Suburbia makes you fat? Study makes link

[ism]

Sprawling suburbs where it is hard to get around without a car may make residents fatter: Americans who live in the most sprawling counties tend to weigh six pounds more than their counterparts in the most compact areas.

Adding to the sprawl concern: Pedestrians and bicyclists are much more likely to be killed by passing cars in this country than in parts of Europe where cities are engineered to encourage physical activity - and whose residents typically are skinnier and live longer than the average American.

Those are conclusions of major new studies published yesterday that call on urban planners and zoning commissions to consider public health in designing neighborhoods.

full article

[hooligan]

i live in suburbia and i find this article pretty true. i usually take the car whenever i need to go someplace. fortunately the city recently built a pretty fun little skatepark. i just hit it today. pretty nice stuff. i'll post something in the forums about it :beerchug:.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Great, now wait a week to see who files a lawsuit blaming his town planning commission for his gross obesity and seeking compensation for all his bills for related medical conditions ...

[SunWuKong]

shit, i believe it. i have to get into a car whenever i go out the door. and i've definitely gained more than 6 lbs.

[Emperor_Mike]

I usually prefer to walk or bike to my destinations unless incliment weather prevents me doing so. Durham is pretty small so walking around in the city core isn't that big of a deal since most things are about twenty minutes away from the cathedral. Vancouver is large, but there's still plenty of opportunities to walk away the pounds for parties interested in doing so. :)

[Deadpool]

Originally Posted by Emperor_Mike

I usually prefer to walk or bike to my destinations unless incliment weather prevents me doing so. Durham is pretty small so walking around in the city core isn't that big of a deal since most things are about twenty minutes away from the cathedral. Vancouver is large, but there's still plenty of opportunities to walk away the pounds for parties interested in doing so. :)

Everything I need is blocks away so I pretty much walk to a lot of places.

[ChinaLama]

but the food is also better in the city, so even tho you'd be walking more, you'd probably also be eating more. so i think it balances out. :)

They should ban forks and hand-held foods in suburbia since fat people clearly can NOT PUT THE FORK DOWN.

[Emperor_Mike]

Originally Posted by Deadpool

Everything I need is blocks away so I pretty much walk to a lot of places.

Good on gas too, given the current set of circumstances.

[LCY]

It seems pretty obvious to me. I'd rather walk or take public transport over driving if possible, it's better for my health. I hope city planners learn from these studies.