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Sprawl: Does it make people fat?


JJK5

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Just imagine if the automobile never became popular and we all rode bikes. Cities would be smaller and we'd all be thin! It's almost too dangerous to go walking and biking with all the traffic.

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the 'burb i live in is extremely hostile to foot-traffic. i live less than 1 mile from my job, although there is an interstate overpass inbetween with zero clearance. when i have walked/biked to work, this overpass becomes a serious life-gambling step. drivers tend to get mad at me for crowding their lane, and cruise by within inches of me....nearly killing me! often drivers yell at me for being a jerk/bum for making them have to "inconvieniently" slow down and focus on their driving. i would love to be able to walk to my job, but unfortunately it has become to dangerous to do.

additionally, my coworkers and i often go for a drink after work. our favorite watering-hole is about 200 feet from the front door of our business (same parking lot). they all drive and i have repeatedly proven the fact that i can walk to the bar, sit down and order a drink before they can even park. their response is that i will "have to walk back to my car". i tell them that it is not only lazy, and bad for their health, but that it is terrible for your automobile! noone seems to care.

sometimes i feel like i'm crazy.

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the 'burb i live in is extremely hostile to foot-traffic. i live less than 1 mile from my job, although there is an interstate overpass inbetween with zero clearance. when i have walked/biked to work, this overpass becomes a serious life-gambling step. drivers tend to get mad at me for crowding their lane, and cruise by within inches of me....nearly killing me! often drivers yell at me for being a jerk/bum for making them have to "inconvieniently" slow down and focus on their driving. i would love to be able to walk to my job, but unfortunately it has become to dangerous to do.

additionally, my coworkers and i often go for a drink after work. our favorite watering-hole is about 200 feet from the front door of our business (same parking lot). they all drive and i have repeatedly proven the fact that i can walk to the bar, sit down and order a drink before they can even park. their response is that i will "have to walk back to my car". i tell them that it is not only lazy, and bad for their health, but that it is terrible for your automobile! noone seems to care.

sometimes i feel like i'm crazy.

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It probably matters on what kind of suburb you're living in. All of my neighbors are upper middle-class professionals, and are reasonably attractive. I've been to more blue-collar suburbs where the average resident is pretty large, and the inner city poor seem to be the largest of all.

Obesity depends on the individual. The suburbs don't make people fat, and the cities don't make people slim.

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It probably matters on what kind of suburb you're living in. All of my neighbors are upper middle-class professionals, and are reasonably attractive. I've been to more blue-collar suburbs where the average resident is pretty large, and the inner city poor seem to be the largest of all.

Obesity depends on the individual. The suburbs don't make people fat, and the cities don't make people slim.

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Interesting thought about the inner city poor being the largest. If anything, the inner-city poor should be the most physically fit, seeing as how they have to run from the police and dodge bullets on a daily basis :whistling: In New Orleans case, we have a lot of overweight people but it's due to that good New Orleans food :shades: You won't see a lot of cars in Downtown/CBD or Uptown because most people take the streetcar to get where they need to go.

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I have seen the opposite. More fit bodies in the burbs than the urbs in my experience. I am not sure why, but I guees it is a number of factors. More active people are into more activities and the larger yards in the suburbs provides the space for many of these, which why you see a lot of active people in the suburbs. Active people are more likely to be in shape. Less active people don't want to care of yards, want goods and services closer, which is probably why many end up in urban areas. Also in the city, folks wait in line to sit around, while it is go, go, go in the burbs.

And I would be poor and wet. I love my bike, but cars are essential.

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It probably matters on what kind of suburb you're living in. All of my neighbors are upper middle-class professionals, and are reasonably attractive. I've been to more blue-collar suburbs where the average resident is pretty large, and the inner city poor seem to be the largest of all.

Obesity depends on the individual. The suburbs don't make people fat, and the cities don't make people slim.

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The correlation of being fat and poor is not one of being bad at handling money, therefore one couldn't make good diet choices.

Instead, money is the factor, as "junk food" is cheaper than healthy food. Compare the price of chips, soda, candy bars, bottled and sweetened fruit drinks, etc. to the price of fresh fruits and vegetables, bottled water(not necessarily healthier than tap water, btw), natural unsweetened fruit juices, etc. Even within fresh produce a 10-lb bag of potatoes are less expensive than ten pounds of greens, squashes, apples, and many other fruits and veggies, also that 10-lb of potatoes has a long life, little will go to waste due to spoilage. Among boxed and canned foods, macaroni and white rice, instant potatoes are cheap eats. Additonally, "junk food" and fast food are inexpensive luxuries for the poor, burgers and fries, tacos, burritos, pizzas, and fried chicken are all inexpensive but unhealthy but abundant choices. Also, many rural and inner city poor have inherited the diet of heavy labor of their ancestors in the farms, fields, and factories without adjustment for a more sedentary lifestyle and this is also a factor among higher income Americans, we don't labor as hard as previous generations yet still eat the high calorie diet of our parents and grandparents. And fast food and junk food consumption isn't limited to low income people either, else they wouldn't be so ubiquitous to suburban strips.

