Does your region affect your attitude toward weight/health?

serfasc

This is all so interesting. I grew up in a small rural town (1500 ppl) in the prairies in Canada, moved to the city for an education and am back. My town is quite into sports and fitness (lots of people out walking dogs or jogging). I can attest to the previous poster that most of the women watch how they eat and workout, and the men are generally larger and out of shape. My town is very image orientated though. I will also agree that it is the upper class, higher educated families that are thinner (also have more access to dance class, hockey lessons, better food etc). My reason for staying in shape (currently trying to lose my pregnancy weight ) is due to ALL of my aunts, uncles and grandparents on both sides being obese. My mother is the only one that is not obese. My family celebrates with food and lots of it.

NeoFresh

I do think that the region/culture/subculture that I was raised in and live in have an impact on my health and weight. My family is from the South and obesity is the norm. I am overweight,but not obese. I see this as something that I am fighting to change, but my family and community tell me that I don't need to lose weight and that I'm just fine. I recognize that this is just because their perception of normal is skewed.
The area that I live in now is more active and focuses on physical activity. I sense that my attitude and stance on health has changed positively in this environment. I just hope that all environments could encourage its citizens to care more about their health and lifestyle.

CollieFit

I think this is a really interesting thread. I'm in the UK and I used to work in this area. We had enormous regional variation in obesity rates across our geographical patch.

Despite the fact that people keep saying that healthy food does not have to be expensive, in the UK overweight and obesity are more common in lower socioeconomic and socially disadvantaged groups, particularly among women. Women’s obesity prevalence is far lower in managerial and professional households (18.7%) than in households with routine or semi-routine occupations (29.1%).

I think the issues around that are much more complex than just about income levels, but it's also about education, expectations, life outlook.

Within a few miles you can have completely different BMI scores. I worked in the Welsh Valleys, a rural area of relatively deprived villages, many devastated when the coal mining industry collapsed. Those who were motivated to retrain left the area and moved to nearby cities, and the rest were left behind. When I worked there it was like one of the most depressing places ever. There were initiatives trying to teach young women with small children how to cook even the most simplest meals. It seemed that nobody shopped and cooked and most people would have their whole days food met by various trips to the "chippie". Unemployed men sat in pubs the whole day. It was miserable. Bringing food education into schools was soon welcomed by the kids, who soon found it interesting to learn about foods and health, but was met with incredible resistance from mothers who were furious about schools creating any kind of expectation in their children that they were to have fruit and veg at home.

Down the road you had a biggish city with many affluent areas, posh cafes many gym chains, farmers markets selling any manner of organic produce etc etc and you found a very different approach to food.

Culture, politics and food is a real complex minefield.

philimyri

I'm in Toronto, we have tones of fitness facilities (some are even 24/7) and lots food options. sooo, yes, your environment may impact your fitness.

senecarr

Yeah, poverty has a huge impact. A while ago I posted in a thread heat maps of poverty and obesity. The correlation is striking.

CollieFit

I think poverty is often oversimplified in terms of just not having any money, but I think often factors such as education/knowledge, poverty of ambition/lack of motivation to change or achieve and a sense of general hopelessness can be bigger factors than actual pure financial issues. Knowing what some of the mums we worked with pulled in in benefits they weren't that poor. The money could be lasting longer if they were making different choices. But for someone who literally has no joy in life, fake nails and a sunbed session can be more important than fruit and veg.

stealthq

And among the poor there are different subcultures that affect obesity for different reasons.

You have poor that are working their butts off to provide for their families, improve their situation and don't feel they have extra energy for anything else; you have poor that don't want to put in the effort to get their stuff together; you have poor that are addicted or mentally incapacitated in some way and can't get it together (at least without help that they may not be willing to accept); and then you have the 'poor' who are gaming the system. Plus other subgroups that aren't springing to mind at the moment.

MelissaPhippsFeagins

lemurcat12 wrote: »

My guess is that might be difference between African-Americans and whites (especially women).

