Most OBESE Cities in America...and WHY
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#ObesityCrisis
#AmericanHealth
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#ObeseCities
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#CityWellness
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#DietAndExercise
#HealthyCities
.
.
#ObesityCrisis
#AmericanHealth
#HealthTrends
#ObeseCities
#WeightLossJourney
#PublicHealth
#HealthyLiving
#NutritionMatters
#UrbanHealth
#FitnessGoals
#CityWellness
#LifestyleChanges
#HealthAwareness
#DietAndExercise
#HealthyCities
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TravelTranscript
00:00Did you know that the results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey indicated
00:05that roughly 73% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese?
00:10This means 3 out of every 4 people.
00:13Now, before we get to the list, let's define overweight and obesity.
00:17These are medical conditions based on your body mass index, or BMI.
00:22It's the ratio of height to weight.
00:24In order for adults to be considered overweight, they must have a BMI of 25 or greater.
00:30And in order to be considered obese, you must have a BMI greater than 30.
00:34To put that in perspective, a woman who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs a mere 150
00:40pounds would be considered overweight.
00:42A man who is 6 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds would be considered medically obese.
00:48Our perceptions of weight have changed over time.
00:51Worldwide adult obesity, which is currently 1 in 8 people, has more than doubled since
00:561990.
00:57And adolescent obesity has quadrupled.
01:00Why is that?
01:01Imagine you are struggling to make ends meet.
01:03You need to provide dinner for a family of 5.
01:06You can buy a box of pasta and tomato sauce for under $3 and easily feed the family.
01:11Or even cheaper, you can buy 5 packs of ramen noodles for around $1.50.
01:16That's right, you can feed 5 people for under $2.
01:20With inflation looming and the cost of groceries outpacing most people's paychecks, these
01:24meal options are tempting.
01:26Compare that to even just one bag of lettuce, which can be around $4-5.
01:31And that's just lettuce.
01:33To feed a family of 5 an adequate and healthy meal, you would likely need 2 bags of lettuce,
01:38salad dressing, tomatoes, and a cucumber.
01:41Pair that with a protein and you'll be spending upwards of $30.
01:45And that's being very generous and assuming that there are no other sides with the meal.
01:49Income is one of the biggest factors for obesity.
01:52Quality organic healthy foods are expensive, and cheap fast-food-like options are far more
01:57accessible in these trying economic times.
02:00It's not just an issue of cost, although money is usually the underlying reason.
02:05Even when consumer costs are no object, there are production costs.
02:09If a person is willing and able to feed their family 3 healthy meals a day, with cost not
02:14being an issue, there is still the issue of cutting costs behind the scenes.
02:18Most foods are laced with added sugar, even in foods like tomato sauce and salad dressing
02:23that aren't categorized as sweets.
02:26With sugar being more addicting than some drugs, and cheap to use as an additive, many
02:30of us are eating unhealthily without even realizing it.
02:34We are also a more sedentary society.
02:37With the internet, television, smartphones, remote jobs, schooling from age 5 to 22, we
02:43are hardly an active group of people.
02:45There are few people out at dawn tilling their fields.
02:48Most farms and commercial enterprises use industrial machinery.
02:51A farmer can sit in an air-conditioned tractor and scroll through Instagram.
02:56Even playing outside is more of a mirage from the 1950s and even 1990s than it is of the
03:012020s.
03:02It's also important to understand food deserts.
03:05A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food.
03:10In contrast, an area with greater access to supermarkets and vegetable shops with fresh
03:15foods may be called a food oasis.
03:19Poor regions and neighborhoods simply have less options.
03:22There are more than 34,000 dollar stores in the United States, compared to about 500 Whole
03:28Foods markets and under 600 Trader Joe's.
03:31There are also only 8,600 farmers markets nationwide.
03:35Living in a food desert means that even if you have the means and desire to eat healthy,
03:39you may not live close enough to access healthy foods.
03:43With all of this information in mind, let's look at America's most obese cities.
03:48As you may predict, they are all lower-income regions of the country.
03:52Number 10 is Chattanooga, Tennessee.
03:54With over 30% of the population being obese, Tennessee doesn't do particularly well when
04:00it comes to health overall.
04:01In the state, 44.8% of adults reported consuming fruit less than one time daily, and 24.3%
04:09of adults reported consuming vegetables less than one time daily.
04:13Tennessee has a poverty rate of over 14% and is the 11th poorest state in the U.S.
04:19Number 9 is Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which also has over 30% of its city being obese.
04:25Louisiana is an obese state, coming in the top 10 most obese states with over 1 in 4
04:31fitting in this category.
04:32Louisiana, not surprisingly, is the second poorest state in the U.S.
04:36Despite being the state capital, access to healthy foods seems to be a struggle for the
04:41city.
04:42Number 8 is Lafayette, Louisiana, which keeps us in the second poorest state.
04:46More than half of Lafayette residents live in a food desert.
04:50Access to healthy foods on the north side has been a growing issue as many traditional
04:54grocery stores have left the area over the past decade.
04:57Locals have tried to combat this problem with solutions like community fridges and gardens.
05:02But the need for easier access to healthier foods continues to be a problem for Lafayette.
05:07Number 7 is Memphis, Tennessee.
05:10Memphis is actually getting better given that a few years ago it was the second most obesity,
05:15but in 2024 it lands at number 7.
05:18The obesity crisis in Memphis was particularly apparent during COVID, when those with two
05:23or more medical conditions such as obesity and age made people more vulnerable to the
05:28effects of COVID.