I recall about 20 years ago that Colorado was the least obese state. And over 20 years they’re still the least but have risen along with every other state.
What was and is going on in Colorado that they remain the least obese?
They live to be outside. Doing activities. Company I worked for 20 years ago had a vendor in Denver. Fridays during the summer few were in the office, none after noon. Winters about half of them were out on Fridays.
They’re active. We aren’t. Iowa is the most ecologically man altered state. Previous generations reshaped this state to be crop land.
Appreciate you this was very insightful. Previous generations reshapes this state to be crop land and current generations are what? Making sure it stays that way.
I was just talking to a teacher friend who teaches in Brazil and she was telling me about how great their lunches are at the school. I can’t believe the stuff we feed children and honestly the lack of regulations on food companies serve. You go to the same fast food restaurant in another country and the quality is infinitely better. It’s like the people in charge want our population to be weak and unhealthy. It’s easy to say it’s peoples choices but even though I eat healthy now and am extremely active, that wasn’t an option when I was a kid, and it led to me being very unhealthy and docile growing up.
Disagree on fast food being better in other countries. Even in countries like Italy, where food is religion, their fast food is unhealthy and low quality. Really the only difference is they don’t eat much of it because they don’t really do drive thrus and if you’re going to sit down and eat somewhere you’re probably not choosing the low quality options.
But, even though they are traditionally considered a slim, active population, they are also going through their own weight epidemic.
A simple Google search will show you 50% of Brazilians are overweight. They just don’t have the same level of morbidly obese people.
It’s less important than one would think.
For the record, the reason Iowans are more obese is not even borderline “we turned undeveloped prairie or savanna into corn and soy fields.” That’s implying that there was this vast natural outdoor playground teeming with adventure beforehand, which there wasn’t. It was just flat prairie and savanna with some marshland thrown in during really wet years.
Back to farmland though, the overwhelming majority of corn grown in Iowa (and every other state dominated by cornfields as far as the eye can see) is used for livestock feed or ethanol. The overwhelming majority of the leftover corn is exported to other countries—that also use it for livestock or ethanol.
Less than 2% of US-grown corn is used to feed people.
But if the rest is getting used, isn’t it still important? Well, not really.
About 40-50% of corn is used for livestock feed. Because roughly 90% of calories consumed by an animal go to just staying alive, only 10% of that corn is converted to biomass that then becomes the livestock producing our meat and dairy. Which means that 40% to 50% of corn ends up making meat and dairy. 90% of it literally goes towards livestock shitting and farting which produces methane which is x25 as powerful of a greenhouse gas as CO2. Meaning 36-45% of that farmland is not just wasted but is actually harmful and only 4-5% of it goes to productive nutrition.
If people just ate less meat and dairy—part of the reason they’re so obese in the first place—there would be drastically less demand for livestock feed. Any reduction in livestock demand would result in a literal order of magnitude greater decrease in livestock feed. In reality it would be even greater than that because inefficiencies in corn production, processing, and shipment along with inefficiencies in livestock raising would even further compound less demand.
Corn monocultures have been heavily subsidized and pushed by the US government and have led to less healthy and diversified landscapes. The reason they’re there isn’t because they’re patriotically feeding a hungry nation; they’re there because it’s profitable for a few people to have them there
This is true, I wish high fructose corn syrup production would slow down considerably. I also wish there were incentives to move beyond just corn and soybeans. I want that even as a past farm kid myself.
It’s been a while since I’ve done any sustainable agriculture work but if I recall correctly there’s a computer program written by a team of ag, econ, and env sci professors from University of Iowa that literally allocates financial value to diversified crop lands (i.e. crop cycling, livestock grazing, water diversion to form wetlands).
This was back in 2013. It showed convincingly that even with slightly reduced corn and soy production, shifting away from monocultures saves more money anyway. But corn subsidies and the simplicity of maintaining a monoculture provides no incentive for farmers to do anything other than corn/soy. And I get it, farming is brutal why would they make their lives harder? It’s just gov/USDA policy that fucks shit up
It also helps that Colorado typically has a better climate. They don’t have the oppressive humidity, which causes life-threatening heat indices that prevent people from being outside in the summer, and from what I’ve heard, their winters aren’t as harsh as ours either. It’s easy and fun to play outside when Mother Nature isn’t trying to kill you.
I live in Iowa now but I’m from Minnesota and remember MN always being ranked as one of the healthier states, so I don’t really think it’s the climate causing it.
isn't the massive amounts of humidity in the state also a result of the constantly watered crops that dominate our land?
Colorado has a winter too btw, I think it's the cultural acceptance of unhealthy foods and lifestyle in this state that leads people to believe its normal to be considered morbidly obese by medical professionals. I'm "Iowa skinny" but feel fat anytime I travel to a real city, where it feels much less accepted to be overweight.
“Iowa skinny” is so real. I’m overweight according to BMI but people are convinced I’m a stick and starve myself. We need a drastic shift in our attitude towards health in this state.
I've lost about 40 pounds in the last 6 months. I am close to what I weighed in high school. The interesting part for me is that I am two sizes below what I wore in high school. Current size of clothing is what I wore in junior high. The fashion industry hasn't done us any favors by making clothing sizes bigger.
Social acceptance definitely plays a role. Being overweight is less stigmatized in places like Iowa partly due to “social contagion” (how we’re susceptible to the behaviors, emotions, and attitudes of those around us).
A 2018 USC research study showed evidence of the social contagion factor that perpetuates obesity by analyzing US military families (since they relocate regularly). The study found that families stationed in high obesity areas were 25% more likely to become overweight or obese than their counterparts stationed in areas with lower obesity rates. The study also showed that unhealthful eating and sedentary lifestyles were more socially acceptable in places with higher obesity rates.
Former iowan here, been in CO since 2000. Between hiking, biking, climbing, fishing, skiing, kayaking, etc etc there's so much to do it's easy to stay active. Plus we try to prioritize bike lanes, paths, trails, public lands,etc.
I'm 6'2" 235 and feel fat when I'm around people in CO. In iowa, I look around and I'm one of the skinnier ones. I'm in Wisconsin now so I'm thin as a rail, comparatively.
Grew up in Iowa, have lived in Fort Collins for like 16 years. People here get outside. I don't know a single person who doesn't get active outside at least occasionally. Bikes, hikes, climbing, water sports etc. there is so much opportunity and the weather is incredible compared to the Midwest. There's just a general, active vibe. A lot of in shape, healthy people creates a kind of motivation. There aren't many overweight people here...I mean, it's not "everyone is skinny" and more "nobody is morbidly obese"
Can confirm. Iowa native, Colo transplant. Finally in my own bed since Thursday, after kayaking thru the chutes at deckers, mountain biking buffalo creek then SUP paddling/ fishing at tarryall reservoir. No one works Friday. We also tax soda like cigarettes
Colorado has a ton of outdoor activities and all of the people that I know that live there are extremely active and always spending their free time camping and/or hiking. I think it's a cultural thing.
this honestly makes so much sense. i’m making a point of taking at least one class at the Y weekly, and riding my bike 1-2 times a week. i’m tired of my weird quasi sedentary lifestyle.
> They’re active. We aren’t. Iowa is the most ecologically man altered state. Previous generations reshaped this state to be crop land.
Attributing this to anything other than personal habits is absurd. It's easy to be active here, just like anywhere.
