Whenever a list comes out that ranks my state close to the bottom for something good (or close to the top for something bad), we Alabamans like to look west and say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” The Magnolia state tends to be one or two slots below us on everything from education rankings to per capita earnings. And last week they surpassed us in obesity.
The Centers for Disease Control reported July 17 that three southern states had rates of obesity greater than 30%. By merely a point or two, Mississippi was chunkier than Alabama and Tennessee. Thank God for Mississippi. It’s held the top spot in the CDC’s ranking (based on telephone surveys of 350,000 Americans) since 2004.
Unfortunately, being the second or third fattest state isn’t much to brag about. One CDC official told the Associated Press that southern diets high in fat and fried food made the region particularly prone to high rates of obesity. Hey, we eat our veggies; we just like to fry them first.
Not surprisingly, the incidence of diabetes among southern states is high too. There are six southern states ranked in the top 10 for diabetes. And West Virginia, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, which round out the cluster, all fall below the Mason Dixon line too.
But if you happen to live north of it, don’t go saying, “Thank God for the South,” and think you’re off the hook. As fun as it is to blame us for the national epidemics of obesity and diabetes, it’s worth taking another look at the map. The South may have three of the states that have obesity rates of more than 30%, but the rest of the country (save Colorado) is not far behind with rates between 20% and 29%.
I’m not saying this is anything to celebrate, I’m just suggesting it might be time to stop picking on us.
(PHOTO: CDC.GOV)
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