Most Obese States

[HFCS]

As someone that has lots of friends and family in both the twin cities and Madison as well as rural SE Minnesota and western Wisconsin I can assure you there is a big difference. There is even a difference in rural northern and NE Minnesota vs southern. Access to and the desire to do year round active hobbies plays a big role.

When I lived in Chicago I would drive up to Wisconsin for some outdoor activities like running trail races or the little ski slopes they have. There's a whole lot more to do outdoors than Illinois for sure.

I didn't even think of myself as an "outdoors" person when I lived in Iowa and Chicago. I thought I just liked playing sports like soccer/basketball and distance running in the city but not really enjoying the "outdoors". Then I moved to the west and I got passionate about four different outdoor activities almost immediately. I'm a total addict now. Probably will go backpacking in mountains over thanksgiving.

It's all relative. The same person might be an outdoor adventurer somewhere and not inclined to be outdoors at all somewhere else.

One thing I wonder about in these is how much it affects health for people who have desk jobs vs jobs on their feet. Some of those jobs on your feet might be bad for health, but a lot of them are probably healthier in the long run than sitting for 40+ hours a week. Some urban people who take trains and buses end up walking a ton between stops every day compared to suburban/rural commuters too.

 

[Hayes30]

It’s so gross to go back to rural Iowa and I just see the used diabetes needles everywhere.

Different kind of drugs, same problems.

Knock this ******* **** off. Most diabetes cases caused by being overweight weight (Type 2) do not need insulin, but people that had their pancreas stop producing insulin (Type 1) do need insulin injections and it has nothing to do with being over weight or obesity. Get proper ******* education on the difference before you run your ******* mouth and sound like a stupid ******* **** sucker.

 

[FarminCy]

When I lived in Chicago I would drive up to Wisconsin for some outdoor activities like running trail races or the little ski slopes they have. There's a whole lot more to do outdoors than Illinois for sure.

I didn't even think of myself as an "outdoors" person when I lived in Iowa and Chicago. I thought I just liked playing sports like soccer/basketball and distance running in the city but not really enjoying the "outdoors". Then I moved to the west and I got passionate about four different outdoor activities almost immediately. I'm a total addict now. Probably will go backpacking in mountains over thanksgiving.

It's all relative. The same person might be an outdoor adventurer somewhere and not inclined to be outdoors at all somewhere else.

One thing I wonder about in these is how much it affects health for people who have desk jobs vs jobs on their feet. Some of those jobs on your feet might be bad for health, but a lot of them are probably healthier in the long run than sitting for 40+ hours a week. Some urban people who take trains and buses end up walking a ton between stops every day compared to suburban/rural commuters too.

Completely agree. I’m an active person that is constantly doing things outside. But I’ll fully admit it’s harder to get motivated in Central Iowa when there isn’t as much access.

 

[NoCreativity]

I never understood why rural people eat so poorly. The "no access to healthy food" is complete bs.

I have some family in SE Iowa and in the summer healthy food is plentiful and cheap. Theres fruit and vegetable stands at a much higher ratio than in the cities.

I can get acorn and butternut squash for $1 apiece down there for what would cost me 4 or 5 bucks at the store on Des Moines.

 

[madguy30]

I never understood why rural people eat so poorly. The "no access to healthy food" is complete bs.

I have some family in SE Iowa and in the summer healthy food is plentiful and cheap. Theres fruit and vegetable stands at a much higher ratio than in the cities.

I can get acorn and butternut squash for $1 apiece down there for what would cost me 4 or 5 bucks at the store on Des Moines.

So for 3-4 months of the year?

It's not nearly as readily available as it is in cities for proximity.

Casey's, beer, and the local restaurant's fried food is easier to get to.

And actually in cities people can still be miles from an easy accessible healthy food option for groceries.

I've mentioned that a place like Kwik Trip has options but even they're not easily accessible for many.

I do think that quite a few people really don't give a **** about their health with the 'it is what it is'-ness which doesn't help.