Also, we (somehow) aren't even in the top 10 for obesity: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/the-most-obese-states-in-america
Obesity is driven by many different factors. Age. Education. Wealth. Access to types of food/healthcare. Public transport access and walkability of local areas. etc. etc.
Unfortunately, Iowa misses the mark on a lot of these things. Brain drain from Iowa is also very real and the wealthy/educated students are more likely to move away than indigent and less educated demographics.
Yes indeed, genetics certainly plays into risk as well. But genes function more as individual risk markers. Not very helpful from a public health perspective unless you're screening specific markers across many different people. I don't think we have any accurate population data on allele prevalence/frequency across different states.
\*this may change with 23 and Me and other such mass screening methods but nothing a government has the ability to affect that I am aware of
Genetics does indeed impact obesity; but the risk is not isolated to specific alleles for most people and it's not something helpful from a public health standpoint unless we start screening people at large.
Genetics and obesity summary article: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-021-00414-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-021-00414-z)
Why public health focuses on lifestyle factors for effective impacts: [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/)
Neighborhoods aren’t walkable, everyone is car dependent, food is crap, everything is processed, list goes on and on. Even healthy activities like biking are always attached to drinking beer and eating fried food.
Exactly! All this I didn't want to get long winded but I was thinking all this as well. Especially the biking thing there's a huge bike culture here and somehow revolves around drinking.
Isn’t it astonishing? There are bike nights everywhere and it’s going from a starting point where they give you a beer as a refreshment and a poker card. You then go to another town like maybe 20-30 min jaunt. You pick up another poker card, and most likely have another drink. There are 5 cards in a hand of poker. Poker runs are very common way to get business. You do the math on the drinking and driving. Very cool concept but highly incentivized DUI is kind of the opposite of a positive thing.
Brilliant. I know nothing about bicycle culture except for it's always been big here and for some reason it revolves around stinky. Dozens of bars are probably afloat thanks to this since. Since I know nothing about biking you don't usually leave your home from the suburbs and pedal to the trail right? Maybe you do idk but yeah if you pack the bikes up and go do all that it's definitely incentivized DUI
Not gonna lie I thought you meant like the biker groups of motorized bikers that go from town to town. Bicycle culture I know nothing about myself. But people drinking alcohol then riding motorcycles from bar to bar is what I thought you meant because that happens all over lol. I see
This makes Iowa like every other state in the U.S.
There are a dozen states fatter than us and others are close behind. This isn't an Iowa problem specifically.
This is why I make patio furniture for the big n tall. Lol. Want a seat for the porch but don't want to fight arm rests? Love seat it is. 47" of plush seating for your tuchus.
Built with structure in mind. Lol.
I’m not here to fat shame anyone and think OP’s approach sucks, but there’s no doubt that there is a standard Iowa diet. I haven’t lived in Iowa for many years but I remember when I moved to the East and then West coasts and realized how different my diet was from many of the people around me, because of how I was raised. Not a lot of spice, veggies from the garden in the summer but lots of ranch/mayo. Iowans love our dairy and beef/pork. Lots of potatoes, corn and tons of carbs. Salads made of Jello and Cool Whip, and tons of casseroles/hotdish (courtesy of my Minnesota Norwegian grandma.) I remember taking tater tot casserole to a potluck at work and no one touched it 🤣(I still think tater tot casserole is delicious.) No judgement, I still love a lot of that stuff.
But, I started trying other cuisines and getting creative with spices, other protein sources, and ways of preparing my food and realized how much I was missing out on. I remember when it really hit home when I had a friend visit who has never lived out of Iowa and they pretty much hated every restaurant I took her to (even though they served typical American food, it was “too fancy.”) I don’t want to generalize, there are a lot of amazing, creative restaurants in Iowa. Also, I’ve had some killer “ethnic” cuisines in Des Moines that are so tasty and fairly healthy.
And, I can’t stress this enough, what another persons’ body looks like is not my business. I have a “normal” BMI right now but I’ve been morbidly obese and the people who pretended to care about my “health” could go pound sand. I still have health issues and no one cares about them now 😂
To be fair, what I really should've said was: "It's much more complicated than that, and obesity is just one factor. You can't look at a random fat person and say, 'That guy costs me money.'" But, I wrote it at 3 a.m.
There are many costly conditions that are present alongside obesity but are not caused by it. Sometimes, those conditions are present before and can contribute to obesity, like paralysis. Many obese people are healthy by all other metrics, while others are not. And some unhealthy obese people die very young, before they can rack up a bill. Are you really that confident that studies designed to put a high price tag on obesity controlled for all of those factors?
Also, it's a bit silly to get self-righteous about obesity specifically when we all make choices that increase risk and cost. ANY level of alcohol consumption is harmful to health. Do you get angry every time you see someone drink a beer? Why get mad at someone who is actively walking around a public event and might be eating a snow cone on their one "cheat" day of the week?
It's not an 'Iowa thing' . It's a 'they found out how to extract a cheap form of sugar from corn and they put it in everything thing'.
The current elderly generation were never really obese. Our life expectancy is going to fall dramatically after they die.
Seems a bit off topic to me. What does this have to do with art?
If you really want to see a lot of fat people in Iowa, I would recommend the Iowa State Fair.
A festival where all these people are outside, walking around, a healthy activity.
This guy is probably one of those people who leans out their car and yells at people who are out for a walk trying to burn some calories.
Here to ask the tough questions. Why is Iowa so unhealthy why does our government ban abortion,books and THC but promotes alcohol they want to keep you fat lazy and dumb... it's working.
Voters or lack of voters, districts, etc. It's not just one thing. I don't recall the democratic party bringing anyone super exciting to the ticket either.
You’re extremely optimistic. I’m guessing at least two generations until it gets better. But that estimate requires a dedicated effort starting a while ago.
You shouldn't conflate lazy and fat. I know many people who work very hard and are overweight. Conflating fat and dumb is no better than believing in phrenology.
This phenomenon is due to the Standard American Diet (SAD), and is not unique to Iowa. I went to a baseball game at Dodger Stadium a few weeks ago and a huge percentage of the fans were overweight or obese.
You should read Magic Pill by Johann Hari. It’s primarily about GLP-1 agonists and GIP medications (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.), but it also covers how industrial food companies have inundated our lives with energy dense foods that have zero nutritional value. It’s not impossible to maintain a healthy weight in our society but it’s incredibly difficult.
I lost 60 lbs last year after I was finally started on stimulant ADHD medication as an adult. It's plateaued now but still working on eating healthier and maybe being a bit more active as I'd like to lose another 50.
So, in your tough questioning you are saying “because it is working” that Iowans are “fat lazy and dumb”…? It has turned me off because if I were fat I am still deeply insulted by your wording.
lol. We just got back from Costco… Vermont is pretty large also. If you are done wasting your breath in Iowa come on over to the green mountain state. After that New Hampshire and Maine might need a talking to.
How is he going to educate people? Its no lie more and more people are overweight. They know it. They just dont want to do anything about it. Once you are that far gone it requires a hell of a lot of discipline and effort compared to someone who only needs to lose 2-5lbs. If you get offended by someone calling you fat because you are fat that’s your own problem that you created yourself. Minus the few with actual medical issues that are the cause of their obesity.
