Blue Order

Not sure this is strictly a "Living Car Free" topic, but not sure where else to post it. Saw this on CNN:

Obesity Map

markhr

england version - current data only

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/h...667/html/1.stm

Bikepacker67

I guess bible-thumpin' works up an appetite!

Blue Order

wahoonc

Either that or all them pot luck dinners with fried chicken...

Aaron

MyBikeGotStolen

yet another reason for me to move to Colorado, skinny chicks

Then again, how could I ever leave a college town like UF's

kjmillig

I didn't know MI or PA were "bible thumpin", fried chicken eatin' states! I thought that was just us suthern hick folk. Look at the map again.

tsl

Hey! Once again, I'm in a blue state!

Machka 

Sadly a similar Canadian map (if one existed) would be pretty much navy blue, with splotches of red, too.

A coworker of mine is from Holland and her family came for a visit, arriving this weekend. They went to various tourist things - a local festival, a local pool and waterslide, etc. - and after being here for a day or two, one of the children turned to my coworker and asked, "How come there are so many fat people here?"

It's becoming "normal" to be obese.


Oh here we are ... a map for Canada: https://www.statcan.ca/english/freepu.../pdf/1226m.pdf

And sure enough, where I used to live in Manitoba, and where I currently live in Alberta are both bright red.

markhr

the fattest town in Britain was asked the same thing - the indignant reply was "we're normal"

https://www.google.com/search?num=100...attest+town+uk

Cosmoline

Meh. According to the BMI charts I should have been dead years ago.

cerewa

Note that the england and canada maps are meant to compare a particular region's obesity rate to their country's average obesity rate.

The Canadian statistics seem to show a much lower obesity rate than England, with the USA having a much higher obesity rate than England.



In my experience, people mostly consider cars to be the norm for transportation and even if they don't, they usually consider anything but cars or public transit to be too much work for them. I have no doubt that if everybody were traveling under their own power (as in walking/biking) as a major means of transportation, people would be in better health and less likely to be obese.

In my opinion public transit tends to be far better for one's health than car travel, because you usually have to walk a lot more to use public transit. But I'll take a bicycle any day.

bragi

Forgive, me, but I'm a bit skeptical. Yes, North Americans are probably too fat. In particular, poor North Americans are too fat. (I wonder why that is?) In looking at the CNN maps from 1995, and then 2004, I was stunned by how much fatter Americans had become in a mere decade. Then I remembered something: The BMI definitions had changed in the interim. You don't actually have to be as fat anymore to be considered obese. And just because you exceed the BMI doesn't necessarily mean you're unhealthy; I'm often passed on my commute home by the same 5'4", 180-lbs woman, and I'm in pretty good shape. (5'11'', 150 lbs). In addition, in the last half-marathon I ran, I got smoked by a guy who was at least 250 lbs, and I finished in 1h 35 min. However, this doesn't change the overall picture. When I go to Kentucky, as I do every year, I see a lot of fat people, and not many of them could run across a parking lot, much less finish a half-marathon. We're getting fatter, and less fit, and the fattiness is beginning at an earlier age. Getting more people out of their cars might be a good start. (Also, if I were a parent, I'd radically ration the video game playing...)

1ply

You would be correct. I'm biking to work every day (since April) and even though my diet hasn't really changed, I'm still losing weight. I also seem to be eating MORE

I have also been known to do the following: WALK to the mailbox instead of just stopping the car by the curb on my way home (don't drive remember ) I also WALK to the corner store (it's a 4-5minute walk a waste to start a car) - these little things add up over time.

bmike

Also note that its cheaper to buy crap food than good food.

Good articles here and here.

ModoVincere

Southern does not correlate directly with hick. That's like saying all NYers are **** (wihout papers for those who have not heard the term before. it was a deragatory term aimed primarily at italian immigrants at some point in the past). It also shows a very biased and unopen mind.

wahoonc

Excellent point! and sadly so true. I often wonder why my local grocery store stocks 70 different types of soda or chips, but only carries one type of corn on the cob and 2 types of lettuce (ice berg and romaine) It is what sells. My philosophy has always been; the more processed the worse it is for you.

Aaron

JeffS

The problem is, it's not any one thing.

It's:

video games
television
little debbie
lunchables
mcdonalds
mothers who rarely cook
families who can't make time to sit down to a decent meal
cabinets full of food
overweight/out-of-shape parents who couldn't set a good example if they had to...


In general though, I blame the cabinets full of food more than I do the video games. Storing fat is a survival instinct and leaving piles of low-quality food sitting around is just too much temptation for most.

Bikepacker67

While I'll agree that there's a plethora of cheap junk/fast food choices, I really don't think that rice, oatmeal, local veggies, etc are exorbitantly priced.

They just don't appeal to the Western palate like a greasy/cheesy/salty 99-cent burger.

bmike

I don't think those items are exorbitantly priced either... but speaking from experience I can say that when you shop for local or organic produce and meat in a move away from processed high fructose trans fat mystery ingredient laden food your grocery bill will go up. It boggles the mind that a package of twinkies (with all that cardboard, plastic, printing, shipping, and advertising) can be about the same cost as veggies! Or that canned veggies can be cheaper than fresh!

But I agree that what most people think of food is what they see on TV and in ads. Kentucky Fried McPizza Bell King take out.

cerewa

There are quite a few healthy food choices that are also really cheap. Part of the problem is that most of them require a fair bit of time to turn them in to ready-to-eat foods. It's possible to make those foods really tasty, but it often takes a little bit more effort and/or the prepared food doesn't lend itself well to a frozen or dried "instant meal" version.

jimmuter

Let's face it -- it all stems from women working outside the home.

ralph12

Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in between.

Roody

If you really want to know about why our Ameican diet is the way it is, read The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan. I've never read a book on any topic that will rock your world view as much as this one.

As for the relationship between physiology, obesity and exercise, read Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata. A lot of obesity is due to genetic factors that are largely beyond the individual's control. This book taught me to quit worrying about my weight, and focus on the quality of the food I eat and the amount of exercise I get.

As for obese being culturally normal, I think that's somewhat true. When I get my weight down to 200 pounds--still about 25 pounds above my "normal" BMI--people start telling me I'm too skinny and they practically force food on me.

schiavonec

Think of it as attractive and athletic over merely attractive, and there tend to be fewer gold diggers in CO.