"Why many rural Americans can't get nutritious foods. The unhealthy
truth about country living."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/76929?GT1=10645

First two paragraphs:

Fannie Charles, 46, lives six miles from the nearest grocery store in
rural Orangeburg County, S.C. She doesn't own a car, so she pushes a
cart along the side of the highway. (There are no sidewalks.) It's
difficult, since she weighs 240 pounds and suffers from asthma and
type 2 diabetes. That's why she usually goes only once a month. About
once a week she supplements her grocery-store purchases with pricier,
less healthy food from the convenience store, just a mile and a half
away. At both places she forgoes fruits and leafy greens. "They're too
expensive," she says. Skim milk is often unavailable. "I get the whole
milk, or I'll get a little can of Carnation evaporated," she says.
Though she often worries about go-ing hungry, she is obese. "I'm
stressed. That's why I'm eating a lot," she says. "And I've got to eat
what I have."

This is the real world of eating and nutrition in the rural United
States. Forget plucking an apple from a tree, or an egg from under a
chicken. "The stereotype is everyone in rural America lives on a farm,
which is far from the truth," says Jim Weill, president of the
nonprofit Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). New research from
the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health
shows just how unhealthy the country life can be. The study, which
examined food-shopping options in Orangeburg County (1,106 square
miles, population 91,500), found a dearth of supermarkets and grocery
stores. Of the 77 stores that sold food in Orangeburg County in 2004,
when the study was done, 57--nearly 75 percent--were convenience stores.
Grocery stores, which stock far more fruits and vegetables than
convenience stores, are often too far away, says University of South
Carolina epidemiologist Angela Liese, lead author of the study, which
appeared in last month's Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
"Oftentimes a nutritionist will just say, 'Buy more fruits and
vegetables,' when, in fact, the buying part is not simple."

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Lenona.