US Fattest States 2008 MN #30 (buy, live in, shop)

[Slig]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

I agree 100%! I am sad for all of these fat children "running" around.

I blame the American lifestyle on this epidemic.

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by Slig

I blame the American lifestyle on this epidemic.

Lifestyle and diet. The most affordable foods are the worst for you. It can get expensive to eat a healthy diet. But that's a cop out. It's not rocket science. Burn more calories than you put into your body.

The Internet, video games, lazy parents, lazy kids....

[Slig]

I'd say the internet can help too. If you're not sure how to prepare a certain dish or what ingredients you need, everything you could ever want to know is a few clicks away.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Slig

It is kind of ironic that some of the poorest states are the fattest.

It is less expensive to buy a bag of chips then it is to buy a bag of apples, sadly.

[roneb]

Look on the bright side. In a recent Time Magazine article on the growing epidemic of childhood obesity, Minnesota was one of the four states with the lowest percentages of childhood obesity. The states were Minnesota, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado (not sure of the particular order). I guess the real problem in the North Country is when the kids grow up and grow tired of playing in the snow. It's harder to keep those pounds off in the winter once you're a grownup!

[golfgal]

AARP had an article several years ago about this and the introduction of High Fructose Corn Syrup into our diet. The obesity epidemic started around that time. There have been more and more stories about this lately. Apparently the premise is that our bodies can't process the HFCS the same way it does sugar and that contributes to the weight gain people see. Shortly after that article came out I tried cutting out the HGCS, which is EXTREMELY difficult as it is in everything. I cut out as much as I could and without changing my normal routine, lost 5 pounds.

Another thing to keep in mind is that obese for most 'charts' is defined by a height and weight. I know several people that are in excellent shape but are muscular and by the 'charts' are obese. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of fat people out there but some of the numbers aren't exactly accurate.

[kuan]

If you visit, say, the Hmong International market in St. Paul, you'll see plenty of obese second generation immigrant kids. It's sad, the Hmong are of Chinese descent and their prized roasted pork belly (with red rice) is all of a sudden available for $5 you can see how it spirals out of control. Our country's bounty is doing more harm than good at this point.

[dhmn69]

The study must have been done after the State Fair each year when we all eat everything under the sun, fried, on a stick mmmmmmmm

[Utter_Chaos]

Well, we NEED that extra blubber for our winters LOL!

[NYCGeek]

Interesting data… Although one might think after the first visit at the famous MN State Fair, that making first place wouldn’t be such an impossible endeavor after all.

I remember (not that long ago) just before I moved to MN that the state had made among the healthiest in the country. My first trip to the State Fair put the kibosh on that happy feeling.