
Why Are Southerners So Fat? - robg
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1909406,00.html
======
adamhowell
Too hot? Come on. I live in the "fat South" and just run first thing in the
morning or last thing at night. Just like everyone else who's physically
active here does.

I can't believe the author settled on "too hot" instead of "too uneducated". I
guess the weather offends less people.

The South is both the poorest and least educated area of the country. Educated
people eat better and exercise more because they know better.

~~~
briancooley
Education is not the problem. I live in Mississippi, and can attest that we
are bombarded daily with messages about obesity, diet, and exercise.

I am as educated as anyone on the mainstream teaching on this subject, yet I
am clinically obese (though not for much longer).

I was poor as a child, so I think I can speak to this subject a little. It's
anecdotal, but when accompanied by what I have learned from different sources
(in particular, _Good Calories, Bad Calories_ by Gary Taubes), I suspect that
my experience was typical.

Poor people eat an unhealthy diet because they cannot afford high quality
protein and complex carbohydrates on a consistent basis. Further, parents in
poor families often work excessive hours, and quick meals become the norm due
to the lack of time.

This leads to an excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates, creating an
insulin imbalance that increases hunger. One of the worst offenders in this
category is soft drinks. White bread is another big problem. A coke and a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich was a common meal around my house.

Sweet tea is another big offender. I have rarely seen sweet tea outside of the
southeast, and almost everyone drinks it here. If you order tea in a
restaurant, you are getting sweet tea unless you specifically request
unsweetened.

Surely this enviroment is bad for adults, but I think it is particularly
damaging for children. Kids that grow up with an excess of blood sugar and
elevated insulin are headed for metabolic syndrome and Type II diabetes.

Make no mistake about it, it is insulin that controls fat storage. When your
serum insulin is high, your body is storing fat. When it is low, you are
converting fat stores to energy. No endocrinologist or reputable doctor
anywhere will dispute this fact. Nutritionists are often unaware, resorting to
the calories in - calories out causation fallacy.

When you eat lots of sugar and refined carbohydrates, your insulin is going to
rise, and you are going to store fat. The worst part is that modern day
nutritional education eschews fat and, to a smaller degree protein, in favor
of carbohydrates, so the "educated" individual is really in no better position
to regulate his endocrine system via diet and exercise.

~~~
bokonist
I don't think you can just blame it all in poverty. People in poor countries
(Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico) are much less obsese than Americans. And
America had much less obesity when we were poorer as a country.

Being poor doesn't somehow cause you to drink soda. Water is still much
cheaper.

~~~
briancooley
People in eastern Asia have historically consumed sugar at an extremely low
rate. In many of those countries, fruit passes as dessert.

Mexico is the second fattest country in the world
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_Mexico>), and soft drinks are used
heavily there.

There are no calories in water. When your brain is inducing your body to
increase blood glucose, you won't crave water. Sugary drinks are some of the
most calorically dense (wrt volume and cost) foodstuffs you'll find. Poor
people don't drink sodas because they are thirsty, they drink them because
they are hungry.

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jzachary
Because we tend to deep fry and eat anything not nailed down.

~~~
noodle
this, mostly.

its the culture of the food. not just deep frying, but, for example, we'll put
two sticks of butter in or onto anything. sweet tea at every meal. etc..

the things the article mentioned certainly have some consequences on the
situation, but its more about the things we stuff into our faces than other
things.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
Butter and fried food do not make people fat. Sugar and starch make people
fat.

Southern food is loaded with sugar. Sweet tea is revolting to anyone with a
healthy pallet.

~~~
joshhart
Do you have any journal articles conclusively proving this? I'm aware of the
impact sugar has on insulin levels and the insulin -> fat path, but I believe
the medical consensus is that weight gain is primarily determined by the
amount of calories eaten, not the type.

~~~
evgen
You are correct. So far the consensus opinion in medical research is that
except for extreme ends of the dietary spectrum a calorie is a calorie. If you
are trying to lose weight then some diets make the task a little easier than
others, but otherwise the only equation that really matters is calories in as
food vs. calories out as physical exertion.

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indiejade
There are some people who think that obesity issues are a community-wide
phenomenon, a kind of defective "groupthink" where people who are surrounded
by other overweight or obese people actually stop seeing their own problem.

