Sedentary Lifestyle

Based off the 2011 studies, they have found out which cities rank in the top for sedentary lifestyles.  How they found this out was rating people on how often they are exercising, how many hours a night you may watch TV (the normal for being "sedentary" was 15 hours a week of TV), also if they bought more then 11 video games a year.  Personally I LOVE stats, and information like this.  I find all of it so interesting for some reason.  And it wasn't surprising that the South ranked the highest in these numbers.  Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, etc.  I think we all get the idea.  What was most interesting were the top in having high physical activity.  These were San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Oakland, and Salt Lake City!  I think there was a DC thrown in as well.  What really floors me about these findings is, most of these environments that have the highest physical activity is under snow for half the year.  So basically we are making it through not being able to run everyday outside or having certain restraints to achieving a physical "well-being".

I lived in Alabama for 6 months, so I think I can have a biased opinion.  I have run my entire life, I even ran during college so I wouldn't gain that freshmen 15 that everyone freaks you out about.  That's what I found so interesting when I moved down to Alabama.  They didn't have sidewalks.  Now this may not seem like a big ordeal, but when you are in the South....you don't see alot of people on a bike, or running or outside period.  People would look at me like I was crazy.  People would recognize me around campus as the girl they saw running.  You just didn't see people running.  It was so so strange, but that's how it was.  And, keep in mind, they don't get snow.  They don't get extreme temperatures in the winter, it's 50 degrees there while we are in a blizzard in Utah.  The people just choose not to go outside.  And their food is terrible.  Well it's delicious, but terrible for you.  They don't have any kind of salad places, Paradise bakery, Rumbi, that kind of thing.  And I'm not saying those are life changing amazing restaurants that are super healthy....but it's better then every other corner having a steakhouse where all you can get is something deep fried with dripping grease off of it.  90% of their vegetables are fried.  It's just how they eat and their lifestyle.

This is why I love these articles, they aren't trying to put down the South or point fingers and say you're a statistic.  But, let's be honest, the South seriously needs to make some changes.