With some of America’s tastiest, yet unhealthiest food, it’s no wonder that for years, many have deemed people from the South to be amongst the fattest in the nation.
Whether its because so much of the food is fried or simply because access to healthy food and vegetables is hard to come by, or because southerners don’t do much exercise – the stereotype seems to have stuck.
But a new study from the University of Alabama in Birmingham says that the South is not as fat as the rest of the world would have us believe.
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The journal Obesity, says that there’s a higher concentration of obese people in the Midwestern states of Minnesota, Kansas and North and South Dakota.
The northern region of the country appears to have about 41 per cent obesity compared to 31 per cent in the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi.
Just two years ago, the Center for Disease control claimed the two states were the fattest in the USA.
Southerners definitely enjoy their fried chicken (not to mention fried steak, fried onions, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and fried corn bread) but the northerners of states like Wisconsin and Illinois enjoy their fried cheese curds and deep dish pizzas.
The region famous for its biscuits, barbecue and pecan pies has been struggling with its weight for years.
So what are the reasons for this gut-busting turnaround? The journal believes that truth-telling has something to do with it.
The Obesity journal believes those who took part in the CDC telephone survey in the South were simply more honest about their weight than those in the North.
The University of Alabama conducted their survey in-person using actual recorded weights.