The Fattest and Skinniest Cities in the Nation

03/10/2012

The cities with the highest obesity rates aren’t just plagued with the embarrassment of having that unseemly title, they also have to deal with the repercussions of obesity. Let’s remember that obesity is a controllable health issue that causes diabetes, heart disease, and various kinds of cancer. This impacts those that aren’t even obese by spreading the healthcare costs for these chronic diseases far and wide.

For example, “the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area pays more than $400 million in unnecessary health-care costs each year because of its high obesity rate. If it reduced the obesity rate to 15 percent, the area could potentially save more than $250 million annually, Gallup estimates.” If Americans continue to pack on pounds, obesity will cost us about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018, eating up about 21 percent of health-care spending, according to an article in USA Today.

At least 15 percent of residents in 187 of the country’s 190 metro areas are obese.

Boulder is the skinniest city with an obesity rate of 12 percent followed by the only other cities to be below the 15 percent mark: Bridgeport-Stamford, CT  and Fort Collins-Loveland, CO. Fifteen percent is the Surgeon General’s goal obesity rate, but unfortunately, many were much higher. 

Here’s the list below via LiveScience from the Gallup-Healthway Well-Being Index:

Where does your city fall and are you surprised?

Top 10 most obese metro areas (with percent of residents considered obese):

McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas: 38.8 percent
Binghamton, N.Y.: 37.6
Huntington-Ashland, W. Va., Ky., Ohio: 36.0
Rockford, Ill.: 35.5
Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas: 33.8
Charleston, W. Va.: 33.8
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.: 33.5
Topeka, Kans.: 33.3
Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, Wash.: 33.2
Reading, Penn.: 32.7

(See full list of cities' obesity rates)

10 least obese metro areas:

Boulder, Colo.: 12.1 percent
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.: 14.5
Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.: 14.6
Barnstable Town, Mass.: 15.9
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif.: 16.4
Naples-Marco Island, Fla.: 16.5
Trenton-Ewing, N.J.: 16.8
Provo-Orem, Utah: 17.1
Colorado Springs, Colo.: 17.4
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.: 17.5

Thinking about losing a few pounds? Consider a plant-based diet. In 2010 the USDA finally embraced a vegetarian diet. In its 2010 dietary pyramid, the USDA gave vegetarianism an outright endorsement saying in addition to improved heart health, a vegetarian diet was associated with lower rates of obesity. Another study in 2009 by Oxford researcher Tim Key found that vegetarians and vegans had body weights 3 percent to 20 percent lower than meat eaters.

Photos: Thinkstock

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More on Obesity 
Doctors Afraid to Tell Parents That Their Kids are Overweight 
Does Taxing Soda Actually Curb Obesity?
Study Confirms: Plant-Based Diet Decreases Childhood Obesity

Comments

[carla McCray]

I often wonder why discovery health has to be into judging people for being what you term obese.Please can you just stop and think for a moment, how that makes a person feel? Last week was national Eating Disorders week and I had Anorexia for a long time I wish that you stop all this thinest cities in america . I'm getting tired of your attitude discovery health. ONE MORE THING, WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP PLAYING BIPOLAR MYSTERYS ?!!!!!!! i really think you should think before you play a show like that. That mother of that child ought to be ashamed of herself!!!!! so should discovery health for even allowing those dumb parents to let there child be taken by the police!!!!!!! .

[Sylvia]

Carla, you are overreacting.

The majority of people have control over what they eat and their weight, that includes people who are obese. If they don't want to be called obese maybe they should go to a doctor so they can make a plan to safely lose that extra weight. They'll not only look better but they'll feel better and live longer lives.

One last thing: If you don't like Discover Health then WHY ARE YOU WATCHING IT?

[Cesar]

It is a problem misguidedly approached. Obesity is a symptom that life is not going well. Unfold the hidden issue and the rest will fix by itself.

[Cesar]

It is a problem misguidedly approached. Obesity is a symptom that life is not going well. Unfold the hidden issue and the rest will fix by itself.