Eat Smart, Move More, South Carolina
By Justin Fenner
The prevalence of obesity in South Carolina has increased, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
The survey, conducted over the phone every year since 1984, marks the line between overweight and obese for adults at a body mass index of 30. In South Carolina in 2008, the survey found that 30.6 percent of adults statewide, more than 1.3 million people, are over that line.
This percentage puts South Carolina in the top five states with the highest rates of obesity, following Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia and Oklahoma, all of which boast populations in which at least 31 percent of adults qualify as obese.
Most of the states with the highest prevalence of obesity are in the South, where multiple factors lead to a higher chance of a citizen being obese. Amy Splittgerber, the partnership coordinator for an organization called Eat Smart, Move More South Carolina, calls this area the Stroke Belt.
"There are reasons that the most unhealthy states are located where they are," Splittgerber said. "You see more of a prevalence of overweight with more rural communities, with less educated citizens, with higher percentages of ethnic citizens. And there's the whole culture of food in the South, how it's prepared."
Splittgerber worked as the executive director for the South Carolina Coalition to Promote Physical Activity for seven years before it merged with another organization, the South Carolina Coalition for Obesity Prevention Efforts. Splittgerber's concerns are focused locally, but she acknowledged that obesity and overweight are problems that need to be addressed nationally.
"The reasons that as a nation we have such skyrocketing obesity rates are very complex, so the solutions to that has to be equally as complex," Splittgerber said. "It's not just as easy as saying it's a personal choice. It's also the policies that we have in our schools and in our worksites and in our healthcare systems, and it's also the environment that we live in."
Michelle Burcin, who works as the director of the University of South Carolina's Healthy Carolina initiative, and also serves as the chair for Eat Smart, Move More South Carolina, works with Splittgerber to implement those plans and agreed that stemming the tide of obesity can't be done with a few programs.
"It has become more culturally accepted to be overweight as more people become overweight," Burcin said. "Before the norm was someone that was fit, but now the norm is starting to shift."
In South Carolina, currently women are more likely to be obese than men, but not by much. While 31.1 percent of women in the state are obese, 30.1 percent of men are obese, too. Across races, however, African Americans in South Carolina are much more likely than whites to be obese. While 26.5 percent of whites in the state are considered obese, 41 percent of African Americans qualify.
This, according to Burcin, puts African American women at the highest risks fro obesity and the health problems associated with it. She cites food and cultural values as an important part of what contributes to this population's problems with food.
"I think it is all the other factors that are attacking everybody else but then also the cultural influence of food," Burcin said. "I'd never heard of soul food before I came here, and soul food is a very strong piece of the African American culture. Unfortunately, soul food is not healthy."
Burcin, whose doctoral dissertation examined food and body image, said that African American men have an impact on African American women's weight.
"There is a lot of research out there that shows that African American men like and want a woman that is of larger stature," Burcin said. "When you have African American men find a body shape that is not as healthy more attractive, that plays into it."
Despite the factors working against the African American community, Splittgerber said her organization isn't focused on one group in particular.
"It's a problem for everybody across the board," Splittgerber said. "Rates are skyrocketing."
Currently, Splittgerber is working on a plan that would introduce a well rounded plan to stem the tide of obesity in Walterboro.
"We're working in a comprehensive action plan for that community to work through schools, through churches, through worksites, through the community at large," Splittgerber said.
Burcin thinks the programs that are in place now need the help of more comprehensive programs like the one in Walterboro, but time to be effective.
"I do think we'll see a change. I think it's too early. It's not going to be a short-term fix. Obesity didn't happen overnight - it's not going to be fixed overnight," Burcin said.
Splittgerber agrees that it will take a considerable amount of time to completely reverse the effects of obesity.
"I think what we're trying to do as an organization is to provide a culture in South Carolina where it's easier to make healthier choices, and it's a way of life" Splittgerber said. "And it's easy and safe for children to walk to school, and it's a culture where families sit around the dinner table again to eat meals together. And it's a culture where milk is served at a meal instead of Sprite. Those are the kinds of things that we've moved away from as a society. That's what we're up against." RCT