The 7 most obese states...

[lhooq]

53. poverty and obesity

I agree that poverty and obesity are strongly correlated. Indeed, each might cause the other.
However, I'd like to suggest that we consider poverty in terms broader than just monetary income.

Lack of time is another type of poverty, and it's relevant here because healthy food is generally food one prepares (and also grows) oneself. Who's got time for that? Toss a frozen entree in the microwave instead! How ironic considering the abundance of "time-saving" gadgets in our lives.

Lack of silence and clarity is another poverty, and by this I mean escaping from the incessant advertising and ubiquity of the food industry. Foods are engineered such that we eat too much of them too often. Journalist Michael Moss has a new book out on this. An extended excerpt is available here --
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html

Lack of safe space to exercise or just play is a poverty. Consequently, we adopt a sedentary lifestyle and drive to places a generation or two ago we once walked.

Some poverties are helpful. Consider the poverty of no parking spaces, something that big city dwellers often face. Consequently they walk, if only to the subway station or bus stop. My guess is that obesity is less prevalent in cities vs. suburbs and rural areas for this reason.

So, people are said to make bad food and lifestyle choices. But, considering all of these poverties, I wonder how much of a choice they actually have.