USA! USA! USA!

When John Denver sang "mountain mama", I didn't realize he was talking about a person.

Hey, donts makes funs of mys diabeeeeetezz

Is there nothing W. Virginia can't be number one at? You go WV!

WV thread, when does the pic of Robert Byrd in a Klan uniform get posted?

That's our state!!





/Love her or leave her!

I been to Huntington many times when I went to their mall. Huntington is home to one too many hot dog stands.

West Virginia is still in the Dark Ages. maybe they'll rejoin the Union some day.

I came here for the fatty pictures.

Proceed.

W. Virginia Town Shrugs at Poorest Health Ranking

I found this reaction to be very appropriate considering the ranking.

Wow and I thought Texas or Oklahoma would nuumber 1.

Chad? Chad is that you? We're all meeting at Jaz Rom later, if you can hear me.

As a representative of Missouri, let me say, wait 'til next year.

Linux_Yes: West Virginia is still in the Dark Ages. maybe they'll rejoin the Union some day.

Uh, West Virginia seceeded from Virginia as a Union state during the Civil War. Grafton was the initial capital.

/The more you know
//Still a wretched place

WV also leads the nation in women chewing tobacco.

Wow and I thought Texas or Oklahoma would nuumber 1.

The illegals are taking away our well earned accomplishments.

Huntington WV, a great place to drive through. Second only to Charleston WV.

I grew up right across the river from huntington in Ironton, OH. This must have happened within the last 10 years or so, because I don't remember there being that many unhealthy looking people there.

Taken at the local McDonalds

I'm shocked it wasn't Houston or somewhere in Alabama/Mississippi.

/doesn't stop for nothing when driving through Mississippi

EliteAnalyst: W. Virginia also has the lowest # of cops per capita and a very low crime rate.

Everyone is busy eating

Didn't WV win the "worst dental health in America" award recently? Its been a banner year for them.

No election stats yet? I'm disappointed.

Platinum Plus wasn't bad.

You stare at me like I'm a vitamin.

Love (new window)

I do not completely refute what you say.

EliteAnalyst: W. Virginia also has the lowest # of cops per capita and a very low crime rate.

Its also one of the whitest states.... DUCKS

EliteAnalyst: W. Virginia also has the lowest # of cops per capita and a very low crime rate.

There comes a point when you are just to darned fat to get up off the couch and go rob somebody.

Fat, sweaty, and toothless is no way to go through life son

As for the sickest, it might have to do with the no limits coal mining.
Some news articles you've never seen

***The toxic slurry impoundments are held back with unreinforced earthen dams that have been breached, killing the people below and creating more environmental impacts.

In 1972, a coal slurry dam failed in Buffalo Creek valley, flooding the hollow with 132 million gallons of coal waste: 125 people were killed, 1,100 injured, 4,000 people rendered homeless and 16 communities destroyed as well as over 1,000 cars and trucks.

In 2000, there was the Big Sandy River disaster, which the EPA concluded was one of the worst environmental disasters in the Southeast. More than 250 million gallons of toxic sludge breached the impoundment --- or 25 times the amount of the oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster --- and poured into the Big Sandy River, ultimately reaching the Ohio River 60 miles away. The sludge was laced with poisonous heavy metals (e.g., mercury, lead and arsenic).

At some places, the thick goop was 10 feet deep and in other places 70 yards wide "swallowing backyards, gardens and driveways and annihilating fish and other aquatic life." No people were killed. But, "20 miles (32 kilometers) of stream valley would be declared an aquatic dead zone" as "fish, snakes, turtles and other species" were smothered by the sludge. The State wildlife agency estimated that 1.6 million fish were smothered in the molasseslike substance while lawns were "buried up to 7 feet deep in sludge."

In 2002, there was the Winding Shoals Hollow disaster. During a thunderstorm, the rain-saturated valley fill separated and crashed into a sediment pond, which overflowed, sending a "tidal wave of sediment-laden water churning down Winding Shoals Hollow, destroying two homes, damaging about ten others and hurtling 8-10 vehicles downstream. No one was killed, though there were some narrow escapes."

Today, there are many disasters lying in wait. For example, there is much concern about an imminent Marshfolk School disaster because another impoundment houses 3 billion gallons of toxic slurry and an elementary school is located 400 yards downslope from this impoundment. The school is located between the coal silo and football field in the lower left of this photo. Should this earthen dam breach, "there would be less than three minutes to evacuate the Marsh Fork Elementary School before the water reached 6 feet" and it is feared that the floodwaters would rise to 15 feet at the school. Even without a slurry flood, every day students are sent home sick with "asthma problems, severe headaches, blisters in their mouths, constant runny noses, and nausea" which may be related to leaks from this impoundment or to the coal silo located so close to the school.

