Fattest State in the Nation?

what in the world is a fried pickle???  that just sounds disgusting.

Exactly.  That was the first thing that I thought after reading it too.  Blech.

Also, before I clicked the link, I was guessing it would have been Texas, just based on the Supersize Me movie.  I wasn't terribly surprised to see Mississippi, though. 

Fried pickles are really good when done right. 

Sorry my fat a$$ hijacking the thread is done. 

You know, I recently went out to a BBQ place that just opened up in my town and it quickly became obvious as I was reading through the menu how I had gotten to be 50 pounds heavier than I am today.

I traveled to the South (Tx, La, Ms etc.) a great deal with my old job and I ate like that every day. Heck, you can even get BBQ at the gas station there. Lucky for me, that was another life.

Now, I can shamelessly go out and have BBQ ribs once in a while and not feel like I am killing myself

 Mississippi:
   Percentage of Adults with Obesity:  29.5%
   Percentage of adults that report that they do not engage in any physical activity:   31.6%

Colorado:
   Percentage of Adults with Obesity:  16.8%
   Percentage of adults that report that they do not engage in any physical activity:   17.8%

I'm not that surprised. 

I grew up in Dubuque (moved out of Iowa in 1992).  The one thing I remember is the very active lifestyle.  As a kid, there were almost limitless options of sporting activities (and now I understand that soccer has really taken off as a major craze).  I would make some generalization about farming being a very physical activity, but we both know that in terms of population, farmers don't make a large enough part of the population to sway statistics.  I also know that there are tons of adult activity leagues for every possible sport (then again, most of them are playable with a beer in one hand).

Now granted, we now know that corn has one of the highest GI numbers for a vegetable with little to no nutritional value.  And I was most definitely raised up on a staple diet of steak and corn on most weekends.

Then again, it makes me wonder if there is any link between education levels and dietary / nutrition levels?  I wonder if the link is more along economic lines, but I just wonder...

 The other thing to remember about Iowa, a lot of Iowans are of Irish and German descent, which includes strong metabolisms to allow for copious amounts of drinking beer and gaining moderate weight.  And lets not forget all the Norwegians living up near the Minnesota border, ehh?   

Mississippi's public schools already are taking steps to prevent obesity.

Bravo - looks like they making PE mandatory and restricting what types of food can be offered.

New Mexico has the 42nd highest rate of adult obesity at 22.0 percent  (YEAH!)

and the 10th highest rate of overweight youths (ages 10-17) (BOO! )

No.  It's the thin air.  Breathe thin air, you are thinner.  The air in Mississippi is obese, obviously.  Duh!

Well, obviously just requiring PE is not enough, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Evidently at least some schools are in need of a state-mandated PE curriculum (eg. the school that you cite above).

ah, my lovely home state, the place I lived in for my first 19 years.....

ahhhh!!  of course i"m not surprised.   AT least we're number ONE at SOMETHING!! 

I always get sooo bloated when I visit there.  Fried pickles, beignets, po boys, crawfish, shrimps,  tons of family food that my nana makes,  and onandonandonandon.....    

But, on the other hand, they have some pretty fast folks out there.  Last time I visited, there was a 2 mile run.   Results are HERE.