In Chattanooga — home to potentially diet-demolishing products like Little Debbie snack cakes, Krystal burgers and Moonpies — more leaders in the food industry are recognizing that patrons want not only great taste, but jeans that fit.
Some local food manufacturers and restaurants are responding to a belt- and budget-busting obesity epidemic with products geared to make healthy living a little easier for their customers, mirroring a national trend toward health consciousness, said health advocates.
View continuing coverage of the obesity epidemic.
“This is part of the whole movement right now,” said Joan Randall, administrative director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Obesity & Metabolism/Diabetes Center.
The “cultural shift” within the food industry corresponds with growing recognition in both government and the health care sector that obesity is a problem that can’t be ignored, she said.