We can’t even beat Minnesota at fat. MinnPost reports that Minnesota has tied South Dakota with its rising obesity rate:
Minnesota’s adult obesity rate is 30.1 percent, up from 28.4 percent the previous year, according to the 16th annual State of Obesity report released on Thursday by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH).
That rate means Minnesota is now ranked 30th — along with South Dakota — for adult obesity among all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That’s five slots higher than in last year’s report.
The national adult obesity rate is 30.9 percent, the report says. Colorado has the lowest rate (23 percent), while Mississippi and West Virginia have the highest (39.5 percent).
Just seven years ago, no state had an adult obesity rate above 35 percent. Now, nine states do [Susan Perry, “Minnesota’s Adult Obesity Rate is 30.1%, up from 28.4%,” MinnPost, 2019.09.12].
Minnesota caught up with us because its obesity rate jumped more than 15% from 2017 to 2018 while South Dakota’s barely changed:
Fat-counting Trust for America’s Health recommends two main policies to combat our expanded waistlines: healthier food assistance for children and taxes to lower our pop consumption. TAH cites empirical data indicating these policies cut fat:
Obesity rates for children enrolled in WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) continue to decline, from 15.9 percent in 2010 to 13.9 percent in 2016. In 2009, the USDA updated WIC food packages to more closely meet recommended national dietary guidelines including the addition of more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and reduced fat levels in milk and infant formula. A Los Angeles County study published this year found that 4 year-olds who had received the revised WIC food package since birth had reduced risk for obesity.
A number of US. cities and the Navajo Nation have passed local taxes on sugary drinks that are showing promise as a means to change consumers’ beverage habits. Studies of a 2014 1-cent per ounce tax in Berkeley, California found decreased consumption of sugary drinks there. Likewise, a 2019 study of a 1.5 cent per ounce tax in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania found that the consumption of sugary drinks decreased significantly after the tax was imposed [Trust for America’s Health, “U.S. Obesity Rates Reach Historic Highs – Racial, Ethnic, Gender and Geographic Discrepancies Continue to Persist,” September 2019].
If South Dakota would adopt some of those pro-healthy-life policies, we might actually outdo Minnesota in slimming down and reducing our healthcare costs.
The map shows that Democrats are fit and Republicans are fat. It’s because Republicans refuse to be told what to do, even if it’s a medical professional offering advice.
Controlling obesity is the most effective health care policy the US could undertake – far more pressing than any ACA or Medicare-For-All, or even Socialized medicine proposal. The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illness are a staggering $190.2 billion or nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the United States.
I note that the pioneering states in cannabis legalization are among the least obese. The champion cannabis legalized state, Colorado, is THE least obese.
I becha it’s doze smorgasbords, doncha know. And how ’bout doz Luterun potlucks? But lutefisk will keep ya slender, by golly! ;-)
MN is also notoriously bad at picking quarterbacks that can win games. :(
On behalf of all obese Americans everywhere, we, at least, can cast shade and provide heat for zippers. Ask your guide for a night on the desert who to snuggle close to if you don’t want to freeze.
Russia/NRA/Nelson should show us some love. We make larger targets for their assault weapons.
Condemn us if you must. Just don’t get in our way when we fall.
This is the Viking’s q-back problem……When Kirk Cousins signed his three-year, $84 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings in March, it made history as the biggest fully guaranteed contract in NFL history.
He can throw picks all day and still get paid….guaranteed.
I meant a QB that can NOT win games. Whoo, that was a bad error. Grrrr – Cousins doesn’t even act like hes upset about this – just another lazy overpaid quarterback.
As for the obesity problem – it’s sad that Americans don’t want to eat healthy, but some of the blame has to go with the corporations that sell all the fattening, sugary foods.
Broncos got dibs on Eli. (Elway only buys used QB’s)
I grow healthy foods in my garden. How healthy you ask? I dug 2 Kennebecs spuds that weigh 24 oz each plus three more that are right at a pound or slightly larger. Red LaSodas produced many one pound plus spuds plus numerous others.
I got lots of spuds to dig so landlord can smother my garden with 2 year old compost from the cattle yard for next year’s garden. I got the bushiest and most tangled up tomato vines I ever saw and it only took three plants to do that. Weird year for gardening. Spuds got put in last days of the first week of June instead of April die to wet cold conditions.
Love the flavor of those Kennebecs. 🤓
That’s embarrassing for Minnesota.
Studies have shown that poverty is a leading cause of the poor diets that end in obesity. Heavily processed foods, high in sugars, salt and carbohydrates are cheapest and most easily available.
The healthiest, freshest foods are the most expensive. If one doesn’t have personal transportation taking the bus or train to the grocery store and trying to get home with groceries for a family is extremely difficult. In the meantime the convenience store is right around the corner.
Education is a critical issue too. I’ve seen adults put soda pop, sweet tea, koolaid and other sugary drinks in baby bottles. Children who grow up on highly sugared foods have brains and bodies tuned for those tastes. It’s difficult to overcome that and acquire an appreciation for new tastes.
There’s the cultural issue too. “It was good enough for my mom and dad so it’s good enough for me,” without taking into account the changes in lifestyle from agrarian to sedentary.
Some obesity is due to genetic issues, various medications, mental illnesses and other causes.
One more thing:
No one is obese because they want to be. No. One. Ever.
Bill Maher did a bit on his show about bringing back Fat Shaming. He was serious and completely, ignorantly wrong. I cannot emphasize enough how cruel and damaging it is to humiliate an obese person. If you want to make their weight problem worse, that’s the perfect way to do so. It never helps. Let me repeat. Fat Shaming only makes things worse. It never helps.
Here’s one more thing. When you make fun of someone else’s weight here on DFP, even the Bloviating Bigot, an overweight person reading your comment feels a twinge of shame. Why? Because she or he has heard the same thing said about them. Wherever you are, if you fat shame someone, I guarantee you hurt a person who overheard you.
Just. Don’t. Do. It. Just don’t. Don’t. Be better and kinder than that. Don’t.
I agree Debbo, and we also have to start looking at obesity as a serious addiction,In the same we classify alcoholism and drugs as addictions.
A pound-and-a-half potato? Can you even bake a potato that big?
On obesity and choice: I’m reading Russell Means’s autobiography, and he mentions that diet heavy on high-starch government commodity food contributed to the high rates of obesity-related illnesses among Native people. Means called that part of the American genocide.