 

[NoCreativity]

So for 3-4 months of the year?

It's not nearly as readily available as it is in cities for proximity.

Casey's, beer, and the local restaurant's fried food is easier to get to.

And actually in cities people can still be miles from an easy accessible healthy food option for groceries.

I've mentioned that a place like Kwik Trip has options but even they're not easily accessible for many.

I do think that quite a few people really don't give a **** about their health with the 'it is what it is'-ness which doesn't help.

It's not just 3 or 4 months a year. Theres a huge store down there that is within an hours drive of people in probably 8 or 9 counties, and that's not even including Northern Missoiri. They have very cheap meat and produce year around.

You can make or work if you try, I think it boils down to people don't care about their health.

 

[Al_4_State]

Living in northeast Iowa, you don't have to try much at all to find access to outdoor physical activity. I live 300 yards from the Prairie Farmer bike trail and ride it regularly. The Root River Trail in Minnesota starts less than 20 miles from me. Decorah city parks have a widespread mountain bike system. In the winter, we have awesome XC skiing in the Decorah parks and at Vernon Springs Recreation area south of Cresco - which is working on developing those same ski trails for running and mountain biking in the summer. There are 3 big state parks within 45 miles (Forestville and Beaver Creek in Minnesota; Yellow River in Iowa) with tons of trails.

Cost of living is still dirt cheap, and we have some unusual amenities for rural America thanks to the influence of Luther College in the region.

It's a big reason I never want to leave. There aren't many places I could have this kind of outdoor access, a few nice cultural amenities (decent restaurants and some world class breweries along with some passable live music options) and pay this little for it/not have to fight people shoulder to shoulder to use it. On our honeymoon, my wife and I climbed a 14er in Colorado (Quandary Peak near Breckenridge) and there was a line going up and coming. Literally thousands of people on that mountain at the same time.

 

[cyclonesurveyor]

Living in northeast Iowa, you don't have to try much at all to find access to outdoor physical activity. I live 300 yards from the Prairie Farmer bike trail and ride it regularly. The Root River Trail in Minnesota starts less than 20 miles from me. Decorah city parks have a widespread mountain bike system. In the winter, we have awesome XC skiing in the Decorah parks and at Vernon Springs Recreation area south of Cresco - which is working on developing those same ski trails for running and mountain biking in the summer. There are 3 big state parks within 45 miles (Forestville and Beaver Creek in Minnesota; Yellow River in Iowa) with tons of trails.

Cost of living is still dirt cheap, and we have some unusual amenities for rural America thanks to the influence of Luther College in the region.

It's a big reason I never want to leave. There aren't many places I could have this kind of outdoor access, a few nice cultural amenities (decent restaurants and some world class breweries along with some passable live music options) and pay this little for it/not have to fight people shoulder to shoulder to use it. On our honeymoon, my wife and I climbed a 14er in Colorado (Quandary Peak near Breckenridge) and there was a line going up and coming. Literally thousands of people on that mountain at the same time.

I grew up in the Decorah area - live in Fort Collins now and I have a retired neighbor who grew up in Maquoketa and went to Luther in the 70's. They just bought a vacation house in Decorah because he missed the area.

 

[matclone]

It's not just 3 or 4 months a year. Theres a huge store down there that is within an hours drive of people in probably 8 or 9 counties, and that's not even including Northern Missoiri. They have very cheap meat and produce year around.

You can make or work if you try, I think it boils down to people don't care about their health.

I disagree. You want to oversimplify people's lives and say that poor eating habits can be chalked up to a lack of will (while implicitly throwing children in the same faulty group). It's more complex than that. Some people don't have the time, energy, knowledge, or skills to eat healthy. Fast food and soft drinks are ubiquitous as are television commercials telling us to consume the same. Access to good food is a factor.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I disagree. You want to oversimplify people's lives and say that poor eating habits can be chocked up to a lack of will (while implicitly throwing children in the same faulty group). It's more complex than that. Some people don't have the time, energy, knowledge, or skills to eat healthy. Fast food and soft drinks are ubiquitous as are television commercials telling us to consume the same. Access to good food is a factor.

