Well, it appears that southern folk are much more likely to weigh in at weights that are considered to be medically obese, according to new study results that show one southern state in particular, Mississippi, the ultimate tongue twister, as being the biggest culprit in obesity rates in the southern states. With an obesity rate here in the US of a staggering 25% (about one in four apparently are considered obese here in the US), the numbers are certainly nothing to scoff at, and deserve some real study if we are to have hope that we can pull the nation out of this upward trend in obesity.

So, what is to blame for the southern states beating out other demographics in the battle of the bulge? Well, many say that it may be the high rate of poverty and poor eating habits of southern people, which includes a lot of deep fried, rich and fatty fare. Yep, that’s part of why we enjoy southern food so much too, no doubt!

And the correlations that we would expect from having higher obesity rates in these southern states, as well as low activity levels and fitness awareness, is that there are significantly higher rates of things like heart disease and stroke, which is directly related usually to diet and fitness levels as modern science and nutrition science has demonstrated in studies and research over and over again.

Educational programs may help a bit, but they also need to focus on the physical fitness aspect of it all as well, which means they need to maybe get some gyms in the schools that have good fitness equipment, like ellipticals and treadmills, maybe some recumbent bikes, and rebounding equipment and wall climbing gear - stuff that makes fitness fun, not just something where you feel like a hamster on a wheel, so to speak.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 9:52 am and is filed under Health and Fitness News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.