# Obesity and suburbia ??



## aaabbbccc (Mar 8, 2009)

I have noticed ( at least here in the United States ) in the suburbs , not all of course , people tend to be more obese and out of shape than people who live in downtown or urban areas , in NY city , people walk everywhere and they tend to be slimmer as far as I know . of course there is also other factors such as poverty and how many stores are available . I love to walk and I live in a nice inner ring suburb with a lot of history and has access to many places and a great place to wallk which is rare in Orlando . 
I would love to hear how it is in your city or country ? I know in Paris which is one of the greatest places to walk , many people are slimmer than here in the United States , of course portion size is also a huge factor 
here is my question 
Could the area you live affect obesity rates ?


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## Spookvlieger (Jul 10, 2009)

Not true for Belgium. And most Belgians live in a sort of exurbs if you like.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

in a city youre in more face to face contact with people and strangers too, on a daily basis (as opposed to being cocooned away in a detached house and car). Thus people pay attention more to the way they look and present themselves.


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## Yuri S Andrade (Sep 29, 2008)

Do you have data to support this? I've never been to the US, but I get the opposite impression: people in the suburbs are more affluent and therefore thinner, as they have acces to a better diet, quite different from people living in the inner cities. Aren't blacks more obese than whites in the US?


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## aquaticko (Mar 15, 2011)

^^Yes, non-white ethnicities in the U.S. tend to be more obese than whites, but you could easily pin that to the wealth disparities between the populations. My observations tend to agree with the OP's; partially because living in cities encourages walking, and partially because incomes tend to be higher in cities than in (most) suburbs, people are thinner in the cities. I don't have any data readily available to back that up, though.

And much though intuition tells me to agree with the spliff fairy, I'm not sure that's a universal contributor to the situation.


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## zaphod (Dec 8, 2005)

I don't think there's a direct connection or black and white answer for every group in the population. 

A healthy urban environment could make someone healthier if they make the choice to take full advantage of it, and I believe from an urban planning point of view that this is a benefit of big cities and something to maximize. If you can bike to work, that's an optional way of squeezing in more exercise into a busy day. But by itself riding a bike won't make a person thin if they don't lead an overall healthy lifestyle.

You have affluent suburbanites who work out at gyms, jog around their subdivision, etc, and are in better shape than poor city dwellers.

You also have suburbanites who choose to live in the suburbs specifically because they are lazy or are paranoid. Overprotective parents who don't let their kids go outside.

There are urban residents who are poor and eat fast food after working all day at Walmart, and their kids stay inside all day because it is unsafe outside or they live in an apartment complex that is not child friendly.

Also you have an increasing part of the population that lives in a place that is not really urban or suburban, but the worst of both worlds. Apartment complexes, townhomes, etc, in suburban locations which have little to zero space outside but are in low density locations and necessitate driving everywhere.


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## mhays (Sep 12, 2002)

A spate of studies a few years ago suggested that urbanites in the US tended to get more exercise (walking) and weighed less on average.


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## Strob (Mar 20, 2012)

From my observation (in Poland) it seems like there's more obese people in cities mainly because of better access to fast food restaurants. These are becoming more and more popular which is quite frightening - we have already almost 20% people suffering from obesity.


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## tvdxer (Feb 28, 2006)

I think it's more of an issue of class than geography in the U.S., although I've always chalked up the lower obesity rates in Europe to the fact that physical activity is more integrated into peoples' lives there. In the car-centric U.S., it's really a choice whether to be physically active or not, even in most major cities. Nevertheless, the higher your socio-economic status, the less likely you are to obese. I don't think the reasons are only economic. Yes, fitness clubs cost money, but at around $30 a month they are widely affordable, and yes, "healthy" foods tend to cost money, but you can eat a rather unhealthy diet and still be thin. It's also social. Upper middle class individuals receive peer pressure to be thin, simply because all their class peers are thin. They also are more likely to engage in healthful activities and eat healthily - I've gotten the impression that overly sweet (or fatty) foods are frowned upon more as you climb the class ladder. In the lower classes, you see less of this.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

aaabbbccc said:


> I have noticed ( at least here in the United States ) in the suburbs , not all of course , people tend to be more obese and out of shape than people who live in downtown or urban areas , in NY city , people walk everywhere and they tend to be slimmer as far as I know . of course there is also other factors such as poverty and how many stores are available . I love to walk and I live in a nice inner ring suburb with a lot of history and has access to many places and a great place to wallk which is rare in Orlando .
> I would love to hear how it is in your city or country ? I know in Paris which is one of the greatest places to walk , many people are slimmer than here in the United States , of course portion size is also a huge factor
> here is my question
> Could the area you live affect obesity rates ?


