Fat cats live in Las Vegas. Literally. Well, they’re not really cats. They’re people and they are overweight. Las Vegas is the home to the fattest populace. No great honor. No honor at all. Las Vegas needs to lose weight big time. Men’s Fitness magazine bestowed the sad title on Las Vegas, which made the mayor, who was very upset when he heard about the news while trying to get a taco stain off his tie.

US Today reports: 

Some people are finding the bad news hard to stomach, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who calls the magazine’s study “irresponsible journalism.”

“I don’t understand how they do this besides being cute,” says Goodman, who questioned the study’s validity.

Men’s Fitness editor in chief Roy Johnson says the magazine takes almost two dozen factors into account, such as a city’s sports participation rates, time spent working out, number of parks, average commute time, television viewing rates and legislative health initiatives.

Johnson says the fittest and fattest lists, now in their 10th year, are meant to encourage cities to be healthier. Rather than taking offense to topping the fat list, Goodman should use it as motivation for his city to shape up, Johnson says.

“Instead of shooting the messenger, go out for a run. We use a lot of data, and we’re very rigorous about this,” Johnson says.

Some of the fittest cities? Colorado Springs, Denver, Albuquerque, Portland. Other fat cities include too many cities in Texas to list. In fact, the Texas cities mount up pretty quickly. What’s going on in that state?  Read more here. 

And here’s some news that should make you think about eating your weight in pie…

Around the world, news media are feasting on alarming data that have started flowing from the International Association for the Study of Obesity. The new, London-based research and public-information outfit has just published the first issue of its International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. In news that will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever strolled through a suburban American shopping mall, where fast-food outlets hawk “super-size” meals to waddling passers-by, the publication reports that almost half of the child population of North and South America will be considered overweight in four more years.

In Europe, in the same period, almost two out of every five children will be considered too hefty. The ISAO’s journal notes that more than a million children in Europe “are estimated to have high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels, putting them at risk of heart disease, and 1.4 million may have early stages of liver disorder….” (Irish Examiner and Independent/Times of India)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, “[c]hanges in diet, a decrease in physical activity and too much time spent in front of computer or television screens have been blamed for the growing number of overweight children worldwide.” (Independent Online, South Africa) The chairman of the International Association for the Study of Obesity said of the latest data: “It is amazing and impressive and devastating.”

Read the entire article here. 

Enjoy this Article? Get More in our Weekly Newsletter

Sign up to receive Weekly Health Tips + Special Product Offers - FREE!
PLUS, Get a Coupon for $5 OFF at our Online Store just for signing up!

Want to see some of our past newsletters before signing up? Click here.