Huntington, West Virginia - "the fattest town on Earth"

[CoolBreeze]

Chef Jamie Oliver travels to Huntington, West Virginia - "the fattest town on Earth" - in hopes that his cooking will turn the residents off food

Jamie Oliver has told Sky News that his experience of the world's unhealthiest town makes the hairs on the back of his arm stand on end.

The Naked Chef is in the US filming a new series in an attempt to change the attitudes of the world's fattest country.

But he said his visit to Huntington, West Virginia - the unhealthiest town in America - was an eye-opening experience.

"I've only worked with a couple of families so far and all I can tell you is it makes the hairs raise on the back of your arm. I feel emotionally connected to this project.

"They are all anaemic with information. They are not stupid, they are not ignorant - it's just they have never had food from scratch in their life."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbi ... 4366?f=rss

[fearpeddler]

[quote=]They are not stupid, they are not ignorant - it's just they have never had food from scratch in their life."

[/quote]

thats where I disagree, i'm a thin person in a very very large family, and most of them never ate alot of fast food... we dont eat like rabbits is all....

[Hoosier Daddy]

Just my opinion based on being a passionate observer of life, but I really believe the way you eat and look is cultural. In my travels to large, white collar metropolitan areas, I'm struck by how obsessed a lot of people are about being thin. It seems to be part of "the look" that is necessary to fit in and be accepted. I specifically remember being behind a waif-thin 40-something woman (with the bleach-blonde hair, leathery tanning bed skin, and a miniskirt, made complete with ankle bracelet and heels) in a Chipotle restaraunt. She was flirting/arguing with the server about getting half a burrito and a bottle of water, complaining she'd be so full she'd probably cut it in half again and save the rest for dinner. Jesus Tapdancing Christ.

In Appalachia, big family dinners are commonplace. We have an abundance of cheap, fast food restaraunts, and everybody from the local high school band to the Go Mart sells candy bars and offers junk food galore. If you grew up eating Stewart's Hot Dogs, Gino's Pizza, and Tudor's Biscuit World food, would you not expect to have problems with your weight at some point in your life? Our culture is much more accepting of overweight people than, say, a well-to-do suburb filled with bankers, attorneys, physicians, engineers, and their trophy wives and junior soccer-star children. And don't get me started on Hollywood and the whole self-indulgant Southern California "it's all about me, I'm so pretty" lifestyle.

If you want to really change the way we eat and live, you need to start with newborns and be able to control their parents, grandparents, relatives, teachers, neighbors, and childhood friends for at least a generation or two. If you really want to fix Appalachia's obesity problem, that's how you do it. Lecturing and humiliating people on a Cable TV cooking show won't correct the problem.

On the other hand, why don't we send some of our own folks to some snot-nosed Yuppieville and try to re-arrange the way they live based on what we don't like? Me thinks this is all about creating controversial television and getting an audience, regardless of how many stereotypes are reinforced or what kind of hurtful damage it does to people in our area.

[fearpeddler]

great idea, could sell it as a reality show, take 1/3 of the populations of cow creek, cambells creek, and harts creek and relocate them to a suburb

[genlock]

Sausage gravy.

[CoolBreeze]

Just my opinion based on being a passionate observer of life, but I really believe the way you eat and look is cultural.

I suppose that depends on how you break that down.

I think that once women seriously entered the work force and stopped providing good meals, the result was obvious. Most average restaurants deep fry a majority of their food. These foods are normally high in Carbs (like Frenchfries). Add a big puffy white Carb laden bun and a dessert day after day, then you can see today's result. The funny thing is that as people grow larger TOGETHER, they don't notice how large they really are anymore. These fat people look at someone at say... 300 pounds and they think they're small at 200. (and I'm talking about the women here!)

But here's the real proof: Check out this video that was shot in Charleston ONLY in the early 1980s. The sample you'll see is part of a 1 hour video that shows thousands and thousands of people during all sorts of events like the Sternwheel Regatta, the WV State Capitol's 50th birthday, and others. THERE ARE NO FAT PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE VIDEO! What? How's that possible? Oh sure, you'll see a few people starting to plump-up in their old age, but even THESE dont come close to what I see every day in 20 year olds.
http://www.mywvhome.com/web/video.htm

Today's large people are the main reason why large SUVs are still popular also. The old excuse of "I want a large car because it's safer" has finally given-way to the truth: "I cant get my fat ass into those smaller car!". (Yes, I've actually had many people tell me this). Large people are also the reason planes fell out of the sky: Remember the crash on takeoff a few years ago down in Charlotte? I was on that exact plane just a few weeks before. So... why did it crash? Seems that the airline industry hadn't updated the weights and balances for humans. They used the "average" weight of a human from 35 years ago to calculate total weight. Well, a plane full of people that weighed at LEAST 1 1/2 to 2 times the normal weight, plus baggage (everyone used to carry 10 times more stuff than they actually needed) and the plane simply couldnt fly. Everyone on board was killed. The industry has since re calculated human weights.

