Reader comments
Utah leaner in a country that's too fat

Time to create a new sin tax. One imposed on junk food! How about a three cent tax on every pint of ice cream sold in Utah. that ought to balance the budget!

I've been to Utah and I've never seen fatter people anywhere.

How about the CDC declaring a pandemic? Obesity is far more serious than a handful of flu deaths. Or Obama appointing a "fat czar" to fix things up?

Anonymous, I don't think you're correct. We went to Disneyland and it looked to me like everybody there was obese.

I'm not sure I understand how anyone could tolerate weighing 300-400 pounds. Somebody explain this to me.

As I read this article I found it ironic how easily health and government officials will state with confidence that diseases that are linked to obesity are 100% preventable with diet and exercise (self control), but when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases nobody will make similar statement on how they are 100% preventable by simply abstaining from sexual activity (self control).

What a very, very odd double standard.

How about incentives for farmers, food-production companies, and fast food restaurants to produce healthy foods? And a tax on foods full of sugar, fat, and preservatives?

And if we're going to a national health care plan, how about higher rates/fees for those who don't take care of themselves, who are above the healthy body fat limits? But please don't base it on weight. When I was at my lowest body fat index, I was technically overweight because muscle weighs more than fat.

Perhaps government-backed gym memberships and funds to improve outdoor activity areas like hike & bike trails?

If you're LDS, you believe your body is a temple. Treat it that way.

Amazing how many people will turn up their noses at a caffeinated drink, but don't hesitate to consume copious amounts of trans fat. Think about it.

Anonymous, while your suggestion that the CDC declare obesity a "pandemic" is right minded in trying to emphasize the critical nature of the problem.

However, the proper term is epidemic, a pandemic is an epidemic of global nature, and that clearly does not describe the situation.

In fact, the US is the only country in the world where obesity can be considered an epidemic. No where else do people sit around on their butts, drive a quarter mile down the street to the 7-11 to get a triple-gulp and eat the fattiest big mac they can find. No, this is a problem unique to lazy American's.

To 1st anonymous:
I've been all over country and it appears that the south and mid-west have the most really fat people. Utah appears to be one of the thinner states. That said, poor eating habits and heavy alcohol consumption everywhere in the US are fattening us all up.

I guess no one has ever considered economics as a contributing factor to obesity.

kudos.

I also love the ignorant statements that there are no fatter people anywhere than in Utah. Brilliant. That person must have only lived in two places, the amazon jungle and Utah.

"As I read this article I found it ironic how easily health and government officials will state with confidence that diseases that are linked to obesity are 100% preventable with diet and exercise (self control), but when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases nobody will make similar statement on how they are 100% preventable by simply abstaining from sexual activity (self control).

What a very, very odd double standard."

Actually, its not a double standard at all. Healthy diet and exercise doesn't mean you can never eat unhelathy food, it just means you should do so in moderation and exercise to offset the unhealthy food. You know, enjoy the activity while taking preventive steps to avoid health problems.

Sounds like its time to get the "health police" involved!! A couple of weeks ago they were going on and on about smokers being the cause of our high health care costs! I guess it turned out (as I thought) that not that many people smoke in Utah, but there are A LOT of overweight folks.

I agree with "double standard" above, STD's, smoking, obesity, are ALL preventable but the BIG QUESTION is: can we figure out a way to tax them like the smokers?

Double standard hit it right on the money. It is also interesting how the public school system (run by the government) allows junk food, soda, candy etc to be sold in the Jr. High and High Schools. What will most kids choose when they can spend their lunch money on soda and candy vs a sandwich and soup?

I lived in Utah all my life, and moved to Missouri six years ago, I was shocked by how many fat people there are here.

Sadly, I am one of them, as is my husband and his family. I put on my weight when I had my one and only child, never lost it. Now that I am 55 and have aches and pains, I am starting to see how this affects me. My husband and his family are all much heavier and I am telling his kids to try to do something now, cause it will affect them later.

Today is my new years day and I am starting back on the treadmill and all the goodies are gone. Will I get thin, no, but I can lessen myself a little.

But people, I have asthma, and can't be around smokers, but I do not look down on them. Don't look down on me because I am fat and don't think that I am not healthy, I pretty much am for the most part.

I second that, "been around". Wisconsin and Iowa have MUCH fatter people in general. The little woman and I look like a couple of Nordic gods when we walk through the streets of Milwaukee or Council Bluffs.

To "Double Standard": your sophist anaology actually makes a better case for comprehensive sex education.

Allow me to demonstrate: we know that people should abstain from all unhealthy foods, but their biological urges cause them frequently to fail in that endeavor. So the best thing we can do for is to educate and equip them with strategies to be healthier, i.e., exercise and moderation; stressing all the while that the only way to completely mitigate the risk of obesity is to become a vegetarian distance runner. Knowing, of course, that many people will fall short of that lofty ideal and require from us the knowledge to maintain a degree of safer moderation.

Unassailable, no?

While Utah is statistically on the better side on this study, it does seem by observation that we have people who are fit and people who are fat with no much in the middle. Why is that?

Clearly you've never been to Mississippi.

I'm a liberal. I don't believe in a food "sin tax." What next, state run food stores? We could have meters on coke bottles like the meters used in bars in Utah. The nanny state gets old. I saw this living in Utah.

People need to learn about FOOD Inc. Learn about a food system that has lobbied congress to hide what's in our food, where and now our food is processed.

Why are we letting arsenic in chicken or carbon monoxide in beef? Show the public how much corn sweeteners are used in our foods.

It's against the laws of 19 states to speak against the food industry. You can be sued for questioning whether you are reconsidering eating e coli laced burgers.

You can have a healthy kid on day and a dead child 12 days later all because feeding beef corn increases the amount of e coli in beef. Feeding beef grass seven days before processing would help mitigate this.

The government can't recall meat. The processors must. These republican laws that put big corporations over American lives need changing. Who will pay the medical costs of the American diet?

I have always loved all the skinny people telling fat people how easy it is to be skinny. Always good for a "Big Belly" laugh from me.

From Elder Hales April 2009 conference address.
"Today I speak to all whose freedom to choose has been diminished by the effects of ill-advised choices of the past. I speak specifically of choices that have led to excessive debt and addictions to food, drugs, pornography, and other patterns of thought and action that diminish one’s sense of self-worth. All of these excesses affect us individually and undermine our family relationships... Unfortunately however, additional debt is incurred when we cannot control our wants and addictive impulses. And for both debt and addiction, the hopeful solution is the same–we must turn to the Lord and follow His commandments." wonder when food addictions/lifestyle choices that result in obesity will be a temple recommend question.