why is middle america so fat?

[cheapie]

i travel quite a bit in the midwest and to the west coast. every time i fly back home to the midwest or go to other midwest states i'm struck by the weight of people, esp kids, here.

is it because it's cold more of the year? we're not as cool, and therefore less likely to work out and drive past mcdonald's?

i'm in louisville, ky and am staying at a hotel that apparently has some sort of high school event. there are hundreds and hundreds of teenagers here and were all dressed up last night for a dance. i'll bet 25% of them were fat, and many were def obese. it was so sad seeing these young girls squeezed into dresses that made them look like sausages. :2far:

i don't remember anything like that when i was a kid. and i don't remember ALL the girls having boobs. is it the hormones in our meat and dairy products doing that?

[Prngr44]

I've often heard discussions about the hormones in meat and dairy pushing the age of puberty down.

[MrGreg]

We need to figure out the right hormone combination that leads to skinny girls with big boobs.

[MikeD]

Ever been to Miami? It's full of ridiculously good looking people. Wonder why that is?

That's a partial answer to your question, Cheapie...

[shaggyucla]

We need to figure out the right hormone combination that leads to skinny girls with big boobs.
:stupid:

[Jeffbx]

Lower education + lower income = horrible eating habits.

[chrissy]

I don't know about that.

I mean, I grew up in the midwest and even living on a military base, you see all shapes and sizes. I don't see it as a "mid west is fat" issue, but a whole nation issue. I see just as many here as I did back there and as many as I did in CA.

[Cubsfan]

Interesting:

http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?action=compare&category=Health+Status&subcategory=Obesity&topic=Adult+Overweight%2fObesity+Rate

[Jcranmer]

i'm in louisville, ky and am staying at a hotel that apparently has some sort of high school event. there are hundreds and hundreds of teenagers here and were all dressed up last night for a dance. i'll bet 25% of them were fat, and many were def obese. it was so sad seeing these young girls squeezed into dresses that made them look like sausages. :2far:


I work in Louisville. What part of town are you staying in?

[Napoleon54]

Interesting:
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?action=compare&category=Health+Status&subcategory=Obesity&topic=Adult+Overweight%2fObesity+Rate

Odd scale though, the difference between tan and red could be as little as 5% of the population.

[The Happy Squirrel]

heres the thing

alot of it is low income influence as jeffbx stated

it goes along with a few trends

it doesnt start at low income i people being a product of thier enviorment,
it starts with low education which leads to low income and bad eating habits partly from lack of awareness part from lack of caring and mostly becuase thats what the parents are doing, instead of having a regualr square meal cooked for the kids, its take out of pizza, or something olong those lines, which as we all know becomes expensive which further fuels the low money part of this equation. the biggest part ofit though is enviorment


as far as the growth horemones there is a very slight correlation between that and obesity but not so much as to cause an epidemic such as that of which we currently have
it can lower the puberty age slightly but that in itsself does not lead to the obesity, its the poor diet that has become a habit becoming more of a factor once puberty hits


antoher factor is the school systems.... back when i was in school we had totwo choices k-9 we could bring a bag lunch <once again if you ahve a poor diet at home you'll bring a poor lunch with you> or you could eat the hot lunch which most kids just dont eat wether they dont care for food that is a bit bland becuase it was cooked in mass quanities to feed a diverse crowd or if its just not cool to eat hot lunch
in school 9 - 11 we had other options the hot lunch which no body touched bag lunch from h0ome which just inst cool th bring you G I Joe unch box to high school
or we had the a la cart which involved pizza french fries cake cheese burgers and so on. this is where everyone ate then as a senior in 12 grade you had open lunch which meant you could leave campus and go where ever for lunch now being from a small town we did not have any fast food in town so this led to about 60 kids getting thier daily meal at the gas station. no this in itsself was horrbile diet but that was 10 years ago, now there are school systems with fast food restraunts right on the campus lunch rooms
this is abouslty rediclious

so the have a bad diet "taught" at home then reinforced at the school and this just perpetuates itsself into adulthood and then is taught to thier kids

you pick out 100 random fat kids and ask what thier favorite fruit of vegtable is and you get 40 blank stares, 50 excuses "i dont like vegtables", "fruit doesnt agree with me" 7 who dont understand the question and maybe 3 who can provide you with an answer
it all boils down to enviorment 80% or more of this problem is learned behavior "there is a small percentage that is genetic" and i am not just dismissing that


as far as the geographical thing goes i dont ahve much of a thoery, the reason you see alot of "beautifu8l" people in the sunny states is that all the fat people are hiding indoors eating pizza and watching The Maury Show the dont want to go outside and be surronded by all these skinny beautiful women in tight little bikinis, skating down the boardwalk, thight little butt swaying from side to side as they go, hair blowing in the breeze................ sorry bout that kinda wnet off track, the point is is that you see more of them, in the midwest becuase of the general demeanor of people in the midwest <ever heard of Minnesota Friendly?> is more, not so much as accepted, but not judged verses the sunny shoreline where they will surely feel like an outsider. well i ahve said enough...

