Jacksonville Mapped by Childhood Obesity

[Metro Jacksonville]

Jacksonville Mapped by Childhood Obesity



The Trust for Public Land has produced a map highlighting areas of Jacksonville that are struggling with excessive childhood obesity rates.  Is your neighborhood on the list?


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-jul-jacksonville-mapped-by-childhood-obesity

[Overstreet]

Just how many kids live between Tallyrand and the river anyway?  The whole waterfront shows pink. Is this based upon surveys or assumptions?

[thelakelander]

There's a residential area between the old paper mill and phosphate terminal.  However, I'm not sure what boundaries are being used for each area or if the Trust's map is based upon surveys or assumptions.

[Steve Ducharme]

No offense to this study but are there serious boundary issues here.  That said it wouldn't have been that difficult to color it in beforehand.  Just ask yourself, who eats the "cheapest" calories?  Who has the fewest park facilities/least involved athletic organizations?  It's as much economic as anything.

[thelakelander]

No offense taken.  I didn't make it.  I'm just sharing it.

[jaxinatl]

The "poor don't have access to grocery stores" is a lame excuse. It is a CHOICE people make to either eat healthy and exercise or not eat healthy and eat garbage and fast food.

[CityLife]

Most overweight states in America and where they stack up amongst the poorest US states (median household income)

1. Mississippi    34.9% (1)
2. Louisiana    33.4% (7)
3. West Virginia 32.4% (2)
4. Alabama    32.0% (5)
5. Michigan    31.3% (17)
6. Oklahoma    31.1% (10)
7. Arkansas    30.9% (3)
8. Indiana    30.8% (20)
8. South Carolina 30.8% (9)
10. Kentucky    30.4% (4)
10. Texas    30.4% (25)


Obviously there are other factors at play than strictly income. For instance Louisiana is 7th poorest, yet 2nd most unhealthy. While Texas is 10th most unhealthy, but mid-level in income. That is likely due to unhealthy regional cuisine. Not sure about Indiana and Michigan though. Don't really have the time to delve any further right now.

[CityLife]

Most overweight states in America and where they stack up amongst the poorest US states (median household income)

1. Mississippi    34.9% (1)
2. Louisiana    33.4% (7)
3. West Virginia 32.4% (2)
4. Alabama    32.0% (5)
5. Michigan    31.3% (17)
6. Oklahoma    31.1% (10)
7. Arkansas    30.9% (3)
8. Indiana    30.8% (20)
8. South Carolina 30.8% (9)
10. Kentucky    30.4% (4)
10. Texas    30.4% (25)


Obviously there are other factors at play than strictly income. For instance Louisiana is 7th poorest, yet 2nd most unhealthy. While Texas is 10th most unhealthy, but mid-level in income. That is likely due to unhealthy regional cuisine. Not sure about Indiana and Michigan though. Don't really have the time to delve any further right now.

If the same percentage of people are poor, but there are a number of billionaires in the state, the 'average income' will show something very different than what is actually happening on the ground.  Same number and percentage of poor people, but a greater average income heavily skewed towards the top.  The only way that such statistics are really meaningful is if you compare obesity rates amongst the poor in one of your states against the obesity rates of the poor in another state.  Likewise with the 'wealthy'.  I think you will find that the obesity rates hold solid amongst economic class.

Yikes...............ummm, I'll be nice here. I used median income and not mean income (which can be skewed by outliers) for a reason.

[CityLife]

Income from the US Census and obesity from a study by the Trust for America's Health.

So you think that there is no correlation between 34.9% of people in Mississippi being overweight and the fact that it is the poorest state in the US? Or that 7 or of the 10 poorest states are coincidentally also in the top 10 most obese states? I spent 5 minutes compiling that data. Perhaps you can give us a detailed breakdown of poverty if you don't think that is sufficient. It appears that you subscribe to the same line of thinking as you earlier posted:

"You can buy shitty food for a dollar a pop or you can buy healthy food without all the additives by borrowing someones car and going to publix.  Of course healthy food only costs four times as much.  But hey, with 200 dollars a month in food stamps you can eat healthy food for a good three days a week.  And then you just drink free water from public drinking fountains.  That will get you in a shape in a hurry.  And by get in shape, I mean lose weight."

[CityLife]

Another interesting statistic is that nearly 34% of adults who earn less than $15,000 a year are obese, compared with 24.6% of those who earn more than $50,000 a year. (CDC)

[CityLife]

Here's a good article on the poverty and obesity:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/not-having-enough-food-ca_b_721344.html

The poorest areas of the country are also the sickest and have the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and premature death. These people are dying younger, and life expectancy is plummeting in the poorest states. These states also happen to be the fattest. For example, Mississippi--the poorest state in the union--has poverty rates over 20 percent, obesity rates over 33 percent, and extremely high childhood obesity rates. This is no coincidence.

But for a large portion of Americans floating on or sinking beneath the poverty line this means bingeing on cheap, sugary, starchy, fatty calories in order to avoid hunger.

Many poor people in this country are consuming an excess of nutritionally-depleted, cheap calories from sodas, processed foods, and junk food. These folks scarcely eat whole, fresh foods at all, and for good reason: We have made calories cheap, but real food expensive.

[Garden guy]

And this whole problem is supported and driven by the powers that be..its amazing what pussies american parents are..spoiled children with spoiled parents..welcome to convenient america..

[JUUC]

It is a CHOICE

You can't be serious.

[Garden guy]

Should we be legislating for any store carrying the name "food" actually carry fresh.food...those that dont would be fined? Dollar store food is killing us..if they can afford to open a new store every week.. cant they afford to carry something fresh

[Jason]

Do we eat bad food because its cheap?  Or do we eat bad food because it GOOD and cheap?  OR do we eat bad food because its good and EASY and cheap? 


Frankly, In my OWN experience of growing up on a very limited budget, it is still a choice.  Especially when it comes to junk/snack food.  We could rarely afford a bag of doritos but could always snag up a couple bananas and an apple at the farmer's market for a dollar.  For dinner we'd eat lots of seasonal vegetables from the farmer's market because they were cheaper than just about anything else.  Hamburger/Tuna helper modified with veggies is actually still on my menu many nights.  Me, my brother, and my dad were eating pretty well for around $100 a week because we chose not to buy the junk food (that is supposedly cheaper). 

Furthermore, we were forced to stay active because any time we wanted to go somewhere we had to walk or ride our bikes.  My Dad had a car but that was pretty much strictly for work.  I was a master of the VOTRAN system in Daytona at around 10 years old.  We spent a lot of time at the beach, in the back yard, running the neighborhood etc.  Couldn't afford video games, cable TV, etc. so the outdoors was our best friend. 

Again, in my experience, growing up less fortunate was the healthiest part of my life.


And now that I'm all grown up with a family of 5 living on a modest single income, the farmers market and outdoors are some of the favorite things my wife and three boys enjoy.  We buy enough veggies and fruits to get through the week for around $20-$25 dollars.  Hell, I can walk into a Gate gas station and buy 2 bananas and a coffee/water for the same price or less than a hotdog and soda....  CHOICE.

See for yourself
http://mygatestore.com/DealsAndCoupons