This is actually one of the main reasons why medical staff rarely talk to patients about weight. For some it’s a lack of knowledge, they eat the way their parents taught them. For others it’s a lack of resources/time/access. Many patients also lose their mind and complain if their weight is brought up. Many hospitals actually instruct staff ti avoid talking about patients weight/diet unless it is absolutely necessary to their complaint/condition.

Also you really should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep. People that say they are fine on 5-6 really aren’t the body has just adapated to what you do. Especially if you are putting in the time to lift and tear down your muscles you should be putting time into sleep. It doesn’t get brought up enough because people that have the time already get enough sleep and those that don’t usually do not have the time to spare.

 

[IASTATE07]

It's not just 3 or 4 months a year. Theres a huge store down there that is within an hours drive of people in probably 8 or 9 counties, and that's not even including Northern Missoiri. They have very cheap meat and produce year around.

You can make or work if you try, I think it boils down to people don't care about their health.

Are you talking about the free ice cream and popcorn place?

 

[drmwevr08]

Not really. Calories in and out is really why matters. You could eat all carbs, wouldn’t be healthy enough, and still lose weight. One medium baked potato is only 160 ish calories and 37 grams of carbs. Starchy foods all have high carbs but they are good for you, when staying within a calorie deficit. Oatmeal is another example of high carbs but good for you foods. Again, carbs are not the problem whoever made them out to be said. They are good for us.

Like usual, it depends. You have to pay close attention to your body. Many carbs cause craving and you end up eating too much. Also, many breads can cause inflammation. Gf can be better for some. Every body is a lil bit different.

 

[CascadeClone]

Powerlifting focus, so squat/bench/deadlift. Also do some overhead press and bent over rows, plus some bro arm stuff. So mostly compound movements, 3 to 4 warm up sets up to 3 working sets of 3 to 5 reps (6 to 8 sets total), trying to get within 1 or 2 reps of failure.

Similar here, but what I do I would not call powerlifting lol. Compound movements with free weights ftw.

Now if I could just get my eating habits fixed and lose 20 lbs of fat...

 

[CascadeClone]

I never understood why rural people eat so poorly. The "no access to healthy food" is complete bs.

I have some family in SE Iowa and in the summer healthy food is plentiful and cheap. Theres fruit and vegetable stands at a much higher ratio than in the cities.

I can get acorn and butternut squash for $1 apiece down there for what would cost me 4 or 5 bucks at the store on Des Moines.

Perceived difficulty and effort required, combined with habituation. Change is hard.

 

[AuH2O]

I disagree. You want to oversimplify people's lives and say that poor eating habits can be chocked up to a lack of will (while implicitly throwing children in the same faulty group). It's more complex than that. Some people don't have the time, energy, knowledge, or skills to eat healthy. Fast food and soft drinks are ubiquitous as are television commercials telling us to consume the same. Access to good food is a factor.

It's certainly a complicated issue. But I think you are raising the REAL issue here (time, knowledge, education).

My problem is that people raise the access argument as if it is really difficult for a large percentage of people to get decent food. It's almost impossible to find an area where there is significant population where there isn't some access within reasonable means of transportation. The amount of information on diet is accessible to pretty much everybody (exception being young children). It's all relative. Accessibility to good food varies, but to act like "it just isn't available" in a lot of places is simply not true. People are confusing further away and more difficult with inaccessible.

If someone can show me a place with a significant population that doesn't have a place to get reasonably healthy food within reasonable walking or bus route distance, then I think we can talk about that as being something that should take some serious intervention.

It certainly is a big factor for some people. But the number of people that can't get on a bus and get to a store that has reasonable food is tiny. The number of people that truly have no clue about diet and health basics is small. Yes, those are problems, but I think we've swung the pendulum a little far and are trying to make this much more of a "blameless" problem. It's far less an issue of inaccessibility of good food as it is overwhelming convenience and access of crap. And sorry, there's never been a time where kids in school, on TV, online where we've been more bombarded with information.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

It's certainly a complicated issue. But I think you are raising the REAL issue here (time, knowledge, education).

