Editorial: Mississippi needs a new mindset to conquer obesity

August 18, 2012
Commercial Appeal

Here we go again. Mississippi once again has landed the annual designation as the fattest state in the nation.

The latest bad news about the state's "fat" problem came earlier this week when two nonprofit groups released a new analysis of states' obesity rankings. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America's Health, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information, found 12 states with an adult obesity rate above 30 percent. Mississippi topped that list with a 34.9 percent rate.

It's going to take a change in the mindset of the state's residents if Mississippi ever expects to make headway on obesity.

People have got to be made to understand that traditional foods and cooking methods — the fatty meats for seasoning, starchy foods, fried offerings and sweets — are OK on occasion, but should not be daily fare. Combine that kind of eating with a lack of physical exercise and Mississippi has found itself sitting on a volcano of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

You would think watching a relative slowly suffer and die from these maladies would make people get the point.

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