Comments on: I Had Fried Pickles Once And They Were Awesome

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:18:01 +0000

ho_cho = What about thin people who can eat whatever they want and not gain weight? Would you cast the same self-righteous comments at them too? Health and weight do not have a strict correlation, honey.

By: Violet

Violet — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:15:51 +0000

I’m in Florida right now, I was originally from Maryland. It says that Florida is 34th. And I remember the 48pt extra bold headline from the Sentinel that day. “FLORIDA IS FAT, BUT OTHERS ARE FATTER.” I didn’t want to read the whole thing, but judging from that, the subheading probably said, “At least we’re not those stupid slobs over there.”

Also…. frying things. I feel like some kind of fatty traitor for thinking most fried foods are disgusting. Things like poutine make my stomach turn. @_@

By: InquisitiveFattie

InquisitiveFattie — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:54:57 +0000

I grew up in Las Vegas and Nevada is ranked #37 but for the past 2 years have been living in Oregon which is #30.

By: ho_cho

ho_cho — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:12:56 +0000

In California (36) where i reside, there is a terrible divide between the emaciated and overpaid celebs and socialites, as well as the upper middle class smug vegans in northern california, and the poor (a lot of whom are immigrants) in most of southern california in terms of their health and appearance. To me this indicates that obesity is most definately a social problem and it is no coincidence that obese people are stereotyped as being less educated and more ignorant than thin counterparts.

However, i have a problem with the concept that a relatively thin person feels socially pressured to lose weight because of poor self image combined with unrealistic expectations is put in the same category of outrage as telling someone not to eat fried pickles every day. If your eating habits are the source of your obesity, you are not doing yourself any favors and continuing to do so will not contribute to your overall health. even if you believe obesity itself is not connected to health, there can be no arguing that eating a certain way and engaging in physical activity results in a variety of benefits.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:07:57 +0000

I grew up in Illinois (#25, tied with Maryland) and moved to Georgia when i was 19 (#14). For several years, i have been one winning lottery ticket away from moving to Texas (#12), where most of my friends live.

I think the climate certainly plays a factor: i do not have any air conditioning in my car or my house, and with the heat wave we’ve had this year? About all i’m up for in this heat is laying in a tub of cold water, reading a book.

When i was growing up in Chicago, it was more bike and pedestrian-friendly than Atlanta is. It was not uncommon for me to walk home from school or ride my bike both ways (and it was eight miles, one way). I didn’t learn to drive until after i’d already moved south – i never needed to know when i was in Chicago. Many parts of Atlanta (and it’s gazillion suburbs) completely lack sidewalks, and the people all drive like bats out of hell.

I think there are honestly too many factors to pin it down to a mere dozen. I could sit here all day listing several differences between my experiences in Chicago and Atlanta, and most of them have nothing to do with food. Heh.

By: whyme63

whyme63 — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:26:15 +0000

The PDF of the actual report:
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2007/Obesity2007Report.pdf

They gather data using this:
http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/

According to the methodology information, this is random phone surveys, so data is based, for adults, on self-reporting of height and weight, with BMI formula applied to the data. The standards of BMI greater than 30 defined as obese, BMI from 25-30 defined as overweight were used.

By: Tara

Tara — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:14:54 +0000

I’m in Massachusetts. Like holls said, the weight issue stems mainly from economics. In parts of Roxbury and Dorchester, it is VERY hard for families to afford healthier food. In fact, (like Alabama and Mississippi) there are no health food stores in either area. I grew up in Dorchester, and my single dad could barely afford meat. I grew up on pasta, white bread, fried bologna, spam, hot dogs, canned veggies and government cheese (oddly I was a skinny kid). I can afford to be vegan thanks to my amazing job because organic produce, hell, whole food in general is pricey! I also have to say that it makes me very angry to see McDonalds’ dollar meal ads posted in my old neighborhood. Grrrrrr!!!!!

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:22:17 +0000

Fried pickles? That sounds kind of weird, but in this country (UK) you can get battered Mars bars and chips (fries, that is) covered in cheese. Tasty!

By: Jezebella

Jezebella — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:05:47 +0000

G.G., I could’ve totally written that post! Same experience. Hard to find and afford healthy food at the store or a restaurant, and my BOG it’s too frackin hot to exercise. “Let’s go walkin’ Mississippi” is a ridiculous exhortation when the heat index is over 100, which it has been for weeks now. I’ve gained about 30 lbs. in my six years here, and I moved here from *New Orleans*, which is one of the fattest cities in the nation.

I agree that poverty is one of the primary causes of obesity – you can buy a sack of pasta for a dollar and feed your family, or you can buy an apple. A crappy apple, at that.

By: holls

holls — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:19:00 +0000

Grew up in CT (#47), Massachusetts (#50), and now I live in Colorado (#51).

If I had to guess, I’d say the first two scores are largely socioeconomic (even though NJ is now richer than CT, everyone who grew up in the tri-state area knows that the same people just don’t choose NJ that choose CT- that’s the ‘socio’ of socioeconomic), and the last is lifestyle.