Healthiest City in America - Burlington, Vermont!

[Tom Rankin]

http://www.wmur.com/health/17995819/detail.html

I wonder if it's because they have a lot of hikers?

 

[Tim Seaver]

That could be - in the Nov. issue of Backpacker, Burlington is mentioned as the city with the highest density of subscribers.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Maybe they should send some free copies to Huntington, West Virginia.

Tim
(heard this story on NPR this morning, but Tom beat me to posting it.)

 

[mookie]

http://www.wmur.com/health/17995819/detail.html

I wonder if it's because they have a lot of hikers?

dont know about hikers, but there are alot of good places to drink

 

[nartreb]

Uh, wait, did they say scoring is mostly determined by whether people describe their own health as "great"?

Results might have something to do with how many natural herbal supplements get smoked just before completing the questionnaire.

Side rant: I think of Backpacker as one of those "aspirational" magazines, like for golf or tennis or photography, aimed at people who wish they knew something about the subject but don't. (Classic sign: regular features of "The Ten Most ___ in America", eg, Ten Hardest Dayhikes -- reminds me of Ten Ways to Improve your Backswing.) Having a high subscription rate says something about the aspirations of the local culture, but I wonder how much it correlates with actual backpacking.

 

[mookie]

Uh, wait, did they say scoring is mostly determined by whether people describe their own health as "great"?

Results might have something to do with how many natural herbal supplements get smoked just before completing the questionnaire.
Side rant: I think of Backpacker as one of those "aspirational" magazines, like for golf or tennis or photography, aimed at people who wish they knew something about the subject but don't. (Classic sign: regular features of "The Ten Most ___ in America", eg, Ten Hardest Dayhikes -- reminds me of Ten Ways to Improve your Backswing.) Having a high subscription rate says something about the aspirations of the local culture, but I wonder how much it correlates with actual backpacking.

must be because we have healthier options available for when we get the "munchies"


i mean cmon' the proof is in my avatar photo - you dont get abs like that from pizza and beer

 

[cbcbd]

Lol, I agree with nartreb... I mean, c'mon...

a-"Hey, do you feel healthy?"
b-"Yeah, I'm feeling gooood"
a-"Excellent, I'll mark you down as a yes"

 

[mookie]

yeah, definately not very much research done to back it up other than the fact that there is a low rate of obesity and diabetes.

but....
the same people in west virginia actually admitted that they are not in good health. that is pretty funny

 

[Jay H]

Hey mookie, since you mentioned you were a (fairly) new Burlington resident, are you helping or hurting the trend?

I saw this article on CNN this morning..

Jay

 

[mookie]

Hey mookie, since you mentioned you were a (fairly) new Burlington resident, are you helping or hurting the trend?

I saw this article on CNN this morning..

Jay

I think i even out after all my bad habits

 

[BobC]

Every topic needs some balance: This is the nation's unhealthiest city.

 

[Tim Seaver]

The article I mentioned is called "Your Towns, Your Trails", which is a map of the database plotting some 2500 trips posted by the readers and editors of Backpacker. I think it's safe to say that a good portion of their readership (Backpacker) is beyond the aspirational level.

Latte' Sniffin' Wannabees....all of em'!

 

[Waumbek]

Side rant: I think of Backpacker as one of those "aspirational" magazines, like for golf or tennis or photography, aimed at people who wish they knew something about the subject but don't. (Classic sign: regular features of "The Ten Most ___ in America", eg, Ten Hardest Dayhikes -- reminds me of Ten Ways to Improve your Backswing.)

The real hikers who write for Backpacker, and believe me, there are more than a few, hate those "10 Most" assignments--the ten greatest hikes within a few hours drive of major urban centers with trailheads where your car assuredly won't be broken into, no one postholes, and so forth--but that's what sells the magazine. Then there are the gear reviews....

 

[king tut]

It was judged by people who said "they felt they were in good shape". If they would have asked me at happy hour on friday while shoveling cheese sticks and beer into my mouth, I would have said that I felt great too!

Just curious, how do they interpret the results from herbally enhanced hippies around here that say they feel "groovy"?

 

[Kevin Rooney]

...Just curious, how do they interpret the results from herbally enhanced hippies around here that say they feel "groovy"?

The same way they interpreted the results from all the other cities?

 

[cbcbd]

Ok, it's been fun, but here is exactly how they got their results

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5707a1.htm


"Overweight

Self-reported weight and height were used to calculate body mass index (BMI) (weight [kg]/height [m2]). Respondents were classified as being overweight if they had a BMI of >25.0 and <30.0. In 2006, the estimated prevalence among adults aged >18 years who were overweight ranged from 32.1% (95% CI = 30.1%--34.1%) in DC to 39.6% (95% CI = 37.6%--41.6%) in Rhode Island (median: 36.5%) (Table 49). Among selected MMSAs, the estimated prevalence ranged from 30.5% (95% CI = 25.9%--35.1%) in Memphis, Tennessee-Mississippi-Arkansas to 44.6% (95% CI = 36.7%--52.5%) in Toledo, Ohio (median: 36.4%) (Table 50). Among selected counties, the estimated prevalence ranged from 23.6% (95% CI =15.3%--31.9%) in Hamilton County, Ohio to 48.7% (95% CI = 42.0%--55.4%) in Newport County, Rhode Island (median: 36.8%) (Table 51). "

Congrats to all the fatties of RI

 

[roadtripper]

This is all very interesting...

I've been considering a move to Burlington for a few years now, but I'm afraid of all the attention it has received the last 5yrs or so. I wish I had been there 10yrs ago when it was mostly off the radar.

Is it still a fantastic place to live?

 

[king tut]

Burlington is a really fun city to live in. The only thing it is missing really is proximity to the ocean. The green mountains are only a 40-50 minute drive from the city and we have Lake Champlain too. The downtown is fun, lots of good places to go for happy hour, since it is still mostly a college town of UVM, Champlain College, and St Mike's just a few miles away. Montreal is only an hour and a half drive away too. The Adirindacks are about an hour and a half away as well.

The only real drawback to the area is that the cost of living here is relatively more expensive compared to salaries that you could get in bigger cities. The real estate market is pretty tight, condos start at $150k to $200k and houses go up from there. The area is great, but you definitely pay for it since there are not a lot of high tech jobs or industries with high paying jobs.

That said, it's a fun place to live for a while. The only area i would consider moving to that would be better, would be west of the Mississippi.

 

[bcskier]

In terms asthma here are the 10 worst U.S. cities

It's interesting that so many of them are in the land of tobacco:

10 Worst Asthma Cities

 

[mookie]

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20081203/NEWS02/81203019

another report on healthy vermont, although i dont see how being uninsured has anything to do with being unhealthy......