Obesity in the Gulf States

The obesity rates for the different Gulf Coast states are as follows:
Note that the lowest rates are in the states that have large populations living away from the Gulf Coast; data is not presented to reflect the obesity rates for Florida and Texas only including people on this coast. This source didn't provide a ranking, but Louisiana was only behind Puerto Rico, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia, so the results are quite poor.
Obesity isn't a disease – it's math. Weight gain is the result of taking in more calories than one burns. Some studies have argued that certain types of calories – carbohydrates in particular – are worse than others for spurring on weight gain (Crichton & Tefft, 2014). However, this merely lets people off the hook for eating too much and exercising too little. One need not spend much time in the region to realize that there are several issues at work leading to higher obesity rates. First is that nobody walks anywhere. The calories out part of the equation is always going to be minimal in an area where people do not conduct physical exercise. One of the factors in most obesity studies is work-related calorie burn, but in the absence of physical labor there are relatively few opportunities to exercise. The weather is far too hot and sticky most of the year and the structure of the communities in this area are entirely dedicated to the church of the automobile – you just can't walk anywhere because everything is too spread out.
There is also the matter of food. We studied the nature of the path to market for food , such as depicted in The Omnivore's Dilemma, and there is an emphasis on delivering large amounts of calories at low prices. Combine this with food deserts throughout the region and it can be actually difficult to eat well in this area. Further, abysmal economic management of the region has meant that there are higher rates of poverty than in other parts of the country. Indeed, many of the wealthiest areas of the US also have the lowest rates of obesity.
Recommended Strategies
Education is the starting point for strategies, in part because it is relatively easy to implement. This includes both in schools and in media campaigns that target people at higher risk for obesity. There are significant health risks associated with obesity, and in these states it is worth tying those risks not only to physical ailment but higher health care costs. People need to understand what their health is worth, and what they can do to prevent ill health. More than that, there needs to be an effort to provide education on how to find and prepare healthy food – in food deserts it's actually really difficult to eat well, especially if you're poor.

I would also want to work with retailers that do operate in these areas to ensure that fresh vegetables and other healthy foods are available. If you've ever been in a place where the only groceries were at Walgreen's, you'll know how dependent people can be on sources of food that aren't traditionally associated with healthy eating. It's important that the retailers that do sell food do not only sell nutritionally-poor processed food but that they do offer healthy options, especially in food deserts. Community planning models needs to also address food. For example the creation of community gardens, or even just training and resources so people can grow their own food, would at least help increase the supply of healthy foods available in some of these areas.

Communities should also work on strategies to create exercise facilities and encourage their use. You can't ask people to run when it's blazing hot and the roads are busy; it won't work. Community recreational facilities are ideal, along with programs that encourage people of all fitness levels to participate. It is especially important to encourage fitness in young people, since it is a lot easier to prevent obesity in the first place than to compel people to lose weight once they've already become obese.

Accommodations should be focused on encouraging activities that reduce obesity; treating obesity as equivalent to a disease is utterly incorrect as far as facts are concerned. Building recreational facilities and encouraging their use – even if it means those facilities are money-losing, is important. Creating community gardens, and other strategies to increase the availability of healthy foods, is also important. Cooking classes aimed at getting people to work with what's available might help; a lot of people eat poorly because they lack basic cooking skills. Beyond this, people really do have to take it upon themselves to avoid obesity or lose weight; no government can do it for them, no matter how well-meaning. Ultimately, the best government can do is encourage the conditions that prevent weight gain in the first place, and that encourage its loss. Start with that, then worry about more advanced measures.


References

CDC.gov (2017). Adult obesity prevalence maps. Centers for Disease Control. Retrieved October 14, 2017 from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html

Crichton, D. & Tefft, N. (2014). Macronutrients and obesity: Revisiting the calories in, calories out framework. Economics & Human Biology. Vol. 14 (July 2014) 33-49.