For the record, I'm a white woman in the midwest and haven't been surveyed, but I lied about my weight on my drivers license for years.

Heh. I told them the truth when I renewed mine in 2009 & weighed 225. The clerk put 165 on my license because "Honey, they ain't no way you weigh that much." I had just left my annual physical and my doctor gave me grief about that 225. I know there was a way. I weigh 163 currently so I don't sweat the lie on my license; I didn't tell it. I hope in 2019 when it's in person renewal time again, they lie about me again.

senecarr

I'd also state that poverty tends to go hand in hand with low educational attainment, for many reasons outside of the poor's control. That increases the chances of false ideas about how weight loss happens which increases belief that affecting weight loss is possible.
For women, there is also a tendency for weight to impact actual income, with more overweight women being more likely to be denied jobs outside of low paying manual labor.

HippySkoppy

I am from Australia, specifically the little island to the south Tasmania. The region I live in has around 20,000 pop. and the economic climate has become increasingly depressed over the past 10-20 years particularly the last 5.

Of course this has had a negative flow on to the population who have stayed (many have left the State to find work and better opportunities for the children) and over that time particularly in my area the rising girth rates alongside with this economic downturn has been quite astounding.

I can really relate to the poster speaking about the issues in Wales. Even though where I live has incredible access to some of the best and most diverse produce, meats and dairy in the World and farmers markets are in every little town and very affordable, the consumer base is one that reflects a clientele who are weight and health conscious and could easily afford the more expensive supermarkets.

Alongside this the rise and use of seemingly cheaper convenience foods has exploded as has the frequency people eat take aways.

Sadly we are now having more and more to implement breakfast programmes for school kids and there is certainly a generational lack of knowledge around cooking even the most basic fare and a definite lack of understanding basic nutrition and yes I have witnessed parental anger over schools trying to 'help' this is seen as interference too troublesome to implement.

The ever expanding waist lines, rise in diabetes, children who are very overweight and developing Type 2 are becoming a major medical problem of resources here and it's heart breaking to see. Hospital beds are now being replaced with wider ones as a general rule, let alone specific bariatric ones, Dr.s surgeries are having to supply over sized chairs to accommodate their patients and more women are struggling with gestational diabetes than ever before.

It's a pretty grim future.

sapphirewind

I moved 8 months ago from the US to one of the thinnest countries in the world. Not only that but one that is especially occupied with appearances and plastic surgery is considered a norm, even for HS students. As far as weight... living here has amplified my feelings. I joined Curves gym (there are many gyms here but I won't get into why the others here made me uncomfortable). Even after losing 8kgs my younger students (I teach English) tell me that i'm "round" or "big" (at least they're learning) then either poke me in the stomache or say they are round too. These kids are 7-8 years old and I find it rather sad. They are bombarded by the same typed of media messages we have in the West but to a greater degree. Celebrities will compete for the "smallest waist" on television then kids will use measuring tape on themselves at school emulating it. Also, people will post pictures in contorted positions that are only obtainable if extremely thin. What is often viewed as " too thin" back home is normal here.
How does this effect my view? What I once thought was "underweight" doesn't look so unhealthy to me anymore. And when I see the occasional very large person... I stare. And I would have never done this back home.
Views on eating habbits are very different here too. Yo ucan eat rice 3x a day and it's viewed as healthy... if I did that I would gain 30lbs. The only people who seem to get it are trainers at my gym, and even there sometimes we're handed rice cakes, chocolate covered biscuit sticks or low-sugar candies. Also, no one seems to want to break a sweat working out here. They all walk at a leisurelly pace around the track or at the gym. Difference in culture I guess.

amillenium

MakePeasNotWar wrote: »

ScaredCurly92 wrote: »

I love this question! I live in NYC, and since it's such a diverse city, I've seen every shape and size imaginable. But with that said, there is definitely a HUGE culture around diet and fitness, particularly in the more wealthy areas, like the part of Queens where I'm from, and of course Manhattan. Brooklyn is getting this way in certain spots as well. There's a lot of focus on going to the gym (I swear there's a gym on every corner), wearing cute workout capris and sports bras, and generally trying to get and stay as "hot" as possible. Most of the people around me who have complained about their weight or feeling "fat" have never been over 125 lbs. in their life. There's also lots of people following different diet programs and being highly restrictive with their food. Hardly a day goes by when I don't see a coworker or friend bragging about the new eating plan they're on.

