Are Urban Americans Thinner Than Rural Americans? (Study Says So)

Neither answer would be true at all times, but people who live in urban centers tend to walk way more than suburban and rural areas because they don't have to drive a car to go everywhere. They walk to the grocery, to restaurants, coffee shops, whereas things in the burbs are so spread out, at least 95% of the time, anywhere you go is by car.

I grew up in the country and still living in the outskirts of a small city that's almost country. Its not on a bus line, pretty long hike to shopping of any kind or shops and yu couldn't buy much if you have to lug it home in your arms or even one of those little pull carts...no sidewalks in parts, of that hike, either. I think this has a lot of merit as an observation. I imagine a lot of really big city dwellers, even fairly well to do, don't even OWN a car, because parking is awful, and hey, who needs it? Bus or subway for long treks to work, bikes even an advantage in a traffic jam I expect. Shops close to home or work mean they can almost do their grocery shopping day by day in small quantities. Where I grew up, grocery/school/clothes shopping was an all day project REQUIRING a vehicle to stock up for a week or two.. Work also required a vehicle, no public transportation and it would have taken my Dad four hours to walk one way the 12 miles to work. So, we had a car., and if you've got one, you tend to use it, even for shorter trips. I agree that neither answer would be true at all times, too, but so far as exercise goes, unless you grow up on a farm and that is your "workout", it actually takes more of a conscious "effort" to get your exercise in the country.

I agree. I thought about farmers and the fact that they and their families may be the only ones in the country who get exercise, but the technology now used by most farmers takes the exercise out of the farming. I know in NYC, it can cost $30,000 a year to have guaranteed parking if you own a car. Ridiculous! I would rather live, in many ways, in a city where I could walk and get daily produce from fresh produce markets. I think in many ways, that would be healthier eating than going to a grocery store.

Not that I had noticed. The large are with us everywhere, including in my house.

Seriously, why is this a SodaHead question? It's a matter of fact, not opinion.

To me the main reason is that urban Americans just do more walking and taking more stairs, which I do every day....

that makes total sense.... In the country or on the farm or whatever, we don't have much opportunity to walk to our destinations, we must drive due to distance.... if we walk it is planned and for fitness only.... we eat well, and the fresh air helps to bring on sleep.... many of us have large yards which require additional time spent working outdoors physically in the fresh air, which is conducive to sleep and early nights... and many of us heat with wood which is also a factor in bringing sleep earlier than expected.... so to summarize we live well, eat well, work hard physically, get more sleep, and walk less... a recipe for a larger waistline. (at least for some of us).... :-) however the cure is likely attending more country dances, for our women to ride the cowboy of the farm and not the horse, and to more closely monitor what and when we eat.....

Walking, fast-eventful city life, public transport, stairs, apartments, tall buildings, activities. It makes sense. In country towns people tend to drive more, when everything is far away and there isn't much traffic then driving seems more appropriate. Also there's less to do so it's likely you'll get less out even if you don't realize it.

I live in the center of town and everything is walking distance (I count walking distance as anything which is an hour and a half walk away) so I end up walking a lot, my university is a 40 minute walk away, so going there and back everyday is already an hour and 20mins, and sometimes I come home for lunch if I have a longer break and then end up spending 2 hours and 40 minutes just on walking.

And of course I have other places to walk to during the day, if I meet friends/go to the store/have other stuff that needs to get done. So I really do think it's the walking the makes the difference. I also have to walk up 10 flights of stairs since I live on the top floor of my apartment.

well yeah gotta be able to run from the poice after they hold up the licker store

Lol, of course 68% say yes. Probably because most people on here live in urban areas themselves.

No...it's because 68% of us are not dumb enough to disagree with researched, proven fact...

Coming from Mississippi, the fattest state, i can tell you that a large factor here its that most everyone who can work, does. Education is low, and crime, violence, poverty, are high. Because of this, people have very little time to dedicate to fitness activities. Even when they do, most people are finding ways to relax in free time. Stress and the resulting lethargy make for a large factor in sedentary lifestyle, at least where I am from. When you work two jobs, the last thing you do when you get home is do anything but watch tv and have a drink. Combine that with a culture that is centric with sharing food, teaching loved ones family recipes, and eating lots of comfort foods, and BAM, you have fatness.

