Why Are Southerners So Fat? (fast food, wages, stats, Minnesota)

[jasper1372]

The way I see it it's a combination of things. I remember the first time I was in Atlanta, being born and raised in the midwest all my life, I wandered into a McDonalds in Atlanta and was shocked at how slow moving all the employees were during noon rush hour. I have never seen McDonald employees moving so slowly while there were lines 10 deep of clients to serve.

I think it's a combination of the high humidity they live in. I don't personally mind heat....but I'll admit that high humidity can sap me of all my desire to move to fast.

Secondly, I think it's a cultural thing. They just have learned a slower way of life and it's been handed down generation to generation.
In my business I end up calling manufacturers all over the US.....and you can always tell what part of the country you're calling about 15 seconds into the phone call. If you're calling the West Coast, the Northeast or the Midwest you'll get a person who is very business like and quick to respond to your business request and get you off the phone. If I call a factory in the South, you'll be 30 seconds into the phone call before they finish asking you "how y'all doing". It can be frustrating at times....but you just get used to it if you deal with Southerners.

Quite honestly, maybe the rest of us should learn to slow down a bit. There is after all more to life that being fast and effecient 24/7.

[Austin13]

Originally Posted by AeroGuyDC

Southerners enjoy an easy-going lifestyle, free of the burden of trying to impress everyone. We relish our time spent with family, and often that includes a big spread of food. We could care less about the diva's in Hollywood and don't aspire to have washboard abs or size 0 dresses. As long as there's food, family, and fellowship, there's not a whole lot that's missing in our lives.

Well, I guess you don't consider Miami or South Beach "the South." LOL

[nat_at772]

Originally Posted by Spot

Naw, if they passed out jogging they were probably Southern natives. The ones jogging past their prostate bodies were the tourists.

Originally Posted by JetJockey

I can jog in 90 degree weather just fine. It's a little more difficult, but if you're in shape and drink plenty of fluids to replenish the liquid lost in sweat then you'll be okay.

If you're not in shape and you overexert yourself and don't drink water, you're going to pass out.

yea I don't know - those people I see on the news look like they're in good shape...I guess maybe it's more of a lack of common sense thinking it was okay to go jogging at noon during a heat wave.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by djm666

It's a valid question from Time Magazine. I see your from TN.

NO, Im not FROM Tennessee. Does that matter anyways. Does that mean I am fat because I live in Tennessee or do I actually have to be born here.

[Huckleberry3911948]

not everybody in mississippi is fat, i am there for as much as 12 days at a time and am not fat.
ok ok i know that isnt a very good defense i will try again.
i guess its bek my aunt put bacon fat on most everything and served biscuits all the time.
come to think of it it was probably the only time of the year i was not on a california starvation diet. i love mississippi and miss my aunt.
the fat die young, helpless and happy
the fit are beautiful, empowered and often mean

[Colddiamond102]

Originally Posted by cuebald

Try oysters, then.

Just be aware going in that all the old wive's tales about oysters is nonsense.

The last time I ate a dozen only six of them worked.

Oysters,clams both look like boogers. Yuck. No wonder the old wives tale doesnt work...just look at them. *Shudders in disgust*

[subsound]

Would you really want to go outside and work out when it's that hot and that humid?

To me the South East is pretty much uninhabitable, if it's that hot it must be low humidity.

[mackinac81]

What an interesting thread! Some of you guys are a riot. But you forgot about Michigan which is always in the top ten most obese states. But we have our own reasons up here. I'm moving to North Carolina in a couple of weeks and it'll be interesting to see if there are indeed a ton of obese people where I'm at. I'm a runner, not a big eater, and don't like fried fatty foods, but I'll do the best I can.

But I DO love fried okra.

[bigskydude]

Folks down here don't walk.

Many cities (East Texas), short of downtown, don't even have sidewalks running through their neighborhoods, and many of the secondary roads don't have shoulders. People here have to walk in the street if they do walk, and most don't walk for fear of getting run over.

Cities in the north, however, like Spokane, Billings, Boise, Yakima, to name just a few, all have city sidewalks running through nearly every neighborhood, and their secondary roads all have shoulders.

[bigskydude]

Originally Posted by Colddiamond102

Oysters,clams both look like boogers. Yuck. No wonder the old wives tale doesnt work...just look at them. *Shudders in disgust*

I feel your pain. ..

Folks here in East Texas keep trying to get me to eat crawldads (crayfish) .. (eeeewwww -- in the spirit of Jim Varney) ... I use the creepy crustations for fish bait.

I usually don't eat anything that eats dirt or poop ...