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We're a big country, and getting bigger.
Americans collectively weigh more than we ever have, and the readout on the scales continues to rise.
That’s evident in a recent report on adult obesity that finds more than a third of adults in seven states report that they are obese, as do more than 20 percent in all states and the District of Columbia.
The seven states reporting the highest rates of adult obesity last year are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia. There were five states with 35 percent or more adults reporting themselves as obese in 2016. No states had that high a rate of obesity in 2013, according to information released Sept. 12 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s just kind of creeping up over time,” says Melissa Viray, deputy director for the Richmond City Health District.
About 30.1 percent of Virginians consider themselves obese, according to the report, up from 27.2 percent in 2013.
The rise is troubling,” says Bernard Fuemmeler, a professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University and associate director for cancer prevention and control at VCU Massey Cancer Center. “It’s continuing to be a struggle for our people.”
An adult is considered obese with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Someone 5 feet 9 inches tall at a weight of 203 pounds or more is considered obese. You are considered overweight with a BMI of 25 to 29.9. A person standing 5 feet 9 inches tall would be considered overweight at a weight of 169 pounds to 202 pounds. Calculate your BMI here.
Obesity and its complications are estimated to account for $147 billion in health costs each year. There are racial and educational disparities in obesity. About 39 percent of African-American adults are obese, compared with 32.4 percent of Hispanics and 29.3 percent of whites. College graduates report about a 22.7 percent obesity rate, while the rate is 35.6 percent for those without high school degrees.
So what’s going on?
Health care practitioners are paying attention to the crisis, as Viray and Fuemmeler note, with physicians regularly addressing weight with patients as part of a physical. There’s also an array of other actions being taken, but the problem is complex and longstanding.
Viray notes that public health is not being driven by the individual, that healthy choices are affected by the environment. Yes, there’s an overabundance of food in which many are overindulging, but increasingly there has been a recognition of how the overall environment in which you find yourself affects your health. There are personal choices, but there are also such factors as income, level of education, the type of food that’s available to you, and whether you have access to a safe, healthy environment.
For instance, most folks know they should eat better, but are there healthy choices easily available? Do they live in a food desert, with little to no access to fresh, healthy foods, limited to the fare available at nearby fast food restaurants and corner stores?
Another component to a healthy weight is to stay active, but what happens when you live in an area where it’s unsafe to get out and walk, or where there are no sidewalks or green spaces nearby?
“Just reducing crime can have a healthy benefit,” says Fuemmeler.
It’s harder to make changes in your diet and lifestyle when the deck is stacked against you. That’s why efforts are made to change the environment, to make it easier to incorporate healthy choices into daily life, says Viray.
Such efforts involve a communal approach. “It’s something we all have to work on together,” says Fuemmeler.
Reshaping the environment can involve anything from government entities changing zoning regulations to mitigate food deserts, creating more green spaces, or something as simple as adding fruit or vegetables to vending machines in a courthouse or other public space.
“If you incorporate changes, then [people] are more likely to make a healthier choice,” says Viray.
Some other initiatives in the city include working with public schools to reduce sugar content in food and adding hydration stations to increase access to drinking water.
The city also is seeking to make it safer to walk and bike through Vision Zero, an international initiative that has been adapted locally with a goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and reducing pedestrian injuries.
There’s also the Richmond Healthy Corner Store Initiative in partnership with Shalom Farms that seeks to get healthier food into neighborhood stores, and the Fitness Warriors program through Richmond's Sports Backers that trains fitness trainers, who in turn provide classes and sessions in the community, Viray says.
So, much has been done, and there are initiatives out there intended to improve the current situation. Viray and Fuemmeler note that we are now having the right conversations and that there’s an increased focus, but it’s going to take time to see results.
“We are at the beginning of the movement,” says Viray.
