Wake Up America, We Need to Get Healthy!

By , SparkPeople Blogger
So I must have been in a fog last month when Men’s Health Magazine released its top 100 list of the fattest cities in the United States for 2010. Sadly my home state of Texas had four of the top 10 fattest cities in the United States, with Dallas, of which I live in a suburb of, coming in at number four.

According to the magazine, the rankings were based on the percentage of overweight people, those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the fitness levels of the residents, how much money was spent on junk food, and the number of people who ate fast food nine or more times in one month.

I should not be surprised anymore, however, it does ring a bit of truth. This past weekend I decided to conduct my own little experiment as to the number of fast food eateries and parks that are within a five mile radius of my home. The city in which I live has a population that well exceeds 200,000 residents, but I was still shocked to discover the following facts:

  • Mc Donald’s -7
  • Sonic-7
  • Kentucky Fried Chicken-4
  • Wendy’s-4
  • Subway-4
  • Taco Bell-4
  • Taco Bueno-4
  • Pizza Hut-3
  • CiCi Pizza-3
  • Chick-fil-a-2
  • Burger King-2
I must add this does not include many sit-down restaurants such as Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse and On the Border, in addition to restaurants with just one franchise in this radius, such as Firehouse Subs, Scotty P’s Hamburgers and Chipotle. So as you can see we are never short of finding some place to eat for any budget or variety of food you may desire.

However, when I look at the number of parks in this same 5 mile radius, there are less than 10. And many of these so-called parks are less than a couple of acres in size. Unfortunately, we have few walking trails and bike paths so one must travel by car to go to these places which means many of us don’t. When I count the number of gyms, there are less than 10 in this same five mile radiusl.

My challenge for all of us, but especially those who reside in the Lone Star State is for us to set the example for others to follow. We must get healthy or else we are going to pay the price in higher health care cost or a lower life expectancy.

Where does your city rank? Have you ever counted the number of restaurants in your town? Are you surprised at the number of establishments so close together?