According to a recent UCLA study, as more fast food joints pop up around schools in LA, kids are eating more junk food for lunch. Despite the high number of local produce being sold at farmers markets from Glendale to Huntington Beach, teenagers find the convenience of close unhealthy eateries too much to resist, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

The study itself intends to show problem areas and why improving the retail food environment surrounding homes and schools of children is important for young people's health. Home and School Retail Food Environment Index (HSRFEI) was made by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in order to “examine the relationship between the food environment near home and school and consumption of fast food and sugar-sweetened beverages." It’s basically a way to measure environments with less healthy food options against those that have more, and builds upon a study that discussed the link between diabetes and local food environments. Read more...

By Jaylyn Burns

A new study shows that even when the information is staring them right in the face, teenagers don't care how many calories are in their burgers and fries. Researchers from New York University surveyed teenagers as they left fast food joints that had nutrition information posted near the counter. The researchers found that only about half the teens even noticed the nutrition information, a quarter of them said that they were conscious of their weight, but only nine percent started buying foods with lower calories. The researchers checked receipts to confirm orders and found that the amount of calories that teenagers were buying were the same before and after New York City started requiring its fast food restaurants to post calorie information.

To me, it makes sense that fewer than one in ten teenagers changed how they eat based on nutrition information. As teenagers, nothing can distract us when we’re hungry. The fact that a Big Mac has 485 calories doesn’t bother us; most of us wouldn’t even blink.

I eat fast food a lot and I’ve never noticed the calorie listings on food items in Oakland. As of last month, all chain restaurants in California are required by law to display a calorie count for each item on their menus. But since I watch fast food commercials, I already know what I want to eat at a McDonald's before I walk through the door. Sometimes I won’t even look at the menu, which is probably why I haven’t noticed the calorie info.

Another reason we teens don’t pay attention to calories is that McDonalds and Burger King are the closest food places around school and maybe even home. When you’re at lunch and you see your friend with French fries and a burger, you’re not going to want to go make a PB&J sandwich. We go to lunch as a group, and when we see our friends buying food it influences the food we want.

I know some teens care about what they put in their mouth. I have a cousin who checks the back labels on food before she eats something, but when it comes to most teenagers in the world today, we don’t care.
 

Taco Bell introduced their new brand--Taco Bell Drive-Thru-Diet. We’ve seen Subway’s commercial about eating fresh and lose weight. They claim that Subway’s weight-loss character lost over 100 pounds by eating Subway. Taco Bell also has their own weight-loss character, 27-year-old Christine Dougherty, who says she lost 54 pounds by eating Taco Bell’s lower-calorie “Fresco menu.”

LOS ANGELES-- The LA City Council has extended a ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles.  Experts, however, believe the ban won’t do much to curb obesity and other health problems that exist.  While I agree that the plan is taking the wrong approach with the ban, the city council should make efforts to expand the availability of local, healthy food options, instead of outlawing fast food.

When people think of Los Angeles, the first thing that comes to mind is either the beautiful weather or the Hollywood scene. But what most people don't think about is the food scene here. Since L.A. is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, there's equally tasty pots of food to be eaten. Problem is, in certain places in L.A., usually low-income neighborhoods, it's really hard to find quick food that's isn't fast food.