Colorado is getting fat

Even the traditionally 'ultra-fit' state of Colorado is getting hit with the obesity problem...

From the Associated Press:

For years, Colorado has been ranked the leanest state in the country with a reputation as a magnet for hard bodies who love the outdoors.

But over the past 15 years, the percentage of obese Coloradans has grown faster than any other state, except Virginia. Denver resident Toby Head illustrates the point. A trim 185 in 1990 when he left the Army, he's now one pound shy of 300 pounds.

"I guess friends moved away and I found X-Box and decided to drink every night and play video games," he said.

Colorado's growing weight problem has alarmed health experts and grabbed the attention of state lawmakers, who are considering bills designed to encourage children to exercise and choose healthy foods and to include obesity treatment under Medicaid.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.9 percent of Colorado residents in 1990 were considered obese. By 2003, the latest figures available from the CDC, that figure had risen to 16 percent.

"I still have an image of Colorado as this mecca for outdoor activities. It is a little surprising to see the obesity numbers increasing," said Adam Hodges, a columnist for The Colorado Triathlete magazine who moved to Boulder 14 years ago to train.

For now, Colorado is the second leanest state with 51 percent of adults overweight or obese, behind Hawaii with 50 percent. That's compared to almost two-thirds nationally. Still, the state is seeing more people like Head, who found it easier to grab a couple hot dogs and a bag of chips for lunch than to find something healthier. And like many others, he gave up exercise for a sedentary life.

"We've created just the wrong environment for our bodies if we want to be lean," said James Hill, who heads a nutrition and research center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

The problems by now are familiar: children with video games and TV instead of playing outside; adults working and shopping by Internet-connected computers. And everywhere are cheap, high-calorie goodies.

"We've basically engineered physical activity out of our lives," said Hill, co-founder of America on the Move, a group that encourages weight-loss through walking and small calorie cutbacks.

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