My theory on the Walmart Diet
It turns out that having a Walmart in the neighborhood is associated with a slight weight loss in the surrounding population.
Researchers are at a loss (pun intended) to determine the reason this might be. But their guess is that a Walmart frees up part of the income of people who are pressed for money, allowing them to buy more fruits and vegetable and other healthful items.
I beg to differ. Even though the study reports that a Walmart leads to decreased exercise, I still think exercise might be the key. My theory is that whatever the decrease in other exercise reported in the study (and I assume activity level was not measured, but was based on self-report), it left out one extremely important factor: the exercise involved in shopping in a Walmart itself.
Think about it—have you been in one lately? I have. Those babies are huge.
To score any item usually involves a hike that amounts to more exercise than many people in America get in an average day. And that doesn’t even count the getting lost part, which is practically obligatory in a Walmart.
Remember that Saturday Night Live sketch about the size of Walmarts? I rest my case:
Greeter #1: Hi! Welcome to Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: I know I say this to you every day.. but I still can’t get over how big this Wal-Mart is!
Greeter #1: I knowwwww! It’s too big!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
Greeter #2: I knowww! The whole town is this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: I knowww! It has too many things!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: This store has to be at least eight city blocks! I mean, that is about 500 miles of store!
Greeter #2: I know! This Wal-Mart is as big as 250 Rite-Aids!
Greeter #1: I knowww! Thank God we work near the door! Otherwise, we’d never be able to get out!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: You know it’s too big when you can park inside the store!
Greeter #2: I know! You know a store is too big when, under the same roof, you can buy a pack of gum and a speedboat!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
[ Female Customer saunters forward ]
Female Customer #1: Uh.. excuse me..
Greeter #2: Oh, hello! Welcome to Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: Hi! You are now officially in Wal-Mart!
Female Customer #1: Uh.. can you point me to Sporting Goods?
Greeter #2: I can point you t’wards it.. but, I gotta be honest with you.. I never even seen Sporting Goods, I only heard about it.
Greeter #1: [ hands customer a bottle of water ] Here. Take some water with you, you’re gonna need it for the journey.
Female Customer #1: Oh.. thank you.. [ exits ]
Greeter #2: She’s never gonna make it, she’s too old!
Greeter #1: I knowww! People come in this Wal-Mart, and they never leave!
Greeter #2: I knowww! I heard that Kathy Peacock died in this Wal-Mart. And they didn’t find her body for weeks.
Greeter #1: I heard that Kathy Peacock was born in this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: I know! Two babies a day are born in this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: This Wal-Mart’s gonna have to elect its own President!
Greeter #2: This Wal-Mart has it’s own capitol!
Greeter #1: There’s a globe in School Supplies of just this Wal-Mart! That’s how big this Wal-Mart is!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
[ another Female Customer steps forward trepiditiously ]
Female Customer #2: Excuse me..?
Greeter #2: Hi, welcome to Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: Hi! You are now officially in Wal-Mart!
Female Customer #2: Thank you.. Um.. can you tell me where I would be able to find bath rugs, with patriotic baby ducks on them?
Greeter #2: Uh.. bath rugs with patriotic baby ducks is in.. Aisle 6,000! And, here.. [ grabs poncho ] ..you’re gonna need this poncho! ‘ Cause I think it’s rainy season in that part of Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: And they might not speak English over there, because there are three indiginous languages to this Wal-Mart!
Female Customer #2: Oh.. uh.. thank you..? [ exits ]
Greeter #2: Bloo-bloo-bloop?
Greeter #1: What does that mean?
Greeter #2: It means “You’re welcome!” in Wal-Mart.
Greeter #1: Boy, is she in for it.
Greeter #2: I knowww! The competing weather systems in this Wal-Mart could cause a tornado to happen!
Greeter #1: I knowww! And that active volcano by Electronics is about to blow!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Greeter #1: I knowww!
[ Lost Male Customer ambles forward, petrified ]
Male Customer: Hey, uh.. I’m looking for Leisure Wear..
Greeter #1: Uh.. hoo!
Greeter #2: Okay, we got an idea..
Greeter #1: Okay.
Greeter #2: Alright..
[ they unfold a large, bulky map together ]
Greeter #1: Here’s a map of Northern Wal-Mart. What you’re gonna do is go to hte end of this map, which is about 4,000 miles, and then you’re gonna come down here..
Greeter #2: Right.. Oh! Oh! Burt Reynolds lives here!
Greeter #1: I know! I heard that! And when you get to the end here, there’s gonna be a guide to give you more maps. Hey, listen up.. if you make it to Leisure Wear, tell them we wanna learn more about their people.
Greeter #2: Yeah! Tell them we mean them no harm!
Greeter #1: Yeah, we don’t!
Greeter #2: We don’t!
Greeter #1: No!!!
[ Store Manager breaks into the scene, as Male Customer shirks away in fear ]
Store Manager: Please! Please! Ladies! I have asked you repeatedly, to quit making remarks to the customers about how big this Wal-Mart is! It scares them! Yes, this is a big store, but we are proud of its size! And my name is Mr. Sparkson!
Greeter #2: Well, everyone calls you “Sparky”!
