By Cheryl Mattox Berry
Oh, no. My hometown – Memphis – is the fattest city in USA, according to a new WalletHub study. That doesn’t surprise me considering my gastronomical pursuits when I go home. It’s hard to visit the Bluff City without pigging out on Southern cuisine. Soon as I book my ticket, I start thinking about what I’m going to eat.
Corky’s wet ribs, Interstate Barbecue’s dry ribs, hot tamales, fried fish and Krystal cheeseburgers (a childhood favorite.)
When I’m in Miami, I stick to a strict regimen. I work out three to four times a week, watch my bread intake, bypass the pasta and succumb once a week to my craving for chocolate. That willpower goes out the window when I’m back home.
Macaroni and cheese, broccoli cheese bake, cornbread and s-w-e-e-t tea.
According to the Wallethub study, the Memphis, Mississippi and Arkansas metro area has the highest percentage of obese adults, 36.8 percent. It is two times higher than the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area, which has the lowest,18.9 percent. All those big, curvy girls around me would explain why I feel small at home and have no qualms about eating so much.
Sock-it-to-me cake, fried peach pie, peanut brittle, pecan pie and Makeda’s Homemade Cookies ( I buy some on the way to my Mom’s house and eat them in the car. Mom, a calorie counter, doesn’t approve.)
The Memphis metro area also has the highest percentage of physically inactive adults, 34.7 percent, which is three times higher than the San Francisco metro area, which has the lowest, 14.1 percent. Now that I think about it, I don’t see people engaging in outdoor physical activities like they do in other cities.
BBQ spaghetti, creamy coleslaw and a hot buttered roll..
In Miami, there’s a gym on every corner. Not so, in Memphis. A church sits on every corner, and after morning worship comes the big Sunday dinner and sitting around afterwards, a Southern tradition. Maybe if fitness centers were more visible I would be reminded to cut back on the calories. No gyms, no guilt.
Here is a list of the top ten fattest cities:
- Memphis
- Shreveport
- Indianapolis
- Jackson, Miss.
- New Orleans
- Chattanooga
- Mobile
- San Antonia
- Greenville, S.C.
- Little Rock
The thinnest metro areas are:
- Tucson
- Denver
- Colorado Springs
- San Francisco
- Boston
- Sacramento
- Las Vegas
- Boise
- Reno
- Honolulu
WalletHub, a personal finance website, said the purpose of the study was to call attention to communities where weight-related problems are the most prevalent. Analysts compared data from 100 of the country’s most populated metro areas.
The results have been duly noted, and my sins confessed in this post. I’m off to the gym in preparation for my next trip home for Memphis in May. Mmmmm, I can smell the BBQ already.
Happy National Nutrition Month!