Urban life is very different from rural and fineness exists in the city, in rural areas also. On average, the rural standard of livine is higer, despite not having at their disposal the cravings that city dwellers have.

The relatives I had who lived in rural areas were not overweight anymore than the inactive couch potatoes I knew living in cities. I just don't think you can generalize in that way, and I distrust the study's results. People who farm work a lot harder and get more physical exercise than those who have a desk job and go to the gym. They need the calories from a traditional country breakfast in order to work in the fields from early morning (usually sun up) until noon. My question is who paid for this study, and what motivated it?

Thinner, maybe. Healthier, not really.

that's a good observation, too. LOL.

Studies like this mean nothing. Too many variables. Plus to group country people with suburban people when they are two completely different demographics is deceiving.This is why I'm considering duming sodahead. Waste of my time with silly unimportant crapola.

Well there might be a reason for this , I was just observing the photo attached to the posters question. Look at all of those Urban folks walking, many in the large cities do not own cars. So , they walk , and walk and walk and wages have not risen in several years yet the price for housing and food have gone up. So, you walk and eat a little less. In the rural areas the only way you are going to get anywhere is to drive there, a car is your lifeline to town and the grocery , you drive, you park in front to the store you are going to , you get back in your car and drive home. So I would observe that the Urban dweller might actually get more exercise and eat less that their Rural neighbors.

Food prices are going up in rural areas too.

yes they are , in fact the transportation charges to get many of our staples out to where we live are an ever increasing factor to not only our food cost in rural America but any item that we need.

Of course. Urban/city areas have more access to high quality food and amenities for exercise. You go to a less developed area and its damn near nothing but McDonald's on every corner. Also, the city has this thing called competition and a faster pace of living, which is conducive to influencing a thinner frame.

We have obesity problems in America, where we have 60% of our citizens are either overweight or morbidly obese. Yes, urban Americans probably walk more than the suburban ones so they put exercise into their daily lives. If they are working in glamorous and competitive professions that tend to concentrate in big cities, like fashion magazines, advertising, garment industry, or being a model, to give you some examples, they tend to be more conscientious about their physical appearance so they'll stay slim.

Simple. The city people are normal. Those that live in the suburbs are the ones you see on youtube getting hurt or arrested

I can imagine all kinds of problems with the sampling on this.

Yes, I lived in London for over a month and lost 10 lbs just from walking and eating less. Normally I live in a somewhat rural town and now that I am back I have already gained 4 lbs back

They have to walk,so yes. However,if u eat like a cow...youll look like a cow. No meat,no grease is the way to go,and light on the starch. Healthy diet of mainly vegetables is the way to go.

It's the people and not "Urban" or "Rural" area! They need to push back from the "Table"! All food that is consume should be done in "Moderation"!!

My dad is from texas and the food is AMAZING southern comfort food is sooooo good
Sweet southern comfort carry on...

Apart from the greens (which are probably drenched in butter anyway) that looks like heart attack on a plate to me. I live in the South, and I do not like the food here.

really?, I consider you lucky! I live up north and when anyone from the south cooks I'm at their front door with a bib and my big girl pants on!

apparently

I went from living in a rural area to living in a city and I was appalled. People are SO fat here...i'm not skinny by any stretch, but DAMN, I know I live in one of the fattest American cities for sure. >.<

When u have to walk to where ever u are going u burn more calories

Of course. Urban Americans tend to walk everywhere because they don't want to deal with the traffic. I heard there was a study that said your average new yorker walks about 10 miles a day.

Makes sense

Generalities tauted as news or even science continue to bother me. It is as if Man has completely missed the point of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in favor of being a cog in someone else's machine.

I think the unnatural skinny ones are in the east and west coast cities!

City people do a lot of fast walking, and usually don't take as much time for lunch. They are more on the go, not depending so much on cars while working or living in the city. They run up and down subway stairs. Most of the time they are in constant walking motion. When they do go out for lunch they usually go to better quality restaurants.