Fruits & Veg

How fat are we? Not us but we the region. When we say fat we don't mean overweight we mean obese. How obese are we? Compared to other regions and in this nation of these United States how obese are we? When you get the call you might want to keep that in mind. It's not just our size it's our health and welfare. In our case its what makes us happy. We've said before: "The top destroyers us are: cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and accidents." Our weight makes us a candidate for death for all four (4).

If the region has no plans for the future there would not appear to be any future for change if there are no plans to change the future. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for this week said:

"A diet high in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk for many leading causes of death (1--3) and can play an important role in weight management (4). Healthy People 2010 objectives for fruits and vegetables include targets of increasing to 75% the proportion of persons aged ≥2 years who consume two or more servings of fruit daily and to 50% those who consume three or more servings of vegetables daily.* To assess states' progress over the past decade in meeting these targets among adults and to provide an update of the 2005 subgroup estimates (5), CDC analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)." - CDC (MMWR)

Their (the BRFSS) telephone survey doesn't indicate a very bright future for region using figures from 2000 to 2009. If our area hasn't announced plans which might indicate changes that might offer a healthier future for we the people of the area (and as far as we can determine they have not) it's not likely they'll be improvements. You won't have to wait for any news reports of good news for this year or the next. If changes are needed and are not made it's not looking very rosy in our futures.

"No state has yet met the Healthy People 2010 goals, (Dr. Jennifer) Foltz said. In fact only one state, Idaho, rose in the amount of fruits and vegetables ate while 10 states saw a decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption. The 10 states where significant decreases in fruit and vegetable consumption were seen are Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the report." - US News & World Report (Health News)

Of course it's just the government talking. They're not really trying to sell you anything. But how fat are we? One of the complaint people have is not having access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Local area farmers markets and larger grocery stores carry fresh fruits and vegetables and while we may complain about the costs and the variety the basics are their. Many onsite stores like SAFEWAY, GIANT, ALDI, PIGGY WIGGLY, WINN DIXIE, HARRIS TETTER, FOOD LION and even WAL-MART offer recipes along with their choices of fresh produce for sale that week.

"...a diet high in fruits and vegetables is important for maintaining a healthy weight because they are high in fiber and in water. It also reduces the risk of leading causes of death, such as heart disease, some cancers, stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, and diabetes." - Dr. Jennifer Foltz (researcher with CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion) LISTEN

Listen to the government if you want to live! There are things that each of us needs to do to stay well but then their are things your government needs to do to keep us well as well. Clean air, clean water, nuclear free and disease prevention are all things that the government could or should do for its citizenry. In this case the government first gives you the data for you to decide for yourself. The information is provided by you and your neighbors so trust it if you trust the source.

We placed the numbers in an excel spread sheet because the table isn't very friendly and of course the numbers come with all sort of caveats in this case the "(r)esults presented are weighted for age, race/ethnicity, and sex." Some show significant increases and others show significant decreases in rates and per centages. For specifics check the CDC website (do you really care that much about the specific numbers?) We just use the numbers to verify the news stories. When the facts don't match we let you know and ask the questions why.

"In 2009, an estimated 32.5% of U.S. adults consumed fruit two or more times per day, with the highest percentage in DC (40.2%) and the lowest in Oklahoma (18.1%). The percentage of adults who consumed vegetables three or more times per day was 26.3%, with the highest percentage in Tennessee (33.0%) and the lowest in South Dakota (19.6%). Thus, no state met either of the Healthy People 2010 targets related to fruit and vegetable consumption among adults. Twelve states (12) and DC had 35%--45% of adults who consumed fruit two or more times per day, compared with no states that had 35%--45% of adults who consumed vegetables three or more times per day." - CDC (MMWR)

What about the rest of the region? Maryland was sixth (6) in 2009 for fruit, Virginia was sixteenth (16) and North Carolina forty-third (43). For vegetables in 2009 Washington DC maintained its second (2) place ranking, Virginia placed second (2) in the region but sixth (6) place nationally with Maryland not far behind with a tenth (10) place rank and then North Carolina finishing fourth in the region but nineteenth (19) overall in the nation. What might be a good ranking in the region is still no cause for celebration. It's hard to celebrate saying you're better than the worst especially when the worst have federal funding to improve their condition.