On a daily basis, weight conversations seem to crop up everywhere. Try this pill. Shoot for hypnosis. Snap a rubber band around your wrist when the urge for Cheetos hits. Weight Watchers. Jenny Craig, Nutri-System. And what about the frustrated naturally thin people that are epically sick of hearing about how dietary news should revolve around a bunch of overindulgent potato chip addicts?
What I find interesting, though, are the many and varied approaches the media goes with in order to make what’s really a very old story at least kind of fresh and exciting.
After regurgitating the fact that America leads the world in excessive BMI (and that “U.S. eating habits and diets have been exported,” leading to a 5% increase from 1980 to 2008 in the population percentage that fit the “obese” definition), Yahoo Finance explores causes for America’s excessive need to feed.
Like so many other issues where data are collected in the public sector and the information is used to solve problems nationwide, the problems are local. 24/7 Wall St. looked at a number of factors which cause unhealthy diets and resulting obesity. These include income, access to healthy food sources, the ability to pay for healthy food, the concentration of fast food outlets, and the consumption of fruits, vegetables, sugar, fat and soft drinks. The levels of healthy eating defined with these parameters varies wildly …
… from state-to-state. That means there is not likely to be any one set of solutions created and funded at the federal level to solve the problem. Just as education results and their causes are hyper-local, so are the habits that cause unhealthy diets and their results. That makes the problem harder to solve. Congress cannot mandate how many McDonald’s can be built within any hundred square mile area, or, if it could, McDonald’s would object.
Fair enough. Work on developing healthy eating habits, avoid McDonald’s, make more money, and … well, if you live in one of the following states, be extra vigilant.
Yup, Yahoo Finance actually lists the ten states with the worst eating habits … along with a helpful explanation of why.
10. New Mexico
[New Mexico] has the 44th-greatest percentage of households without a car that are more than 10 miles from a supermarket or grocery store and the 44th-greatest percentage of population that has low income and is more than 10 miles from a supermarket or grocery store, according to the United States Department of Ag1riculture. These metrics are significant because they suggest a lack of access to affordable and nutritious food. Residents may rely on fast food restaurants and convenience stores instead. New Mexico has the eighth-greatest amount of money spent on fast food per capita among all the states considered.
So it’s easier to trudge over to the nearby McD’s instead of schlepping eleven miles to the grocery store to get real food? That’s … almost understandable.
9. Arizona
Arizona has the second-fewest grocery stores per person, with only 0.17 for every 1,000 people. This illustrates a major restriction on healthy food access for one of the country’s fastest growing states. One of the ways in which residents of Arizona are supplementing their diets is with fast food. Arizonans spent an average of $760.50 each on fast food in 2007, the fourth-greatest amount among the states.
Wow … while I understand that it’s not possible to outlaw Taco Bell franchises, wouldn’t you think that a grocery store or two would capitalize on the commercial zoning opportunities?
8. Ohio
Ohio’s population has the 11th-greatest consumption of soft drinks, and top-10 highest consumption of both sweet snacks and solid fats. As a result of these poor diets, Ohio has an adult diabetes occurrence of over 10%, which is the 11th-worst rate in the country.
While Ohio struggles with the grocery store to fast food chain ratio as well, they have the added concern of a high rate of diabetes. Hmm …
7. South Dakota
Only 10.1% of adults in South Dakota consume the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommended two or more fruits and three or more vegetables per day, compared to the national average of 14%. This is the fifth-worst rate in the nation.
You know, I don’t understand this. I thought that bulking up soups with vegetables, putting lettuce and tomato on sandwiches, and putting chopped onion and green peppers into everything from spaghetti sauce to meatloaf was par for the course these days.
6. Nevada
Nevada spends the most per capita on fast food — nearly $940 per person per year. This is roughly 25% more than Texas, the second-worst state, and well more than twice what Vermont residents spend. As might be expected, the state ranks in the bottom 10 for both households with no cars and low-income populations, defined as people with income less than 200 percent of the federal poverty thresholds, and proximity to grocery stores. Nevada’s obesity and diabetes rates, are above average.
I do have to wonder how much of that is related to tourists or part-time Nevadaites.
5. Oklahoma
The rate of household-level food insecurity, including households with food access problems as well as households that experience disruptions in their food intake patterns due to inadequate resources for food, is 15.2% in Oklahoma. The national rate is 13.5%.
It just boggles my mind that I could walk a mile in any direction and come across a store—and I live in freaking New Hampshire. Food access problems … that just sounds so sad.
4. Kansas
Kansas has some of the easiest access (seventh-best) to stores where cheap and healthy food is available. It is clear, however, that most residents do not take advantage of this, as the state has one of the worst diets in the country. Residents consume the 12th-most sweet snacks per person as well as the 12th-most solid fats — more than 20 pounds per person.
So leave it to Kansas to disprove the “increase in accessible supermarkets equals fewer trips to KFC” theory.
