Is conservatism related to obesity?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/183155/obesity-rate-lowest-hawaii-highest-mississippi.aspx?utm_source=Well-Being&utm_medium=newsfeed&utm_campaign=tiles

Regardless of race (California and Hawaii are very diverse), republican states tend to be the fattest. Western Europe as well as Japan and South Korea are much more liberal than the US of A ( at least economically ) and they are much skinnier as well. Is a conservative government related to obesity? Thoughts?

Flawless logic, so of course. You have to be right.

Probably. Republican/Southern states are also the least educated, poorest, and use up the most federal aid.

I think conservatives being fatter has more to do with this.

Conservatives are dumb as ****. Lower IQ = worse eating habits.

Maybe. Liberals do seem to be more into silly faddish things like veganism and quinoa that probably make them skinny. Wouldn't be surprised if they had more eating disorders too. Maybe they're just vain.

Or maybe it has more to do with the state than it does with the politics. Maybe Rednecks just happen to be fat and conservative but the two things aren't related. I mean what does one's weight have to do with whether or not one wants higher taxes or lower taxes?

Taxes is not all there is to conservatism. Political ideology is not just about economic policy; it's also cultural. Conservative culture is not particularly health conscious.

Really, the way conservatives reacted toward Michelle Obama's anti-obesity efforts speaks volumes.

Fat usually coincides with gluttony.

Conservatives enjoy gluttonous amounts of wealth and gluttonous economical policies.

That wasn't so hard ;)

Ummm....no?

@GreySeal9: Yes there is more to conservativism and liberalism than taxes/economics I was just using that as an example. Conservatives usually tend to be more populist and distrust government and elites. I think they also tend to be less superficial and vain and as I said, less into fads like veganism and kale. They tend to be dismissive of these things, whereas liberals are always jumping around to the latest thing and thinking it's better than what came before. I think the conservative criticism of Michelle Obama's initiative isn't because they object to healthy food per se, I think it's more that they are suspicious of the government trying to tell people what to eat.

Then again aren't most of the people who complain about "fat shaming" liberal feminists?

But there are thin conservatives (Jeff Foxworthy right).

Black people seem to act more like conservatives but they usually vote for liberals.

@KHAndAnime:But there are plenty of rich liberals.

While we are on the subject of obesity and conservative, I must wonder what Edmund Burke "the father of conservativism" would think of weight issues?

There are fat fucks on both sides of the aisle. The fatpoors and the fatriches. Either way they're all lolfats.

Haha. Good one.

Need I remind you that it was conservatives that made this:

Yet the liberals aren't against giving their money away to the government to help their country and others....conservatives are. Being rich isn't necessarily being gluttonous. Gluttony is more like being rich and not wanting to help the country that made it possible for you to get rich in the first place.

Get the point? I'm not being serious btw. :p

Not sure why you're making this racial but black people tend to be more socially conservative but vote for liberals because a) it is more in their economic self-interest to vote for liberals and b) liberals show way less hostility towards blacks.

Or, you know, people just like food and don't know a damn thing about nutrition.

And you know, those people just happen to more likely be conservative. :p

Deny all you want, you're all fat like Bill O'Reilly

I doubt it. Stupidity transcends political ideologies.

Some people simply don't understand portion control.

You're singling out a state with an obesity rate of 35 percent to another state with an obesity rate of 20 percent. That's not a huge spread and it shows that obesity is a problem all over America.The issue isn't a political ideology, it's poverty.

The south is the poorest part of the US and poor people can't afford to eat correctly. The best they can do is buy the cheapest food, which is usually pasta, corn, bread. Carbs, carbs, and more carbs which are foods that store up in the body. Food prices have gone sky high in the last 10-20 years, meat especially. Poor people can't afford to buy ground beef at $5/lb and chicken at $4/lb.

The other problem with the South? It gets real damn hot down there in Summer. When you don't have AC, you're not gonna be motivated to jog a mile or two for the hell of it.

So no, it's not conservative thinking that causes obesity, it's poverty. Why is the South so poor? That's another question for another topic, but if I could rattle off a few guesses it could be from lack of jobs, low paying jobs, no tourism industry, and fallout from the destruction of property during the Civil War.

EDIT: another possible reason for southern poverty could be natural disasters tend to affect that part of the country much more so than the Northeast and West coast. In summertime it seems like every week there's a tornado in Tennessee, a hurricane in the Carolinas. Don't see NY or NJ have to deal with those things.

@richietickles: Makes sense, I hadn't considered how the weather could make people fatter.

@KHAndAnime: I don't think Bill O'Reilly is particularly fat. I think he has about an average build.

This is fat? I've seen people more porky than him on a KLM flight from Qatar to Amsterdam.

Europe and Canada are also battling rising obesity levels. . . . . .

@KHAndAnime:

Yet the liberals aren't against giving their money away to the government to help their country and others....conservatives are. Being rich isn't necessarily being gluttonous. Gluttony is more like being rich and not wanting to help the country that made it possible for you to get rich in the first place.

Get the point? I'm not being serious btw. :p

Liberals only want to give other peoples money away never their own. When liberals finally see the light they become conservatives.

i shall tell you something: The countries without things like MCdonalds, Burgerking, Dunkin' donuts and that kind of stuff have less obesity!

The U.S ranks 6th in median home income, and 4th in average income.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income

I'm sure that even southerns are are just as wealthy if not more than say western Europeans or Japanese. You talk like the south is as poor as Mexico.

According to the Census, over 30% of the population of southern states are below the federal poverty line.

Only Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont, and New Hampshire have a poverty rate in the single digits.

Highly doubt that. Do you have any source to back that one up?

Some parts are.

Lol, no way.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/poverty-increase-map_n_5548577.html

Its never said anything about the poverty line being 30%. I live in Texas and no we are not all poor, lol. Virginia is one of the wealthiest states in the u.s Parts of Florida and Texas are extremely wealthy. The South is poor by American standards, but you talk like its as poor as Mexico.

Correlation doesn't mean causality.

I'm willing to bet a (small) sum of money that it goes something like this: conservatism is directly related to lower levels of education, which is related to a lack of basic scientific knowledge, which is then related to an unhealthier lifestyle.

Selling ice cream is related to drowning. When beaches sell more ice cream there is also a greater number of drownings... Seriously correlation doesn't = causation. The bastion of conservatism is in the south and they eat really really well in the south. If you haven't visited go, the food is incredible. I would imagine that plays the primary role in obesity.

or this.

I will not argue against that. I will say though that if you have smaller plates, you will most likely eat less without thinking about it.

Errrm Koreans and Japanese are light because of their lean diets. Western Europe (as in the UK? or do you mean Portugal, France etc) has high obesity rates Baseless theory...

That's my point. A lot of people don't realize this. They have these gigantic plates they bought from Walmart and they load it up and don't think any more of it.