Waistlines Expand as Economy Contracts
The recession has not just the unemployment rate but the obesity rate on the rise. The Wall Street Journal reports that as Americans have abandoned restaurants for cheaper meals at home, they haven't necessarily started making more of their food from scratch. Instead, they bring in microwavable meals or pick up fast food on the way home. Researchers say Americans are eating fewer "formal meals" in favor of (often unhealthy) snacking throughout the day. Sales of salty snacks, popcorn, and cheese snacks are up by double digits over last year. One researcher says snacks "have become valuable gastronomical events in their own right." The result is a one percentage-point increase in obesity since last September, to 26.4 percent.
Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125702881246120983.html
The recession has not just the unemployment rate but the obesity rate on the rise. The Wall Street Journal reports that as Americans have abandoned restaurants for cheaper meals at home, they haven't necessarily started making more of their food from scratch. Instead, they bring in microwavable meals or pick up fast food on the way home. Researchers say Americans are eating fewer "formal meals" in favor of (often unhealthy) snacking throughout the day. Sales of salty snacks, popcorn, and cheese snacks are up by double digits over last year. One researcher says snacks "have become valuable gastronomical events in their own right." The result is a one percentage-point increase in obesity since last September, to 26.4 percent.
Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125702881246120983.html
