Monday August 1st 2011 - 100 Startling facts on obesity in America

Today is my last day with solid foods for at least ten days. This morning I had a small bowl of oatmeal with raisins. This afternoon I am going to eat chopped spinach for lunch and then some homemade seafood raviolis and salad for dinner. Good digestive food. Tomorrow, the day before surgery, I have to go onto a liquid diet.

One of my readers sent me an interesting article listing statistics on obesity in America. It is not a sales or "diet" page. A true test of any set of statistics or surveys is in the method and sample from which the data is collected. Please note that I do not know where they got their data.

Below you will find my top 15 stats from their list:

1. Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest rates of obesity overall at 44.1%.
2. Hispanics overall have an obesity prevalence of 37.9%. Mexican-Americans have obesity rating of 39.3%.
3. Non-Hispanic whites have an obesity prevalence of 32.6%.
4. Regardless of ethnicity, men with higher incomes are more likely to be obese.
5. Regardless of ethnicity, women with lower incomes are more likely to be obese.
6. You are 57% more likely to become obese if a friend has become obese.
7. Approximately 72.5 million adults in the U.S. are obese.
8. Obese children are more likely to become obese adults.
9. Approximately 17% of children aged 2-19 are obese.
10. Since 1974, the prevalence of obesity among children 2-19 has more than tripled from 5% to 16.9%.
11. Missisippi has the highest rate of obese adults at 34% of the population
12. Colorado has the lowest rate of obese adults at 21% of the population
13. The most active counties in the United States are in Colorado and Wyoming.
14. In 2000, there wasn’t a single state where more than 30% of the population was obese. By 2010, there were 12 states that met this unfortunate distinction.
15. The medical costs associated with obesity in 2008 were around $147 billion.

You can find the entire article at http://www.nondiet.com/blog/100-startling-facts-on-obesity-in-america/