There has been multiple studies talking about the proximity of children (schools, bus routes, homes, etc) and fast food restaurants leading to unhealthy outcomes.
There also have been multiple studies on food deserts and their impact on health. Crummy grocery stores are typically in crummy neighborhoods, also cheap food is crappy and crummy groceries carry lots of cheap food.

Good to see this getting more attention.

The wife and I like to walk to the local movie theater, but we also like to walk to the local Ice Cream Shack. It's kind of a win-lose-lose situation.

Does this guy live there?

And is it this place?

Link (new window)

Actually, despite the headline, there was no difference in BMI between those people who got the low-poverty vouchers (helping them move into a 'better' neighborhood) and those who got unrestricted voucher.

Giving poor people money helps them.


/Yes, I know about the glycated hemoglobin level result, but I wonder how many factors they tested for between the two groups before they reported that result - see XKCD.
"The difference in outcomes between the two voucher groups was not significant for any BMI threshold, but there was a trend toward a significant difference in the prevalence of glycated hemoglobin levels of 6.5% or more (P=0.05)"

I live in the uncool part of Miami and damn if every single woman in this place looks like Shrek.

Eternal Virgin: I live in the uncool part of Miami and damn if every single woman in this place looks like Shrek.

30 years ago I lived in Miami (Sweetwater across the canal from the FIU campus when it was just an old municipal airport), Hialeah and then Kendall.

The women tend to not age well. Even back then.

I moved from central Nebraska to New Mexico. I lost ten pounds in the first month and ten more in the past seven without doing anything substantial. More healthy eating choices are likely to blame.

GWSuperfan: There's also a correlation between living in an urban environment and being healthier. Whether that's due to healthier people being more likely to live in urban environments, or whether it's due to the fact that people in cities tend to walk more instead of driving everywhere is really the question.

Consider this anecdotal, but in my experience it's an issue of time and money management -- walking has jack shiat to do with it. When I lived in the country, hopping in the car to go out to eat or having something delivered was no big deal. People think it's because everything is spread out, and there's some truth to that, but even if you lived next door to a grocery store and had a well-stocked fridge, you tended to eat crap because there wasn't any traffic. Order a pizza and it really would get there in a half an hour, sometimes faster. Also, costs of living were low so food could afford to be a bigger part of the budget.

Here in Boston, I make a lot of meals because prepared foods are expensive, living costs are high and traffic is hellish. In some cases I can make it to the nearest fast food joint in about the same amount of time because everything's closer together, but 10 minutes of tearing down a rural road is a lot less stressful than 10 minutes of stop-and-go. You're actually worried about getting caught in rush hour traffic; you can waste an hour of your life for a ten-minute mealtime. Order a pizza and it may take a hour or more. If you're already hungry, you might as well cook up a big pot of chili and live off that for a few days -- it sure wouldn't take you any longer than most of your options, and you need to save money for that four-digit rent check.

meat0918: Sounds like more research is needed.

I thought the article was going to be about the push for "20 minutes neighborhoods" i.e. walkable neighborhood.

//15 minutes walk to work, 10 to a grocer, and 10 to a nice park, 15 to the school. But I planned it that way when I had an opportunity to move closer to work.

God, I wish. Been in this house 3 years and I am delighted to hear my husband agree that the area is useless. It's your typical edge-of-surburbia nothing-but-chain-stores area. And our plan is now to fix 'er up and sell 'er at a profit, whenever that happens. Then we'll move somewhere exactly like you described (although probably in driving times, this is Michigan after all).

penthesilea: http://www.walkscore.com/ (new window)

6/100. Only place within a mile is a flower shop. Within 3 miles there's a mini-mart, a take out pizza place, and a park. But to get to those you have to walk down a 55 mph no sidewalk road.

/it's worth it for not having a lot of neighbors

These things only matter if you are really, really lazy/apathetic towards your health. And, if you are really, really lazy/apathetic towards your health, it's unlikely to be a consideration when you look to buy your next house.

If you aren't lazy/apathetic towards your health, it won't matter.

Scruffinator: penthesilea: http://www.walkscore.com/ (new window)

6/100. Only place within a mile is a flower shop. Within 3 miles there's a mini-mart, a take out pizza place, and a park. But to get to those you have to walk down a 55 mph no sidewalk road.

/it's worth it for not having a lot of neighbors

Holy crap.... We got a 3. I knew this place was bad, but Jesus...

Aidan: Scruffinator: penthesilea: http://www.walkscore.com/ (new window)

6/100. Only place within a mile is a flower shop. Within 3 miles there's a mini-mart, a take out pizza place, and a park. But to get to those you have to walk down a 55 mph no sidewalk road.

/it's worth it for not having a lot of neighbors

Holy crap.... We got a 3. I knew this place was bad, but Jesus...

And now that I actually read the results, 2 places listed are lies (they're someone's home business. NOT open to the public), and the rest are as the crow flies... Across the swamp and the highway.

48/100 here, then again, also had "places where I can walk to and catch public transit" as priorities when moving. (This is actually not terribly bad for somewhere in the Southeast US. It's not Chicago, but there ARE a good number of places within easy walking distance for take-out food and such...groceries are a bit more of a walk, but again, there's public transit if all else fails.)

Place where I grew up--17/100, also not surprising, and (if anything) LESS public transit (nowadays, the nearest bus stop to where I grew up is literally a mile and a half walk); then again, a mile or two down the road (right close to the nearest bus stop), you start hitting Little Guadalajara, where they damn near have taquerias and Hispanic groceries as mile markers :D

The big risk here is not so much "having places to walk to nearby" as "having sidewalks so you can walk without being run over", though. There are areas that are...neglectful of this where I live...