Iowa had a reverse effect on me. I moved here in 2012 and stopped eating all fast foods and hitting drive thrus up. As a kid, I was obsessed with water and strawberry milk. Mind you, I'm no milk drinker but I strictly drink water and sometimes switch it up with hot tea and honey for some flavor! I quit drinking alcohol and even quit cigarettes cold turkey some years ago and haven't looked back!
Iowa was the place that made me realize I don't want to be unhealthy because of a lot of the deterioration I saw in people around me. Not all Iowans are ill, sick or not my health type preference and that's okay.. but I'm from Boston so it was a big eye opener for me. I'm not used to that corn fed, pork bred Iowa diet. I love lots of things about Midwest eating but why is everything fried or drowned in ranch? Lol.
So, if you’re concerned with people in active addiction and having nutritional issues, what’s your solution other than a Reddit post eww fats and drunks and junkies?
This is super interesting. Health and weight are not directly correlated. There are plenty of standard weight people with alcoholism, high blood pressure, etc. My numbers are fine and I’m 50 and have been “overweight “ or “obese” for most of my life. Also, it’s not anyone’s responsibility to be healthy. Nor is it in everyone’s control. There has been a shift from hating fat people because of how they look to “concerns” and moralizing about health. It’s really transparent when people do this that they are excited to keep body hierarchies alive because they get privilege from it. Also - it’s not nearly as universal as you think. Plenty of people are weight/shape neutral or even fat positive. Plenty of people find fat people attractive. AND the attempts to keep size/shape hierarchies alive in the name of health are bad for people’s health. It’s a major factor in disordered eating. And research shows that fat stigma is damaging to health. Fat stigma is healthcare keeps people from getting diagnosed with their actual illnesses. It keeps people in larger bodies from going to the doctor and getting regular care. AND, it looks like it keeps SOME people from enjoying art! I and a bunch of other people went to arts fest and enjoyed the music, art, and community and somehow resisted the urge to make crappy generalizations about people’s appearance designed to make us feel superior.
Corn. The hybrid has much higher sugar content. Corn syrup in everything.
Cortisol. Americans are working like dogs to survive- which also leads to convenience foods and lack of time for exercise.
Gut bacteria. Great research on how this affects obesity rates.
This dude is malding because:
1. Iowans don't know "crowd etiquette," which is 100% true
2. An artist that's salty asf he's not getting any business.
Oh also may be because his pick-up artist techniques aren't working on the thiccc chicks at the festival
Or maybe because they couldn't get around because there was a lot of body mass? Or they're just making a crass observation. Idk, I was there for several hours and it was packed, but everything was easily accessible.
What does it matter to you? I'd rather be fat than a judgemental asshole any day.
My takeaway from the art festival was that it had a great turnout and was packed with people, which helps support a variety of artists and the local economy.
Don't like seeing people who don't fit what you think is "healthy", don't leave your house no matter what state you live in.
BMI, the metric used to dictate someone is obese or not, is not accurate and never really was.
Granted, there is a health problem in Iowa and by association, the entire United States.
I go to the gym often, many of my buddies go too. With how much mass we carry around we could be classified as obese.
0.5% of gym bros is greatly misrepresenting what I meant.
It's a 160 year old, very simple (weight in kilograms / height in meters squared) equation. The way it curves makes short people think they are skinnier than they are and makes tall people think they are fatter than they are. It was invented that simple because calculators didn't exist yet.
Waist size itself is a better indicator of actual clinical obesity than BMI.
It also doesn't account for muscle mass vs fat mass. It's calculated the same for everyone.
To act like it's not flawed is frankly stupid.
Still not sure how this is your takeaway from an art festival, other than you looking around judgmentally and deciding to look up one statistic to support your supposition. But, here you go.
1. Yes. The poisons in the environment likely do impact this statistic. https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/2023/07/25/perspective-obesity-associated-with-consumption-of-ultra-processed-food-along-with-thousands-of-potential-environmental-toxins/
2. Genetics is a huge indicator for obesity, as I mentioned before. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573068/
3. As for your supposition that it’s because of lack of self control, that is often tied to executive disfunction, usually secondary to a disability like ADHD, autism, or brain injury. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6209053/
4. My turn for a supposition. Your unsourced statistic is likely based on BMI data. BMI is problematic for multiple reasons, including that it’s pretty much only based on white men, and doesn’t consider sex, race, or ethnicity. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/why-you-shouldnt-rely-on-bmi-alone
So to many of us, your non sequitar takeaway from an ART festival comes across as presumptive, fatphobic, sexist, racist, and xenophobic. At minimum, ill informed.
Thank you, I put a post how BMI has really never applied to me. I’m 6’6” and played athletics in college. By the time I’m 215lbs, I look too skinny, and the BMI says I am overweight until <200lbs. I hate the BMI.
People spend too much time talking about the food and not enough about the lack of physical activity and binge drinking amongst Iowans. I grew up in Iowa but I’ve lived elsewhere since I left when I was 18 and it’s startling at the lack of hobbies and recreational activities people partake in. Drinking/tailgating or boating on lakes or rivers isn’t exactly a strenuous activity, nor are motor sports. Hunting can be a good activity, with all the walking involved (in my experience anyways) but it’s far too often accompanied by a couple 30 packs of Busch Light.
Most of the people I know that adopted lifelong sports, left the state long ago. My parents relocated to Florida a few years ago and they’re way more active physically than they would be in Iowa. They came home for two weeks in June, decided to go back because they could swim, golf, play pickleball, walk on the beach or use the gym more so than in Iowa. They are more physically active in their 70’s than they were in their 50’s in Iowa. Their friends in Iowa are too content on considering dining out at the local bowling alley or tavern as peak activity. What’s even scarier, the boomers tend to be thinner than their kids and grandkids, especially in the rural communities.
There’s no excuse to shut down physical activity in the winter. My son and I XC ski and snow shoe together, I play hockey year around and at least weekly in the winter months.
Lastly, education is a huge driver, especially when it comes lifelong habits and activities. I’ll leave it at that..
I mean, I’m obese, but honestly people are weird when I try to be active. Either they make animal noises at me (bark, moo, etc), or I get bullied by old men in the gym, or even if I’m just walking to the gas station, well meaning people will be like “do you need a ride?”. No, I have my own vehicle, I just like to walk outside. It’s like it’s a foreign concept. Ooo and then there’s when my neighbors stalk me when I go for walks, because of course I must be up to no good, no one walks just to walk without an animal on a leash, right? Yeah… it’s no mystery why Iowans are getting bigger… myself included - to be fair, I’m 7.5 months pregnant!
Of you're getting bullied by old men at the gym, you can always 'accidentally" drop weights on their feet or :"accidentally" connect your elbow to their chin. Be creative and have fun with it.
While I agree that there is an obesity problem, let's start with the real issue. It's the shit in our foods. The additivies and loads of unhealthy/toxic preservatives to make food last longer and to keep us addicted. That's literally what this boils down to. Eating shit foods = mental confusion, depression, weight gain, the list goes on. Couple that with the crap in our foods and ding, ding, ding.
You go to other countries and half of what is "legal" in our food is illegal/not allowed to be ingredients in their foods. Other countries' foods are actually fresh and go bad in a short timeframe, as they should.
Why is this hard to understand?