No.... the only culture I can give a pass to are the Eskimos (survival) and maybe even the Pacific Islanders (beauty). Americans are simply fat because they have had more food than ever... the worst food for them in the history of mankind... and the lack of self discipline to eat not only what's right, but in moderation. However, today's parents aren't helping one bit! This you can tell by all the little chubblys out there. In THIS sense, it's "cultural" of course. As I used to say on my show: "You want to talk about child abuse? Arrest those parents who fed little Johnny and Jill to the point that they'll be diabetic by 18 ".

[jag]

On the other hand, why don't we send some of our own folks to some snot-nosed Yuppieville and try to re-arrange the way they live based on what we don't like? Me thinks this is all about creating controversial television and getting an audience, regardless of how many stereotypes are reinforced or what kind of hurtful damage it does to people in our area.

I suppose we could call such a show "Eat It or Beat It!"

However, I think the real hurtful damage is being done by those very people who indulge in less than healthful lifestyles. After all, obesity is related to any of a number of maladies. Of course, the choice is up to the individual. All things are a compromise. The proper balance will allow adding not only years to one's life, but also life to one's years.

[Jet Black]

On the other hand, why don't we send some of our own folks to some snot-nosed Yuppieville and try to re-arrange the way they live based on what we don't like? Me thinks this is all about creating controversial television and getting an audience, regardless of how many stereotypes are reinforced or what kind of hurtful damage it does to people in our area.

I agree. Screw those yankees and their statistics. I'm more interested in being a good person than a pretty person. Maybe that's what seperates us from them.

[AmpedNow]

Appalachian culture inadvertently reinforces the downside to an abundance of food.

"Waste not, want not".

"Eat it all."

"A fat child is a happy child".

Many of these attitudes come from a time when food really was scarce in these parts -- esp in winter. So, they meant well for the time.

The problem is, there are no longer any real food shortages, and haven't been for years. But these cultural attitudes are still prominent, even though they are really no longer needed.

We also strongly associate food with comfort, in both good times and bad. Whether it's a wedding or a funeral, you will always find an abundance of food near these events.

The ready availability of fast food compounds the issue.

I'm not saying Appalachian culture is somehow "wrong" for this... All I'm suggesting is that we have not yet adjusted our cultural mindsets to all of this extra food. And we certainly are not the only subculture with this problem. Most of Western Civilization is struggling with this.

Just my opinion based on being a passionate observer of life, but I really believe the way you eat and look is cultural. In my travels to large, white collar metropolitan areas, I'm struck by how obsessed a lot of people are about being thin. It seems to be part of "the look" that is necessary to fit in and be accepted.

There are still many overweight people in these areas...just not nearly as many as here.

Add to that the greater number of restaurants available, plus higher per capita incomes, and that strongly suggests cultural differences as major reasons.

Our culture is much more accepting of overweight people than, say, a well-to-do suburb filled with bankers, attorneys, physicians, engineers, and their trophy wives and junior soccer-star children.

I lived "there" once upon a time and still have friends like "them"... All in all, they eat the same junk we do, just not as much of it. Plus, many of them exercise daily.

Many West Virginians would drive to the bathroom if they could...

And don't get me started on Hollywood and the whole self-indulgant Southern California "it's all about me, I'm so pretty" lifestyle.

The polar opposite of our food culture -- for all the wrong reasons.

Anorexia/starving is much more harmful to your body than a few extra pounds.

I agree. Screw those yankees and their statistics. I'm more interested in being a good person than a pretty person. Maybe that's what seperates us from them.

That thar South's gonna rise agin.

Gawd dammit.

[Tom Taggart]

Corn syrup. Came in, in a big way, in the '80's. Prompted by the expiration of a tariff exemption on Phillippine cane sugar.
Hence "new Coke," which replaced the cane sugar in "old Coke" with corn syrup.

[Jet Black]

I think you're partially wrong about that, Tom. Corn Syrup came in big, especially in soft drinks, in response to rising cane suger prices brought on by the Castro takeover of Cuba. 'Leastways that's what I heard.

[Dave Allen]

I don't think sometimes these folks take into consideration the cultural aspect of food in our part of the world. If you went to my grandmother's house and didn't eat whatever she put in front of you, fatty or not, she would probably slap you. I have been in radio since 1988, meaning I have consumed approximately 18,765 Bic Mac's and/or Whoppers and drink at least two pots of coffee and at least six beers per day. My average weight is around 168 and has been for years. My blood pressure is 120/80 and every level I have says I'm in good shape. I salt EVERYTHING and nearly everything I eat is spicy in some way. I intend on living this weigh till the day I croak, so there.