Fairfax County healthiest in Virginia
By Katie Rogers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-buzz/post/fairfax-county-healthiest-in-virginia/2012/04/03/gIQAfnUNtS_blog.html

The Darrell Winslow Regatta at Sandy Run Regional Park in Fairfax Station. (John McDonnell - The Washington Post) A new report has named Fairfax County as the healthiest county in the Old Dominion.

A report released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin declared Fairfax County the healthiest Virginia area overall. According to the report, only 7 percent of Fairfax County residents report poor or fair health, and the adult obesity rate clocks in at 24 percent.

The report methodology took into account mortality rates (specifically, deaths before age 75) and morbidity rates, the term used to describe how healthy people feel, among other factors.

Fairfax is followed by Arlington, Loudoun, Albemarle and York. The city of Petersburg, with a 29 percent adult obesity rate, rounds out the bottom of the list.

In Maryland, Howard County took top honors, while Baltimore City, where 18 percent of people reported poor or fair health and adult obesity is at 31 percent, ranked lowest.

This makes sense. Sure some of the rural counties like Rockingham and whatever is down by the Cumberland Gap have mountains and shit, but where I live there's like 9 parks, 806 mountain bike trails, 2,410 miles of asphalt bike/walking trails, rivers, lakes, streams, pools, gyms, etc.

A place like Ashburn is a wasteland. Manassas, wasteland. Woodbridge, wasteland. Stafford. Wasteland. Sure in those places you can get a good workout running for your life or chasing down rapists in your neighborhood, but no place I done been at in VA beats FFX County for activity type stuff that's free.

Every county has rank-azz, stank-azz, dirty, over-priced gyms, but only Fairfax County has a fuck-load of free parks. Free for residents. Cept'n you an FFXCO you ain't free.

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It seems to me, at the end of the day, with all that being said, that's not necessary.
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it makes sense cause there's more $$$$ in Fairfax than Rockingham

ppl here can AFFORD good health

hell, if you cant tell that from the Howard/Baltimore difference in numbers (aint neither have mountains, y'know) , I dont know what to tell ya.

This I heard on WTOP I think, and agree with the previous comments. You look at Fairfax demographics, high paying jobs, and its not exactly a true look at this issue. Rural counties have few food choices, more poverty, which leads to obesity.

Fairfax has the best trails in Virginia for hiking, biking, running, etc. W+OD to name one. Also, look at the pools and other recreation centers. That alone, plus the organic food selections for those who are into that, and it adds up quickly to why FFX is on top.

That's not a very high bar, really. I mean look around at the rest of the state...it doesn't take much to be the healthiest county in Virginia. I'm sure Fairfax County would be the least healthiest county in California by comparison...

It's not that Fairfax residents can "afford good health." It's that people in NoVA are more educated than elsewhere in the state, and use that knowledge to take care of themselves. Sure, the higher incomes here allow us to buy overpriced items at Whole Foods, but lower income people can but the same stuff at their local grocer. Yes, it costs more than potato chips and Twinkies, but if they can afford an Xbox and $150 shoes then they can buy decent food. You don't need a fancy gym, either. Simply go run every day. A decent pair of running shoes can last over 1,000 miles. Trust me on that.

Poorer people don't have the knowledge to take good care of the only body they'll ever have. That and the fact that most of them don't care.

Gordon Blvd Wrote:
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> it makes sense cause there's more $$$$ in Fairfax
> than Rockingham
>
> ppl here can AFFORD good health
>
> hell, if you cant tell that from the
> Howard/Baltimore difference in numbers (aint
> neither have mountains, y'know) , I dont know what
> to tell ya.

walking is free. eating less is free AND makes money since food goes further. Any other excuses masking poverty and bad health for laziness?

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It seems to me, at the end of the day, with all that being said, that's not necessary.
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MisterSpookey Wrote:
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>
> walking is free. eating less is free AND makes
> money since food goes further. Any other excuses
> masking poverty and bad health for laziness?


Christ, dude - you sound like you would think the Bataan Death March is the ultimate health spa or something.

I'd answer, but NRA and Holy already said it better than I did

The culture of poverty is very complex. The lack of education is probably the biggest factor. It's not so much the lack of money as the lack of opportunity that leads to hopelessness and "living in the moment".

