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Houston was named by the twink magazine Men's Fitness as America's Fattest city, again. Sure, we lost out to Detroit in 2004, but we've won the title in most of the years that the title has been bestowed.
I'm so very happy that I could help out with this.
Of course the title is done in a very non-scientific way. no actual citizens were actually weighed in the determining of this award, and really, it's just a way for the magazine to get free publicity in the same way Mr. Blackwell used to get notice by trashing Cher each year. (Did he finally die, or did people just stop caring? Or both?)
So the magazine goes out and looks at certain criteria each city has to determine how "fit" that city is...
Gyms/Sporting Goods
Nutrition
Exercise/Sports
Overweight/Sedentary
Junk Food
Alcohol
TV
Air Quality
Climate
Geography
Commute
Parks/Open Space
Recreation Facilities
Health Care
Well, Houston's pretty strong in Health care, with the Texas Medical Center here, but there are a lot of deficiencies in this cities. many people commute for miles, and after a long commute in a car, you usually stay at home and watch TV. We don't have enough parks and dang it, in the summer no one wants to leave the comfort of an air conditioned home.
So, a couple of years ago, our then mayor tried doing something about it, hiring a bodybuilder guy to be a "fitness czar" which really turned out to be a way for the czar to hawk his protein bars. He asked Mcdonald's to do something, and they did, running specials for salads of a couple of months, and you know, that was about it. the hoopla dies off, and what did we get?
We were number two for a year.
So now our new mayor, (the old one gone by term limits) who's main campaign promise was traffic congestion relief, now has to see if he should just pay lip service to the charge, or again spend city money to try to defend the city. Certainly obesity is a serious problem in the US. Diabetes numbers are on the rise, and chronic illnesses are growing, but a long-term health plan is needed, not a halfhearted fix to take yourself out of being next year's headline.
Austin and Arlington made the list of America's fittest cities. Seattle topped that list. Dallas, San Antonio and Ft. Worth were on the fattest. You can read the list HERE.
Of course Houston has always had a bit of an image problem. I guess, like some of us, it has a bit of a self-esteem problem, and stories like this are just more logs on the fire. Still, there's a campaign out there from the Houston Visitor's Bureau that's trying to sell Houston on some of it's flaws, called Houston, It's Worth It, the site, and the sales pitch tries to put a bright face on some of the city's downsides.
The site right now is selling an ice scrapper to send to your friends up north, so you can tell them at least there's a trade off for the summer heat here.
I'm so very happy that I could help out with this.
Of course the title is done in a very non-scientific way. no actual citizens were actually weighed in the determining of this award, and really, it's just a way for the magazine to get free publicity in the same way Mr. Blackwell used to get notice by trashing Cher each year. (Did he finally die, or did people just stop caring? Or both?)
So the magazine goes out and looks at certain criteria each city has to determine how "fit" that city is...
Gyms/Sporting Goods
Nutrition
Exercise/Sports
Overweight/Sedentary
Junk Food
Alcohol
TV
Air Quality
Climate
Geography
Commute
Parks/Open Space
Recreation Facilities
Health Care
Well, Houston's pretty strong in Health care, with the Texas Medical Center here, but there are a lot of deficiencies in this cities. many people commute for miles, and after a long commute in a car, you usually stay at home and watch TV. We don't have enough parks and dang it, in the summer no one wants to leave the comfort of an air conditioned home.
So, a couple of years ago, our then mayor tried doing something about it, hiring a bodybuilder guy to be a "fitness czar" which really turned out to be a way for the czar to hawk his protein bars. He asked Mcdonald's to do something, and they did, running specials for salads of a couple of months, and you know, that was about it. the hoopla dies off, and what did we get?
We were number two for a year.
So now our new mayor, (the old one gone by term limits) who's main campaign promise was traffic congestion relief, now has to see if he should just pay lip service to the charge, or again spend city money to try to defend the city. Certainly obesity is a serious problem in the US. Diabetes numbers are on the rise, and chronic illnesses are growing, but a long-term health plan is needed, not a halfhearted fix to take yourself out of being next year's headline.
Austin and Arlington made the list of America's fittest cities. Seattle topped that list. Dallas, San Antonio and Ft. Worth were on the fattest. You can read the list HERE.
Of course Houston has always had a bit of an image problem. I guess, like some of us, it has a bit of a self-esteem problem, and stories like this are just more logs on the fire. Still, there's a campaign out there from the Houston Visitor's Bureau that's trying to sell Houston on some of it's flaws, called Houston, It's Worth It, the site, and the sales pitch tries to put a bright face on some of the city's downsides.
The site right now is selling an ice scrapper to send to your friends up north, so you can tell them at least there's a trade off for the summer heat here.