"Obesity is Contagious"
<http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/07/obesity_is_contagious>

Random humorous observation on the OP article from _Time_ \-- unfortunate link
placement following paragraph number four: _Many roads are narrower than those
in the North — where streets have wider shoulders to accommodate winter snow —
and people who want to bike or jog find themselves uncomfortably close to
traffic. (See pictures of the perfect steak.)_

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chwolfe
We eat food that was appropriate when you worked outside for 12 hours a day.
We also live in rural areas so you have to drive everywhere.

~~~
kingkongrevenge
The lifestyle hasn't really changed that much in 40 years but the waistlines
have. It's not like everyone was out swinging pick axes all day in the 60s.
They were driving around and often sitting in AC, just like now.

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catfish71
Why Are Writers for 'Time' so Patronizing?

~~~
bkovitz
Because they're wannabe novelists.

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mynameishere
Kind of a dumb submission. The South is dominated by two ethnic groups, except
for "hot and humid" Florida which also has a relatively low obesity rate.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-
An...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-
by-County.svg)

[http://www.sogoodblog.com/wp-
content/uploads/2007/08/obesity...](http://www.sogoodblog.com/wp-
content/uploads/2007/08/obesity-map.png)

~~~
adamhowell
Sorry, but do you have any statistics to support what I assume you're saying,
that black people are more obese on average?

~~~
mynameishere
[http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:PfhBNYC8YsEJ:weight-
loss...](http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:PfhBNYC8YsEJ:weight-
loss.emedtv.com/obesity/obesity-
statistics-p2.html+obesity+by+ethnicity+statistics&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a)

Black men are slightly less obese, black women significantly more obese. It's
not just blacks but Scotch-Irish, for which I doubt there are statistics
available, but the Bill Clinton/Boss Hogg body shape is not unusual.

------
Mz
I was born and raised in The South -- and returned 'home' a few years ago. I
think this quote from the article has something to do with it: "Physical
activity can be something as simple as walking to the bus stop. That's another
problem, by the way: the South doesn't have many bus stops. Public
transportation is paltry, and for most people, the best way to get around is
by car."

I gave up my car last year. Lack of side walks is a serious issue, as is lack
of enough shoulder to walk on. And things tend to be spread out. Most folks
find it incomprehensible that I live without a car. (And I mostly walk. The
public transit system is a case of "You can't get there from here.")

As for "hot": I rarely have to walk the entire way to or from work. Offers of
rides have picked up with the summer heat. I am routinely offered a ride with
a comment about how it's just too hot out here for someone to walk. So I think
a lot of folks do find the heat discourages physical activity (unless it
revolves around a swimming pool).

The heat isn't usually a problem for me but sometimes the oppressive humidity
is. But, then, I used to walk for exercise in The Mojave Desert -- and had to
wait until after dark for it to drop down to 99F in the summer.

------
rsayers
I live in Mississippi, and every time I leave the South I see a very
noticeable difference in how people look. It has gotten much worse in the past
10 years. I recall growing up and going to the store, the electric carts were
always parked in the front of the store. Now they are always in use by someone
too large to walk. It's very sad.

And I believe this article confirms my mental state, I do go running when its
100 degrees outside.

~~~
briancooley
OT, but are you near the Gulf Coast? I'm in Ocean Springs. I've been looking
for hacker meetups, but outside of the local LUG, there's not a lot.

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greengirl512
Three words..."deep fried Twinkies!"

I'm sure sweet tea doesn't help either.

------
lurkinggrue
Fried Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers with bacon?

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rjurney
Cornbread.

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thras
Here's a 10x better question: Why did Southerners get so much fatter since
1970?

This is new. And there are lots of reasons to think it's not an epidemic of
pleny:
[http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=2121...](http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216)

~~~
bkovitz
Here's a written article by the same person:
<http://www.nasw.org/awards/2001/01Taubesarticle1.htm>

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mdg
I saw food inc. the other day. one interesting point made in the documentary
was that income levels effect obesity. people with less income are not able to
by the most nutritious food and settle for foods "rich" in hydrogenated corn
syrup. foods made with hydrogenated corn syrup are often less expensive
because corn has been subsidized, is cheap, and can be stored for a verrrry
long time.

~~~
kevbin
Aren't the cheapest foods the simplest, least processed: produce, grains,
etc.? No-high-fructose-corn-sweetener-water is cheaper than Coke. Two apples
and a banana are cheaper than a bag of Doritos.

~~~
bkovitz
Yup. You can eat cheap as dirt if you cook your own Indian food. Rice, dried
beans, vegetables, and spices--all are available in almost any grocery store
for lower prices than anything else. It's really easy, too, and tastes way
better than, hmm, just about anything.

