America Made You Fat in The South. It's Not Your Cooking

America made the South fat after 1975, and it wasn't the fried chicken. In 1971-74, 14.5% of American adults were obese and the South ate the richest food in the country and looked like everybody else. Today the 2 heaviest states in America are Mississippi and West Virginia. Five things were taken out of an ordinary Southern week: the Sunday calendar, the garden and the jars, supper at home, the small glass, and the day's work. Every one of them can come back for free, and the last one is a 4-word rule. SOURCES NATIONAL OBESITY, 1960s TO NOW "14.5% of American adults were obese in 1971-74" and "40.8% in the most recent survey" (ages 20-74, age-adjusted, measured): Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Severe Obesity Among Adults Age 20 and Older: United States, 1960–1962 Through August 2021–August 2023. NCHS Health E-Stat, CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/hestat111.htm THE STATE MAP: 1985 DARKEST SHADE 10–14%; 2010, 12 STATES ABOVE 30%, 10 OF THEM SOUTHERN Obesity Trends Among U.S. Adults Between 1985 and 2010. CDC, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/81474/cdc_81474_DS1.pdf MISSISSIPPI AND WEST VIRGINIA ABOVE 40%; MIDWEST 35.9%, SOUTH 34.5% (2024) Adult Obesity Prevalence Maps, 2024. CDC, based on BRFSS self-reported height and weight. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data-and-statistics/adult-obesity-prevalence-maps.html THE WEEKDAY SOUTHERN TABLE John Egerton, Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. THE CHAINS: CHICK-FIL-A 1967 AND CLOSED SUNDAYS SINCE 1946; POPEYES 1972 (NAMED FOR POPEYE DOYLE); SONIC 1953; WAFFLE HOUSE 1955; THE WAFFLE HOUSE INDEX The History of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Popeyes Newsroom. https://news.popeyes.com/blog-posts/the-history-of-popeyes-louisiana-kitchen Does FEMA Use Waffle House Closures to Determine How Bad a Disaster Is? Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fema-waffle-house-index/ Where was Chick-fil-A's first restaurant? Chick-fil-A, Inc. https://www.chick-fil-a.com/customer-support/who-we-are/our-restaurants/where-was-chick-fil-as-first-restaurant Sonic. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SO007 The Waffle House (historical marker). Georgia Historical Society. https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/the-waffle-house/ CHICKEN PER PERSON MORE THAN DOUBLED SINCE 1980; 68.1 LB IN 2021 Per capita availability of chicken higher than that of beef since 2010. USDA Economic Research Service, Food Availability (Per Capita) Data System. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/chart-detail?chartId=58312 THE 1975 CANNING-LID SHORTAGE; 19 MILLION HOME CANNERS, 100 JARS EACH Ralph Nader, "Where Have the Lids Gone?" Syndicated column, June 28, 1975. https://nader.org/1975/06/28/where-have-the-lids-gone/ Home Canning Equipment Shortage; Ball Corporation on Canning Lid Shortage (1975 records). US House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives. https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/hi_011/ https://history.house.gov/Records-and-Research/Listing/c_100/ The Great Canning Shortage of 1975 (contemporary press reports, July–August 1975). Morrison County Historical Society. https://morrisoncountyhistory.org/?page_id=7313 HOME CANNING TODAY: 22% OF HOUSEHOLDS (2005), 27% (2001) National surveys of home canning practices. National Center for Home Food Preservation, University of Georgia. https://nchfp.uga.edu/papers/2007/canning_survey.html FOOD AWAY FROM HOME: 26.3% OF FOOD SPENDING IN 1960, 50.1% IN 2014 U.S. spending on food away from home higher than on food at home in 2014. USDA Economic Research Service, Food Expenditure Series. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/78742 COCA-COLA: ONE 6½-OUNCE BOTTLE UNTIL 1955 11 Facts About the Coca-Cola Contour Bottle. The Coca-Cola Company. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/about-us/history/11-facts-about-the-coca-cola-contour-bottle SWEET TEA AND SUGARY DRINKS: 30.1% NATIONALLY, 47.5% IN MISSISSIPPI, 18.0% IN VERMONT (2013) Park S, et al. Prevalence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Adults — 23 States and the District of Columbia, 2013. MMWR 2016;65(7). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6507a1.htm WORK GOT LIGHTER: HALF OF JOBS MODERATE IN 1960, UNDER 20% BY 2008, 100+ CALORIES A DAY Church TS, et al. Trends over 5 Decades in U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity and Their Associations with Obesity. PLoS ONE 2011;6(5):e19657. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0019657 THE ONE EXPERIMENT: ABOUT 500 CALORIES A DAY MORE ON ULTRA-PROCESSED FOOD Hall KD, et al. Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight Gain: An Inpatient Randomized Controlled Trial of Ad Libitum Food Intake. Cell Metabolism 2019;30(1):67-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008