Store Manager: I understand that! Your job is just to greet people!
Greeter #1: Sparky!!
Greeter #2: Sparky!! Look! If I could wrap my mind around this Wal-Mart, I’d stop talking about it!
Greeter #1: I mean, this Wal-Mart is just so big, if we don’t talk about it, our heads are gonna pop out!
Greeter #2: Yeah! And then they’d just sell our heads in the Human Body Parts aisle of this Wal-Mart!
Store Manager: [ angered and greatly annoyed ] You know what?!! Your shifts are almost over, why don’t you.. just.. call it.. a day!!!
Greeter #1: Alright! We’re just gonna wave to you as you disappear into the horizon of this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: Yeah! We just gonna watch you walk into the sunset of this Wal-Mart, Sparky!
Greeter #1: We better get going, it’s getting dark over there in Automotives!
Greeter #2: Yeah, you’re right.. and, at night, its gets cold in here like a desert.
Greeter #1: I knowww!
Greeter #2: So.. what do you wanna do tonight?
Greeter #1: I heard there was a new Mexican restaurant with dollar Margaritas.
Greeter #2: [ excited ] That sounds great! Where is it?
Greeter #1: In this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: Great!
Greeter #1: Great! Right? Hey! I heard they have the Superbowl in this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #2: I heard they sell Superbowls in this Wal-Mart!
Greeter #1: I knowww! That’s how big it is!
Greeter #2: I knowww!
Together: I knowww!
I tried it. I keep going to Walmart and shopping until I drop, but I don’t lose a pound!
Next time I’m there I going to do 30 reps of bench-pressing the two dozen doughnut boxes before I put them in my cart.
Neo, that’s a good explanation to me. Like you say, you have to do a LOT more walking in them than in a Ma and Pa store.
I have a new walmart that’s closest to me. It also seems to have the widest aisles. More importantly, it isn’t overly crowded and I can checkout in 5 minutes.
But…it’s FREAKIN’ HUGE. I need a FREAKIN’ MAP to navigate around. If I need three things that aren’t close to each other, it takes me 30 minutes to find them all.
Don’t think me an elitist, because I happily shop at Walmart regularly. But, to tell the truth when I look at a many of my fellow customers I think:
“Wow, I have to watch my weight.”
Our community is a broad mix of small town upscale and down scale country. I have been alert since the downturn in the economy to see if there are more “value shoppers” in our local Walmart. It is inconclusive.
I do know that Walmart = value for the $$.
I can hardly go to WalMart anymore because I have just a touch of OCD and I want to walk down every aisle because I might miss something I think I need if I don’t.
I have neither the time nor the money to shop at WalMart!
Off topic, sorry, but RUSSIAN FRAKKIN BOMBERS just landed in Venezuela to perform routine training exercises over neutral waters. One word for you Medvedev, Curacao. Unreal how short term our memories are. Just finishing Between the Wars and it’s a nice analysis of Clinton’s struggle with the deft-wing and moderate right / isolationists in the face of the first phase of the Post Cold War world. Assuming crude stabilizes around $100 / barrel Chavez will not implode and will continue to raise serious red flags for this hemisphere.
Another explanation for the “Walmart Diet” is reverse causality. Walmart execs like to locate new stores in places where the economy is improving, and as people get richer they tend to lose weight. If those two things are true we can get the result of the paper without any actual causal effect of Walmart on health. Notice in column 6 of table 2 when they add county-specific time trends (one way to account for changes in county attributes like the economy) the effect becomes smaller and insignificant.
I’m not convinced their story isn’t true, but neither is it rock-solid. I’d like to see the authors either a) add more economic controls besides just unemployment and that questionable imputed income measure they use, or even better b) run a placebo regression in which they see whether adding a Walmart has any effect the year before the Walmart actually opens. If the true cause is economic changes in the area then the placebo should turn up positive — if the true cause is Walmart affecting health then it should be negative. If they get a negative result on the placebo test I’d be a lot more convinced they are right. Then we could debate exactly how it works (wealth, exercise, etc.).
I haven’t been in Walmart enough to know for sure, but I’ll bet that the milk and bread are located waaaaay at the back…just like every other grocery store.
Having said that, I have to say that I think Walmart is, on balance, a good thing. It gives lower-income folks a chance to buy decent stuff at a decent price, thus stretching their dollar. Nothing wrong with that. But even if I had a Walmart nearby, I think I’d still buy my groceries at Kroger…GOTTA be easier to find things.
FWIW, I think your theory has some merit. 😉
Maybe the cookie and ice cream aisles should be 200 flights of stairs up….While the brocolli replaces the tabloids beside the checkout.
I really like the freedom of being able to buy any colored Chinese t-shirt I want. Woo-hoo! We’re number 1 !!
Neo, that skit was a hoot. Probably more funny than it would have been if I had watched it too. Thanks.
Wal-Mart is the place where I work as a cashier. My Masters in Social Work did not scare away my job interviewer, nor did my age. I enjoyed this post and will share it with co-workers, especially the diet.
I confess. I love Walmart. I remember the first time I ever saw one and the delight my grandmother and great aunt felt at not having to ever go back to the crummy, rude and dirty mom and pop stores on Main Street ever again.
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