I ran across some scary stats today… In 1995, not a single state had an obesity rate over 20%. As of today, all but one has an obesity rate over 20%. And guess what? The lone holdout (Colorado) is almost there with a 19.8% obesity rate.
Just five years ago, only one state (Mississippi) topped 30%. Today, a dozen states have obesity rates over 30%. Mississippi is still tops – for the 7th consecutive year – but Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana are close behind.
This ever-increasing obesity rate is attributed to ever-increasing portion sizes, the ready availability of unhealthy foods, the loss of physical education programs in schools, and less healthy school lunches.
The good news, if you can call it that, is that the rate of increase is slowing. In other words, we’re still getting fatter (on average) but not quite as quickly as we were in the recent past. Yay?
For the record, obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30. That corresponds to weighing 221 (or more) pounds if you’re six feet tall.
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What is also distressing about this is that it’s changing people’s perception of what is normal. Many people who are actually a healthy weight are beginning to be considered “skinny” (in a derogatory way), and they’re not!