THAT was your takeaway from the art festival? We're fat? Personally, when I went a couple of years ago, I was looking at the ART. There was so much amazing talent and creativity on display. It's a shame that didn't make as much of an impression on you.
Iowa should just change the obesity guidelines to fit our current situation. I'm sure Kim Reynolds could be talked into. Actually just figure out what Trump's BMI is and say anything over that is obese and anything under is fit.
Anyone know if these are based on the BMI? If so then it’s complete bs.
I am 6’6” and 250lbs. I could lose 20 lbs, I admit I am overweight compared to what I want. I would not say I’m obese .
The BMI says I need to be <200lbs to be “normal”. I haven’t been that weight since I was 15 years old. I would look like a skeleton.
Probably is Idk what else you would use for measuring a whole state.
As for you, you are absolutely not obese. Height affects your healthy weight range tons and accurate or not, BMI gives atleast a decent range just don't hold it as truth. According to a CDC calculator for BMI your healthy "starts" at about 215lbs. For me at 5'8 it starts around 165lbs. I'll be honest, I was still kind of chubby and didn't "feel" skinny until around 150lbs. Americans and especially here we are (or atleast I am) so used to people being big we forget you can be kinda skinny and still be healthy. I've had a couple obese people tell me to eat a burger (as in you look like you are starving!) when I was 150lbs, closer to overweight than underweight.
I'm surprised there's an art festival here anymore honestly. As dumb as this state is becoming its hard to imagine the arts having a place here much longer.
Only in America. Only in America is fascism returning. Only in America is the national debt skyrocketing. Only in America are the youngest generations completely brain dead from social media. Only in America is the drug epidemic so bad. Only in America would 80million people vote for Trump.
I'm an "obese" Iowan, and I am in perfectly fine shape. BMI is a poor measurement tool. It doesn't account well for taller people and as this is the tallest state in the US, and this skews our numbers
How old are you? Is smoking okay since a 21-year-old smoker is probably in fine shape? Are tanning beds safe because a 30-year-old doesn’t have skin cancer yet? Is binge drinking okay because a 25-year-old’s liver is still fine?
43. I work out and my last physical was great. It's because BMI doesn't account well for muscular dudes. For example in the film Captain America it's stated that Steve Rogers is 6'2" 240 pounds. That's "obese" according to BMI.
Especially given the type of festival. I would think the takeaway would be, “wow, Iowa has some really great artists and a lot of talent in this state. We should push our politicians to increase funding for the arts for youth to help nurture this creativity!” Or something like that.
All due respect doc I would rather hear it from a qualified professional such as yourself. I ask again what do we know Doctor? What are the genetic influences exactly? It's not the poisoned food supply and lack of self control?
Iowa obesity rate is 37.4%
We are not even in the top ten.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/10-states-high-obesity-rates
We are rated in the top ten best states to live.
Picking out only adults makes the number bigger but that also means that there’s less obese children.
It’s unfathomable to me, but then again I can strike a balance between eating frozen pizza and running 30+ miles a week. It’s cultural IMHO. We certainly have fresh fruits and vegetables galore, as well as plenty of parks and trails. No, it’s not Colorado, but when it comes your health it’s less about scenery, it’s about steps and quantity/quality of food.
It’s special Iowa kind of fat where your legs are pale twigs and everything from your waist to your head has the same dimensions. I say this as someone who is getting too close to it for comfort lol
I recall about 20 years ago that Colorado was the least obese state. And over 20 years they’re still the least but have risen along with every other state. What was and is going on in Colorado that they remain the least obese? They live to be outside. Doing activities. Company I worked for 20 years ago had a vendor in Denver. Fridays during the summer few were in the office, none after noon. Winters about half of them were out on Fridays. They’re active. We aren’t. Iowa is the most ecologically man altered state. Previous generations reshaped this state to be crop land.
Appreciate you this was very insightful. Previous generations reshapes this state to be crop land and current generations are what? Making sure it stays that way.
Or they're moving to the suburbs where you drive everywhere Or theyre low income and survive off junk.
I was just talking to a teacher friend who teaches in Brazil and she was telling me about how great their lunches are at the school. I can’t believe the stuff we feed children and honestly the lack of regulations on food companies serve. You go to the same fast food restaurant in another country and the quality is infinitely better. It’s like the people in charge want our population to be weak and unhealthy. It’s easy to say it’s peoples choices but even though I eat healthy now and am extremely active, that wasn’t an option when I was a kid, and it led to me being very unhealthy and docile growing up.
Disagree on fast food being better in other countries. Even in countries like Italy, where food is religion, their fast food is unhealthy and low quality. Really the only difference is they don’t eat much of it because they don’t really do drive thrus and if you’re going to sit down and eat somewhere you’re probably not choosing the low quality options. But, even though they are traditionally considered a slim, active population, they are also going through their own weight epidemic. A simple Google search will show you 50% of Brazilians are overweight. They just don’t have the same level of morbidly obese people.
Whether we agree on how it’s implemented or not, farmland is very important, fwiw.
It’s less important than one would think. For the record, the reason Iowans are more obese is not even borderline “we turned undeveloped prairie or savanna into corn and soy fields.” That’s implying that there was this vast natural outdoor playground teeming with adventure beforehand, which there wasn’t. It was just flat prairie and savanna with some marshland thrown in during really wet years. Back to farmland though, the overwhelming majority of corn grown in Iowa (and every other state dominated by cornfields as far as the eye can see) is used for livestock feed or ethanol. The overwhelming majority of the leftover corn is exported to other countries—that also use it for livestock or ethanol. Less than 2% of US-grown corn is used to feed people. But if the rest is getting used, isn’t it still important? Well, not really. About 40-50% of corn is used for livestock feed. Because roughly 90% of calories consumed by an animal go to just staying alive, only 10% of that corn is converted to biomass that then becomes the livestock producing our meat and dairy. Which means that 40% to 50% of corn ends up making meat and dairy. 90% of it literally goes towards livestock shitting and farting which produces methane which is x25 as powerful of a greenhouse gas as CO2. Meaning 36-45% of that farmland is not just wasted but is actually harmful and only 4-5% of it goes to productive nutrition. If people just ate less meat and dairy—part of the reason they’re so obese in the first place—there would be drastically less demand for livestock feed. Any reduction in livestock demand would result in a literal order of magnitude greater decrease in livestock feed. In reality it would be even greater than that because inefficiencies in corn production, processing, and shipment along with inefficiencies in livestock raising would even further compound less demand. Corn monocultures have been heavily subsidized and pushed by the US government and have led to less healthy and diversified landscapes. The reason they’re there isn’t because they’re patriotically feeding a hungry nation; they’re there because it’s profitable for a few people to have them there
The same #2 dent corn is also used to make high fructose corn syrup, which is arguably a much bigger contributor to obesity than meat and dairy.
This is true, I wish high fructose corn syrup production would slow down considerably. I also wish there were incentives to move beyond just corn and soybeans. I want that even as a past farm kid myself.