It may sound ideal to live in an area where there's so much access to health and fitness stuff, but it's really overrated. Because companies know they can make money off people trying to get in on this way of living, there's a LOT of misinformation and a lot of people, mostly young women, trying WAY too hard and being far too extreme, which results in them never maintaining any of the strides they made, or even taking the whole process seriously. It's very easy to get caught up in disordered eating patterns or overdoing it at the gym, because that's seen as preferable to slowing down and changing things in stages. The motivation is so superficial most of the time, and because these people are already thin, the stakes are not that high for them. I'm curious if the west coast, particularly parts of California, deal with a similar issue.

I recently moved from Canada to Los Angeles. I live in the gay village, just east of Beverly Hills. It's like fitness bizarro-world here. The men are almost universally jacked, and the women tend to be tiny and fat free aside from their breasts and lips. I used to think I had a pretty good body, but now I'm a little self conscious wearing shorts in public.

On the plus side, there are literally 6 gyms within a two block radius of my apartment and if I don't want to walk to any of the dozens of juice bars in my neighbourhood, there's one that delivers, lol.

hahahah! This is LA to a tee. I have lived here waaaay too long but that is definitely the norm. There is ALWAYS a new fitness trend or hot health food. My neighbor is a partner at one of the "hot" juiceries. I am a normal fit active mid-30 year old, yet here in comparison to some of the women here, I feel somewhat inadequate. Its like you can never be perfect enough. I am on a perpetual quest to lose 5-10 pounds. I have friends who are under 30 who get botox. It is "preventative." At the same time, I do trend healthy and I appreciate always being able to get a nice kale salad pretty much anywhere.

I know this is LA specific because when I head back home to DC and go to my mom's pilates class I am one of the fittest people there, get tons of attention and compliments. (That being said, one of my neighbors in LA DID say she thought DC was the most UNattractive city she had ever visited...)

Kullerva

I am from Wisconsin, the land of beer and cheese. I grew up in one of the state's poorest cities (Racine), escaped to the suburbs (Oak Creek/New Berlin), spent some time in the boonies (Fond du Lac), and settled back in the 'burbs again. The boonies and the cities have the worst attitudes toward health in my experience, though heavy drinking is prevalent everywhere. Obesity is common, rampant and not heavily judged. I'm percieved as "thin" or "tiny" here even though I'm still 10 lbs overweight.

I do eat cheese (the high-protein varieties mostly) but I don't drink, and that's contributed tremendously to my fitness. Something I've done since I was six or so is visit the State Fair and watch all the fat people with my mother. It seemed like such an innocent thing to do when I was small; these days it's actually a little sad.

danamalensky

Ha! I just moved from Mo to CO for that reason. A majority of people were miserable, inactive and frowned upon healthy people lol.

ManiacalLaugh wrote: »

About a year or so ago, I moved from CO (one of the fittest states) to MO (one of the fatter states). The difference in attitude is amazing. Culture is definitely a defining point. I was single in Colorado, and all of the men I spoke to online wanted someone who was into camping, long hikes, rock climbing, skiing, sky diving (no kidding)... They wanted active.

Since I've been in MO, I've been attached, but from hearing the way my single friends talk, they want someone who likes good food, good movies... definitely more sedentary activities. Also, bigger women with larger behinds definitely seem more in vogue here.

The place where I work is also a huge indicator of the cultural change. In my CO office, it was an exception to be overweight. I was usually the fattest person there. In MO, the average person seems to be 100 lbs overweight at least (the horrible part is, we have a public security force who shares our office and they're often the heaviest of us all. Many of them require seat belt extenders... for seat belts that already rated up to 300 lbs). I have 30 lbs to go before end-goal and I'm one of the skinniest in my office.

