Why is the south fatter than the north? (fast food, statistics, school)

[baystater]

Obesity Rate in U.S. Still Climbing on Yahoo! Health


Why is the south consistently fatter than the north? Heck the guys down in the south have warmer weather longer. Also have more sunlight more days of the year. But yet the northern states seem to fair better. And I know in my home state of MA. we're usually in the top 10 for healthy states. Guys we have about 4 months of good weather a year and it gets dark at about PM during with winter.
And to be honest I wouldn't say overall that we eat tremendously better than the south. Maybe a little better but not a lot better than the south.

So what is going on?

[Lake.Lady]

All that good fried food?

[TXboomerang]

Simple. Good tasting southern cooking, and lots of it. I've modified my diet a lot for many reasons, but one being that most southern cooking uses oils, butter, margarine, and sugar very liberally (no pun intended).

There are many dishes that are very traditional and loved, the only problem is people have not reduced the frequency and serving sizes of these foods as activity levels drop due to increased modernization.

[TriMT7]

Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Greenbeans cooked in bacon......

[baystater]

Originally Posted by TriMT7

Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Greenbeans cooked in bacon......

good lord! Green beans cooked in bacon? .
The thing though about the diet difference that doesn't sit quite right with me is that I see plenty of people eating fast food and eating junk food in large quantities and are eating at a breakneck speed up here. And we do love our Samuel Adams which is on the heavier side of beer. So I'm not completely convinced that is all diet.

[skytrekker]

This is mostly cultural.

New Englanders tend to eat lots of baked and broiled seafood, Pasta, Greek and Italian cooking which tends to be lower in fat and we use lots of vegetables and olive oil.

While southern cooking relies more on fried foods and more fat.

[GregW]

Southern deep fried grease combined with Bug Light and never getting out of the air conditioning might have something to do with the problem.

Diet and exercise are the problem.

I am well aware of this on a personal basis.

[njkate]

and don't forget the Sweet Tea.....good grief there is sooooooo much sugar in that drink

[lilypad]

Who is not surprised that the mountain states have thinner people? They have skiing and mountains to climb! And for whatever reason, tend to be more health conscious. However, I have lived in the north (regrettably) and have seen plenty of obese people there as well. They put sugar in their cornbread and beans, ugh ugh!!

There are pockets of "healthy living" here in Texas, probably would be Austin and Hill Country, even Dallas, the more upscale areas, where people maybe better educated, with more money to stay thin. Probably the same in CA for the Hollywood bunch, who have the time and money to make it their "occupation" to be thin.

Someone mentioned southern cultural reasons. We did grow up on chicken fried steak, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy! Sure is good going down, but when you reach about 40 y/o it starts catching up with you. Now, it takes a real effort to keep it off! Some do try, and some don't care. I happen to care personally, since I have educated myself about health, and know the ravages of heart disease, diabetes, etc. I think most people in this country know the dilemma of obesity and should take the personal responsibility to DO something about it. Count yourself lucky if you have a doctor who cares enough to mention it to you. Don't know that the government is doing too much about it either. Who gets PE in school anymore? No kids I know!

[roanoker 4]

I read that article about the South being fatter than the North. It must be the diet. Fried Chicken, Country fried steak/gravy, bbq, lots of desserts. I think in the South food is celebrated more as a means of bringing the family together. Watch Paula Deen on tv, the foods that she prepares says it all about the Southern diet. It simply tastes better since so much of southern food is loaded with salt, butter, saturated fat. I read recently than Philadelphia was the fattest city in America and I've seen some heavily obese people in the North as well. Sometimes these statistics don't mean very much.
I think no sugar cookies, low fat desserts, artificial sweeteners, 0 trans gram fat popcorn are all to blame for the obesity epidemic in the U.S. The information that is given by the FDA is confusing on packaging(because the
food manufacturers want it that way) and the real culprit are health professionals who refuse to treat the problem and the government, schools,
churches, etc for ignoring this epidemic. Its all about capitalism.