Tackling Obesity Needs a Strategy Now.

 Self-described “recovering foodaholic” Mike Huckabee who lost 110 pounds a few years ago warned his Southern governors recently that an obesity epidemic a wreak havoc with the American economy.  There needs to be a war on fat.“Let me ask this question: Who’s going to fight it in the future if we’re a generation so sick that we don’t have the capacity to show up for work?” Poverty has a lot to do with obesity.  Bad foods are cheaper than better quality food.As clearly indicated in a recent report, most of the fifteen states with the highest obesity rate are in the southern states which are also among the poorest in the US.Mississippi clocked in as the fattest adult states followed in descending order by West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana and Michigan, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Ohio.The 15 states with the highest obesity rates for youths ages 10 through 17 were: D.C., West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, and Indiana. Georgia and Arkansas tied for 12th.