3. Missouri
Missouri does not rank especially poor in any of the metrics considered, however it does rank badly in about almost every one [grocery stores per 1,000 residents, amount spent on fast food per capita, gallons of soft drinks purchased per capita, and pounds of sweet snacks purchased per capita].
So general across-the-board suckiness in all metrics puts Missouri in the number three slot … and 30% of its adult population sporting 30+ BMIs.
2. Alabama
Alabama residents consume 77 gallons of soft drinks per capita per year, the fourth-highest amount in the country. This is roughly 33% more than Oregon, which consumes the least. Soft drinks like cola have more sugar per ounce than nearly any other food we regularly consume, and it is clear that soda has helped contribute to Alabama’s poor health outcomes. The state has the seventh-highest obesity rate and, predictably, the second-worst diabetes rate.
I wonder if that whole “deep fried everything” stereotype plays a role here at all …
1. Mississippi
Mississippi has the worst eating habits in the country. Only 8.8% of the adult population eats the recommended amount of daily fruits and vegetables, the lowest rate in the country. Residents consumed just under 82 gallons of soft drinks per capita in 2006, the greatest amount reported. Furthermore, the state has the third-highest rate of household-level food insecurity, with 17.1% of households being affected. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that the state has the highest rates of both adult diabetes (12.8%) and adult obesity (34.4%).
Any surprises here, or any question about the veracity of the statistics?
I lived in Kansas for a little while with my husband, whose family lives there. They didn’t eat a whole lot of fast food, but the food that they cooked at home was loaded with fats and sugars – biscuits and gravy, pies, hamburger helper, pizza, homemade candy, etc. I was considered “slender” or even “skinny” there (you’d be surprised at how many times I heard those words applied to myself, usually in a derogatory manner), even though I’m considered slightly overweight according to BMI charts. Here in Colorado and in my homewtown San Diego, I’m downright chubby!
Fruits and vegetables, hell that’s what food eats. Moooooooo, cluck, oink, quack, splash, meow.
My favorite meal is steak smothered in porkchops.
MEOW????
Her belly looks like a giant uncooked doughnut.
And those dairy cow rings that people put in the middle of their nose really complete the look!
I wonder if she can run her tongue into a nostril like old Flossy could?
My grandfather was a farmer. Every morning, my Gram would get up and make breakfast. Oatmeal, bacon, some type of fruit, eggs, often pork chops, fried potatoes, toast, pancakes and coffee.
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That was for one meal.
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He was about 6’2, thin as a rail, strong as an ox. He was born in 1892 (he was considerably older than my Gram, having lost his wife and most of his kids during the Flu Pandemic of 1919) and lived to be 78 years old. This is a pretty long lifespan for a man born in that era.
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The point is, he worked HARD. Physically hard. Every day of his life, sun up to sun down. He needed those calories to survive and function. Many people these days still think that they need a lot of calories when they don’t.
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An eye opening exercise is to determine how many calories that you need, then start weighing and measuring your food portions. It is shocking when you first see how big a portion of something is. Or should I say how big it isn’t?
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Try it.
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(Joey, I thought exactly the same thing when I saw the nose ring. We must be old, because I’m just not seeing the attraction of this look)
I think part of the issue is in places where that sort of thing has become traditional food in many areas where the traditional labour-based workforce no longer exists. People still want to eat the same way, but then they go to work in an office. I think this has something to do with the regional issues.
My father was like your grandfather,ate enormous meals but was non stop all day. He was 6’3 and 190 all his life. I’m a fan of piercing,except for those stupid booger catchers hanging off a nose,don’t get it!
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I’m from South Dakota and it’s actually pretty hard to get fresh fruit and veggies. By the time they’re put out on store shelves they’re on the verge of spoiling.
I’m surprised Wisconsin isn’t in the top 10. These people are serious about bacon, cheese, beer, and brats. Seriously serious. Plus, being a northern tier state, it’s hard to get good veggies year round and the ones that are available cost a small fortune. Yeah, so Whole Paycheck is there to provide fruits and veggies, but they also will cost you an arm and a leg.
I recently moved to Hawaii and I’m surprised they didn’t make it on the list.
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Google “Loco Moco” and try not to gag when you see the picture. (it’s two scoops of rice topped with two hamburger patties and two fried eggs, then smothered in brown gravy… hurugh)
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All of the “local” food here is fried or greasy and fast food is really popular too. I guess maybe the asian cuisine influences lead to people eating a lot of veggies which could balance things out across the state (authentic asian food isn’t as greasy as they americanized stuff you get at supermarkets and chain restaurants). The people I’ve seen who identify as “local” (here Hawaiian means native Hawaiian, and local means raised here) are more often than not quite obviously obese. It’s really gross what I see people eating in their “plate lunches” and the greasy meaty entree is served with two scoops of rice and macaroni salad, so you get plenty of starch to go with the fat. Soooo many people here have diabetes.
