Obesity

Mississippi has highest obesity rate; Colorado has lowest

Mississippi has the highest obesity rate with 34.9% of state residents who are roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight, and Colorado has the lowest rate at 20.7%, new government data show.

The South has the highest percentage of people (29.5%) who are too heavy, followed by the Midwest (29%), Northeast (25.3%) and West (24.3%). No state has an obesity rate of less than 20%, the findings show.

This report is based on 2011 state-by-state obesity data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in which people self-report their height and weight. Because people tend to underreport their weight, the percentage of people who are obese is probably higher than the statistics indicate. The statistics are from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data.

CDC data from another, more rigorous study in which people are weighed and measured indicate that about 36% of U.S. adults are obese. Extra weight raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other problems.

The new study does not offer an overall obesity rate for the country, but breaks down rates by state.

The four heaviest states after Mississippi: Louisiana (33.4%); West Virginia (32.4%); Alabama (32%) and Michigan (31.3%).

The states with the lowest obesity rates after Colorado: Hawaii (21.8%); Massachusetts (22.7%); (tie) District of Columbia and New Jersey (23.7%); California (23.8%).

For the first time this year, the methodology used for the state data incorporated households that use only cellphones and changes were made in the criteria to determine which respondents should be included in the analysis so this year's data cannot be compared to state statistics from previous years.

"Overall the obesity rate remains high, and it shows that more concerted efforts need to be invested in by states to make healthy choices available," says Heidi Blanck, acting director of CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

Obesity is "a major health problem that translates into higher health care costs and poorer quality of life," says Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America's Health, a non-profit group that analyzed the state-by-state data along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"We still have a regional concentration of obesity, especially in the South. Eight of the ten heaviest states are in the South," he says.

So, apart from liking BBQ more, is there any reason the southern states are so much fatter? Is it a climate thing, a cultural thing, what?

Yeah. There are a lot of reasons. We dont eat right being one of them.

Back in the 60s and before, usually only one parent worked. Thge other (usually the woman) stayed home. I completely understand a woman's right to work and I'm al for that (nowadays its a must usually). But back then the man could normally hold down a good paying job and make enough money to support the family all by himself. Thus, your wife could have the day to do the shopping and have dinner ready when you got home.

But no longer. Now both work and both of their butts are dragging when they come home from a hard day of work. A lucky few have enough money to hire a cook, but I dont know anyone who does. My wealthy cousins wives stay and home pumping out babies and cooking meals for their family. But I couldnt. And most of my friends cant.

Another reason I think is that our average income is much lower here than in other parts of the country. Jobs are hard to come by and a lot of us are poor. So we grew up eating tv dinners, fat food, and lots of fried food. Most Southerners would rather have fried chicken or fish, than grilled. Fried shrimp rather than boiled, broiled or grilled. We eat biscuits (not the cookies you guys call biscuits) loaded with lard, and pour fat ladened gravy all over it. Add to that, greasy bacon or sausage, fried eggs, etc.

Its much easier here to buy a pizza or McDonalds big mac on the way home from work than to take time to prepare a real healthy meal. Most of us dont know HOW to make a healthy meal. We eat the stuff we grew up with. We eat frozen dinners loaded with salt and our blood pressures are through the roof!

I guess it is a cultural thing because thats the stuff we grew up on. I have had to work hard to learn how to eat healthy. When I was little, even when we did eat fresh veggies (and I did a lot), my mom would add grease or ham hocks for seasoning. She cooked fried chicken in lard. Deep fat fried french fries. I never heard of a diet cola til I was an adult. And back then, colas had pure sugar in them rather than sweeteners. Tasted great! Not good for us though.

Shopping is difficult too. Almost everything you buy prepackaged has sugar and high fructose corn syrup in it. Never should one buy canned meat (like Spam or potted meat or vienna sausages)! Its loaded with fat. But its also a quick, easy meal. Bologna is a favorite here.

And Americans seem to be very resistant to someone like the First Lady or Jamie Oliver coming in and trying to get us to eat healthier. I applaud both for their efforts though. But the other day I heard some political pundits railing against the First Lady for her healthy initiatives. I cant understand why they waste time doing this though. There are so many real reasons to criticise Obama, why pick on the 1 thing the Obamas are doing that will help us?

I wish we had more choices here in the South. We sent men to the moon. Why cant we make a decent healthy fast food burger at a reasonable price? Why are hot dogs here made up of meat by-products and "pink slime" rather than all beef or even pork? The good parts. But they add organs and shouts and eyes and God knows what else to it as filler.

Its possible to make a good fairly healthy pizza! But Pizza Hut or Dominos would never sell it. They say it costs too much. (Yeah, and their product is killing us).

As for me, after researching and learning things the hard way, I have given up sugar, salt and drink decaf coffee and tea. I bake, broil, boil or grill stuff and almost never fry anything. I buy low fat and low cal when I can stand it and try to eat fresh, high fiber foods which are filling and tend to make me less hungry.

Had I been doing that as a teenager I wouldnt weigh the 305lbs I do today. But i didnt know....

*Sigh*