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Part of my childhood was in West Virginia and visit family occasionally. I can attest to the comment about food deserts.

There's a nearby Dollar General, which is fine for processed food and sodas, but you have to go 20 miles away to a grocery store with proper fresh food.

Here's an article from 2015. Things have seemingly not gotten better:

https://wvpublic.org/whats-an-appalachian-food-desert-and-wh...

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I have bought plenty of healthy food from Dollar General. Rice, beans, canned tuna, nuts, seeds, frozen veggies, etc. It's all the same types of things I would recommend someone trying to eat healthier to get from a supermarket

Here's a more recent article (2023): https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2023/01/26/wv-healthy-foo...

Access to fresh fruit and veg in West Virginia is mostly a problem in the rural areas from what I can tell (and by searching for "fruit and vegetable" or "supermarket" on google maps).

Would teaching people how to grow their own fresh produce in the rural areas work?

Maybe, but it's harder. If I had to grow my own fruit and vegetables, I probably wouldn't and just wouldn't eat them.

My argument isn't that it's impossible to be healthy in such places, just that it's harder.

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