McAllen, Texas is consistently the fattest city in America, and they are not happy about it. They can’t figure out why, as they have plenty of parks and organize 5K runs nearly every weekend.
What they don’t realize is that for non-athletes, exercise has very little to do with bodyweight.
The obesity epidemic is caused almost entirely by the consumption of processed carbohydrates, which the U.S. government and the medical establishment still encourages despite many decades of evidence to the contrary.
The city of Denver is the healthiest in mainland America, but walking around town, the obesity epidemic is still evident.
What's interesting is the comparative rate of obesity in different grocery stores. Whole Foods shoppers have 1/10th the rate of obesity than mainstream grocery store shoppers. (According to researchers at the University of Washington.)
Yes, Whole Foods is about 15% more expensive, but what are the shoppers buying? A 15% markup on food for a 90% decrease in obesity rates would be a great trade-off. Is simply switching to Whole Foods a viable diet plan?
Most of the price difference is the much higher price of meat, dairy, and seafood (30% more) at Whole Foods. The prices of most other products are comparable to mainstream stores.
The difference between Whole Foods and Kroger shoppers is all in the name: Whole Foods customers prefer whole foods, not endless derivations of processed corn syrup.