It’s been a while since I’ve done any sustainable agriculture work but if I recall correctly there’s a computer program written by a team of ag, econ, and env sci professors from University of Iowa that literally allocates financial value to diversified crop lands (i.e. crop cycling, livestock grazing, water diversion to form wetlands). This was back in 2013. It showed convincingly that even with slightly reduced corn and soy production, shifting away from monocultures saves more money anyway. But corn subsidies and the simplicity of maintaining a monoculture provides no incentive for farmers to do anything other than corn/soy. And I get it, farming is brutal why would they make their lives harder? It’s just gov/USDA policy that fucks shit up
If a majority of corn is used for livestock, how can only 2% feed Americans? Folks still eat steak, pork chops, burgers, and drink milk last I checked
The point is that corn used for livestock is less than 10% efficient. 10% energy efficiency is pretty inefficient last I checked
🤯 good stuff thanks. Have you considered running for office lol
What’s it important for?
It also helps that Colorado typically has a better climate. They don’t have the oppressive humidity, which causes life-threatening heat indices that prevent people from being outside in the summer, and from what I’ve heard, their winters aren’t as harsh as ours either. It’s easy and fun to play outside when Mother Nature isn’t trying to kill you.
Yep, it's tougher to be motivated to be physical in the winter. A treadmill or gym can be boring compared to walk outside
I live in Iowa now but I’m from Minnesota and remember MN always being ranked as one of the healthier states, so I don’t really think it’s the climate causing it.
isn't the massive amounts of humidity in the state also a result of the constantly watered crops that dominate our land? Colorado has a winter too btw, I think it's the cultural acceptance of unhealthy foods and lifestyle in this state that leads people to believe its normal to be considered morbidly obese by medical professionals. I'm "Iowa skinny" but feel fat anytime I travel to a real city, where it feels much less accepted to be overweight.
“Iowa skinny” is so real. I’m overweight according to BMI but people are convinced I’m a stick and starve myself. We need a drastic shift in our attitude towards health in this state.
I've lost about 40 pounds in the last 6 months. I am close to what I weighed in high school. The interesting part for me is that I am two sizes below what I wore in high school. Current size of clothing is what I wore in junior high. The fashion industry hasn't done us any favors by making clothing sizes bigger.
As a male competitive cyclist I have an objectively low body weight, at 5'9 130lbs. It feels like being on a different planet here sometimes.
Social acceptance definitely plays a role. Being overweight is less stigmatized in places like Iowa partly due to “social contagion” (how we’re susceptible to the behaviors, emotions, and attitudes of those around us). A 2018 USC research study showed evidence of the social contagion factor that perpetuates obesity by analyzing US military families (since they relocate regularly). The study found that families stationed in high obesity areas were 25% more likely to become overweight or obese than their counterparts stationed in areas with lower obesity rates. The study also showed that unhealthful eating and sedentary lifestyles were more socially acceptable in places with higher obesity rates.
Excuses
It’s altitude
Former iowan here, been in CO since 2000. Between hiking, biking, climbing, fishing, skiing, kayaking, etc etc there's so much to do it's easy to stay active. Plus we try to prioritize bike lanes, paths, trails, public lands,etc. I'm 6'2" 235 and feel fat when I'm around people in CO. In iowa, I look around and I'm one of the skinnier ones. I'm in Wisconsin now so I'm thin as a rail, comparatively.
Grew up in Iowa, have lived in Fort Collins for like 16 years. People here get outside. I don't know a single person who doesn't get active outside at least occasionally. Bikes, hikes, climbing, water sports etc. there is so much opportunity and the weather is incredible compared to the Midwest. There's just a general, active vibe. A lot of in shape, healthy people creates a kind of motivation. There aren't many overweight people here...I mean, it's not "everyone is skinny" and more "nobody is morbidly obese"
Can confirm. Iowa native, Colo transplant. Finally in my own bed since Thursday, after kayaking thru the chutes at deckers, mountain biking buffalo creek then SUP paddling/ fishing at tarryall reservoir. No one works Friday. We also tax soda like cigarettes
Colorado has a ton of outdoor activities and all of the people that I know that live there are extremely active and always spending their free time camping and/or hiking. I think it's a cultural thing.
Iowa is noticeably more obese than even some other Midwest states
Obviously never been Wisconsin’s way.
this honestly makes so much sense. i’m making a point of taking at least one class at the Y weekly, and riding my bike 1-2 times a week. i’m tired of my weird quasi sedentary lifestyle.
> They’re active. We aren’t. Iowa is the most ecologically man altered state. Previous generations reshaped this state to be crop land. Attributing this to anything other than personal habits is absurd. It's easy to be active here, just like anywhere. Also, we (somehow) aren't even in the top 10 for obesity: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/the-most-obese-states-in-america
If I had to throw a dart at the wall, I’d say Covid. My cholesterol went up over Covid because the gyms were closed and I was eating worse.
Obesity is driven by many different factors. Age. Education. Wealth. Access to types of food/healthcare. Public transport access and walkability of local areas. etc. etc. Unfortunately, Iowa misses the mark on a lot of these things. Brain drain from Iowa is also very real and the wealthy/educated students are more likely to move away than indigent and less educated demographics.
Genetics??
Yes indeed, genetics certainly plays into risk as well. But genes function more as individual risk markers. Not very helpful from a public health perspective unless you're screening specific markers across many different people. I don't think we have any accurate population data on allele prevalence/frequency across different states. \*this may change with 23 and Me and other such mass screening methods but nothing a government has the ability to affect that I am aware of
Genetics don’t make adults obese
An inherited lifestyle, perhaps, but obesity is not caused by genetics.
Genetics does indeed impact obesity; but the risk is not isolated to specific alleles for most people and it's not something helpful from a public health standpoint unless we start screening people at large. Genetics and obesity summary article: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-021-00414-z](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-021-00414-z) Why public health focuses on lifestyle factors for effective impacts: [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/genes-and-obesity/)
Enjoy your downvotes
Neighborhoods aren’t walkable, everyone is car dependent, food is crap, everything is processed, list goes on and on. Even healthy activities like biking are always attached to drinking beer and eating fried food.
Exactly! All this I didn't want to get long winded but I was thinking all this as well. Especially the biking thing there's a huge bike culture here and somehow revolves around drinking.
Isn’t it astonishing? There are bike nights everywhere and it’s going from a starting point where they give you a beer as a refreshment and a poker card. You then go to another town like maybe 20-30 min jaunt. You pick up another poker card, and most likely have another drink. There are 5 cards in a hand of poker. Poker runs are very common way to get business. You do the math on the drinking and driving. Very cool concept but highly incentivized DUI is kind of the opposite of a positive thing.
Brilliant. I know nothing about bicycle culture except for it's always been big here and for some reason it revolves around stinky. Dozens of bars are probably afloat thanks to this since. Since I know nothing about biking you don't usually leave your home from the suburbs and pedal to the trail right? Maybe you do idk but yeah if you pack the bikes up and go do all that it's definitely incentivized DUI
Not gonna lie I thought you meant like the biker groups of motorized bikers that go from town to town. Bicycle culture I know nothing about myself. But people drinking alcohol then riding motorcycles from bar to bar is what I thought you meant because that happens all over lol. I see
Nofunallowed.jpg
This makes Iowa like every other state in the U.S. There are a dozen states fatter than us and others are close behind. This isn't an Iowa problem specifically.
Iowa statistics are quickly catching up to Mississippi’s!
This is why I make patio furniture for the big n tall. Lol. Want a seat for the porch but don't want to fight arm rests? Love seat it is. 47" of plush seating for your tuchus. Built with structure in mind. Lol.
