New Yorkers can be pretty hardened, but some of the latest ads to come out of Mayor Bloomberg's no-holds-barred anti-obesity campaign are leaving some people in shock.

Specifically addressing the extreme augmentation of portion sizes, the New York Department of Health is swapping their gross-out fat soda ads for even more distressing depictions of obese individuals afflicted by limited mobility.

In the ad to the left, an obese, one-legged man is a startling warning of the repercussions of obesity – specifically, amputation due to diabetes. Another ad shows an obese woman struggling up steep stairs. Both contain warnings about the dangers of growing portions.

Despite the laudable intent to discourage becoming obese, these grim subway posters are being rebuked as scare tactics instead of credible risk reminders.

We are living in uncertain times--news of economic woes, rising obesity rates, and chronic disease splash headlines daily. Why curl up with a Big Mac and cry over the Wall Street reports when we can turn parking lots into vegetable gardens and shipping containers into lettuce fields?

A recent report on Bloomberg.com details far-reaching plans for urban agriculture in cities around the US. Utilizing urban areas to raise crops will not only create jobs and save consumers money on food bills; it carries the added potential of creating healthier lives.

Moving away from packaged, processed foods purchased from corporate grocery stores, to a diet full of fresh produce grown and sold locally is a win-win situation. Turning food deserts into areas where copious amounts of agriculture are grown, will create jobs at the local level. Using abandoned industrial areas to produce the food needed to regain America’s health is a plan for a brighter future.

The Bloomberg report states, "with only 2 percent of the nation’s agricultural land used to grow fruits and vegetables, according to USDA statistics, there is opportunity for urban farmers to fill the gap."