you fat.  Still, when the obviously better choice could be right around the corner from a person's house, they will still choose to buy canned food.
     This blog is here to point out something that is seriously wrong in the state of Alabama.  It's here to find out why people don't take advantage of foodmarkets in the state when everything about them would benifit them.  Better food, better health, and supporting the state's farmers,all accomplished in one trip to a local foodmarket.  Yet still, it doesn't happen.  I intend to find out why, and I intend to give every single last detail I come across in this topic.
                                                                                                                                                   Godspeed