[cheapie]

I work in Louisville. What part of town are you staying in?


i'm at the galt house hotel on the river.

[ialsohaveadream]

My answer: Because exercising for 2 weeks in January doesn't make you skinny.

[cheapie]

i understand why americans are fat. just wondering why midwesterners seem to be fatter.

[The Happy Squirrel]

i understand why americans are fat. just wondering why midwesterners seem to be fatter.

becuase they dont hide in the midwest, not surrounded by bathing beauties to keep them inside

[RIVERWIDOW]

Because they live in the land of meat and potatoes smothered in gravy.

[cheapie]

becuase they dont hide in the midwest, not surrounded by bathing beauties to keep them inside

i don't think that's it. i really think it's that we really just eat worse and are inside more.

[ski]

The IN-N-OUT Burger in Carlsbad, CA is strange... almost every time I visit there, everyone in the restaurant is skinny to average weight. Nobody remotely looking overweight. Now, put an IN-N-OUT nearly anywhere else in the country...

[The Happy Squirrel]

you wanna see overwieght check out a Ryan's in chicago.

[cheapie]

or old country buffet here in michigan. :heh:

[The Happy Squirrel]

hehe we have OCB too prob going there tomorrow with the folks

[Jeffbx]

or old country buffet here in michigan. :heh:

Oh man, ain't that the truth!


hehe we have OCB too prob going there tomorrow with the folks

Don't do it! Go someplace else... ANYPLACE else!

:puke:

[MikeD]

i don't think that's it. i really think it's that we really just eat worse and are inside more.

It has to do with numerous factors, all of which are well known and fairly obvious:

Diet
Amount of exercise / physical activity
To a certain extent, genetics

Just an opinion, but many non-whites eat a healthier diet than white folks do. And let's be honest, the Midwest is full of white people. Specifically, I'm thinking Asian and Hispanic cultures as those who eat a healthier diet.

My wife is Spanish and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen her mother fry something to eat. Something small, but goes a long way. :shrug:

[cheapie]

i'd agree about asians eating healthier. but the black and hispanic folks here and just as blimptacular as us whities.

[fillup0215]

Europeans thinks all americans are fat...pretty sad, but over there a lot of them walk...here we have the comfortability of a car, and our physical education program in school is not installing a sense of fitness to our kids now a days, a kid that does not like to exercise can get a doctors note to get out of PE, all the parents must introduce a activity that involves cardio for their children at a very young age to get their hearts pumping...yes some may fall out and not like it! but we adults are not involved as we should be, we work, we stress, and we just go home and veg...now i am not talking about all adults if you are major factor in your child's life...that is great, we should say we should be more like you...

[MikeD]

i'd agree about asians eating healthier. but the black and hispanic folks here and just as blimptacular as us whities.

Hmmm...

Maybe it's in the water there. I dunno...


Blimptacular
:heh:

Never heard that one before.

It's a good topic to bring up and discuss. The fact that so many kids are heavy today is a bad, bad sign. I wonder what we'll look like 25 years from now, when they're having kids and passing their eating habits on to the next generation. :(

[chrissy]

heh, okay.

I grew up in the midwest. My family is loaded with irish, dutch and indian blood (Audrey is doing a report on immigration, that's been a fun family project). It has always been a joke that we get our boobs and butts from the Riley's. You can look at pictures all the way back and see the coke bottle shape in all the Riley women. Now, combine that with coal miners, who tend to eat meat and potatoes and butter bread for every meal with basic veggies (corn, beans, carrots) and you get more people who look like my family.

I remember growing up, I would pack on 5-10 lbs in the winter but spring/summer gain nothing. I was outside running and riding my bike etc.

Today, when I go back to IL, you don't see kids out playing anymore - they are inside on video games, riding motorized scooters, or at a mall.

Growing up, I wasn't a skinny kid (heck I loved the jeans back then with the tiny waist and baggy legs!) but I had a figure. There was pressure to be skinny so it's not like there is peer pressure or media role models not making an impression on the youth there. I think there is a more relaxed attitude towards fitness.

