It's About Economics!!!

1) It's Eck                                 2) Do The Asians Worry Bot               3) They Take Our Money
o- Nomics Silly                             Poli-tics                                                And Offer no JOBS!!!
NOT Politics                                 NO!!


4) We FOOL--
lishly
keep giving...
NOT NOW!!

By Brother Tracy Gibson...

Recently I visited the corner store near where I live.  I was fittin to do some research.  The owners didn't like me snooping  around in ``their store''. All I wanted to know was what prices the store, on the corner of 49th and Walnut Street in West Philadelphia, was selling basic items like soda, potato chips, Tasty Cake Pies, Ham and Cheese Hoggies, Small Sugar Donuts, Small Chips Ahoy! Cookies, Haagen Dazs Ice Cream, and Amazon Ice Tea--what were these items going for. Items we as uninformed Black people buy from corner stores across North America everyday... I never got to the Twinkies; the Drakes Cup Cakes; the Cream-filled Cup Cakes; the Turkey Hill Ice Cream; and the Free-Toes; the Cheese-Toes; and the Original Klondike Bars to discover their prices.

I Will...

 

Several of these items are being purchased at such stores like the one at 49th and Walnut Street--the 49th Street Stop Mini Market--by Our Black and Latin children every week. When our children get more informed they will make more intelligent purchases. Similar stores exists all throughout our neighborhoods, like at 42nd and Chester Avenue where the ``HOOPS Deli'' exists featuring a basketball theme and many of the same products.....Hoaggies, cookies and cheeses, cup cakes and potato chips--foods tht are killing us as we become obese, fat, out of shape and NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME!!!

A good friend of mine also suggested that we buy meals or cook meals that are less heavy in meats and red meats at first, if we don't want to go towards a strictly vegetarian diet at first {I myself still eat fish and chicken from time to time...and turkey} He also suggested that we check out labels for fat, salt and chemical content before eating or buying certain foods, especially processed foods, sauces and spices.  

Let me be clear.  There is not really a racial bias to this article. There are Black stores that sell similar items to our young children and the rest of us, such as at 52nd and Walnut Street in front of the Day Care Center there.  The other stores are owned by Hispanic Store owners (The 49th Street Stop Mini Market) and White Store Owners (The ``Hoop's Deli'')....  I am only writing this article to let our parents know that their Black children are buying items that have certain health risks and that these health risks can be lessened if we start to get together and make our voices heard.  What needs to happen is for the store owners to be made to know that we as parents and concerned community members, want better products for our young people so they won't be a burden on the health and welfare of our society.  The health risks of eating food that is unhealthy (That is loaded with salt and sugar, fat, chemicals, preservatives and pesticides) is a real danger to the entire future of our country. We need to get this through our heads...  Why? Because our young people's health is attached to their eating these foods and their general eating habits... It is NOT only Black and Latin children, but other races as well, including White children... Our young people, like their adult parents, guardians and grandparents, uncles and aunts, are coming down with joint ailments; disabilities from heart ailments; sugar diabetes; hypertension; stroke and heart attack; obesity; and cancer just from not ``doing their homework'' about eating regular ``meals'' that include vegetables; fruits; whole wheat's; whole grains; flack seed; 12-grain-breads; 15-grain breads; natural juices that are low in sugar; brown rice; wild rice; fresh wild fish like salmon and free-range poultry; and plenty of salads with low-salt dressings such as honey mustard dressing and balsamic vinegar dressings.  Staying away from the following foods such as: blue-cheese dressing; surgery sodas; White bread; White Potatoes; White rice; fried chicken; fried fish; and red meats such as beef and pork {staying away from these} can have a long-lasting positive impact on health, but these unhealthy items {those just listed} must be replaced with healthier items.  The good news is that the food industry is responding in a positive way {over time} because there are parents and economic educators like myself and thousands of others who are making the positive points in a positive way so our entire community and society can benefit.  (My sister, for example, and her husband {who is a doctor}, raised their four children to be vegetarians. They have never touched pork, beef or lard.)  Not all of us will eat tofu and salads each and every day, but the food industry is letting us know that the vegetarian diet and the healthier diet doesn't have to be so boring as that.  I recently went to ``The Mel Rose Diner'' in South Philadelphia {16th and Snyder Avenue}, for example, and noticed that they have a black-bean vegetarian burger on the menu!!!  WOW!! This is a wonderful thing!!!  It was NOT happening a few short years ago, but people have been getting educated and have learned from media people like Doctor Oz (Now on the FOX Network) and our wonderful First Lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama, who has been talking about childhood obesity for years and insisting that families eat healthier, better, more vitamin enriched foods and more vegetables, whole grains and fruits. This is a good thing... 

