YahooHealth: Mississippi's still fattest but Alabama closing in

[Mr. Sinister]

I don't believe in diets anyway, if that's what those kinds of meals are intended to be. Just eat a normal meal, cereal, meat, eggs, fruit, whatever, reasonably portioned, and you should be good, along with plenty of excercise. There's no need to chew on wheat straws and eat bland pasta.

[elkabong82]

We've been over this ad nauseum in other threads... money is an utterly insignificant barrier for the overwhelming majority of obese people. Education is the single biggest factor at play.

To take this a step further:

Top 10 Most Obese States

1. Mississippi (34.4%)

2. Alabama (32.3%)

3. West Virginia* (32.2%)

4. Tennessee (31.9%)

5. Louisiana (31.6%)

6. Kentucky (31.5%)

7. Oklahoma (31.4%)

8. South Carolina (30.9%)

9. Arkansas (30.6%)

10. Michigan* (30.5%)

Bottom 10 in Education:

Arkansas, Hawaii, TN, Alabama, Nevada, OK, LA, New Mexico, WV, Mississippi

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/01/23/states-with-smartest-kids-from-massachusetts-to-mississippi.html

Top 5 in obesity are in bottom 10 of student scores. Of the 3 worst in obesity not in bottom 10 of education (KY, Michigan, SC), they ranked 31, 33, 38 respectively.

[twa]

What could possibly explain that Elka?

http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/news-287850-98.html

BMI test shows a racial bias: study

(Reuters) UPDATED 2009-04-17

A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that the body mass index (BMI)--a number used to determine which category of weight a person falls into--has a racial bias. Researchers say the BMI chart is based on older studies of white adults, and it does not take into account the body types of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. The study of 1,300 young adults found that the BMI "cut scores" put too many African Americans into the "obese" category, even if their percentage of body fat was low. The index also underestimated the weight category of Hispanic women, Asian women, and men and women of Indian descent. Experts say the problem is that the BMI number does not take into consideration muscle mass, bone structure, or fat mass.

add

compare the map to your list

http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_nhblack.html

[elkabong82]

Not sure what you are trying to suggest twa.

Do you mean to say that muscle-bound African Americans wildly skewed the statistics of entire states?

You bother to check that half the states in top 10 most obese are mostly in the lowest range on the census?

Poor education is not exclusive to the African-American population.

If you mean to suggest that poverty does play a role in obesity, I won't deny that. It plays a significant role in education, as people don't invest money into poor areas, and because the current system of basing school funds off of property tax is outdated and flawed, and typically only allows the rich to get richer and the poor to stay poor. Looks good on paper, that the taxes you pay on your home go to the schools your children are sent to. In practice it is a terrible system that screws over non-home owners, small populations, and poor, urban areas.

And all it would take to fix is having the funds collected in to one large sum, and then dividing equally. But the people who benefit already don't want that, because they lose a little bit. They prefer others to keep suffering while they keep gaining, and then they complain of crime, of welfare leechers, of gangs, of the "thug mentality," of an obese nation, of a stupid and therefor lazy lower class, when improved education would be the best preventative measure; yet their own greed and unwillingness to give up a little when they are already so far ahead, is perhaps the biggest reason why such education remains unequal and results in the bad things of which they complain.

Catchy slogan: People back education with their mouths, few back it with their wallets.

[Prosperity]

let's bring race into it

Washington DC 19.9% obesity 55.6% black

West Virginia 30% obese 3% black

Alabama 32% obese 33% black

Maryland 26.2% obese 30% black

Wyoming 25% obese 1.5% black

South Dakota 29.6% obese 1% black

Mississippi 34.4 % obese 37% black

yeah I don't see much of a correlation

race doesn't seem to correlate, Southern culture/cuisine might though

ignorance and poverty seem to be the best predictors

[mardi gras skin]

race doesn't seem to correlate, Southern culture/cuisine might though

ignorance and poverty seem to be the best predictors

I think it has more to do with regional cuisine. Hawaiians are as stupid as Mississippians but they can't cook fried pork chops for crap.

