Uh oh, two news stories that combine to paint a bleak picture:
New obesity rates going up but show some leveling out; Oregon 35th most obese (Oregonian)
Calorie counts don’t change most people’s dining-out habits, experts say (Wash. Post)
The underlying report that's the focus of the first story is particularly sobering. Today, Colorado has the lowest obesity rate at 19%. Yet, fifteen years ago, that same rate would have been the highest rate of any of the states. This is pretty telling:
Fifteen years ago, Oregon had an obesity rate of 13.6 percent and was ranked 35th most obese state in the nation. The obesity rate in Oregon increased more than 80 percent over the last 15 years.
So our ranking hasn't changed, only the percentage of obese adults, going from 13.6% to 25.4%. Fifteen years is not a long time! That's around the time that Alanis Morrisette became a big pop/rock star.
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