The Obesity Numbers Are In!

I love the time of year when the new obesity numbers by state are released. Mississippi is still the fattest state, with a 32.5 percent rate of adult obesity.

The report: F as in Fat 2009

The report does note some positive trends in policies enacted by states, including more states with nutritional standards for school lunches and required screening for child obesity.

This report also notes that the current economic recession may exacerbate our health/weight issues due to an expected rise in food costs, increasing rates of uninsured and unemployed, and stress.

Hefty US States

I love when new data on hefty states is published each year. Do you notice the % of people who are obese? Does your mind register that (in most US states) 25% of the people you meet are obese and more than 50% of people are overweight!? That is huge (literally).

Sometimes I think that people's perception of weight can change because everyone else around them may also be chubby, so it becomes "okay" and even "normal." I relayed this in a previous blog post, as I have seen noticeable differences in the average weight of workers across different clients and mentioned a study that came out last year discussing how individuals' networks of friends can influence weight.

I was curious whether or not (mis)perception of weight had any more data behind it, so I did a little more research on the tubes and found a study that came out recently indicating that over the past ten years people's perception of weight has been changing. Obese and overweight people are less likely to identify themselves as being overweight or obese. That sounds like a dangerous trend.