I’m not here to fat shame anyone and think OP’s approach sucks, but there’s no doubt that there is a standard Iowa diet. I haven’t lived in Iowa for many years but I remember when I moved to the East and then West coasts and realized how different my diet was from many of the people around me, because of how I was raised. Not a lot of spice, veggies from the garden in the summer but lots of ranch/mayo. Iowans love our dairy and beef/pork. Lots of potatoes, corn and tons of carbs. Salads made of Jello and Cool Whip, and tons of casseroles/hotdish (courtesy of my Minnesota Norwegian grandma.) I remember taking tater tot casserole to a potluck at work and no one touched it 🤣(I still think tater tot casserole is delicious.) No judgement, I still love a lot of that stuff. But, I started trying other cuisines and getting creative with spices, other protein sources, and ways of preparing my food and realized how much I was missing out on. I remember when it really hit home when I had a friend visit who has never lived out of Iowa and they pretty much hated every restaurant I took her to (even though they served typical American food, it was “too fancy.”) I don’t want to generalize, there are a lot of amazing, creative restaurants in Iowa. Also, I’ve had some killer “ethnic” cuisines in Des Moines that are so tasty and fairly healthy. And, I can’t stress this enough, what another persons’ body looks like is not my business. I have a “normal” BMI right now but I’ve been morbidly obese and the people who pretended to care about my “health” could go pound sand. I still have health issues and no one cares about them now 😂
Oh god all the ranch and mayo. Hey how about pasta salads anyone!? Anyone else grow up on cheap fried fish sticks?
More obese people do drive up healthcare costs.
Insurance companies shareholder dividends drive up healthcare costs
There's far less correlation between body mass and healthcare costs than you might think.
[citation needed]
To be fair, what I really should've said was: "It's much more complicated than that, and obesity is just one factor. You can't look at a random fat person and say, 'That guy costs me money.'" But, I wrote it at 3 a.m. There are many costly conditions that are present alongside obesity but are not caused by it. Sometimes, those conditions are present before and can contribute to obesity, like paralysis. Many obese people are healthy by all other metrics, while others are not. And some unhealthy obese people die very young, before they can rack up a bill. Are you really that confident that studies designed to put a high price tag on obesity controlled for all of those factors? Also, it's a bit silly to get self-righteous about obesity specifically when we all make choices that increase risk and cost. ANY level of alcohol consumption is harmful to health. Do you get angry every time you see someone drink a beer? Why get mad at someone who is actively walking around a public event and might be eating a snow cone on their one "cheat" day of the week?
It's not an 'Iowa thing' . It's a 'they found out how to extract a cheap form of sugar from corn and they put it in everything thing'. The current elderly generation were never really obese. Our life expectancy is going to fall dramatically after they die.
Unfortunately Iowa is where a lot of that corn is grown.
That doesn't matter. It doesn't make the Pepsi and candy bars, full of corn syrup, cheaper in Iowa.
Fucking boomers. And 47% begs to differ it is a much higher rate in Iowa
According to the CDC west Virginia is the highest at 41% and Iowa isn't in the top 10. But I'm sure some dude at an art show knows more than them.
Let’s face it. America are fat.
And Iowans more so
Corn fed
I just got back from the UK.. tons of fat people. Definitely not what I expected. So you’re not alone America!
I honestly thought it would be over 60%. It probably is over that if we exclude <21 and >65
Probably because there are additional people that are just overweight and not quite obese, if this is going off the BMI scale.
No doubt I think this study is at least a year old we literally gained ground since then
That’s just obesity. I bet 75%+ are overweight at minimum
I'm still trying to figure out how the art festival is related to this post? Just curious? Did all the obese people of Iowa show up at the festival?
Seems a bit off topic to me. What does this have to do with art? If you really want to see a lot of fat people in Iowa, I would recommend the Iowa State Fair.
I can’t imagine caring about other people’s bodies so deeply that it’s what I think about when I go to an *art festival*
A festival where all these people are outside, walking around, a healthy activity. This guy is probably one of those people who leans out their car and yells at people who are out for a walk trying to burn some calories.
Yeah, he sounds hungry. Maybe a snickers would help, maybe even a nap.
Only 47% is kind of a flex.
Lol if you thought it was bad there you should see the state fair
Are you here to fat shame us??
Here to ask the tough questions. Why is Iowa so unhealthy why does our government ban abortion,books and THC but promotes alcohol they want to keep you fat lazy and dumb... it's working.
Education used to be important in this state. We have people in charge that only care about who lines their pockets.
Who let it get this bad? It's beyond the point of no return it will take decades to undo this damage.
Voters or lack of voters, districts, etc. It's not just one thing. I don't recall the democratic party bringing anyone super exciting to the ticket either.
I don’t know, I feel like access to reproductive healthcare could be deemed as “super exciting” if you’re a woman of reproductive age 🤷🏻♀️
THANK YOU
Yes, of course. I'm not a woman so I can't opine.
Anyone who has a woman they love, or a woman they could get pregnant, or anyone that believes in bodily autonomy in general has the right to opine 🙂
Republican Party voters at least show up every single time. Feels like Democrats neeeed a reason to turn up.
You’re extremely optimistic. I’m guessing at least two generations until it gets better. But that estimate requires a dedicated effort starting a while ago.
>Here to ask the tough questions. Literally didn't ask a question in the post.
You shouldn't conflate lazy and fat. I know many people who work very hard and are overweight. Conflating fat and dumb is no better than believing in phrenology.
This phenomenon is due to the Standard American Diet (SAD), and is not unique to Iowa. I went to a baseball game at Dodger Stadium a few weeks ago and a huge percentage of the fans were overweight or obese. You should read Magic Pill by Johann Hari. It’s primarily about GLP-1 agonists and GIP medications (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.), but it also covers how industrial food companies have inundated our lives with energy dense foods that have zero nutritional value. It’s not impossible to maintain a healthy weight in our society but it’s incredibly difficult.
Now everyone will think anyone at a normal weight is on ozempic. Not me though, it’s all anxiety and my adhd medication!
I lost 60 lbs last year after I was finally started on stimulant ADHD medication as an adult. It's plateaued now but still working on eating healthier and maybe being a bit more active as I'd like to lose another 50.
Name checks out. Yeah it is unnecessary and a lot of our food in this country is illegal in Europe.
fat =/= lazy and dumb
You aren't asking questions, Alex Jones.
74 people disagree
So, in your tough questioning you are saying “because it is working” that Iowans are “fat lazy and dumb”…? It has turned me off because if I were fat I am still deeply insulted by your wording.
It's just shocking and sad how unimportant health is to people around here
So, you are presently in Iowa, where you could make a difference and would rather insult the people than educate them?
I'm not one of your elected Republican officials what can I do?
lol. We just got back from Costco… Vermont is pretty large also. If you are done wasting your breath in Iowa come on over to the green mountain state. After that New Hampshire and Maine might need a talking to.
How is he going to educate people? Its no lie more and more people are overweight. They know it. They just dont want to do anything about it. Once you are that far gone it requires a hell of a lot of discipline and effort compared to someone who only needs to lose 2-5lbs. If you get offended by someone calling you fat because you are fat that’s your own problem that you created yourself. Minus the few with actual medical issues that are the cause of their obesity.
