Fattest States | 07/02/2009 9:20 am

America's Getting Fatter: Mississippi, Southern States Among Nation's Worst Offenders

Study shows a whopping two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese, and obesity rates for children are at or above 30 percent in 30 states.

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

When it comes to trimming the fat, Americans across the country are doing a really poor job.

A new study out today shows that Americans — pretty much everywhere — are getting fatter. Adult obesity rates increased in 23 states and didn’t decrease in a single state last year! And it’s not just adults who are losing the battle of the bulge. The percentage of obese and overweight children is at or above 30 percent in 30 states. That’s not good news for the future, since studies show that obese kids more than likely will turn out to be obese adults. This is yet another good reason to teach your kids good eating habits now, and to encourage exercise!

Mississippi leads the way for obese adults and kids. A whopping 44.4 percent of Mississippi kids ages 10 through 17 are technically overweight or obese, according to rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. The other fattest states and their obesity percentages include: West Virginia, 31.2 percent; Alabama, 31.1 percent; Tennessee, 30.2 percent; and South Carolina 29.7 percent. Southern states take the cake — literally — for obesity rates. Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Hawaii had the lowest obesity rates. Here’s another number to consider: in 49 states, 1 in 5 people are obese. Two-thirds of Americans are now either overweight or obese.

Not only is this bad for our own personal health, and not only does it lead to higher cases of diabetes and other health-related problems, but it doesn’t bode well for the nation’s health-care system, either.

"Our health-care costs have grown along with our waistlines,” said Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director of Trust for America’s Health. "The obesity epidemic is a big contributor to the skyrocketing health-care costs in the United States. How are we going to compete with the rest of the world if our economy and workforce are weighed down by bad health?"

Click here for an interactive, state-by-state map of obesity rates.

76 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

First lets start with food supply people who have less do not normally have access to anything but processed food. Full of chemicals and fructose corn syrup which I will say has been banned in Europe.Also education isn’t there for them to access about nutrition. These people aren’t lazy they are uninformed and need help. First instead of putting money first we as a country need to put people first. The profit margin makes places like McDeath the affordable food source when you only have a dollar or two a day. This is why we need Health Care not profit for peoples suffering.

By S G on 07/02/2009 8:35 am

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SG you’re correct: HFCS is horrendous stuff—we drink too many sodas with HFCS in them and this product alone can cause an immense (pardon the pun) amount of fat on a person. I gave up drinking sodas nearly completely—water is much better for you-so’s beer ;-)

By F P on 07/02/2009 9:50 am

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I injured my leg a couple years ago and was in a cast for 3 months. In that short period of time my eating habits didn’t change and yet I gained 40 pounds from the loss of exercise. I worked so hard to get it off. Then I made a stupid mistake. I saw some fruit flavored bottled water in the supermarket. Yum, I thought…… and it was delicious. So I bought more.

I started regaining the weight I’d lost. That’s when I discovered the horrors of HFCS.

Here’s a tip: drink the water from the tap, toss a couple ice cubes in it, then cut a wedge of lemon or lime. Much much better for you.

By Andrea Brandon on 07/02/2009 9:32 pm

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Good tip Andrea:) Our bodies do not recognise it as food. The body then continue to say it is hungry.

By S G on 07/03/2009 7:31 am

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SG, you are so right. Economically depressed areas see more obesity because people with little money buy "stick to the ribs" food to stretch it out further. Ground beef, pastas, breads, potatoes- cheap and easy to make in mass quantity. Also, people on government assistance for food are not educated on cooking, baking. These people purchase processed foods, no homemade cookies, etc. because they honestly don’t know how to cook or bake. Since many of these people live in "at risk" neighborhoods, the kids stay in the house for safety reasons, therefore, no exercise. The key is truly education. Don’t just hand them food stamp cards, provide suggestions/ recipes to stretch the money out in healthy ways. Boys/Girls club settings need more money to run for safe locations children can get support, exercise, homework help, and so on. There just aren’t enough donations coming in to run these centers. It’s a cycle not unlike other cycles such as child abuse, etc. It’s not like these people want to live this way or choose to be obese, it’s that they truly don’t know how to break the cycle. It’s the only way of life they’ve been a part of.

By Dee T on 07/02/2009 12:27 pm

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We will see many of these non-profit centers closing down….it’s the poor that are going to suffer the worse when cap and tax is approved…we are seeing the decline in donations at our agency now….it’s going to get worse.

By Libra Lady on 07/02/2009 4:31 pm

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LL,

I heard one expert yesterday say that unemployment won’t begin to improve for another year.

California [government] is sending out IOU’s instead of checks to welfare recipients, vendors……..

