by Osman Parvez
—-

This has nothing to do with real estate but it has something to do with your neighbors.

A lot of people move to Colorado for quality of life reasons. We’re an active, outdoorsy state where most people regularly walk, bicycle, or hike. That’s a good thing and by now you’ve read that Colorado (once again) ranks as the thinnest state in the nation.

CalorieLab put together a great map showing obesity rates nationwide (data averaged for the last 3 years). Take a look.

It’s nice to be the thinnest state. For one thing, it means a lower medical cost burden because we are treating fewer people with obesity related diseases. That’s money that can be spent elsewhere and potentially keeps the cost of insurance down. But here’s the real skinny. In 1995 our state’s obesity rate was 10.1%. Last year, 19.3%. The percentage of obese people nearly doubled. That’s a sign of a real problem. Mississippi, the nation’s fattest state, went from 19.5% to 32.6% in the same time frame. We’re now about as fat as Mississippi was 13 years ago.

Maybe I won’t have that doughnut after all.

—-