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It's all because they stopped advertising Virginia Slims! he he
On a serious note, I'm going to second the notion of diet combined with a (in more recent years) sedentary lifestyle and you have the obesity you observe. The large number of additives in prepared foods may also be having an effect of some unknown nature.
Side note though, when I lived in NC, my husband was in the Marine Corps so we rarely saw any hugely overweight people where we lived! We were also at our slimmest and fittest then! We've both gained weight in the last 18 months since we moved to the Midwest, haha.
One most important fact left out. Food stamps. When I was a child families grew gardens. Did they grow twinkies?? No. Vegetables and fruit trees. If you drive around these working class parts of towns now nothing but weeds and grass. These people were slim back then. Fresh vegetables were in abundance. People used to give it away.
No point in planting a garden now. It's too much like work.
100% agreed that its Food Stamps or EBT Cards. Excessive consumption of Mellow Yellow, Cheerwine, Doughnuts, Cookies, Cake, Fried Foods, Potato Chips, Biscuit's & Gravey, Ice Cream and Watching Oprah and Maurie. We're raising USDA Sows!
Salmart is a living laboratory of what's wrong in America.
Walmart lives and dies these days based on the # of EBT cards they handle. It's even listed in their annual report this year that if the government cuts back on these programs it could substantially affect revenue. Anyone who has been in a Walmart will tell you that it is full of not only obese people, but people so obese they have to ride on a cart to get around. Even kids are like this now.
I have observed it myself. Yet I've also noticed that will never ever see any of these people in the fresh fruit & vegetables section. They avoid the produce like it is the plague.
I don't think it is limited to people of this class as I've seen plenty of well off people who are pretty fat. And worse, their kids are too. Too much fatty over processed food, not enough exercise.
Where I live I don't see obesity as much as more rural areas of the state. My neighborhood has a lot of fit people who do a lot of strenuous exercise (including myself). I do circuit training 2-3 times a weeks and run 2-3 times a week (5-6 miles at an under 8 minute pace).
While statistics show the overall population is more overweight now than 40-50 years ago, I believe the tide is turning or at least the obesity increase is slowing. My hope is more people will start to understand the benefits of healthier living. I think it's already starting to change and social media and being able to find information at your fingertips on the internet is actually helping people to make better decisions.
Once people start to see a change in their bodies, it becomes an obsession to continue improving your fitness!
Poverty is a huge part of it as noted. The culinary culture of the state is very unhealthy, with its preference for pork, fried foods, carbs, and cakes. In some areas, it is very difficulty to be a vegetarian or vegan, and people almost seem proud that they eat such unhealthy food. Additionally, the lack of exercise among the population is especially troubling. For much of the state, people rarely go the gym, cycle, hike, or kayak. Walking is rare, and the lack of walkable, dense cities exacerbates the problem. The overall culture is very unhealthy.
OTOH, I live near the Marine base and I am surrounded by young, slender people who run or work out every day.
Same here though its UNC not the marine base
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