Eating less is not really the issue. You have to consume a certain amount of calories to stay alive and once you are at that level, you can't eat less. Nutritional calories do tend to cost more than empty ones---that is true---and it's easy to overeat on the empty calories because your body wants more of something---it's just not the right thing that you are putting in and the craving does not go away.

I stayed in South America for a while and there is nothing like hearing public service announcements on radio and TV that outline exactly how much you have to eat to stay alive and have enough nutrition. Maybe we are going to need such public service announcements here. People need to know proportions of various less expensive foods that give complete nutrition (and specifically---like how many cups of rice and beans they need per day and how many cups of what vegetables). It's that specific. I think people here would be shocked if we had announcements like that, but it may be needed in certain areas. Instead we get a bunch of junk cable TV with junk food ads.

Gordon Blvd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MisterSpookey Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > walking is free. eating less is free AND makes
> > money since food goes further. Any other
> excuses
> > masking poverty and bad health for laziness?
>
>
> Christ, dude - you sound like you would think the
> Bataan Death March is the ultimate health spa or
> something.
>
> I'd answer, but NRA and Holy already said it
> better than I did

The point, sir, is that self-control has not one fucking thing to do with income level.

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It seems to me, at the end of the day, with all that being said, that's not necessary.
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MisterSpookey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gordon Blvd Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > MisterSpookey Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> >
> > >
> > > walking is free. eating less is free AND
> makes
> > > money since food goes further. Any other
> > excuses
> > > masking poverty and bad health for laziness?
> >
> >
> > Christ, dude - you sound like you would think
> the
> > Bataan Death March is the ultimate health spa
> or
> > something.
> >
> > I'd answer, but NRA and Holy already said it
> > better than I did
>
> The point, sir, is that self-control has not one
> fucking thing to do with income level.

Other than to be used as an excuse that is.


I am so damn incredible I needed to quote myself.

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It seems to me, at the end of the day, with all that being said, that's not necessary.
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well, all I know it that the ppl that I do happen to know who live around Harrisonburg work hard, (Jesus, this one girl works her ass to the bone, dont know how she does it sometimes.............), are both good parents, and both have WAY better self control than I do (not that that's really saying anything LoLz).

Anywho, there income level has NOTHING to do with their "self control" as you put it, but it DOES have EVERYTHING to do with why they dont have the fucking time to go out on nature hikes or whatever it is you think poor ppl are too "lazy" to do in order to obtain good health.

Lotsa more jobs up here that can offer ppl health insurance than around Harrisonburg.....................just think about that little tidbit as well

First, it's 'their income level', also self-control is hyphenated. It's hard to have a dialogue with you if you type like a seven year-old.

Anywho, back to the point. Nobody works harder than me and I have 20 minutes a day to exercise. It doesn't have to be a Lance Armstrong mini Tour de France, sir, it can be a combined effort of walking from car to work, up steps, getting up to get a beer from the fridge vs making my kid fetch it. Shit like that.

And health insurance has not one fucking thing to do with obesity, which is what the article was about, and my point about activities in NoVA, vs, say, a poor coal mining county in WV, which while mountainous, is chock full of toothless meth-heads who eat Count Chocula with Mountain Dew and are fat as fuck because of such poor habits.

Unless by health insurance you mean a bucket of KFC with a side of Whopper, then yes, health insurance is very much related to obesity.

So riddle me this, kind sir, what the fuck does putting Mountain Dew in your Count Chocula have to do with income level (water is cheaper) and health insurance?

I'll answer for you, it has nothing to do with it. So eat it. Get it? haha

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It seems to me, at the end of the day, with all that being said, that's not necessary.
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Petersburg and Baltimore? The two areas with the most black people? That's racist!

People in the country and inner cities fry everything butter. Replace tablespoon for stick and there ya go! A recipie for good eatin'!

Sure a lot of country people don't shop at Whole Foods but many of them do grow and hunt their own food which is canned for later use.

@Hay - canned food is not substitute for being able to afford health insurance LoLz
@KKK - whut?
@mister Spookey - yr name is mr spookey yet you complain about intelligence level - that's classic. And yeah, it's all about meth and Count Chocula out there in the sticks. Dunno where you are getting yr ideas about hillbillies from, but I'd suggest maybe hanging out with a few before "knowing" so much about them LoLz