Fat in the USA: never before have so many numbers been crunched in the name of obesity

Men's Fitness, Feb, 2004 by Keith Griffiths, Jeff Lucia

YOU'D NEVER BRAG ABOUT LIVING IN CHERNOBYL. IT'S A conversation killer. The stigma of a reactor meltdown--and the creepiness of genetic mutations--is just hard to shake. Even 18 years later. But the truth is, there are plenty of places right here in the U.S. that are more dangerous in 2004. We call them America's Fattest Cities. * Of course, maybe you think residual nuclear radiation sounds like more of a threat to your life than fat. But take your age. Then add 30 years. That's the effect obesity has on your health, according to a recent UCLA study. * And that's why we're naming names and placing blame in our sixth-annual 50-city report. This year's Champion of Chub: Detroit. Baseball's biggest loser is now the fattest of the fat. But it had plenty of competition: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Chicago followed closely to round out the Flab Five. (Note to Texans: Bigger isn't always better.)

The Fattest City:

DETROIT

THE MOTOR CITY FINALLY ROLLED over last year's heavyweight champ, Houston, to become the epicenter of the nation's obesity problem. The standards that have kept Detroit high on our list for years--cold climate, poor air quality, inadequate access to health care--were compounded by a jump in TV viewing, a worsening commute time, and a scarcity of gyms. (Detroit has the lowest number of health clubs per capita in the country, with only three per 100,000 residents.) The combined result: Detroit's Harper Hospital is now turning a profit by stapling stomachs at an unprecedented 10 surgeries a week. So they need a plan. We'd offer to help, but a spokesperson for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick told us that Detroit wasn't "interested in participating in this story."

The Fittest City:

HONOLULU

TWO YEARS RUNNING, HONOLULU

is America's Fittest City. Besides a fitness-friendly climate, the area has 485 beach and inland parks and more public basketball courts than any city in our survey. And they eat right. "Most of our citizens eat a Japanese diet consisting of vegetables, rice, and lean cuts of beef and sushi," says Mayor Jeremy Harris. A statewide health campaign has movie theaters showing spots that promote fitness. The one downside: These numbers apply to adults only. Exercise researchers at the University of Hawaii reported that the incidence of obesity in Hawaii's kids (a category not included in our survey) is about twice mainland levels. But they're on it: A move by the municipal school board to decrease phys-ed requirements in public schools was met with a tsunami of resistance. "Sedentary doesn't fit Honolulu's people. They live outdoors and enjoy all their city has to offer. It's harder to do this in cities like Detroit in the wintertime," says Harris.

The Most Improved:

CHARLOTTE

WHEN MEN'S FITNESS NAMED Charlotte the 10th-fattest city in America last year, Mayor Patrick McCrory totally disagreed with the ranking--and encouraged citizens to prove us wrong. They did. In one year, Charlotte moved 19 slots, shaping up to become the country's 22nd-fittest city. How'd they do it? The mayor added sidewalks and bike paths to make Charlotte a more pedestrian city, while expanding the healthy-eating program in the school system and area restaurants. His newest project: The Fit City Challenge (fitcitychallenge.org), an interactive online program with the goal of encouraging 50,000 residents to walk five miles a week and eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The Biggest Gainers:

MEMPHIS, OKLAHOMA CITY, FORT WORTH

THESE THREE CITIES ALL MOVED 10 spots in the wrong direction, with Memphis backsliding from fit to fat (21st fittest in 2003; 20th fattest in 2004), and Oklahoma City (23rd to 13th) and Fort Worth (16th to sixth) going from fat to fatter. "They should all take the Fit City Challenge," says D.C. Lucchesi, spokesperson for the Mecklenburg County Health Department in Charlotte. (Too bad he's not running the show in his hometown of Memphis.) "Charlotte will take on any city, whether on the fittest or the fattest list."

The City That Bats the Moll Junk Food:

CLEVELAND

NO CITY PACKS IN MORE FAST-FOOD joints, donut shops, pizza places, and ice cream parlors per capita than the ninth-fattest city of 2004. If you think it's a leap to conclude that Clevelanders are guilty of actually eating it all, consider it in terms of simple economics: Businesses exist to fulfill a demand--or they go broke. And the junk-food biz is booming in C-Town.

* If you're going to eat it anyway: Take off the bun, skip the fries, and go with diet soda. Almost everything else in a fast-food restaurant is fair game. That's right, eliminate the carbs and eat the fat.

The reason: Fast food typically combines foods that are high in fat with foods that are high in the type of carbs that are quickly converted to sugar. That sugar stimulates the release of insulin, a hormone that tells your body to store the fat that you just ate. Remove insulin from the equation, and you're more likely to use the fat as energy. A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition found that guys who cut their carb intake to 8% of total calories (they ate 61% of calories from fat) lost seven pounds of fat and gained two pounds of muscle in six weeks. The researchers calculated that lower insulin levels accounted for about 70% of the fat loss. (There was no increase in risk for cardiovascular disease.)