[fillup0215]

very true chrissy! and if you can afford it now a days u have lipo!!! hahaha

[zippyjuan]

Chrissy is definately onto something. There are fewer places for kids to play. Mom doesn't want to be bothered so she plops them in front of the TV instead of letting them run around outside where they are bombarded with ads for sweet and fatty snacks. They bug Mom until she buys them this stuff just to quiet them down. Then there are the soda machines at school. School lunches come all prepacked- all the cafeteria workers have to do is reheat and serve. These have poor nutrition. The ones I used to get were made by the staff and we did not get to choose what we wanted. Potato chips and sodas were not readily available in the school.

When I grew up. we were supposed to be outside playing when we were not at school. I started walking home (about a mile or so) in the fourth or fifth grade and started riding a bike to school not long after that. I could only have a soda on Saturday night and TV viewing was also limited. My parents and grand parents ate what would have been fattening food, but they worked hard enough to burn it off. Now, people drive everywhere. We used to walk a lot more.

[Napoleon54]

Chrissy is definately onto something. There are fewer places for kids to play. Mom doesn't want to be bothered so she plops them in front of the TV instead of letting them run around outside where they are bombarded with ads for sweet and fatty snacks. They bug Mom until she buys them this stuff just to quiet them down. Then there are the soda machines at school. School lunches come all prepacked- all the cafeteria workers have to do is reheat and serve. These have poor nutrition. The ones I used to get were made by the staff and we did not get to choose what we wanted. Potato chips and sodas were not readily available in the school.

When I grew up. we were supposed to be outside playing when we were not at school. I started walking home (about a mile or so) in the fourth or fifth grade and started riding a bike to school not long after that. I could only have a soda on Saturday night and TV viewing was also limited. My parents and grand parents ate what would have been fattening food, but they worked hard enough to burn it off. Now, people drive everywhere. We used to walk a lot more.

:stupid:

I was always either in school or outside doing something or another. Either riding my bike or working on my tree fort in the spring/summer/fall, then digging snow forts or making trails through the woods in the winter. Started riding my bike the 5-6 miles to school in like 3rd grade. TV just wasn't interesting and we didn't have video games or a computer.

Nowadays I doubt schools even LET kids walk or ride bikes to school: "too dangerous".

Nowadays they're all inside snacking in front of the TV or computer. In order to combat this obesity epidemic, Parents really need to:

1) set a better example by being more active and eating healthier.
2) get the kids out and about; kids are naturally active and energetic, they're only lazy/ sedentary if they're taught to be that way.
3) cut back on the processed foods, make and encourage children to eat healthy home cooked meals.

[zippyjuan]

And then the schools cut PE which we had every day and some even reduced lunch hours. There is a lot more junk food available in schools now- paid for by the soda and chip companies.

[DaFunkyUnit]

i honestly think its cultural.

In the midwest, everything is heavy on the butter, and smothered with gravy.

Home-cooked Hispanic food (from what I've seen/experienced) tend to not use the leanest of meats, plus everything is smothered with cheese, sour cream and guacomole (sp).

IMO, I honestly believe that the most healthiest of foods is Japanese food, and I believe it is apparent in their population. Does anyone know any fat Japanese people? (Sumos and Hawaiians don't count. Again culturally, in Hawaii, everything they eat is filled with fried SPAM)

my $0.02

[zippyjuan]

First or second generation Asians tend to be leaner but after they become more Americanized in their habits, they get larger too. Fast food asian is not necessarily healthy but most asian cooking is healthier than standard US fare. Another factor is that people do not cook their own food as much as they use to- instead consuming the fat and sugar laden processed foods- either at places like McDonalds or frozen foods.

[VTGreg]

Nowadays I doubt schools even LET kids walk or ride bikes to school: "too dangerous".


It is more dangerous now for kids. When I was a kid we were out riding bikes and hiking through the woods. Now, most parents cannot allow their kids that freedom because of predators that are out there. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have their kids out and being active, but it isn't as easy as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

Diets have also worsened because in many homes both parents work. 10, 15 or 20 years ago, there were many more women that were housewives. This allowed families to eat better because the mothers had more time at home to cook. Today, with everyone's busy schedule, it is tough enough to get home and get dinner on the table, much less cook dinner from scratch.

[JackHammer]

I think it's the mind set of the people in cities. Call it vanity or whatever but in big cities like NYC, LA, etc I think people are just more obsessed with the way they look. I'm not saying that this is the only reason. Like someone else mentioned, money also plays a role.

