OCR Text |
Show Page 22 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume II, Issue III December 1999 Legacy cont. from page 21 The issue of land use mixing goes back to the end of the last century when legitimate health concerns led to the conclusion that smokestack industries and residential neighborhoods should not be mixed. Unfortunately, modern zoning has taken this notion of separation far beyond the original rationale. We now have more zoning designations than Baskins and Robbins has flavors of ice cream, and each mandates that other uses not be allowed. The problem with this is that we do not live our lives all in one type of land use. Our days are filled with crossing zoning boundaries to get to work, school, shopping, recreation, and back. As those uses become further separated, it becomes decreasingly possible to access those sites in anything but a car. Conversely, as uses mix, the need for the car to access each use diminishes. Studies comparing a single use general office development with a development that mixes office, research and development, multifamily housing, and retail space show 18% fewer car trips for the latter development pattern. As important as location and mix are, however, probably the most important, least recognized, and most relevant factor to this conference is design. It does little good to have the right mixed uses in the right place if you can’t walk comfortably between them. It is this failing, more than any other, that typifies modern suburbia: mixed uses located together, maybe with decent transit service, but separated by an automobile free-fire zone. A place that you would not be in if you could help it. The result: people drive across the street to get from one parking lot to another. Changing this design morass holds significant potential for reducing automobile dependency. A study by 1000 Friends of Oregon found that households in neighborhoods with good pedestrian design make over three times as many transit trips and nearly four times as many walk and bicycle trips as households with poor pedestrian design. We have to remember that what we are competing with is the interior of a modern automobile, with all its comforts and conveniences. If we expect people to leave their cars parked and to set out on foot, we have to design a street space that provides, FALL SPECIAL Furnace Cleaning & Safety Check $19.95 Reg. $39.95 limited time in its own way, equivalent or better comfort and convenience. In a way, what we need to do is to create street spaces that are as nice as the inside of a Lexus. When these three elements— location, mixed use, and design— come together, significant changes in travel patterns can occur. In a study of Portland, Oregon suburbs, researchers found that when encouraged by transportation demand management policies favoring transit usage, 33% of the commuters living in compact, mixed use, pedestrian designed suburban neighborhoods would choose to leave their cars at home and go to work on transit, on bicycle, or by walking. Another 17% would chose to carpool. Under current sprawl conditions, only 8% of suburban workers in the Portland region commute without a car. To conclude, while we do have significant transportation and development problems in our metropolitan areas, there is a cause for hope. We have some insights on how to mitigate these problems and how to avert future crises. But we must first convince ourselves that it is possible to do. We should start by fighting against the assumption driving proposals like the Legacy Highway that sprawl is inevitable—that it’s what people want. That it’s somehow part of the inalienable rights that Thomas Jefferson enumerated: life, liberty, and the pursuit of an open parking spot at the mall the Saturday before Christmas. Yes, there is an American Dream; but that should not be equated with sprawl. People don’t want sterile, uniform subdivisions. They want small city/small town America. What current research is showing us is that Americans can have that dream, without having to spoil our landscapes with freeways and parking lots, and without chocking our air with pollution. And so, this is why I believe the Legacy Highway, if built, will be bad for Utah and ultimately not responsive to the needs of the region. What is called for is a broad-based planning and design effort, like Envision Utah, that promotes community building, not highway building. In the end, it is the only thing that will work. Mountain Green Air Systems 801-876-3271 Gas Lines Gas Logs Gas Fireplaces “Napoleon” Radiant Floor Systems High Effiency Furnaces Dieticians Warn About Miracle Diets By Kim Folkman, RD CD and Jessica Gibbons, RD CD Edited by Brian Fryer, McKay Dee Hospital Center It seems the only thing Americans do more of these days than eat is diet. A recent survey of 107,804 men and women conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that two-thirds of Americans are either trying to lose weight or maintain their weight. By now it is likely that you know someone, or perhaps have yourself been, on one of the high protein/low carbohydrate diets such as “Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution,” or the “Zone Diet,” or “Sugar-Busters.” Many dieticians are concerned about these new diets with their emphasis on eating meats, cheeses and fats and avoiding grains, fruits and vegetables. While some people see some results from this latest fad in dieting, dieticians say there are things to consider that might not be addressed in the diet books. The science--not the sales pitch. The Atkins’ diet restricts carbohydrates and encourages protein and fat intake. Our brains and bodies need glucose (sugar) to function. The body turns food into glucose and carbohydrates can be turned into glucose faster than protein or fat. When the body takes in a large amount of protein and inadequate carbohydrate, it begins to break down some of the protein into glucose for brain function. When this occurs, protein turns to glucose but also produces toxic by-products called ketones. The ketones are processed by the liver and kidneys like other waste products and there is concern that processing such high levels, over time, could damage them. Other side effects may include dehydration and low blood pressure from salt loss and water imbalance. Some symptoms of inadequate glucose intake include headaches, lightheadedness, and shakiness. What happens later? When and if dieters go off the diet, the weight lost in water will return. The body will then take in the calories it needs for daily function and, unless the dieter begins working out to replace and build lost muscle, the left over calories will be deposited as fat. Some dieters may end up with fat deposited where muscle used to be and thus end up worse off than before they started. Dieticians recommend that before starting any diet, ask if this is just a quick fix or a healthy lifestyle change. In other words, are they prepared to eat the diet the rest of their lives? Claims clarified. There have been many claims made regarding the diet, including some of the following: Claim: Obesity has increased in America because of high carbohydrate, high insulin producing diets. Fact: Americans are eating more total calories and are more sedentary than they have been in the past. The CDCP study which found that only 21.5 percent of men and 19.4 percent of women were exercising the recommended 150 minutes per week. The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what the source of calories is. If a person eats more calories than the body needs, they will gain weight. Claim: Diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates increase your body’s production of insulin. When insulin is at high levels in the body, the food you eat readily converts to body fat. Fact: Yes, insulin increases the body’s ability to deposit fat. However, every person needs a certain amount of calories daily, and until the body meets its minimum need, it won’t deposit any fat. A person could eat only pure sugar and deposit no fat until their minimum calorie need was met (of course it wouldn’t be healthy and wouldn’t be recommended). If a person wants to lose weight, the best way is by eating fewer calories than needed for maintenance—perhaps 500 fewer calories per day—and exercise, then they will burn their own fat for energy regardless of the type of food eaten. Claim: High carbohydrate meals tend to leave you less satisfied, so you eat more and get hungrier faster. Diets cont. on page 23 |