Suburban Fat

Ever wonder whether suburban life is making you fat?

I feel fortunate with living in the area of Wyandotte Michigan where I have a lot of things within walking distance of my home.

Within about a ten minute walking radius, I have a convenience store, over a dozen different eating establishments, clothing stores, a couple of schools, a couple of playgrounds with baseball fields, volleyball nets set up, three or four churches, a golf course, and a river to drop my kayak in (don’t really have a grocery store but, now that I think about it, there’s one that I could walk to in about 25 minutes if I wanted to).

Unfortunately, I think my situation is more the exception rather than the rule when it comes to suburban life nowadays.

There’s some new studies out that are talking about how living the suburban life is contributing to the fat that we’re putting on in the United States.

Sprawling suburbs make it harder for people to get around without a car may help fuel obesity: Americans who live in the most sprawling counties tend to weigh 6 more pounds than their counterparts in the most compact areas.

This was something that I know I see all the time in new suburbs:

“Look at many new suburbs — there are not any sidewalks at all. ... The result is we just don’t walk,”

A few years ago when I was looking at moving out of the house I had at the time and looking at new ones, as strange as it may seem, if I went into a neighborhood and saw that there weren’t any sidewalks, it really gave me a negative first impression that extended into what I thought of the inside of the house(s) that I was looking at.

When you read a little further into the article, there is a difference between those that live in sprawling suburbs and those that live in more compact areas but, it’s really not a huge difference:

In the 25 most compact counties, 22.8 percent of adults had high blood pressure and 19.2 percent were obese. In the 25 most sprawling counties, those rates were 25.3 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively.

At the same time though, if you’ve ever spent time in a more compact area, your legs most definitely tell you that you’re moving more than you are when you’re back at home in the burbs.

This was probably the most startling stat that was mentioned in the article:

In Europe, people make 33 percent of their trips by foot or bicycle, compared with just 9.4 percent of Americans’ trips.

When I was in the south of France a few years ago, it was great to be able to walk EVERYWHERE. Take a nice walk in the morning to get coffee and a bagel, walk to a nice café in the afternoon for lunch, walk somewhere for dinner, to the “grocery store” for whatever (and most of it fresh), etc. No need for a car whatsoever.

I had a thought a few years ago that it would be great to see new neighborhoods designed almost like very small cities.

The center of the neighborhood would be small stores and shops and some restaurants and pubs that are within a 15-20 minute walk from the furthest house built. Then within the neighborhood you could have a school somewhere on the outskirts of it, and a few different denominational churches in there as well.

Everything would be within walking distance for everyone in the neighborhood. People would be getting their exercise, possibly have stronger relationships with those in the small community, drinking establishments would be within walking distance thus reducing the number of drunk driving incidences.

I know I’m probably dreaming on all of that but, I think it would be a great little simple lifestyle to live with the bonus being that we’d be taking some steps in reducing our suburban fat.

www.leanbodytraining.com
Facebook