US suburbs are designed for cars, not people and this includes the suburbs surrounding New York City.

Unless people are willing to walk a few blocks from their home to the nearest commercial area, consume healthier choices when it comes to food and do their daily exercise, then obesity won't be a problem.

As for Orlando, the few places that I see where people DO walk are the theme parks say Disney World or Universal Studios.


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

Yuri S Andrade said:


> Do you have data to support this? I've never been to the US, but I get the opposite impression: people in the suburbs are more affluent and therefore thinner, as they have acces to a better diet, quite different from people living in the inner cities. Aren't blacks more obese than whites in the US?


Sadly yes. Albeit Latinos are also blowing themselves up just as big. Yet, in most of the larger US metros, blacks, latinos, & asians are moving to the suburbs in droves, while affluent whites are trying to gentrify the center cities.


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## NordikNerd (Feb 5, 2011)

tvdxer said:


> I think it's more of an issue of class than geography in the U.S.,,.


I think obesity is partly a hereditary disease, the organism can not incinerate the fats properly.

Also it's about beeing wise. I read about what's healty and what's not. There are 3 McDonald's drive throughs and also Max, Burger King in my swedish city (pop 90.000) 


MAX-drive in 
So I can get fat if I want. I can also drive to town or take the bicycle.

Weahter you live in a US suburb or not you can be as healthy as you want.

I think probably a lot of healthy slim people live in the suburbs of californian cities. Seen only on TV but isn't it true.


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## aaabbbccc (Mar 8, 2009)

Manila-X said:


> US suburbs are designed for cars, not people and this includes the suburbs surrounding New York City.
> 
> Unless people are willing to walk a few blocks from their home to the nearest commercial area, consume healthier choices when it comes to food and do their daily exercise, then obesity won't be a problem.
> 
> As for Orlando, the few places that I see where people DO walk are the theme parks say Disney World or Universal Studios.


yep very true , here in winter park we have many people walking in the park street area , which I enjoy very much . I forgot about disney and universal !! of course
to everyone else in here thank you for the intereseting comments and views and it give me an idea how one urban environment affects obesity rates but as many of you said , income and education are also other factors
as far as I know correct me if I am wrong , Colorado is the least obese state in the country , in this case it is not really the city / suburb factor ( maybe it is but who knows ? ) but more of the natural environement , mountains just west of Denver , and the Denver areas has a lot of recreational activies as well


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## jonjrs (May 11, 2010)

Winter Park is niiiiice! And very walkable as well! I live in Miami and people here are a hodgepodge of every weight class you can find. The humidity and abundance of zoning codes that specify when and where you can build whatever make this place a bit annoying when it comes to getting around by walking. Not to mention, public transportation is not that good out here either. However, for folks that live in or near the CBD, it is quite easy to get around. People tend to stay in shape here mostly because of vanity, as sad as that seems. But at least there's lots of eye candy around :lol:.


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

jonjrs said:


> I live in Miami and people here are a hodgepodge of every weight class you can find. The humidity and abundance of zoning codes that specify when and where you can build whatever make this place a bit annoying when it comes to getting around by walking. Not to mention, public transportation is not that good out here either. However, for folks that live in or near the CBD, it is quite easy to get around. People tend to stay in shape here mostly because of vanity, as sad as that seems. But at least there's lots of eye candy around :lol:.


Fat folks in folks in Miami Beach?!


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## goschio (Dec 2, 2002)

Manila-X said:


> As for Orlando, the few places that I see where people DO walk are the theme parks say Disney World or Universal Studios.


Disney World Orlando is the place where I have seen the fattest people ever. Some of of these "people" where so fat they had problems to walk. But still shuffeling in the hamburgers, hot dogs and sweet cakes. Whole families of meat blobs. hno:


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## SydneyCity (Nov 14, 2010)

^^
Sounds just like Westfield Penrith.


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Suburbia is commonly known as the 'fat belt', so it's not really news to most people that obesity is more prevalent there.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

goschio said:


> Disney World Orlando is the place where I have seen the fattest people ever. Some of of these "people" where so fat they had problems to walk. But still shuffeling in the hamburgers, hot dogs and sweet cakes. Whole families of meat blobs. hno:


If these people have a hard time walking then they have to depend to a portable scooter like vehicles for them to get from Point A to Point B. 

But again in America, there is plenty of food and are served in large sizes. I would not be surprised if there are loads of obese in the country.


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## Severiano (Jul 5, 2006)

I think the suburbs cause obesity in certain parts of the population. For people who don't work out, walking everywhere would cut their weight down. We would still have fat people, but not like the jaw-dropping fat asses you get in America. If there were urban cores with access to good food etc, we would probably have 20 percent obesity instead of 30.


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