F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states

Published August 20th, 2008

Despite public efforts to try to curb obesity, F as in Fat shows the epidemic is getting worse… much worse. The new report finds adult obesity went up in 37 states in the past year and is at more than 25 percent in more than half the states.

scalenumbers F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states

The fifth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008 from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows obesity rates went up for a second year in a row in 24 states and for a third consecutive year in 19 states. No state saw a decrease.

Although there have been many promising policies coming out to promote exercise and good nutrition across the country, the report says they are not being adopted or implemented at the levels needed to turn around this health crisis.

Changes over the years

1980: The national average of obese adults was 15 percent

1991: No state had an obesity rate above 20 percent

Now: About two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. About 23 million children are either overweight or obese. The maps below reflect the changes:

obesitymaps F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states

Diabetes is up, too
F as in Fat finds the rate of type 2 diabetes - a disease usually associated with obesity - went up in 26 states last year. Four states now have diabetes rates above 10 percent. All 10 states with the highest rates of diabetes and hypertension are in the South. The report also shows a link between poverty and obesity.

Fattest States
Mississippi tops the list of obese states. Other Southern states round off the Top 10, with the exception of Michigan.

highestobesity F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states

Not as fat
Northeastern and Western states continue to have the lowest obesity rates.

lowestobesity F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states

The report recommends the federal government work with state and local governments, businesses, communities and schools to put a national strategy in place to tackle obesity.

What do you think needs to happen to reverse the obesity epidemic? I’ve profiled programs like Better School Food and Two Angry Moms recently for what they’re doing to try to help, and I will show you more programs in the coming weeks. I really believe it’s possible to see a change if more of us become involved. You in?

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Tags: fat, fattest states, obesity, Obesity Epidemic, overweight

6 users responded in " F as in Fat: Obesity up in 37 states "

cathys997 said, August 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

While education is important, particularly for young mothers and children, there’s a large problem. Obsity is often about feeding broken spirits. We need to shift what we value and honor in this country. That’s a tall order.

Mark Salinas said, August 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

I agree…lets fix this mess! Nice post!

DR said, August 21st, 2008 at 12:24 am

So, if obesity is up in 37 states, does that mean it’s down in the rest?

If so, why?

Other countries (Not Canada) have taken steps to correct this problem. Finland created a national exercise program in the 70s and followed it up with a nutrition program.

Their rates of obesity and related diseases dropped dramatically.

Shouldn’t we take a look at states/countries that have had success reducing obesity and attempt to model our policies on their best practices?

FatFighter said, August 21st, 2008 at 10:22 am

Unfortunately, DR, the other states are just holding steady. NO states decreased. Interesting info you posted on Finland. We definitely need to do something differently, because whatever we are doing is obviously not working.

Katie said, August 21st, 2008 at 11:07 am

I think it all comes back to the parenting. When I was growing up, we didn’t watch tv. We played outside, went to the park, rode our bikes. Today’s kids play nintendo, are hooked on myspace, and eat McDonalds. It is just a whole different life than what I had growing up.

Parents should remove these passive vices from their kids lives and get them up and moving around. Don’t use TV as a babysitter!!

After school programs are key I believe for children and fighting obesity. Karate, dance, gymnastics-get your kids enrolled in sports and they will learn how to take care of their bodies.

Tracy Bradley said, August 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 am

Isn’t it interesting that the rates of obesity (and T2 diabetes)have climbed in conjunction with the (new, as of 40 or so years ago) recommendations to eat more grains, less fat, etc etc? Could it possibly be that those recommendations are not working, at least for some people?

This is anecdotal, but - I gained all my weight eating the “right’ diet, and working out 5 days a week. Still, I thought I must not be doing enough. Not counting calories enough, not eating low-fat enough, not working out hard enough. Something must be wrong with me, I thought, because we all know that you get fat by eating too much junk and not exercising.

I’ve since lost all that weight, and I didn’t do it by following the ‘healthy’ diet that got me fat in the first place, nor by working out even harder than I was (actually, I’ve cut back). So was something wrong with me, or the weight loss advice I’d been following?

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