WHAT'S IN YOUR DRINK? -
BSC, CA – It all started during my bumpy arrival into Riverside. A chance meeting led to a seemingly simple assignment; cover a May Day Worker's March. Best case; great pictures, real news. Worst case; great pictures, talking heads, empty words. When you cover politics, especially the local or grass roots type things are pretty simple. I actually had an angle all sized up as I went back to file the day's story. But after downloading the day's pictures I couldn't escape what my eyes were showing me, a staggering obesity rate due to food ingredients among the general populace.
Before I decided to run with this story angle I opted to do another sampling survey, on a different day and in a more general setting. I chose one of the city's more trendy outdoor plazas on a Sunday afternoon. The weather hadn't turned hot and plenty of people were out enjoying the late Spring day. I sat in the shade enjoying a tasty beverage, taking mental note of the people I saw made roundby the food ingredients they consumed, totally clueless to it all.
It seems now that I am not the only person who has noticed. Probably even before I reported my May Day findings here in Riverside, Kaiser-Permanente issued the City a million dollar grant for a learning series featuring food nutrition to a depressed area. After making a totally random chance meeting with an anonymous city government supervisor, the advertised series on food education has disappeared from the City's website menu. Make the jump to see why this may be a good thing.
As stated on the front page, I wasn't the only person to see the obesity wave rolling through the sweet town of Riverside, a place filled with very caring people from what I have witnessed since moving here in April. In fact that is the reason why I wrote a letter to the UCR college news on the subject. Food education should begin in a college for the future, not on a street corner from a sign like a foam party promo, you would think.
Below is a local politician seen back on May Day at the parade. If this is the same person who is now running for Senator next election, then he must have had a tummy tuck cause recently spotted, he looked flatter than pressed resin, if you get my whiff.
As I got my photos together for a piece about fashion stores here featuring plus-size models,
Versus dress model dummies outside of Riverside,
Showing that the Riverside merchants had made green lemonade out of R-Sides round lemons, even down to the very fat young. Drink another Coke* for the team, kid.
One day I was perusing my issue of Explore, Riverside's mailed slick mag showing so many events, programs, and classes available to the residents of this huge city which stretches for 30 miles along the 91 from its beginning to the Corona city limits. The airbrushed photos done in Shakira's El Dorado style show city programs Dick & Jane could live in. Mentally remarking how artfully the photos give a false representation of residents involved in the many programs, classes, etc., my eyes fell upon the word 'obesity' atop page 60, in the Community Center Activities section.
And that brings us back to the K-P million dollar grant spearheaded to the East Side's Heal Zone. The Nutrition Education & Obesity Prevention Grant Branch [NEOPB] addresses the statewide obesity epidemic through food and activity education, breastfeeding support, community development strategies and marketing of healthy behaviors, focusing on low income Californians. Though the people that I saw in my obesity study weren't low income or destitute, this was a start, I thought. I made a call and got on the list.
The free classes which run from 12-1pm for 5 consecutive Mondays [were listed to] start on October 16. Topics listed are Build A Healthy Plate, Planning Healthy Meals, Shopping Budget, What's On A Label, and Rethink Your Drink. I have interest in all the classes, but the last two given my stand on label reading and HFCS corporate sodas making folks round, really stand out to me. The plan was to just see what the classes offered in the way of really useful information.
Then that thing I call my Lois Lane with a penis [LLWAP] side happened and I met this person completely outside the box somewhere. Being a professional activist meant I wasn't there because I read Reader's Digest on the subject. Finding that we both shared a common interest in solving Riverside's obesity through education, I was asked for my credentials. I related my GMOactivism, leaving out the political side, but what got attention was my before[size 38 waist],
and after [size medium tee shirt] mental pictures; all without additional exercise or some weight loss program. This in-person proof prompted conversation about food ingredients and reading label habits being developed. Also the curriculum taught was a concern. By the end of our conversation a possible future correspondence was indicated. This happened about a month ago.
Just the other day I visited the city website to register for the NEOPB class series and found the series replaced. This prompted me to contact the info listed in the print magazine, a person's email who is in charge of the program.
Within 36 hours I got a reply advising me that my registration was accepted for the aforementioned food nutrition class series.
To be continued...
(*- Though Coke advertises the most in Riverside, the same obesity rates hold true for all sodas using high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient - Ed)
(*- Though Coke advertises the most in Riverside, the same obesity rates hold true for all sodas using high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient - Ed)