I will say though that food is seen as a community event in MO. Although I try not to partake too often, the sense of closeness you get when you share a plate of food in MO with someone is pretty cool.

Ws2016

I've lived in Montana, Oregon, South Carolina and now in Ohio. I find that Ohio is more of a spectator's state than the others. But I've always gone my own way, so what do I care? In Ohio I aee people biking a lot, running, lifting, kayaking, hiking so I certainly don't feel out of place conditioning-wise and currently I'm in less shape than a lot of them! Not looking to Walmart for my inspiration.

StealthHealth

Interesting thread.
I share @rabbitjb 's experience and therefore also @CurlyCockney 's who I guess UK based.

positivepowers

I have no scientific proof, but I suspect where you live does influence health consciousness. I live in the most unhealthy rural area you can imagine. I work in the only hospital in the area and the majority of the people are obese or meth-skinny. Not just hospital patients, either. Nearly every Walmart (our cultural center) aisle is clogged with motorized scooters, day and night. Even the children are obese and prediabetic. We have a large percentage of smokers (again, not just patients). When the hospital campus went smoke free we had patients and visitors standing in the parking lot screaming they would never come back again because they couldn't light up on the property (true story and happened several times). Diabetes, congestive heart failure, alcohol/drug withdrawl and COPD are the most popular diagnoses, followed closely by alcohol-related pancreatitis and alcohol-related liver cirrhosis (I know because it's my job to run the stats). The worst part is, the physicians are too overloaded to adequately perform preventative medicine and resources are very limited.

This isn't even a subculture thing, this is the norm. The "weird" subculture actually seems to be non-drug addicted, non-alcoholic, health conscious people. I even have to drive into the city to buy fresh produce.

msf74

CollieFit wrote: »

I think poverty is often oversimplified in terms of just not having any money, but I think often factors such as education/knowledge, poverty of ambition/lack of motivation to change or achieve and a sense of general hopelessness can be bigger factors than actual pure financial issues. Knowing what some of the mums we worked with pulled in in benefits they weren't that poor. The money could be lasting longer if they were making different choices. But for someone who literally has no joy in life, fake nails and a sunbed session can be more important than fruit and veg.

Right - the concept of "food poverty". Lack of money, access to education, access to transport and access to fresh produce all tie in together.

On this subject generally I have lived in London pretty much all my life. Due to some interesting town planning decisions on the 60s and 70s council housing was plonked right in the middle of areas where the established residents were generally wealthier. Over time this meant that you have areas of great wealth right next to areas with greater amounts of poverty (although this is getting less common as London gets more and more gentrified.)

It's amazing. In the space of 10 minutes you can cycle from one area where there are rows and rows of fried chicken shops, overweight people in cheap sportswear who are not exercising to another where there are rows and rows of health food shops, slender women in Sweaty Betty workout gear who definitely are exercising regularly sipping wheatgrass smoothies...

headofphat

I'm from The South (USA), aka The Dirty South, aka God's Country and I was literally raised on sweet tea, fried foods (everything from chicken to snickers) and bread. I think the culture of the South is one of eating and eating a lot so yeah I think where I'm from made a huge difference. I finally broke the cycle and decided I'd rather be fit but I still enjoy some fried okra from time to time. I haven't had a sweet tea (with real sugar) in a couple of years.

StealthHealth

@msf74 I can relate to this. Although I don't live in London I see similar in some areas of Manchester and the southern outskirts.

As a middle-class-skinflint I can also relate to the idea that the cheapest foods are often the most difficult to use to form a healthy diet (not impossible but very, very difficult). My own experiments of pushing the family food budget down to a minimum usually meant highly processed foods from the frozen goods aisles. I've backed off that now, taking a stance that, if you have the money, driving down the cost of your groceries to the absolute minimum is a false economy (when considering the health implications). But, I sympathise with people who do not have the disposable income to allow them to make any other choice.