[twa]

let's bring race into it

Washington DC 19.9% obesity 55.6% black

West Virginia 30% obese 3% black

Alabama 32% obese 33% black

Maryland 26.2% obese 30% black

Wyoming 25% obese 1.5% black

South Dakota 29.6% obese 1% black

Mississippi 34.4 % obese 37% black

yeah I don't see much of a correlation

race doesn't seem to correlate, Southern culture/cuisine might though

ignorance and poverty seem to be the best predictors

Clearly they have more black and hispanic cooks

my point is the BMI has a racial bias.....and I did not bring race into it,the study itself did

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/tfahfasinfat2011a.pdf

[mcsluggo]

We've been over this ad nauseum in other threads... money is an utterly insignificant barrier for the overwhelming majority of obese people. Education is the single biggest factor at play.

but those two are HIGHLY correlated.. no?

---------- Post added July-11th-2011 at 02:53 PM ----------

i just got back from a quick trip to South Carolina... in my FIRST meal there, I probably ate 1.5 times teh daily caloric reccomendation.. and it was ALL deep fat fried.

yum

for the record.. i got fried grouper and oysters (which i didn't know were going to be fried.. but they were), and sides of slaw, hush puppies and ocra (which i didn't know were going to be fried.. but they were). and the was the "light" portion....

but hell.. even the veggies and BREAD were deep fat fried... like i said... yum

[thebluefood]

yeah I don't see much of a correlation

race doesn't seem to correlate, Southern culture/cuisine might though

ignorance and poverty seem to be the best predictors

Yeah, if it's not deep fried, it isn't fit for human consumption.

It's a shame, though. Southern food is absolutely delicious, but it's so bad for you. It's no wonder why everyone down here is so obese.

[Destino]

I don't believe in diets anyway, if that's what those kinds of meals are intended to be. Just eat a normal meal, cereal, meat, eggs, fruit, whatever, reasonably portioned, and you should be good, along with plenty of excercise. There's no need to chew on wheat straws and eat bland pasta.

Weight from fat is far more heavily impacted by diet than it is exercise. There is no way around this. Once you are fat "just eating a normal meal" will put you on the "maybe in 5 years" path to weight loss which would require near perfection to result in any real loss because a bad week would wipe out a great couple of months. Dieting is hard but it's not nearly the mystery or the mountain people make it out to be. It's all about understanding what you're putting into your body and what that does.

[zoony]

but those two are HIGHLY correlated.. no?

---------- Post added July-11th-2011 at 02:53 PM ----------

i just got back from a quick trip to South Carolina... in my FIRST meal there, I probably ate 1.5 times teh daily caloric reccomendation.. and it was ALL deep fat fried.

yum

for the record.. i got fried grouper and oysters (which i didn't know were going to be fried.. but they were), and sides of slaw, hush puppies and ocra (which i didn't know were going to be fried.. but they were). and the was the "light" portion....

but hell.. even the veggies and BREAD were deep fat fried... like i said... yum

The main problem in the south is still economic. And to your point, that is almost directly tied to education.

It's easy to point at southern food, but there is a lot of unhealthy crap up north too. Like a Dunkin Donuts every 100 feet throughout the entire state of Mass, for instance. (that might not be correct. Might actually be every 50 feet).

Fact is, the south remains much poorer than the north on the whole, and MS and AL are among the poorest in the country.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

The main problem in the south is still economic. And to your point, that is almost directly tied to education.

It's easy to point at southern food, but there is a lot of unhealthy crap up north too. Like a Dunkin Donuts every 100 feet throughout the entire state of Mass, for instance. (that might not be correct. Might actually be every 50 feet).

Fact is, the south remains much poorer than the north on the whole, and MS and AL are among the poorest in the country.

It's a combination of cultural/economic.

