Tackling obesity in Mountain State

West Virginia comes in last or very near the bottom in all kinds of significant categories. It’s been that way for so long, it’s almost become a running joke. And when we’re on top, it’s usually for something like leading the nation in overdose deaths.
Now, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research shows we are leading in another category: obesity.
The CDC says obesity is increasing across the country. All U.S. states and territories have obesity rates higher than 20%. But in the Mountain State, an astounding 41% of adults are obese.
According to Dr. Alyson Goodman, the CDC’s team leader on population health, there are 23 states with higher than 33% adult obesity rates; but before 2013, there was no state that had rates that high.
“Seeing increases in severe obesity is even more alarming because that’s the level of obesity that’s most highly associated with some of the highest levels of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and lower quality of life,” Solveig Cunningham, an Emory University global health professor who specializes in obesity, told the Associated Press.
While experts acknowledge the importance of new medical understanding of obesity, and new weight-loss drugs, the problem can be tackled earlier. Cunningham says the key is focusing on preventing childhood obesity first; and preventing even those who are already obese from gaining more weight.
“It’s really hard to get obesity to reverse at the individual level and at the population level,” Cunningham said.
“I guess it’s not surprising that we’re not seeing downward shifts in the prevalence of obesity.”
Here in West Virginia, early childhood education efforts — focusing on healthy eating habits (and healthy relationships with food), and physical activity — are essential. But they mean nothing if children and adults don’t have access to affordable healthy food options. They mean little if we don’t shift our thinking about exercise to understand it doesn’t have to mean expensive gym memberships or lots of equipment.
Especially in a state as beautiful as ours, free outdoor options are everywhere. They can range from a routine walk around the neighborhood or out the road and back to a visit to the nearest state park for a more strenuous (and beautiful) hike, bicycle trip or other adventure.
As policymakers work toward expanding and diversifying our economy in a way that lifts all residents and developing a plan for better access to affordable healthy foods in all corners of the state, individuals can get moving, too.
This isn’t a someone-else problem, folks. If 41% of us are affected and the numbers are only rising, this is a matter on which the goal for everyone should be to fall off the leaderboard.