The people's voice of reason
A recent study by a nutrition label making company found that Alabama has the seventh worst eating habits in the country.
Louisiana was the worst state on the list with the worst eating habits in the U.S. Louisiana has the highest density of fast food chains. That and a significant intake of added sugars, contributing to an obesity rate of 40.1% in Louisiana.
Alabama has a population of 5,143,033. According to the study 38.3 percent of Alabamians are obese. That translates to 1,969,782 Alabamians who are overweight – in some cases so overweight that they can't serve in the military and in some extreme cases are so morbidly obese that they can't participate in the workforce – Alabama has one of the worst workforce participation rates in the country. Losing some weight and working out more would benefit many Alabamians.
Alabama was also cited by the study authors for a heavy concentration of fast food restaurants with 8.58 per 10,000 people. While fast food has a place, Americans consume far too much unhealthy foods through to-go windows at burger, taco, pizza, and donut shops. This trend is a particularly troublesome trend in Alabama. Alabamians should go home and cook balanced meals from the five food groups rather than having Door Dash deliver burritos again.
The average Alabamian also consumes 18.7 teaspoons of added teaspoons of sugar per day – significantly contributing to both that obesity rate as well as the high type 2 diabetes rate in the state. Stop drinking the sweet tea, putting a teaspoon of sugar in the coffee, cut out all the sodas. Little Debbie snack cakes, the syrup, and stay out of the cookie jar.
Alabamians also consume way too much Alcohol. The average Alabamian drinks 2.08 gallons of alcohol a year. Some Alabamians consume way more than that. There is nothing wrong with drinking a beer while watching a football game; but if your normal weekend is sitting on a couch watching multiple football games over 3 and 4 days and consuming a six pack or two of beer – you probably have a serious problem. Alcohol contributes to everything from liver disease, kidney failure, obesity, impaired driving, absenteeism at work, spousal abuse, and workplace agents.
The authors of the study combined these high risk factors into a composite score.
Mississippi and Kentucky followed Louisiana closely. Both states have high rates of obesity and sugar consumption as well as a heavy reliance on fast food options.
Delaware's extremely high alcohol consumption (4.01 gallons per person), combined with a high number of fast food chains placed it next on the list.
Ohio and West Virginia came next followed by Alabama. Iowa came in in eighth place -followed by South Dakota and Tennessee. https://foodlabelmaker.com/
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