Urban design and bicycling make Oregon only state to stop weight gain

An Associated Press story details the reasons that have made Oregon the only state in the Union to hold its obesity rate steady (all other states increased their obesity rate):
To shed the pounds that crept around her waistline, Linda Ginenthal began riding her bike to work _ an easy 3 1/2-mile trip.

It's not a marathon, nor is it a grueling hike. Yet diet experts say it's the kind of daily activity that could hold the secret to why Oregon is the only state in the nation where the obesity rate did not increase in the past year.

According to a study released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Trust for America's Health, the percentage of overweight Oregonians held steady at 21 percent last year, a sharp contrast to Alabama, where the rate of obesity increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent.

What makes Oregon different is its emphasis on urban design, which encourages outdoor activities like biking to work, the study's authors said.

Ten percent of Portland residents pedal to the office on a system of bike paths that crisscross the city like arteries, just as they do in Boulder, Colo. _ another bike-friendly metropolis, located in the leanest state in the nation.

"The solution to obesity is not that everyone should run a marathon," said Michael Earls, co-author of the study. "It's the little things that begin to make a dent in the problem, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or riding your bike to work."
The article goes on to detail exactly what needs to happen:
If a city or town is built in such a way that it forces residents to drive long distances, instead of walking or cycling, then physical activity becomes something that has to be planned rather than an activity which can be woven into the fabric of everyday life, he said.

Obesity expert Tom Farley, the author of "Prescription for a Healthy Nation," said research in the field has moved away from the notion of personal responsibility to the idea of creating environments that foster healthy living.

"Physical activity has been engineered out of our world," he said. "It should be natural and normal to be physically active, instead of having to go to the gym."
Injury statistics from MARC's draft Long Range Transportation Plan indicate that the rate of bicycling in the Kansas City area may be as low as 20% the national average, and the amount of walking may be only 30% of the national average (the bicycle and pedestrian injury rates in the Kansas City area are 0.3% and 0.7% respectively, while the national rates are 1.6% and 2.4%, respectively).

Statistics gathered by the Thunderhead Alliance indicate that St. Louis is similarly on the low end of bicycling and walking among several cities across the country.

If Missouri cities are, indeed, far lower than average in the mode share of bicycling and walking, it is no wonder that Missouri is one of the leading states in the nation's growing obesity epidemic.

These statistics, the climbing rate of obesity in Missouri (currently costing Missourians over $1.6 billion per year in direct medical costs), and the soaring price of gasoline make it clear that Missouri must fundamentally change its transportation priorities to put greatly renewed emphasis on bicycling, walking, and mass transit.

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