/heard about it for the first time today on via PBS
//the fattest part will have to do with the crushing poverty in Appalachia that is the source of cultural ills as well
//I guess the mountains let the highways and jobs of the past 50 years pass them by

boobsrgood: You stare at me like I'm a vitamin.

Love (new window)

I do not completely refute what you say.

Well that video is completely twisted and farked up but that song rocks. Loves me some Incubus!

EliteAnalyst: W. Virginia also has the lowest # of cops per capita and a very low crime rate.

Nothin' to steal...

Linkie-pie (pops) ... oh... and scroll to the BOTTOM of the list.

I work in nutrition, and I gotta tell ya, in rural areas there's a huge resistance to adopting anything that would be considered "metro-urban-chic." Healthy lifestyles are right at the top.

For example, if experts suggested "Going for a brisk walk in the park" or "trading french freedom fries for steamed asparagus," these 2 suggestions might be considered a little too big city for some folks in a rural area. (Parks in the area are hot, humid, unsafe, and unkempt, dining out decisions are heavily influenced by peers.)

And that's why I moved away from Texas.

ElBarto79: Taken at the local McDonalds

eeeEEEEuuuuUUUUUghghhhh! *shiver*

/the sound of disgust

This is ludicro.... the Great State of West Virginia will NOT apologize for is lard-assed sickies!

ElBarto79: Taken at the local McDonalds

FAP FAP FAP

You forgot 'ugliest', 'stupidest', and 'most overly-sensitive'

Came for the headless fatties. Left disappointed.

/QUALITY, not quantity!

Culture and history are at least part of the problem, health officials say.

This city on the Ohio River is surrounded by Appalachia's thinly populated hills. It has long been a blue-collar, white-skinned community - overwhelmingly people of English, Irish and German ancestry.

For decades, Huntington thrived with the coal mines to its south, as barges, trucks and trains loaded with the black fuel continually chugged into and past the city. There were plenty of manufacturing jobs in the chemical industry and in glassworks, steel and locomotive parts. Nearly 90,000 people lived in the city in 1950.

The traditional diet was heavy with fried foods, salt, gravy, sauces, and fattier meats - dense with calories burnt off through manual labor. Obesity was not a worry then. Workplace injuries were.


This is actually an important point. Cultures are defined not only by the type of work that people do in a given community, but the types of food they eat....and make no mistake, they are connected. The types of food people eat are certainly passed from generation to generation and the high calorie and high fat foods are fine and even necessary when combined with a manual labor job. However, manual labor jobs haven't been passed on generationally the same way the food has. Combine high fat foods with an office job or one where you drive around all day and guess what? You're not burning enough calories to offset the fried foods, biscuits and gravy and double mashed potatoes so you get fat.

Of course the kid-thing is obvious...kids used to actually PLAY baseball in a field somewhere, as opposed to sitting in front of the video screen fakin' it.

.

Visiting my parents in my old hometown is a huge ego boost. Going into the town's Walmart and walking with the patrons makes me feel soooo pretty. I'm not a little girl but I feel down right dainty. If they aren't extremely overweight, they have that emaciated white trash meth look about them.

I escaped in 95. Pulled a vacuum getting the hell out of there.

I live there!

I go to Marshall.

I'm not fat or unhealthy though!

Doesn't WV also lead the nation in couchfires?

Funk Brothers: ElBarto79: Taken at the local McDonalds

FAP FAP FAP

Is that the sound it makes?

#1 in bestiality. According to state law you can have sex with an animal under 50lbs.

Fano: #1 in bestiality. According to state law you can have sex with an animal under 50lbs.

I would think over 50lbs makes more sense.

Poor kitty.

EvilElecBlanket: Huntington WV, a great place to drive through. Second only to Charleston WV.

I have done both, actually, on the same day. Ended up an hour west of Farkistan by the end of the day. Nice trip....

RTFA, it sounds like Hell on earth

I think this article is not really a fair look at poverty or obesity. What about rural FL, SC or GA? Many states that have poverty issues also have high levels of obesity and I am convinced that there are states fatter than one town in WV. The problems of obesity and poverty are linked due to the high cost of healthy food. When you go to the local Wal-Mart Super Store you can buy a pack of chicken nuggets cheaper than you can buy the ingredients to make those chicken nuggets from scratch. In short it is easy to get fatter than it is to stay in fit on a budget.
/from WV, but now live in FL