By Desiree Hunter, Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Bidding to shed the South's distinction as the country's fattest region, health officials joined community advocates and policy experts in a three-day obesity summit that ended Tuesday with a call to slim ballooning bodies across the Bible Belt.
The 2008 Southern Obesity Summit gave states an opportunity to swap advice about what's working and what's not in efforts to curb obesity. And with nine of the 10 fattest states located in the South, it's fitting the Birmingham summit's acronym was S-O-S.
"It's very discouraging. Every year we are going up with obesity and that's why it was important for us to come and learn from others who are dealing with the same issues," said Mary Murimi, an associate Louisiana Tech University professor, who is leading a behavior modification project in rural areas.
"The Southern regions have a lot of bad news," she added, ticking off poverty and cultural influences. "It's an awakening. We have to work harder."
This is the second year for the Texas Health Institute event, which is co-sponsored by several health organizations. It takes a new approach by bringing the heaviest states together, instead of each trying to go it alone in the struggle against obesity.
Klaus Kroyer Madsen, vice president of programs for the Texas nonprofit that works to innovate on public health systems, said there's a reason no such summits have been held for western or eastern states.
"The Southern region by far is the part of the country that is most affected by the obesity epidemic," he said.
"In Alabama, one out of every three adults is obese and that is a tremendous burden not just on the physical health but also on the fiscal health of the states," Madsen added.
He said it even effects how competitive southern states will be in the national economy.
More than 260 people attended the summit, visiting nutrition and fitness booths, munching on vegetable "cocktails" from glasses lined with fat-free ranch dressing and joining an impromptu aerobics session by "Sweating in the Spirit" and "Buns of Steel" fitness guru Donna Richardson Joyner.