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There are tons of supermarkets and farmer’s markets everywhere, and some of the farmer’s markets are even set up to accept EBT (foodstamps) so access and income probably aren’t the major factors, I think people just aren’t educated at all about nutrition.
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I can’t wait to move back to California and have access to all the fresh fruits and veggies there.
the other thing that weirds me out about local eating habits is the rice. White rice is served with everything! Rice with your eggs at breakfast, rice with Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner, rice with chili, rice with SPAGHETTI for Pete’s sake. How much starch do you need!
My friend’s boyfriend was Hawaiian. One night I made dinner for them and I cooked up some whole wheat pasta.
My friend was thrilled to finally be eating a meal that didn’t feature white rice. And since I had so nicely cooked diner for them, he couldn’t complain.
Probably the only meal she ate without white rice the whole time they lived together…
Mmmm I saw her belly and immediately thought “Doughnut.”
Yep it’s definitely essay writing week in my flat= trick yourself into thinking you are working for three days, eat food, don’t leave your flat or walk anywhere, eat more, take a break from pretend work, have a meal, realize you have 6500 words to write still and hundreds of pages of reading to wade through, eat from the stress, repeat.
I’ve never bought a doughnut before, I may have to break that rule.
Gigi, you keep working hard and the Douche will bring you some doughnuts and candy.
Get me some bagels,a jar peanutbutter,one bunch of celery and a can of coffee. i hate to run to the store for four items.
douche candy sounds like it would be… moist.
Well, I’ve finished, so I guess you can just send some over my way.
I’ve heard that intense mental work actually can make people feel hungry just as intense physical work does. It sort of tricks the body that feeling worn out from the work means a lot of calories need to be replaced.
I have no idea where I crossed this study, and can give no evidence, but it was an interesting concept.
I actually read that super intensive thinking actually does burn calories.
I don’t remember where either. Need to look for that.
That’s an experience you’ve obviously never had.
The best I remember is that it absolutely did burn way more calories than sitting and typing normally would, but still nowhere near anything like intense exercise, while it tended to convince your brain that it needed to replace calories as per after an exercise session.
Something interesting I’ve heard about locations with dense populations overweight or healthy people is the correlation between them and the availability of sidewalks and parks. Places that have a lot of this kind of thing also have healthier populations, while places that do not have more obesity. It makes sense – if there’s no sidewalk, you aren’t encouraged to walk. If there aren’t parks, you’re not encouraged to spend time doing things outside. So you just drive and sit around.
People really underestimate the power of walking. I’ve read a few studies which say that exersizing at high intensities burn calories quicker, but they also make you hungrier. I think in small countries where things are more crowded together and walking is a part of daily life you are much more likely to be fit. The first time I moved away from America and came back I remember how frustrating it was to have to get in the car and drive sometimes, everything is so far apart!
depends on what you consider ‘fit’. Cardio is great, but will only get you so far. When you train your body for endurance, you train it to function where it assumes endurance is critical – and it goes into super-saver mode, slows down the metabolism and tries to store every nutrient.
High-intensity exercise, particularly intense weight-bearing makes you hungrier because it actually speeds up your metabolism, and the higher metabolic rate lasts after the workout – meaning you continue to burn calories when you’re not moving.
Of course,it does all depend on what else you do.
The number of people I see walking out of the gym after a nice half hour on the stairmaster with a smoothie and an energy bar…
Exactly, Kai. This is why I recommend to my friends (that ask) daily brisk walks combined with a minimum of 3 hours per week of cardio (everyone knows how much I love kickboxing) mixed with a strengthening/toning exercise of another 2 hours per week. Personally, I prefer Pilates.
I am seriously going to order a pair of the 5 Fingers shoes. I’m kind of moving towards the Classic or the Sprints. Any thoughts?
Any thoughts? Not lately.
I prefer the sprint to the classic. The classic sort of bags when pointing, while the strap on the sprint keeps it in nice and close without adding too much annoyance.
but it probably depends in part on how it fits your foot.
Thanks, Kai, I’m ordering now :)
Mm, I don;t mean physically hungrier, but psychologically tricks you into thinking you have done more and need more noms
You’re right about the small countries bit Gigi. Last time I went to Ireland, I lost 6 pounds in two weeks. I ate the same amount, I just walked everywhere and a lot of the activities I did involved being outside and moving.
Great, another pickled bog trotter. Why don’t you and Erin get together and try some alcohol poisoning.
You really aggravate me sometimes, Lola.
But every time I read “pickled bog trotter” I burst out laughing.
I know that isn’t your intention. That make it that much sweeter.
We’ll be sure to dedicate a toast to you!
Damn, how it’s possible to get so fat
shes pretty
im dating her when i be 40 years old and me and my parents are moving and taking all of are stuff to lee summit at kansas city the live in lyric and aris house