Stand up and pat yourselves on the back, citizens of Naples, Florida – you may just be the healthiest eaters in the entire United States of America. That, or you’re a bunch of dirty liars.
A new telephone survey of 350,000 adults in all 50 states – and Washington D.C. – asked adults from varying demographics one simple question: Did you eat healthily all day yesterday? Answers in the affirmative or negative were tallied up, and over 180 communities across the land of the free were ranked according to the results, from healthiest to least.
There are two main problems with asking people this question, however. The definition of “healthy” eating is more certain to medical professionals than it is to the layperson, so someone may think they treating their body like a temple but in reality, they’re using it more as a depository for high-fat foods.
Additionally, people don’t like to admit they eat unhealthily for the most part, so there’s a chance some fibs have been told along the way. So although these results are perhaps broadly accurate, they aren’t as scientifically rigorous as you might hope. Still, they make for interesting reading.
The good, the bad, and the ugly, so to speak. Gallup-Sharecare
The full list can be seen here courtesy of LiveScience, but here’s the top 10, for your clickless viewing pleasure, all ranked by the percentage of “yes” answers.
1 – Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida: 75.3
2 – Barnstable Town, Massachusetts: 75.1
3 – Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California: 74.2
4 – Salinas, California: 72.9
5 – McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas: 72.4
6 – Santa Rosa, California: 72.3
7 – Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, South Carolina: 72.0
8 – San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, California: 72.0
9 – Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona: 71.0
10 – El Paso, Texas: 70.9
Here’s the bottom 10:
179 – Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia-South Carolina: 57.4
180 – Tulsa, Oklahoma: 57.2
181 – Little Rock-N Little Rock-Conway, Arkansas: 57.1
182 – Topeka, Kansas: 57.0
183 – Wichita, Kansas: 56.9
184 – Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky: 56.9
185 – Clarksville, Tennessee-Kentucky: 56.7
186 – Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina: 56.4
187 – Cincinnati, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana: 56.3
188 – Memphis, Tennessee-Missouri-Arkansas: 55.9
189 – Lubbock, Texas: 53.8
The survey was commissioned by Gallup and Sharecare for their annual Well-Being Index, a comprehensive attempt to assess the state of the American population. Are they physically healthy, psychologically stable, financially secure, socially active, and do they have a purpose in life?
In this attempt to detect communities abiding by good diets, some unexpected trends cropped up. Communities with the self-verified healthy diet also had the lowest rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and stress in the country.
Damn you, tasty tasty fast food.foodpicsShutterstock
State-wise, California, perhaps unsurprisingly, featured 10 times in the top 25 – Florida also had four entries in this upper echelon. Texas and Arizona had two apiece. Conversely, Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana had three entries each in the bottom 25. So, if anything, Texas varies wildly.
“Healthy eating is at its lowest level in 2016, with 63.2% of U.S. adults reporting eating healthy all day the previous day, down from a high of 67.7% in 2010,” the report notes. This represents “a decline of over 10 million American adults eating healthy on any given day since that year.”
