[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')untington, W.Va., is called a warning for the rest of U.S.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city says health is not a big local issue.

"It doesn't come up," said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. "We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus."

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese—an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes, according to a U.S. health report. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them).

Culture and history are at least part of the problem, health officials say.

For decades, Huntington thrived with coal mines to its south. Nearly 90,000 people lived in the city in 1950. The traditional diet was dense with calories burned off through manual labor.

But as the coal industry modernized and the economy changed, manufacturing jobs left. The city's population is now fewer than 50,000, and chronic diseases—many of them connected to obesity—seem much more common.

Nurse Shari Wiley runs a program that identifies heavy school children and tries to teach them better eating and exercise habits. The effort began because of an alarming trend.

"A lot of the patients we were seeing were getting heart attacks in their 30s," she said.

[Heineken]

deleted---dupe post

[Heineken]

I think the problems of Huntington are repeated throughout West Virginia, most of the rural South, and most poor urban areas. Singling out one city seems like the typical silly game the media love to engage in.

Wherever you find ignorance and poverty, American style, you will find massive health problems.

[timmac]

So in other words W Va is just a bunch of fat stupid toothless hillbillies who's main production is moonshine.

[galacticsurfer]

I read about this stuff happening now globally. In 3rd world rapidly developing countries eating like in the West fast food and living in cities without physical labour weights are exploding. Thailand, China, whatever. This is the American Disease, fat + debt,etc.

The cure??? PO

[SuperTico]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('galacticsurfer', 'I') read about this stuff happening now globally. In 3rd world rapidly developing countries eating like in the West fast food and living in cities without physical labour weights are exploding. Thailand, China, whatever. This is the American Disease, fat + debt,etc.

The cure??? PO

[galacticsurfer]

The US South is similar to 3rd world as it developed industry later and moved away from it later. People go through phases quicker in NICs as in The West where we have had time to adjust our habits to the extreme amount of excess sugary foods and lack of physical work to adopt for example a meidterranean diet on purpose to avoid heart disease. I am in Germany by the way and thin and bike to work and have no car.

[Daniel_Plainview]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')untington, W.Va., is called a warning for the rest of U.S.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The obese mayor of America's fattest and unhealthiest city says health is not a big local issue.

"It doesn't come up," said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. "We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus."

[IgnoranceIsBliss]

I wish these fatsos would have a fast crash rather than a slow crash. The former is much more affordable for our healthcare system!

[Minvaren]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('galacticsurfer', 'I') read about this stuff happening now globally. In 3rd world rapidly developing countries eating like in the West fast food and living in cities without physical labour weights are exploding. Thailand, China, whatever. This is the American Disease, fat + debt,etc.

The cure??? PO

[firestarter]

It's dumb to single out Huntington, which btw has one of the best high school basketball programs in the U.S.

People are fat EVERYWHERE in the U.S.--sheesh!

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ere's a photo of David Felinton, the obese mayor of America's fattest city.

[vaseline2008]

Here is a map I found at the CDC website:

[Heineken]

What do the percentages refer to? Percentage of the state's population above ideal body weight?

I'd like to say, as an aside, that I've been to West Virginia and found the people to be tough, gritty, proud, and rather more self-sufficient than most of us. Friendly, too, if they decide they like you.

All the abuse that gets heaped on West Virginia troubles me.

It's a very interesting state to visit. Different. A lot of beauty mixed in with the ugly. Down in the hollers you'll see amazing vistas of poverty.

Overall not a bad state for "prep"-type relocation. Cheap land. Good rainfall. Cool summers, great for growing fruit.

[bratticus]

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Oil (see pic at bottom left)

[bratticus]

[flash width=320 height=267]http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/Zmw2ZifJLSM[/flash]

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vaseline2008', 'H')ere is a map I found at the CDC website:

[galacticsurfer]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/200 ... ates_N.htm

Thea rticle shows a picture of 1991 map compared to average 2004-2006 map and there is a really big difference. They are measuring BMI, Body Mass Index, over 30 is obese.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')WASHINGTON (AP) — Loosen the belt buckle another notch America: Obesity rates continued their climb in 31 states last year.

No state showed a decline.
Mississippi became the first state to crack the 30% barrier for adults considered to be obese. West Virginia and Alabama were just behind, according to the Trust for America's Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.

Colorado continued its reign as the leanest state in the nation with an obesity rate projected at 17.6%.

This year's report, for the first time, looked at rates of overweight children ages 10 to 17. The District of Columbia had the highest percentage — 22.8%. Utah had the lowest — 8.5%.

[strider3700]

Wow,

If any state in the country had over 30% of it's population with Aids, cancer, the flu.... there would a huge outcry but other then a million infomercials and "magic" pills you see very little coverage of this fact.

Sad