My problem is that people raise the access argument as if it is really difficult for a large percentage of people to get decent food. It's almost impossible to find an area where there is significant population where there isn't some access within reasonable means of transportation. The amount of information on diet is accessible to pretty much everybody (exception being young children). It's all relative. Accessibility to good food varies, but to act like "it just isn't available" in a lot of places is simply not true. People are confusing further away and more difficult with inaccessible.

If someone can show me a place with a significant population that doesn't have a place to get reasonably healthy food within reasonable walking or bus route distance, then I think we can talk about that as being something that should take some serious intervention.

It certainly is a big factor for some people. But the number of people that can't get on a bus and get to a store that has reasonable food is tiny. The number of people that truly have no clue about diet and health basics is small. Yes, those are problems, but I think we've swung the pendulum a little far and are trying to make this much more of a "blameless" problem. It's far less an issue of inaccessibility of good food as it is overwhelming convenience and access of crap. And sorry, there's never been a time where kids in school, on TV, online where we've been more bombarded with information.

Detroit was major food desert a few years ago but has gotten alot better. I think Tenn has the largest amount of food deserts in the area.

 

[20eyes]

It certainly is a big factor for some people. But the number of people that can't get on a bus and get to a store that has reasonable food is tiny. The number of people that truly have no clue about diet and health basics is small. Yes, those are problems, but I think we've swung the pendulum a little far and are trying to make this much more of a "blameless" problem. It's far less an issue of inaccessibility of good food as it is overwhelming convenience and access of crap. And sorry, there's never been a time where kids in school, on TV, online where we've been more bombarded with information.

Or bombarded by sugar pushers. We allow Big Food to poison us and our kids and we celebrate it. There are more forces at work than accessibility and education, the biggest being that we have zero problem banning cigarette or hard liquor ads but but will permit vast amounts of ads for stuff with zero nutritional value that are simply sugar delivery systems.

EDIT: And the under educated and poor are the most at risk. None of us on CF has an excuse, we're educated people who do well enough to eat healthy.

 

[AuH2O]

Detroit was major food desert a few years ago but has gotten alot better. I think Tenn has the largest amount of food deserts in the area.

I need some information to determine what classifies as a "food desert." As in something quantifiable.

How many blocks does a person need to travel to get to a place with reasonable food, or to a bus stop that will get them close to one?

 

[KnappShack]

Or bombarded by sugar pushers. We allow Big Food to poison us and our kids and we celebrate it. There are more forces at work than accessibility and education, the biggest being that we have zero problem banning cigarette or hard liquor ads but but will permit vast amounts of ads for stuff with zero nutritional value that are simply sugar delivery systems.

I got Type 2 diabeetus just walking into the food section at the Walmarts.

Holy crap do they put the sugar and baked good right out there. Super cheap compared to other stuff. Sure. Let's get a giant bag of powdered donuts for $.99.

 

[AuH2O]

Or bombarded by sugar pushers. We allow Big Food to poison us and our kids and we celebrate it. There are more forces at work than accessibility and education, the biggest being that we have zero problem banning cigarette or hard liquor ads but but will permit vast amounts of ads for stuff with zero nutritional value that are simply sugar delivery systems.

Like I said, it isn't as much inaccessibility of good things as it is overwhelming access and marketing of bad things.

But I've never met a person in my life, regardless of their habits or health that doesn't understand big gulps, candy and chips aren't good for them. To act like people truly have no idea about this is just ridiculous. People still smoke, and there's not a single one of them that thinks it's perfectly healthy. They all know it's terrible.

Sorry, I'm not buying the concept that there are tons of obese people that are super confused as to why they are obese. And I'm not considering the fact that those same people have to walk/drive/ride a bus past a bunch of **** food options to get something good as being an accessibility problem.