El Paso: Drinking our way to obesity

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EL PASO — With more than 20 liquor stores, over 100 convenience stores and the many supermarkets and restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages, it is little wonder that El Pasoans are facing an obesity epidemic. Manuel Colorado, a local exercise specialist and nutritionist, works with overweight clients. “It is easy for people in El Paso to gain weight because of their alcohol consumption,” says Colorado. “With nothing else to do in our city; alcohol seems to fill the void of boredom and too much time on the hands.”

While Colorado’s clients are reducing their prospect of obesity by limiting their alcohol intake and exercising, some El Pasoans are doing nothing to better their chances of dodging obesity. “We see obese people walking around El Paso everyday and not doing anything about it,” says Colorado.

More craft beer quenches thirst in the high desert

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El Paso — Even as beer drinkers around the U.S. are still suffering from a recession hangover that has hurt major brewers, craft brewed beer is continuing to please more palates and this trend is finally showing positive signs in El Paso. “This trend has been increasing in the past four years [in El Paso], where as before it was almost non-existent,” said Adrian Perez, craft and imported beer specialist at L&F Distributors in El Paso. “Our craft beer selections have increased at 30-40% each month for the past year.”

Craft beers are defined typically as unique beer styles made by small independent brewers that are free from corporate large brewer ownership, such as Anheuser-Busch which produce more than 6,000,000 barrels a year. According to the Brewers Association based out of Boulder, Colorado, in the first half of 2010 the craft brew industry grew by 9% in volume and 12% by retail dollars, while overall beer sales dropped 2.7% by volume. Perez, also an active beer enthusiast, spends his spare time sponsoring craft and domestic beer tasting events at local restaurants and supermarkets to increase beer appreciation in the city.