I live in a small Southern industrial city, which was transformed from rural Appalachia to large town within a single generation and now has a sizable Hispanic population(up to 33% within the city limits), and see the difference in diet habits among the generations and ethnic groups. My great aunt is 95, never ate fast food, only homecooked meals, most of it from her garden, with the exception of meat and off-season foods and has only in the last 2-3 years suffered from the effects of old age. Most of the younger people are heavier than their parents generation. The Hispanic population prepares most meals at home, yet overweight issues seem to be with the more Americanized younger generations as well.

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So...exercise more! We blame the 'burbs because it's easy, when we should eally be "blaming" the folks who don't take enough initiative to ensure their own health.

So what if you can't walk around? You could probably bike to the store! Or, there's probably a gym around! My parents even had jobs that were more than close enough to bike to when we lived in a suburban setting. It's not as though there aren't opportunities, that much is for sure...

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No, we blame the suburbs because it is one of the major causes of obesity in America. This is just another study that will help prove that sprawl is horrible no matter what. While blame does lie on the people, along with other various things, sprawl is a major factor. Things can't ever be automobile oriented.

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  • 3 weeks later...

More evidence in the link below -- people in sprawling areas weigh more, walk less and have higher blood pressure than people who live in more compact areas. The health risks associated with sprawl equal those of some other risk factors for obesity and high blood pressure, such as not eating enough fruits and vegetables.

CBS News: Study: Suburban Sprawl May Help Fuel Obesity

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  • 4 weeks later...

And who will get to pay for the costs of obesity? I bet it won't be the execs at McD's and Burger King. Our lobbyist-centered government will find a way of sheltering them from rising health care costs. Its a very similar situation to how the tobacco companies enhanced the addictive qualities of their cigarettes. Food producers are very active in using some of the very same 'addiction science' production methods to boost profits. Just my cynical pov.

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I think that the suburban lifestyle definitely has a lot of influence. I also think, that if you took an average urban person, and put them in a suburb, they'd make the same types of choices that surburban people do. It's just the way people are. I don't think most normal people think about urban planning and that kind of stuff the same way we do, so I don't think it's much of an intentional thing when moving somewhere. I think if you put an average suburbanite into an urban environment, it wouldn't be very long before they'd start making different lifestyle choices.

So I think that planning has a big influence on people, and that urban minded planning is healthier.

Someone mentioned here that suburbs have been around since WW2, and that we have been fat for less time than that. I think that's because of the way that even suburban design has changed. If you look at older suburbs, they are very different from new suburbs.

In older suburbs, people can still walk to stores, and walk to school. There are still sidewalks, and streets with normal shops. Really, imo older suburbs aren't very different from the city as far as urban planning goes. A lot of them continue the same retail strips and street grids.

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  • 1 month later...
I think that the suburban lifestyle definitely has a lot of influence. I also think, that if you took an average urban person, and put them in a suburb, they'd make the same types of choices that surburban people do. It's just the way people are. I don't think most normal people think about urban planning and that kind of stuff the same way we do, so I don't think it's much of an intentional thing when moving somewhere. I think if you put an average suburbanite into an urban environment, it wouldn't be very long before they'd start making different lifestyle choices.

So I think that planning has a big influence on people, and that urban minded planning is healthier.

Someone mentioned here that suburbs have been around since WW2, and that we have been fat for less time than that. I think that's because of the way that even suburban design has changed. If you look at older suburbs, they are very different from new suburbs.

In older suburbs, people can still walk to stores, and walk to school. There are still sidewalks, and streets with normal shops. Really, imo older suburbs aren't very different from the city as far as urban planning goes. A lot of them continue the same retail strips and street grids.

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  • 1 month later...

Sprawl and our culture of driving contribute to obesity quite a lot. But the truth is obesity is only one of the negative consequences of sprawl. Not to be redundant, but I can vouch that after living in Bulgaria for two years, walking is a pleasant expierence. Not only does did it give me exercise, but it gave me an opportunity to meet people every single day. It also breeds a richer quality of life that I find lacking back here in the US suburbs.

Over the last few weeks I've been making my way through some of James Howard Kunstler's books (The Geography of Nowhere, The Long Emergency, Home From Nowhere, and the website www.kunstler.com) and he paints a frightening picture. Urban sprawl has killed our way of life and will leave America in a difficult position to recover from once the oil is used up.

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Both books are well worth reading. Unfortunately, Kunstler's books are too often dismissed because he is not a city planner or an architect. Whether or not he has the supposed credentials, his books are instructive and offer a viewpoint which few have been willing to bring to the national table for discussion.

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Both books are well worth reading. Unfortunately, Kunstler's books are too often dismissed because he is not a city planner or an architect. Whether or not he has the supposed credentials, his books are instructive and offer a viewpoint which few have been willing to bring to the national table for discussion.
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