SPRINGER: Fitness: Las Vegas ranks as a fat city

Each year Men's Fitness magazine does a comprehensive survey to study America's major cities in regards to health.

This year, Las Vegas placed No. 18 in a list of the 25 fattest cities. A variety of factors were considered, like recreation options, poor habits, number of fast food restaurants and many other environmental concerns that would point to good or poor health.

Unfortunately, Las Vegas actually got worse, according to this study. We finished No. 23 last year and moved up the scale instead of down.

One area where Las Vegas excels is the number of fitness facilities available per 100,000 people. Because of the heat, exercising outdoors year round is not always an option. Las Vegas does have plenty of fitness clubs and also has increased the number of athletic equipment stores over the past year.

Junk food restaurants are very plentiful in Las Vegas giving our city a "C" rating from Men's Fitness. In fact, we have one fast food restaurant for every 2,400 residents.

On the flip side, we scored fourth in the number of health food stores per capita. Las Vegas is definitely a city of conveniences. Every type of store imaginable is available on every corner. Quick marts and fast food restaurants are on every corner and do contribute to the poor eating habits of the city.

When it comes to "deadly sins," Las Vegas is known for them. Our city ranks worse each year on the Fattest City list due to the large amount of the population that drinks and smokes.

Las Vegas ranked the highest out of every city for alcohol consumption with an average of four gallons per person consumed each year. It might not be evident in the circles you hang with, but thousands of residents take root at the casinos to gamble, drink and smoke.

One positive note is that we have not totally drifted into the land of sedentary couch potatoes. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System weighs equally the percentage of the state population that is obese with the percentage of the state population that is at risk for health related problems due to obesity and the percentage of the population that is not active and has higher health risk due to a lack of exercise.

With that all said, Las Vegas actually receives a better than passing grade (A) on the Men's Fitness survey.

With the growth of our city, we have inherited the same problems found in other major cities, namely poor air quality. To give you an example, Las Vegas scored a pathetic "D" for air quality while Los Angeles received a total failing grade, an "F."

Although parks and recreation are readily available to Las Vegans, the growth of our city has still left us wanting more. Also, Las Vegas ranked very low in outdoor activities compared to other cities, especially bike riding.

According to Men's Fitness, the fattest city currently is Houston and the best place to live, although not the cheapest, for good health is Honolulu. To read more about Las Vegas and your other favorite cities, visit www.mensfitness.com.

Kim Springer and her husband, Mike, are Certified Personal Trainers and owners of Springer Training. They can be reached at 233-9442 or at their Web site www.springertraining.com.


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