good ole middle of the road washington.

i live in Seattle, which is actually one of the healthiest cities (according to an article last year…i doubt its changed much) you cant drive down the street without running over about 4 bikers.

http://www.everygymsnightmare.com

I agree totally that Seattle is one of the healthiest cities in the U.S. Here is a blog post I wrote this summer http://healthydiscoveriesbyjolene.blogspot.com/2008/06/on-road-in-washington.html where I raved about this health conscious city!

CalorieLab only looked at BMI to determine the fattest city. A BMI does NOT tell the whole story and it is a very generalized (often flawed) look at physical health. Personally I think measuring body fat, along with waist to hip ratio is much more appropriate.

Of course blood pressure and various blood panels will add another important dimension to the overall picture of “healthy” along with taking stock of people’s lifestyle (smoking, drinking, lack of sleep) relaxation, exercise, satisfaction in their work, relationships, financial stress etc.

BMI is one very small piece of the pie. I thought the colored map put out by CalorieLab was interesting for various reasons, one being your point that Seattle is in fact quite healthy, even though the state of Washington tallied 24.5%. We can turn statistics any which way.

This map is a good reminder to always question where health information is coming from and who benefits in you believing (or not believing) this information?

Based on how this data was collected, do you think its results are accurate? I’m curious because I’ve seen conflicting information. I read a newspaper report that cast serious doubt on the method—asking people their height and weight by phone. It also said that nearly all of the Denver Broncos would be considered “obese,” based on the BMI scale, even those who have very low body fat.

What do you think?