So Let's Get on to the tofu and yames of this article.  The ``Facts'' about how much these foods that are not so good are costing our families in cold, hard cash {Not to mention in the increased health benefits and increased health risks}...:.

 To get an idea of what the normal inner city North American family / or, in some instances, even what the suburban family is paying for ''junk food'' on a weekly and yearly basis: take a gander at this:

Example # One:

A ham and cheese sandwich at a typical deli or sandwich shop might cost $3.49 cents for a small sandwich.  It usually has oil and mayonnaise on it and is made with White bread. If you buy two a week: that is $6.98 a week.  If you do that for 48 weeks a year that is a staggering $335.04 a year and that is for just ONE CHILD and that is a moderate projection because hoggies can cost upwards of $5 {$ Five Dollars each}. If you are talking about two children, you are talking upwards of $600 {Six Hundred Dollars} a year for just Ham Hoggies.....

Example # Two:

A Large bag of UTZ or Hers Potato Chips cost $1.09 for the 35 oz size. Just one bag a week for one child is $52.32 a year!! That's for just ONE CHILD!!!  {Remember several people are having three and four children and nothing is being done about POPULATION CONTROL either, we are too centered on abortion and abortion rights when POPULATION CONTROL--the exploding population in the world--is the read yams and tofu issue....... The issue of POPULATION CONTROL is NOT EVEN ON THE MAP for this November's election {2012}...  This does not smack of sustainability and keeping a well planet, ecologically, environmentally, socially, politically and so forth, for future generations.....!!!  Where do we think this food is going to come from in the future at such cheap rates????

Example # Three:

A small pack of sugar donuts is .75 Cents each.  If your child buys them three times a week, that is $2.25 a week.  Times that for a year {48 weeks since school is out for Christmas and Easter} that is a whooping $108. a year!!! That is just for sugar donuts alone..... and only for one child...


Example # Four:

A 24 Fluid Ounce bottle of soda is about .75 Cents each...  Flavors include: Tahitian Treat {which is loaded with sugar}; Cola; Orange; Grape and Ginger Ale.  As we all know, our children drink a great deal of  soda, even though there are now a few public service announcements on the radio talking about how soda consumption can actually promote diabetes, weight gain and other unhealthy physical problems. {They may well, in the future, even link soda consumption to brain malfunctions and attention deficit disorder if they haven't already...}.. Just five sodas a week adds up to $180.00 a year per child. Now I hope you are starting to see where the family budget is being impacted on by junk foods.  They tried to pass a soda tax in Philadelphia, but the Mayor couldn't get it through. I wrote a letter in support of the soda tax in keeping with my concern for our people and especially our children.  DId you write a letter in favor of the soda tax?

Example # 5 :

Sometimes a family or a child will splurge and buy an expensive brand or type of Ice Cream such as Haagen Dazs.  The 14 Ounce size {Which is relatively small,} cost $4.69 cents each. If you get two a week that is $9.38 Cents a week. Considering that you buy two a week and the year is 48 weeks, can you tell me how much you spend on Haagen Dazs Ice Cream a year?  Write me at BLockBoi75@Yahoo.Com and let me know. You will get half off your membership to the ``Black Millionaire's Network,'' as your reward for a correct answer. {To find out more about the services of the Black Millionaire's Network write me at: BLockBoi75@Yahoo.Com
or call me at: 1.215.471.64.94...

WHAT WE CAN DO:

Read books like ``The Gradual Vegetarian,'' by Lisa Tracy.. and other books on vegetarian cooking and the vegetarian life... Other Books to read about nutrition and health include: ``Sugar Blues,'' By ? and ``The Life You Want: Get Motiated, Lose Weight, and Be Happy,'' by Bob Greene and Ann Kearney-Cooke, PH.D., and Janis Jibrin, M.S., R.D. a best-seller that I highly recommend.  There are other books by old-school Black activist Dick Gregory and writer, researcher Gary Null that talk about diet and nutrition and which I will list here in the near future.