Iowa had a reverse effect on me. I moved here in 2012 and stopped eating all fast foods and hitting drive thrus up. As a kid, I was obsessed with water and strawberry milk. Mind you, I'm no milk drinker but I strictly drink water and sometimes switch it up with hot tea and honey for some flavor! I quit drinking alcohol and even quit cigarettes cold turkey some years ago and haven't looked back! Iowa was the place that made me realize I don't want to be unhealthy because of a lot of the deterioration I saw in people around me. Not all Iowans are ill, sick or not my health type preference and that's okay.. but I'm from Boston so it was a big eye opener for me. I'm not used to that corn fed, pork bred Iowa diet. I love lots of things about Midwest eating but why is everything fried or drowned in ranch? Lol.
So, if you’re concerned with people in active addiction and having nutritional issues, what’s your solution other than a Reddit post eww fats and drunks and junkies?
This is super interesting. Health and weight are not directly correlated. There are plenty of standard weight people with alcoholism, high blood pressure, etc. My numbers are fine and I’m 50 and have been “overweight “ or “obese” for most of my life. Also, it’s not anyone’s responsibility to be healthy. Nor is it in everyone’s control. There has been a shift from hating fat people because of how they look to “concerns” and moralizing about health. It’s really transparent when people do this that they are excited to keep body hierarchies alive because they get privilege from it. Also - it’s not nearly as universal as you think. Plenty of people are weight/shape neutral or even fat positive. Plenty of people find fat people attractive. AND the attempts to keep size/shape hierarchies alive in the name of health are bad for people’s health. It’s a major factor in disordered eating. And research shows that fat stigma is damaging to health. Fat stigma is healthcare keeps people from getting diagnosed with their actual illnesses. It keeps people in larger bodies from going to the doctor and getting regular care. AND, it looks like it keeps SOME people from enjoying art! I and a bunch of other people went to arts fest and enjoyed the music, art, and community and somehow resisted the urge to make crappy generalizations about people’s appearance designed to make us feel superior.
Are you a fellow Maintenance Phase/Aubrey Gordon fan?
Why is THC lumped in there? I get that banning it is stupid, but it certainly is not useful in making a case against being fat, dumb and lazy.
Hugs, not drugs.
Oh it was just on the chopping block with abortion in case you missed the news yesterday.
Seems low.
That was from 2023 I'm sure we have gained ground toward that big 50% mark.
I think Casey’s breakfast pizza add’s .75% a year.
🤣
Corn. The hybrid has much higher sugar content. Corn syrup in everything. Cortisol. Americans are working like dogs to survive- which also leads to convenience foods and lack of time for exercise. Gut bacteria. Great research on how this affects obesity rates.
I'm finally contributing!
Tinder told me this statistic.
🤣🤣 don't be fooled by those photo angles
This dude is malding because: 1. Iowans don't know "crowd etiquette," which is 100% true 2. An artist that's salty asf he's not getting any business. Oh also may be because his pick-up artist techniques aren't working on the thiccc chicks at the festival
Or maybe because they couldn't get around because there was a lot of body mass? Or they're just making a crass observation. Idk, I was there for several hours and it was packed, but everything was easily accessible.
What does it matter to you? I'd rather be fat than a judgemental asshole any day. My takeaway from the art festival was that it had a great turnout and was packed with people, which helps support a variety of artists and the local economy. Don't like seeing people who don't fit what you think is "healthy", don't leave your house no matter what state you live in.
Exactly!
Lmao
BMI, the metric used to dictate someone is obese or not, is not accurate and never really was. Granted, there is a health problem in Iowa and by association, the entire United States. I go to the gym often, many of my buddies go too. With how much mass we carry around we could be classified as obese.
BMI is a screening tool, not a diagnostic one. 5% of gym bros doesn't invalidate a tool for the other 95%.
0.5% of gym bros is greatly misrepresenting what I meant. It's a 160 year old, very simple (weight in kilograms / height in meters squared) equation. The way it curves makes short people think they are skinnier than they are and makes tall people think they are fatter than they are. It was invented that simple because calculators didn't exist yet. Waist size itself is a better indicator of actual clinical obesity than BMI. It also doesn't account for muscle mass vs fat mass. It's calculated the same for everyone. To act like it's not flawed is frankly stupid.
If it was based on height and weight every NFL running back would be obese.
NFL running backs is hardly representative of the population. The only thing Iowans run for is the buffet.
Oh fuck off... let people live.
Still not sure how this is your takeaway from an art festival, other than you looking around judgmentally and deciding to look up one statistic to support your supposition. But, here you go. 1. Yes. The poisons in the environment likely do impact this statistic. https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/2023/07/25/perspective-obesity-associated-with-consumption-of-ultra-processed-food-along-with-thousands-of-potential-environmental-toxins/ 2. Genetics is a huge indicator for obesity, as I mentioned before. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK573068/ 3. As for your supposition that it’s because of lack of self control, that is often tied to executive disfunction, usually secondary to a disability like ADHD, autism, or brain injury. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6209053/ 4. My turn for a supposition. Your unsourced statistic is likely based on BMI data. BMI is problematic for multiple reasons, including that it’s pretty much only based on white men, and doesn’t consider sex, race, or ethnicity. https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/why-you-shouldnt-rely-on-bmi-alone So to many of us, your non sequitar takeaway from an ART festival comes across as presumptive, fatphobic, sexist, racist, and xenophobic. At minimum, ill informed.
Thank you, I put a post how BMI has really never applied to me. I’m 6’6” and played athletics in college. By the time I’m 215lbs, I look too skinny, and the BMI says I am overweight until <200lbs. I hate the BMI.
It’s junk science and even more so doesn’t apply to athletes. I’m glad you recognize that.
47% of people aren't athletes. Cmon now.
Literally no one said they were, but great job generalizing one confounding variable to the whole population. 🙄
People spend too much time talking about the food and not enough about the lack of physical activity and binge drinking amongst Iowans. I grew up in Iowa but I’ve lived elsewhere since I left when I was 18 and it’s startling at the lack of hobbies and recreational activities people partake in. Drinking/tailgating or boating on lakes or rivers isn’t exactly a strenuous activity, nor are motor sports. Hunting can be a good activity, with all the walking involved (in my experience anyways) but it’s far too often accompanied by a couple 30 packs of Busch Light. Most of the people I know that adopted lifelong sports, left the state long ago. My parents relocated to Florida a few years ago and they’re way more active physically than they would be in Iowa. They came home for two weeks in June, decided to go back because they could swim, golf, play pickleball, walk on the beach or use the gym more so than in Iowa. They are more physically active in their 70’s than they were in their 50’s in Iowa. Their friends in Iowa are too content on considering dining out at the local bowling alley or tavern as peak activity. What’s even scarier, the boomers tend to be thinner than their kids and grandkids, especially in the rural communities. There’s no excuse to shut down physical activity in the winter. My son and I XC ski and snow shoe together, I play hockey year around and at least weekly in the winter months. Lastly, education is a huge driver, especially when it comes lifelong habits and activities. I’ll leave it at that..
I mean, I’m obese, but honestly people are weird when I try to be active. Either they make animal noises at me (bark, moo, etc), or I get bullied by old men in the gym, or even if I’m just walking to the gas station, well meaning people will be like “do you need a ride?”. No, I have my own vehicle, I just like to walk outside. It’s like it’s a foreign concept. Ooo and then there’s when my neighbors stalk me when I go for walks, because of course I must be up to no good, no one walks just to walk without an animal on a leash, right? Yeah… it’s no mystery why Iowans are getting bigger… myself included - to be fair, I’m 7.5 months pregnant!
