Fear of COVID-19 making people seek healthy lifestyles?

avatar for nickifree
nickifree
Texas
Public health and political leaders and major media outlets may not want to publicize it, but I think Coronavirus is scaring people into better health. I see a lot more people out walking/running. I also see fewer people in the snack isle at the grocery store, and the healthy foods are running bear.

For the first time in my life I'm seeing green beans, peas, rice, lettuce, carrots, just disappearing from the shelves. There's plenty of snacks, beef and chicken- though skinless chicken is harder to find. The stores seem to be giving away frying grease and ice cream. I brought a half gallon of generic vanilla ice cream for a dollar.

I'd venture to say that far more lives will be saved just from scarring people into good health than lives saved if Coronavirus never happened.

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avatar for Eve
Eve
4 years ago
I noticed this in my local grocery stores too. And the usually expensive whole food/ farmer's market stores have been slammed with more business than normal.

Whether or not it gives an immunity boost, there may be a decrease in the rolly pollies coming.
avatar for Icey
Icey
4 years ago
I haven't seen it. With rising food prices and a worsening economy I don't know how people can
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
4 years ago
All I can say is the three Whole Food locations near my home are busier than any of the other food stores nearby except for Costco which is equally as busy
avatar for NAAAASTY
NAAAASTY
4 years ago
Naaaah most are staying in, watching Netflix, jerking off, and eating junkfood. Human nature. More power to those using this time to better themselves

NAAAASTY
avatar for WillMunny
WillMunny
4 years ago
Sorry but call me skeptical that this is a trend, at least in any significant numbers. My suspicion is a few things are happening:

First, because there have been disruptions in the supply chain for virtually all "regular" grocery items, people are looking for replacements in the "healthy" section/stores.

Second, you're paying way more attention than you ever did before to where other people are shopping, by location or within the store - since avoiding a crowd has become a life safety issue.

Third, the closure of restaurants has increased grocery sales across the board, not just in healthier chains. But generally those healthier options have a shorter shelf life, so the same pre-Covid number of people shopping for "healthy" foods would be at the store more often, but that's not actually an increase in the number of healthy shoppers.

I'm sure there are *some* people that are taking the additional time to cook as an opportunity to improve their health. But you just have to look at the number of people nationwide complaining about masks and continuing to spread the virus to see the majority of Americans generally don't take good care of themselves.
avatar for TheElmerFudd
TheElmerFudd
4 years ago
I think it’s fine as a hypothesis. Cant substantiate it via your own observation in grocery store though.
avatar for nickifree
nickifree
4 years ago
This is isn't like the first few weeks of the quarantine when practically every type of food products were limited. I'm talking now when the grocery stores are as well stocked as they've ever been- with the exception of vegetables, even canned veggies.

Meanwhile there's plenty of breads, meats, cereals, dairy items and especially junk foods. Fewer people in the junk isles too.
avatar for Dolfan
Dolfan
4 years ago
We've started doing a lot of video conferencing at work, both internally and with other companies we do business with. I've noticed a trend of more extremes but not particularly in one direction or another. Obviously, the really overweight people and the really fit people have maintained their status for the most part. However, the a big chunk of the colleagues that were in the middle are now drifting towards the edges of the spectrum. Some have ramped up their exorcise routines and combined with more at-home & health conscious meals they're visibly more fit. Others have taken the other route and are noticeably chunkier. There's some who've maintained, but many have changed.

I don't notice much in the grocery store. I see a lot of random shit out of stock, or overflowing the shelves. I attribute it to greater volume overall at the store leading to a change in stocking patterns. The stocking patterns then lead to at least the perception of scarcity, which leads to changes in shopping patterns and it snowballs. Maybe people notice that carrots are out on one trip to the grocery store, perhaps simply because they were busy re-stocking in another area and let that one run down. Then next time they're there, they're sure to buy some carrots just in case. Then they run out again & the kid who stocks produce gets bitched out. Now he's focusing on keeping the carrots stocked and the tomatoes run out and the same thing happens again.
avatar for skibum609
skibum609
4 years ago
On June 1, 2018 we started eating healthy as I had just recovered from pneumonia. I was obese then and up to November of 2020, despite eating healthy. Overeating and too much drinking counteracted eating right. Starting in November I lost 6" off my waist as of yesterday and gone from a large T-shirt to a medium fitted. So throughout obesity and fitness, eating right has done one thing: I haven't even had a cold since then (June 1, 2018). Nothing at all. Fat, thin, in shape or out, eating healthy has prevented me from getting sick. That is through 23 flights; 300 strip club visits; 200 poker tournaments and on and on. We do have splurge days, but we cut down on meat and eat no to very little processed food. Very little plain carbs. Eat right and you don't get sick. take supplements and you do.
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