By Andrea Brandon on 07/02/2009 9:35 pm

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Comes down to personal choices. Some people chose to treat their bodies like a funhouse….I chose to treat mine like a temple. : )

Universal Health Care is not going to do anything to stop obesity. It will, however, have bandaid surgery soar and "repeat" bandaid surgery soar because some Americans have no will power over their urges and habits. Nothing is ever going to change that…not education and not repeat surgeries. The only obese people who succeed are the ones who truly want to be thin.

By deber B on 07/02/2009 9:00 am

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I believe some of it is personal choices, but then again, maybe not. I’ve lost 130 lbs. since 2003, and I didn’t go through gastric bypass or anything - I did it on my own. I did it by preparing my own food and steering clear of sugar/high fructose corn sryup, and no simple carbs of any kind. (Lots of exercise as well, from pilates to belly dance to Zumba and ChaLean Extreme workouts) I have friends my age who have no idea how to boil water, much less cook, and if it doesn’t fit into a microwave, it doesn’t get eaten. A lot of people come up and ask for advice on how I did it, and they never like hearing what I have to tell them - it’s easier to grab something from the deli or order pizza or stop at McDonald’s on the way to work.

Nothing shocked the heck out of me more when I started turning things over and reading the labels - Campbell’s Tomato Soup (which is supposed to be healthy and EVERYONE considers it to be healthy) has a good amount of high fructose corn syrup. Same for that deli potato salad that you picked up at the store. Frankly, I would rather eat a teaspoon of real sugar than to take in any of that gunk. I think it messes with insulin levels more than scientists realize.

OK, excuse my rant. LOL! I don’t think I’ve had enough coffee in me yet. ;-D

By Chandara Sun on 07/02/2009 9:36 am

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Chandara, you are a perfect example that you have to "want" to lose weight before you can lose it. I’ve seen several people who had the bandaid surgery go right back to cramming the bad foods as soon as their "systems" settled down after the surgery. One has to change their eating habits not rely on a quick fix that will more than likely fail.

Congratulations to you!!

By deber B on 07/02/2009 2:36 pm

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Chandara, WOW! I am impressed. Also I agree with you on home cooking and natural foods. It’s healthier and cheaper than anything pre-packaged or fast food, but people just don’t want to take the time and trouble.

By Lila Kuh on 07/02/2009 4:42 pm

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Chandara,

CONGRATULATIONS! Wow, that’s amazing, the weight you lost.

But you proved that if you want something badly enough you’ll do it.

Campbell’s tomato soup - who doesn’t love it, right? Did you ever look at the amount of salt in it?????

By Andrea Brandon on 07/02/2009 9:42 pm

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I agree with you completely SG. Even though Virginia isn’t listed as one of the states with the highest obesity rates I’m sure that’s because of the imbalance of the statistics for the affluent northern and eastern counties as compared to the impoverished southern and western ones.

Fast food isn’t necessarily the only culprit though. It plays a part but I believe the biggest problem is the food culture of southern poverty. Fatty fried meats and potatoes, heavy breads, and "sawmill" gravy are staples of their diets. Children are raised never eating a fresh vegetable unless their family happens to raise a garden. Then they only eat them during the season and cooked to mush in hog fat. The only time they have fresh fruit is as a holiday treat.

Overindugence and "urges" play much less a part in it than poverty and ignorance.

By Sherrie Crews on 07/02/2009 9:40 am

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Deber B is so right. I came from a poor family and we ate healthly because we could not afford meat. So we ate things like escorole & beans which was a poor man meal and believe it or not fresh and nutricious. With TV programs like Oprah & Dr Phil there is enough education out there. People choose those foods because it’s quick & easy and cooking takes longer. All diet companies make a fortune because most fail because like myself so matter how hard you try temptation is there and fat foods taste better. Health care will never solve this problem person choice is the only way. With that said buying hamburgers in a package & frozen String potatoes is cheaper to buy and cook and makes more meals than McDonalds. A pound of whole wheat pasta with pesto cost less than 1.00 dollar a serving and is healthly. Affluent people spend more money and eat out which is worse than cooking fresh. I’m from the northeast and now can say I am upper middle class and still cook fresh & healthy. When we start going to resturants and buying meat etc. we start putting on weight. My Grandchildren are being rasied to eat fruit & vegetables and love them. Why? Because my daughter has battled her weight all her life and wants different choices for her kids. So she stays away from Mc D’s which is not cheap anymore and cooks fresh and does it on a string budget.

By Barbara B on 07/02/2009 9:51 am

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My grandmother lived to be 96 and she was the picture of health until the end. She never ever bought processed foods. She ate eggs and bacon every morning and meat only on Sunday. She cooked fresh vegetables and canned from her garden in the summer. As a little girl, I can remember her chasing two chickens around the yard for Sunday lunch. It wasn’t pretty.

By deber B on 07/02/2009 10:28 am