Of you're getting bullied by old men at the gym, you can always 'accidentally" drop weights on their feet or :"accidentally" connect your elbow to their chin. Be creative and have fun with it.
While I agree that there is an obesity problem, let's start with the real issue. It's the shit in our foods. The additivies and loads of unhealthy/toxic preservatives to make food last longer and to keep us addicted. That's literally what this boils down to. Eating shit foods = mental confusion, depression, weight gain, the list goes on. Couple that with the crap in our foods and ding, ding, ding. You go to other countries and half of what is "legal" in our food is illegal/not allowed to be ingredients in their foods. Other countries' foods are actually fresh and go bad in a short timeframe, as they should. Why is this hard to understand?
THAT was your takeaway from the art festival? We're fat? Personally, when I went a couple of years ago, I was looking at the ART. There was so much amazing talent and creativity on display. It's a shame that didn't make as much of an impression on you.
It's hard to look at art with all the fat people blocking my view.
👆🏻This the circumference of your average Iowan+piss poor crowd etiquette= a shitty viewing experience
This probably applies to a lot of Americans in general. I’m not sure about everyone but I like food.
I'm doing my part! And by that i mean i live in th3e middle of nowhere with nowhere to walk to or ride my bike
Fueled by a diet of Tenderloin sandwiches and corn nuts!
Iowa should just change the obesity guidelines to fit our current situation. I'm sure Kim Reynolds could be talked into. Actually just figure out what Trump's BMI is and say anything over that is obese and anything under is fit.
Anyone know if these are based on the BMI? If so then it’s complete bs. I am 6’6” and 250lbs. I could lose 20 lbs, I admit I am overweight compared to what I want. I would not say I’m obese . The BMI says I need to be <200lbs to be “normal”. I haven’t been that weight since I was 15 years old. I would look like a skeleton.
Probably is Idk what else you would use for measuring a whole state. As for you, you are absolutely not obese. Height affects your healthy weight range tons and accurate or not, BMI gives atleast a decent range just don't hold it as truth. According to a CDC calculator for BMI your healthy "starts" at about 215lbs. For me at 5'8 it starts around 165lbs. I'll be honest, I was still kind of chubby and didn't "feel" skinny until around 150lbs. Americans and especially here we are (or atleast I am) so used to people being big we forget you can be kinda skinny and still be healthy. I've had a couple obese people tell me to eat a burger (as in you look like you are starving!) when I was 150lbs, closer to overweight than underweight.
I'm surprised there's an art festival here anymore honestly. As dumb as this state is becoming its hard to imagine the arts having a place here much longer.
Oh it's not about the art just another place for the cattle to graze
Agreed. If the art fest didn't feature food deep fried in fat, the attendance would be less than half of what it is.
 Grab your shield the pitchforks are coming. I mean culinary is an art but this is like state fair lite 🤦🏻♂️
Wow you're a fucking loser. Please leave my city
MY city lmao you can have it
I suppose that's true.
Only in America. Only in America is fascism returning. Only in America is the national debt skyrocketing. Only in America are the youngest generations completely brain dead from social media. Only in America is the drug epidemic so bad. Only in America would 80million people vote for Trump.
Actually, I think fascism is popping up in other places too.
Just got back from the festival and made a comment on the lack of obese people actually.
Your optometrist would like a word.
40% of adults in the U.S. are obese. We are a midwestern state of course we are going to be a bit above average. Plus fat girls deserve love too.
Just like a moped, fun to ride til your friends see you!
I'm an "obese" Iowan, and I am in perfectly fine shape. BMI is a poor measurement tool. It doesn't account well for taller people and as this is the tallest state in the US, and this skews our numbers
Being tall skews your BMI lower, not higher…
What I am saying is that a 6'2" guy should not weigh less than 200 lbs, that's just madness.
How old are you? Is smoking okay since a 21-year-old smoker is probably in fine shape? Are tanning beds safe because a 30-year-old doesn’t have skin cancer yet? Is binge drinking okay because a 25-year-old’s liver is still fine?
43. I work out and my last physical was great. It's because BMI doesn't account well for muscular dudes. For example in the film Captain America it's stated that Steve Rogers is 6'2" 240 pounds. That's "obese" according to BMI.
Oh here come the atom splitters. I'm sure there's a difference between your "obese" and the ones I'm talking about.
BMI is great for populations, not individuals, so it’s usually an acceptable stat for something like this. Not sure what that guy is on about lol
BMI is great for individuals too. More accurate measures will just tell you you’re fatter than you thought.
That’s a weird takeaway. Especially given how much more we know about obesity and its genetic influences now.
Especially given the type of festival. I would think the takeaway would be, “wow, Iowa has some really great artists and a lot of talent in this state. We should push our politicians to increase funding for the arts for youth to help nurture this creativity!” Or something like that.
Truly. But here come all the fatphobes to defend this guy’s terrible take and make sure their biases are recorded for posterity.
Lol.... You think 47% of Iowans are obese because of genetics? That's some serious copium you're smokin.
Genetically, we're all humans. Not me, I'm a cat at a keyboard. (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃
I don’t think 75% of Americans had a genetic shift in the last 20 years. I think it’s calories in vs out
How much do we know Doctor?
Oof. Sorry. I guess I shouldn’t have said “we”. It’s clear you don’t know anything and aren’t smart enough to find out for yourself.
All due respect doc I would rather hear it from a qualified professional such as yourself. I ask again what do we know Doctor? What are the genetic influences exactly? It's not the poisoned food supply and lack of self control?
Damn you sound ignorant as fuck. You must be from here!
Did you have to put down your cheeseburger to type that you got grease all over your phone.
I can change my weight, but you'll always be an idiot at heart 🫶🏽
I approve. 
I’m considered overweight at 6’5” and 205 pounds. The scale doesn’t take all things into consideration. Muscle weighs more than fat.
BMI is less accurate for very tall individuals
Get a bike Iowa. Reduce butter consumption. Reduce dairy intake.
They are definite Non-Liquid Gold fed.
Not super shocking.
Iowa obesity rate is 37.4% We are not even in the top ten. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/10-states-high-obesity-rates We are rated in the top ten best states to live. Picking out only adults makes the number bigger but that also means that there’s less obese children.
The answer here is Busch Light
Bush not so light amiriteeee
It’s unfathomable to me, but then again I can strike a balance between eating frozen pizza and running 30+ miles a week. It’s cultural IMHO. We certainly have fresh fruits and vegetables galore, as well as plenty of parks and trails. No, it’s not Colorado, but when it comes your health it’s less about scenery, it’s about steps and quantity/quality of food.
Seems low actually, they must have moved the goal post a bit, I would say it’s closer to 60%.
Probably because there are additional people that are just overweight and not quite obese, if this is going off the BMI scale.
Did someone say Whoppers? 🍔😋
It’s special Iowa kind of fat where your legs are pale twigs and everything from your waist to your head has the same dimensions. I say this as someone who is getting too close to it for comfort lol
Iowa doesn't have enough gays to lower the rate /S /J
I'm related to people who would have been circus freaks in the old days.