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You may love the "Southern food" lifestyle, but it doesn't love you back.

A six-year study by the University of Alabama found that people whose eating habits tended toward the fried, the sweet and the processed foods were at a greater risk of heart disease.

People who followed the diet pattern that focused on fatty and fried foods had a 56 percent greater risk of heart disease than people who ate it the least.

Forbes.com reports that the study followed 17,000 people and surveyed them about their eating habits. The results found diets that fell into five patterns:

• The Southern pattern: Fried foods, fatty foods, added fats, eggs, processed meats, such as bacon and ham, organ meats (e.g. liver), and sugary drinks
• The Convenience pattern: Easy-to-fix foods like pasta dishes, Mexican food, Chinese food, and pizza.
• The Plant-Based pattern: High in fruits and vegetables, cereals, beans, yogurt, poultry and fish.
• The Sweets pattern: Foods with more added sugars, desserts, chocolate, candy, and sweetened breakfast foods.
• The Alcohol/Salads: Characterized by beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes and salad dressings.

Forbes reported:

For nearly 20 years, the community health scores for Escambia County have stagnated near the bottom tier of Florida counties.

Data from the Florida Department of Health show that nearly 60 percent of people in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are overweight or obese, a state that puts them at increased risk for heart disease and the health problems that come with it.

The Partnership for a Healthy Community says that smoking and obesity cost employers in the two-county area $800 million in 2013. That nonprofit sponsors Live Well Northwest Florida, which promotes actions for employers and the community to take to improve those figures.

If we are to prosper, we must find a way to show our love, to express our sense of community, to feed our families and ourselves that doesn't kill us.

Which is why the second part of that Forbes article is the most important.

It notes the economic reality that many people who eat the 'Southern diet' face — eating badly is cheaper than eating healthfully.

In a community where the median income is $43,918 — which means half of the people working make less than that amount — money is big part of what matters when it comes to eating better.

Watch Michael Spooneybarger's video of one program at the Palafox Market that helps people stretch their food stamp benefits farther at farmers markets to address the issue.