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Seriously? I am just going off of the number of potbellies I see as well as women who should not be wearing spandex or short shorts but I would think we rank MUCH worse than 20th. But who am I in the grand scheme of things?
Well the way they calculate it is silly. They looked at things like how many parks there are, how many people have health insurance--nothing to do with people being fit! When magazines like Outside rank them, they seem to make much more sense (places like LA, SF, Denver, SLC, Minneapolis, all those outdoorsy places come in at the top.
NC is definitely NOT a very fit place to me. I've lived many places where everyone is out and about and exercising all the time, and you rarely see a smoker or someone heavy. When we movced to NC I was really surprised to see so many smokers and so many heavy people.
Well the way they calculate it is silly. They looked at things like how many parks there are, how many people have health insurance--nothing to do with people being fit! When magazines like Outside rank them, they seem to make much more sense (places like LA, SF, Denver, SLC, Minneapolis, all those outdoorsy places come in at the top.
NC is definitely NOT a very fit place to me. I've lived many places where everyone is out and about and exercising all the time, and you rarely see a smoker or someone heavy. When we movced to NC I was really surprised to see so many smokers and so many heavy people.
Tobacco and bar-b-que. Two things NC is famous for (neither are healthy).
I once saw one of these "fittest cities" rankings that actually had Cleveland in the top five or ten a year or two back. Anyone who has ever even passed through that area knows what a joke that is (I'm from the area personally).
I believe this survey also has a couple Texas cities listed on it.
COME ON!! I love Texas, but just last year Houston and Dallas were ranked among the fattest cities in the country by Men's Health.
Personally, I don't find the Triangle area or North Carolina in general to be that unhealthy (I'm actually pretty impressed with the gym selection, and running and biking paths in the state), but take these "rankings" with a grain of salt.
I've only visited Raleigh as well as other parts of NC several times now. I like the state but I would not call it a very fitness conscious area at all. There are people that are, but compared to some other USA areas I don't see it in NC.
Visit Denver or even here in Portland or San Diego and you will see what I mean. Fitness is part of the culture in those areas. I saw gyms in Raleigh but not any huge amounts. I did notice people that did workout go to Y's there more than other cities I have been to. I think the Y is more popular in NC than some other states that have more gym choices.
Also there are few sidewalks there so people aren't walking for exercise or to bus stops, since there are few buses to begin with. The type and amount of restaurants in a metro area also says alot about what foods are popular there. Just come to Portland, you would think everyone was from the Orient with the primary restaurants being from those countries. Not all the restaurants are healthy here either.
Raleigh is a nice city but it is what it is, a more business oriented capitol city in NC. Fitness conscious citizens it has, but fitness conscious is not really a big personality trait of the area. I think that people basically know that there. These indexes are not realistic measures of anyplace half the time.
Raleigh is probably more Fitness conscious than Charlotte though.
Last edited by Jimrob1; 05-28-2009 at 08:10 PM..
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