[DaFunkyUnit]

It is more dangerous now for kids. When I was a kid we were out riding bikes and hiking through the woods. Now, most parents cannot allow their kids that freedom because of predators that are out there. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have their kids out and being active, but it isn't as easy as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

you really think that the number of sexual deviants have increased? I always thought it was the growing media exposure playing upon the fears of the masses.... (this topic might be better suited in a separate thread....)

[Napoleon54]

It is more dangerous now for kids. When I was a kid we were out riding bikes and hiking through the woods. Now, most parents cannot allow their kids that freedom because of predators that are out there. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have their kids out and being active, but it isn't as easy as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

you really think that the number of sexual deviants have increased? I always thought it was the growing media exposure playing upon the fears of the masses.... (this topic might be better suited in a separate thread....)
:stupid:

I think the problem has always been there and on the same scale. We're just more aware of it now than in the past.

[cheapie]

I think it's the mind set of the people in cities. Call it vanity or whatever but in big cities like NYC, LA, etc I think people are just more obsessed with the way they look. I'm not saying that this is the only reason. Like someone else mentioned, money also plays a role.


i think you're right. and money does play a big role in the types of food people eat.

[MikeD]

I think it's the mind set of the people in cities. Call it vanity or whatever but in big cities like NYC, LA, etc I think people are just more obsessed with the way they look. I'm not saying that this is the only reason.

This is what I was alluding to with my Miami comment. I think this is definitely a factor, though not the only one.

[ShawnLee]

I saw an old 20/20 thing on TV today on the "price" of warehouse clubs (I don't know how old it is since it's subtitled and repackaged for Korean TV here) and it brought up an interesting point that I'd sort of thought aboutbut hadn't fleshed out in my mind.

Warehouse clubs are popular now, and people buy in bulk there. They say they'll buy a month's worth of food, but end up packing it away in ten days. Combine that with the basic human notion of food as fuel and food as survival.
Up until the mid-twentieth century, most people had to eat everything they could in order to ensure their survival. Western societies moved away from the need for this around then, and the rest of the world is catching up.
So, get a bunch of food, pack it awy in your homes where it's accessible, and the basic human need to eat everything it can kicks in. So, you forage (or hunt) and discover the cache of food that's been stored away (even if you did it yourself).

So why middle America? I think it's two things.
First, it's true that the less urban areas might afford you to be less image-conscious than the cities.
But second, and I think this is bigger (pardon the pun), but there are more people in cities (duh) and so anybody you see will not be as big a percentage of the population that sticks out in your mind. There are plenty of fat folk in the cities, but seeing one fat person in a city of millions won't be as significant as seeing one in a town of a thousand. Still, there are plenty of places in a city that fat folk can hide out in, but I'd guess fewer places for the fat folk of the countryside to hide away in.

[cheapie]

:heh: that's one way to think about it i guess. but i don't really think that's the case because the way i notice it is X% of the people at this starbucks, airport, target, gas station are fat. it really doesn't matter what the overall pop is. does it?

[ialsohaveadream]

you really think that the number of sexual deviants have increased? I always thought it was the growing media exposure playing upon the fears of the masses.... (this topic might be better suited in a separate thread....)
No, there aren't a higher percentage of predators (there are probably more in terms of real numbers, but that's because we have a greater population). But if parents actually let their kids go outside and play, and something happens to the kid, the "You're a terrible parent!" crowd comes screaming out in full force with pitchforks and torches. Thus, the good parents, terrified of being labeled bad parents for letting their kids lead a normal life, won't even let their kids ride bikes around the neighborhood anymore.

[zippyjuan]

Weather is one reason for geographical differences in weight. If it is too hot and humid or too cold, people are less likely go get outside and be active. They stay in and eat and do more leisurly activities. If you live in a nice climate like California or Florida, you are more likely to get outside more. You also do not wear as bulky clothes to protect yourself from the cold so the body is seen more.

The irony is the the impact of money has reversed itself as far as quality of diet is concerned. In earlier times, the wealthy were the ones who could afford to eat fatty foods and even meat and deserts while the poorer ate more fresh vegetables they probably grew themselves because that was what they could afford. Today the cheaper and easier eats are found at places like McDonalds and Burger King. Foods with the most fats and sugars are the most advertised and the cheapest to buy. Those with more money can eat at better resturaunts and have better quality fruits and vegetables as part of their meals. They also have more money have gym memberships.

[Napoleon54]

Answer: 'cause America is a bunch of lazy trolls.