"Southern" cooking grew out of two concepts:

1. No one had any money, and

2. Picking cotton 12 hours a day in Alabama burns a hell of a lot of calories.

Most southern cooking is designed to hide the flavor of the horrible stuff underneath it. And eating mounds of pork fat didn't turn you into a 300-pounder because you burned it off the next day in the cotton fields. Yes, you would die of a heart attack at 48, but you would be wiry when you dropped.

The problem in the south now is:

1. Poor people still have no money, and

2. Working in a Wal Mart 8 hours a day does not burn a lot of calories.

Soul Food is an extreme example of this phenomenom. It's the absolutely worst cuts of meat in the world, covered with flavorings that will kill you.

---------- Post added July-11th-2011 at 10:31 AM ----------

race doesn't seem to correlate, Southern culture/cuisine might though

ignorance and poverty seem to be the best predictors

Southern food and black food are essentially the same with a few small differences - generally speaking, the parts of the animal you are deep frying. Or the type of awful vegetable you are drowning in butter.

[Darth Tater]

The direct economic link is that food is actually a relatively cheap form of entertainment and/or way of showing you care. The indirect link is that the things that make you fat, like low impulse control, correlate to those things that tend to make you poor. Lack of education, while an important factor here, is overrated, and, in fact, often provides the reason many select a lifestyle that is less than healthy.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

It's Mississippi, dude. If they can't deep fry it, they want none of it.

You can absolutely deep fry a banana.

---------- Post added July-11th-2011 at 03:51 PM ----------

...And eating mounds of pork fat didn't turn you into a 300-pounder because you burned it off the next day in the cotton fields. Yes' date=' you would die of a heart attack at 48, but you would be wiry when you dropped.

[/quote']

[Henry]

At my last checkup my doctor told me during the Civil War the BMI of the average Confederate soldier was 18.

Not sure that's completely on topic but this thread made me think of it.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

At my last checkup my doctor told me during the Civil War the BMI of the average Confederate soldier was 18.

Not sure that's completely on topic but this thread made me think of it.

Completely on topic. Also, Forrest Gump was skinny, but he ran a lot and was stranded on an island with a volley ball for a very long time.

[IONTOP]

Completely on topic. Also, Forrest Gump was skinny, but he ran a lot and was stranded on an island with a volley ball for a very long time.

But that's because he was an action figure and action figures can't gain weight...

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

At my last checkup my doctor told me during the Civil War the BMI of the average Confederate soldier was 18.

It was significantly lower for Union soldiers at Andersonville.

A diet of hardtack and feces-infused water will really keep the weight off.

[Corcaigh]

At my last checkup my doctor told me during the Civil War the BMI of the average Confederate soldier was 18.

Not sure that's completely on topic but this thread made me think of it.

I'm sure something like this has been posted before, but the following is claimed to be a picture from a travelling "freak" show. People around the 1900s would pay their hard earned money to see someone so unusually fat. There are probably 50 people sitting on a bench at an average mall nowadays who could match this guy.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

But that's because he was an action figure and action figures can't gain weight...

He also had AIDS and dated Antonio Banderas.

[Pick6]

I'm sure something like this has been posted before, but the following is claimed to be a picture from a travelling "freak" show. People around the 1900s would pay their hard earned money to see someone so unusually fat. There are probably 50 people sitting on a bench at an average mall nowadays who could match this guy.

I think this is the biggest statement of how much this has become a scary epidemic in this country. The fact that 1 in 5 Americans could be consider a freak show back in the early 1900s.

[Stadium-Armory]

I moved from VA to CO a couple years ago, and am here to tell you that people out here are active. Everyone bikes, runs, and eats healthy. It makes me sick!

[PiLfan]

I think this is the biggest statement of how much this has become a scary epidemic in this country. The fact that 1 in 5 Americans could be consider a freak show back in the early 1900s.

those tube style striped socks alone are worthy of a freak show...