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They ski on a nearly daily basis as a form of regular exercise???
I don't know. But I've seen a lot of obese people up North in my travels. You'd think, based on the tone of some of these posters, that the population becomes svelte the minute you cross the Ohio River. Last year, I was in Michigan and Wisconsin on biz, looked around me in the truck stop and thought, "Wow. These people make the folks back home look like something out of a Tae Bo video."
it makes sense you would see more obese people up north in high population states because there is a greater number of them, and a higher population density.
I was tempted to say that the climate was a deterrent, but that's only because of how exhausting I personally find extreme heat and humidity in the south. I spent way too many years listening to the endless drone of air conditioning units and not feeling like doing much.
I know it's a generalization, but I'd say that overall, it's a combination of food, culture, and even the layout of many cities that contributes to the obesity level. There's more of an acceptance of regular fast food meals, less of a focus on good grocery/produce selection, less of a stress on fitness and exercise, and not many places overall that have bike lanes or sidewalks. Add a tendency towards mostly suburban In places that I've lived in the south, people assumed that your car broke down if you were walking, or that you were some sort of degenerate.
It was eye-opening for me to move to CO and see the differences...
i am not sure how living in suburbs can lead to obesity. people can walk or ride their bike in their suburban neighborhoods and it is safer than riding in a bike lane down a busy urban road or walking along a sidewalk along a busy urban road. i've always lived in suburbs and i rarely see anybody i would call obese. i rarely see people walking on sidewalks or biking in urban areas, outside of the main business district.
you say therer is less of a stress on fitness and exercise but there are gyms, tennis courts and clubs, golf courses, etc all over the place. the other stuff you said seems like speculation.
it isn't hot all year in the south. there are 4 seasons.
i am not sure how living in suburbs can lead to obesity. people can walk or ride their bike in their suburban neighborhoods and it is safer than riding in a bike lane down a busy urban road or walking along a sidewalk along a busy urban road. i've always lived in suburbs and i rarely see anybody i would call obese. i rarely see people walking on sidewalks or biking in urban areas, outside of the main business district.
you say therer is less of a stress on fitness and exercise but there are gyms, tennis courts and clubs, golf courses, etc all over the place. the other stuff you said seems like speculation.
it isn't hot all year in the south. there are 4 seasons.
Hey now, don't get your panties in a twist. I appreciate your commentary and defensiveness about the south, but there are palpable differences between the south and some other regions in the country. Just curious, have you ever lived somewhere outside of SC as an adult?
I know a lot of people on these threads compare places that they've never visited or lived in, but in this case I'm not one of them. When I moved to Colorado in 2010-after spending the previous sixteen years in North Carolina, I was immediately able to detect a difference in attitude- and the stats generally back up why I felt that way.
As to my observations, well in some places there actually are people walking and biking all over the place, which is not the case-like you said-outside the main business districts in the south. Part of the reason people use them here in WA is because it's more ingrained in the local culture of bikers and drivers, and part of it is because it's taken much more seriously as a form of transportation. Designated lanes are created, routes actually connect without suicidal connections through bad roads, dangerous intersections, etc. Again, no reason to be insulted, but there's a stronger emphasis in general on biking and walking, IMHO.
Also I'm not saying that people in suburbs don't exercise or go to the gym in the south, and I'm not claiming that there aren't suburbs anywhere else in the country. They're everywhere, obviously- though the planning seems especially poor in the south, and forces a slightly higher amount of car dependency. Overall, though, I'm just saying that it feels like more people are into fitness of some sort, or just eating better and regularly getting exercise, in other parts of the country.
Regarding the weather, again I'm well aware of the seasons in the south- and appreciate the four seasons. I was merely stating my preference for cooler weather and mentioning that the heat and humidity often discouraged me from doing much outside when I lived there. I felt the same way growing up in Florida, FWIW.
it is amazing, i cannot state an sincere opinion about something without somebody accusing me of being defensive. i think that accusation is in fact being defensive.
i don't see how somebody who livs in WA can know what people are doing in the south on a regular basis. you don't even know these people. that is why i say it is speculation.
as i've pointed out, large population states outside of the south have a greater number of obese people. having a large population helps to obscure the larger number of obese people when the per capita stats are used. people assume there is a linear relationship between number of obese people and total population as population increases. i dn't think that is the case. i think as population increases, the per capita numbers tend to go down.
i kind of doubt your average person in other parts of the country is walking miles and miles to work, grocery store, etc. yes i have lived outside of the south.
have you ever lived in the south and for how long.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 07-16-2016 at 02:09 PM..
it is amazing, i cannot state an sincere opinion about something without somebody accusing me of being defensive. i think that accusation is in fact being defensive.
i don't see how somebody who livs in WA can know what people are doing in the south on a regular basis. you don't even know these people. that is why i say it is speculation.
as i've pointed out, large population states outside of the south have a greater number of obese people. having a large population helps to obscure the larger number of obese people when the per capita stats are used. people assume there is a linear relationship between number of obese people and total population as population increases. i dn't think that is the case. i think as population increases, the per capita numbers tend to go down.
i kind of doubt your average person in other parts of the country is walking miles and miles to work, grocery store, etc. yes i have lived outside of the south.
have you ever lived in the south and for how long.
Lol, go back and read my post. I answered your questions and talked about the points you mentioned but you clearly didn't read much of my post before responding.
Yes, large numbers of people outside the South are obese. It's everywhere. But the example of the upper Midwest is just highlighting another hotspot. I'm not paging over to stats, but scientifically, there was the Cleveland Show's great episode about Wisconsin.
Bartonizer, totally agree. It's a mix of several factors including culture, urban design/density, climate, and so on.
The peer issue is a big deal. In the Puget Sound area and much of the West Coast, there are still obese people but it's not as accepted socially, you're expected to be able to walk a few blocks from the office to lunch, and you can probably get healthy food as easily as unhealthy food (or it isn't that hard).
There's an urban effect. For example in the suburbs an obese person drives to work and parks next to their work, but in a major downtown they're taking transit instead of paying an hour or two of income to park. They're walking a few blocks to do that. This uses a little bit of calories, but more importantly it gets the heart rate up and the muscles working, and is a twice-daily reminder to eat better. In Northwest cities and some others, there might be a hill too, doubling all of those effects.
Drive-throughs are a killer. They're mostly unhealthy places. A lazy person might pick their meal based on what has a drive-through. These don't exist in urban areas. In fact, onsite surface parking lots drop to nearly zero in urban neighborhoods. You're likely to walk instead, and drivers still have to walk farther. If you're parking a block away from a neighborhood business center you might have several good places to eat in a small area. If you pick the hamburger place it's because that's what you want, not because it's the place you can get to sitting down.
Lol, go back and read my post. I answered your questions and talked about the points you mentioned but you clearly didn't read much of my post before responding.
ok i can say the same thing about you. my main response is you don't know anything about the people in the south and what they do on a daily basis. it isn't like you live with them. one of your themes is that people in the suburbs are more obese but i have rarely seen obese people in any of the suburbs that i have lived in in several different cities in the south, over the couse of 38 years.
given the fact people have tried to link obesity to low income, it makes more sense that there are more obese people in urban areas, not in the burbs.
also keep in mind that the obesity stats are often self reported with nt even a measure of weight and BMI, and they are often landline surveys with a small sample size. it is not based on medical records from physicians with a diagnosis of obesity.
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