Not only is our Musical diet poor, but also our food diet-ask Harlem!

Courtesy of the NY Post:

WORLDS APART
FOOD STORES OF HARLEM & E. SIDE
By MAGGIE HABERMAN

May 17, 2007 -- Junk-food-filled bodegas and fast-food restaurants are far more common in Harlem neighborhoods than on the tony Upper East Side - a trend found by Health Department officials looking to combat obesity.

The food stores in Central and East Harlem are twice as likely to be bodegas instead of supermarkets, which are more common on the Upper East Side, the survey found.

The bodegas in Harlem are half as likely to carry low-fat milk and seven times less likely to carry diet-friendly leafy greens, according to the survey.

And of the 336 restaurants in those Harlem neighborhoods, 53 are fast-food joints. That's compared to just eight of the 184 restaurants located on the Upper East Side.

"Bodegas are convenient but offer fewer healthy options," said Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden, adding that diabetes and heart disease, which are triggered by poor dietary habits, cause more than a third of the deaths in those Harlem neighborhoods each year.

"All New York neighborhoods should have the option to buy healthy foods in their neighborhoods."

Two bodegas on East 112th Street and Second Avenue visited by The Post yesterday stocked some bananas, and cans of sliced pineapples and sliced pears. More prominently displayed were cheese puffs, cupcakes and Chef Boyardee canned meals.

But it was a different story at a bodega on East 71st and Second Avenue, where arugula, scallions and leeks were among the goods for sale. Customers also had a selection of high-end cookies made with oatmeal and flaxseed, cookie fingers covered in dark chocolate, and several varieties of yogurt and cottage cheeses.

Among the other findings in the report were:

* Only one in three of the Harlem stores carry some kind of fresh fruit.

* Only 18 percent of bodegas sell either low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese, compared with 39 percent of stores on the Upper East Side.

* Some 20 percent of the Upper East Side bodegas offer veggies like kale, collard greens and spinach, but just 4 percent of those in East Harlem and 2 percent in Central Harlem do the same.

Assemblyman Keith Wright, a Harlem Democrat who recently was named chairman of the Social Services Committee, said the findings didn't surprise him.

"After years and years of glaring racism, environmental and otherwise, this is what happens," he said.

"Hopefully, with the issuing of this report, it will put a light on . . . something that we have known for years and years."

But Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, said, "The report doesn't break new ground. There has always been less demand for these so-called healthier products in low-income neighborhoods."

He added that the cost of healthy foods is also higher than less nutritious ones, saying, "If in fact the efforts of the department are successful in increasing that demand [for healthy food], and we certainly hope they are, then store owners will respond as retailers do all over to their customers' wishes."