Men’s Health calls Miami fattest city
The eleventh-annual ranking of the fittest and fattest cities was recently released by Men’s Health magazine, and it may surprise you to learn that the Mecca for bikini-clad beauties, Miami, is actually the most unfit city in these United States.
Why Miami made the cut
The magazine came to this conclusion based on a series of factors, including the fact that 61 percent of the city’s population is fat enough that their weight could cause health problems. The city has 79 percent more gyms and health clubs than the average city, but residents are less motivated to use them.
In fact, the city got Fs on the Men’s Health report card for motivation, use of junk food, television viewing and sports participation. What’s worse, it got an F+ (who knew there was such a thing?) for its commuting times, air quality, the number of people who are overweight and sedentary and the state’s anti-obesity initiatives.
The city scored Cs and Ds for other factors the magazine considered such as city health initiatives, access to health care, city parks and other healthy facilities. Its only As and Bs came in the number of gyms and fitness centers, its geographical location and nutrition, which came from the fact that there are more health food stores in Miami than the average.
Other big losers
Literally rounding out the top ten of fattest cities were:
- Oklahoma City
- San Antonio
- Las Vegas
- New York
- Houston
- El Paso
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Louisville/Jefferson, Kentucky
Oklahoma City really tried to shed its image as a fat, sprawling metropolis last year, with the mayor launching a million pound challenge to help residents lose weight. As of January 2007 visitors to the site have logged more than 306,000 lost pounds, a little more than 11 pounds per person.
Men’s Health says the city does well in that commuting times are relatively short, there’s good access to healthcare and the air quality is good. But in almost every other way the city’s not doing so well (it even got an F+ in geography!).
San Antonio got Fs for nutrition, TV viewing, air quality and city parks and recreation facilities, while Vegas ranked low (or high, depending on how you look at it) for consumption of junk food, lack of sports participation, too much television, too many overweight people and incredibly bad access to healthcare.
New York also scored poorly in access to healthcare, as well as location, fitness centers, commutes and city parks (the city’s acreage of parks is 79 percent lower than average and has among the fewest parks per capita of any city surveyed).
Cities that get it right
On the other hand, there’s Salt Lake City, which scored As for the number of fitness centers and sports stores, participation in sports, a lack of TV viewing and overweight residents, a good number of city parks and recreation facilities and a high level of motivation.
This was the first time Salt Lake City was featured on the survey, and it got a C or better in every category except eating junk food, where the city scored F+. There are 57 percent more pizza places per capita there than the average city, 82 percent more fast food restaurants and 22 percent more ice cream shops.
Other healthy cities include:
- Colorado Springs
- Minneapolis
- Denver
- Albuquerque
- Portland, Oregon
- Honolulu
- Seattle
- Omaha
- Virginia Beach
Colorado Springs has great air quality and easy commutes. Sixty-six percent of its population is lean enough to reduce their risk for health problems. Minneapolis isn’t great when it comes to access to health care or eating junk food, but people there participate in lots of sports and watch less television than average.
Denver scored a C or better in all categories other than commute, and there are tons of parks, city-owned golf courses and swimming pools available for residents. And Albuquerque got As and Bs in every category but state obesity initiatives, motivation, access to healthcare and nutrition. The city has the sixth-lowest number of doughnut outlets per capita and the second-highest number of people who report doing aerobics.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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