Let’s Move, Philly!

By Author: dailydealtime
Total Articles: 2
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Oh, Philly, Philly, Philly. My beloved Philly. Where are we headed? If Michele Obama were here, she’d tell us to our face: “Let’s Move, Philly!”

The American Fitness Index, the ranking of 50 metro areas in order of general health, came out last month, courtesy of the American College of Sports Medicine. The full report is here: http://www.americanfitnessindex.org/docs/reports/2011_afi_report_final.pdf But here are the highlights:

Philly ranks 27th of the 50th. We’re down one place from last year. Grrrr.
WHAT HAPPENED? Too much couch-potatoing in front of “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars”? Hey, I confess, I couldn’t take my eyes off Kirstie Alley dropping 38 inches during the season. (If she were herself a metro area–as some have rudely suggested–she’d have moved WAY up in the rankings!)
I don’t mean to hound. It’s not all bad. 27th of 50 is not horrible. And the pros far outweigh the cons when it comes to living and working in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Bucks County, Chester, Delaware County, Montgomery, New Castle, Cecil, and Philly proper. For example, ...
... we are pretty dog-gone Green! And we can boast advantages like:

• Low percentage of households below poverty level
• High percent of city land area as parkland (Green!)
• High percent using public transportation to work (Green!)
• High percent bicycling or walking to work (Go Green!)
• More ball diamonds per capita (Hey, it’s a start!)
• More recreation centers per capita
• More swimming pools per capita
• Higher level of state requirement for Physical Education classes
• Higher number of primary health care providers per capita
And then there are the areas to work on, our “challenges” (We, of course, prefer to call them “opportunities”):
• High percent currently smoking
• High percent with asthma (Hmm, are these top two related… Ya think?)
• Fewer dog parks per capita (Not sure why that’s an indication of health, but then my application and resume were turned down by the American College of Sports Medicine, politely.)
• Fewer golf courses per capita (Gotta get to work on THIS one!)
• Lower park-related expenditures per capita (YOU didn’t vote for the millage?)
We are close to (if just shy of) the national average for physical activity in the last 30 days, but low on the “strenuous” scale. Just as we’re close to (but just north of) the national average of current smokers. (Cough.) Almost 1 in 5. Really?
We do eat more than our share of fruits and veggies every day. A quarter of us are munching 5 or more. Love those crunching sounds, Philly!

55% of us are in excellent or very good health. But among Philly-zens, 1 in 4 is obese. (I know, but would you believe that’s LOWER than the national average by a point and a half. I like Michele Obama more every day, with her “Let’s Move” campaign.)
A sad 213 of us (per 100,000) die of cardiovascular disease, a dozen more that average. And 34% of us (right on the money with the national average) had some “bad days” this last month, emotionally. I think more of us need to take advantage of our DailyDealTime morning email, get together with the girls, or the buds, and have better mental health days. Maybe we should promote “Happy Day” once a week. I like it. I’ll talk to the sales reps and have them visit some pubs.

We are sandwiched this year between St. Louis (#26) and Chicago (#28). The highest score (and ranking) went to Minneapolis, where it’s very very cold… usually. They scored 77 out of a possible 100. Now help me here: Washington, DC is ranked #2…? How does that happen? (Something to do with the Congressional Exclusive Unlimited Health Plan?–ahem, boss says, “No politics in the blogs!” But you get my point.) Oklahoma City ranked last of the Big 50, with a score of 24.

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