The survey, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008, showed that there’s a growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. They found that today more than 20 percent of adults are obese in every state except Colorado, where the number is 18.4 percent. More than 25 percent of adults are obese in 28 states, up from 19 states last year. In 1991 no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent.
The five fattest states and their obesity rates are:
Mississippi (31.7 percent)
West Virginia (30.6 percent)
Alabama (30.1 percent)
Louisiana (29.5 percent)
South Carolina (29.2 percent)
The five slimmest states and their obesity rates are:
Colorado (18.4 percent)
Hawaii (20.7 percent)
Connecticut (20.8 percent)
Massachusetts (20.9 percent)
Vermont (21.1 percent)
Is it just me or does the states with the fattest people also have the least amount of education?
I’d hate to say this, but yes… and aren’t those all Red states in the first list, and Blue or Tossup states in the second? Interesting…
Sad to say the South is not only the fattest but the dumbest too. Maybe I should say the more racist. And people talk about the new South…sounds like the old South to me.
You’re right, the South hasn’t changed much. And there is definitely a correlation between education/socioeconomics and health/obesity. I have a few close girlfriends who grew up really poor and were the first to go to college in their working-class families. To this day, they deep-fry everything, pull into the McDonald’s drive-thru on their way to work each morning, and wonder why I’m not ‘fat’ myself even though I eat quite a lot more, quantity-wise, than they do. I hate to say it but they’re just really ignorant… about food and nutrition, at least.
So, yes, obesity is a big problem in places like the Bible Belt that aren’t really known for ‘high standards’ in education, and in inner cities like South Central L.A., where people are scrapping to get by, really ignorant about nutrition, and where $2 meals give you the most calories/sustainability for your buck.
yep…and schools need to be more forceful in teaching nutrition…not some sloppy looking coach that they do not know what to do with when football is over.
I’m surprised Indiana is not on that list. This summer when I went to the pool, I noticed that if we go to a health insurance system where BMI plays a role in what you pay, there is going to be a lot of people in for a big surprise.
I wrote about a bill offered in my state legislature that would had allowed restaurant to refuse to serve overweight people….that is silly….seems that would be a bit of a stretch if it was enacted.
Heh, if you replace overweight with black, Jewish, Catholic, etc…, you would have people screaming. I guess people got to have someone to discriminate against since the traditional targets are increasing becoming verboten.
It seems like it is just the ugly side of human nature that some of us cannot get past. If you take away one group, they’ll find another group.
Hi Terrant….you are right…..most poor people are over weight….so basically it is discrimination against the poor…but that is unacceptable to say….so they use the weight thing as a substitute.