Everywoman’s Guide to Nutrition

To most Americans the Northern Heartland has long been the most mystifying part of their country. Spreading across the northern states, in the deep interior of North America, from Montana to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, from northern Iowa to the Canadian border, the region contains about one-tenth of the total land area of the 50 United States. It is as big as Texas and twice as empty (or half as crowded). In the western reaches the shopping trade area of Miles City, Montana, includes more land than the state of Connecticut; to the east the local trade area of Bemidji, Minnesota, is almost as large as New York's Adirondack Mountain region. Billboards on the edges of some small towns proclaim plenty of room to grow. They are always at least halfright; there is plenty of room. In many cases they are all right; there is also growth, some of it fast by any comparison, some of it remarkably steady by any comparison.