I’m guessing obesity rates and welfare/food stamp rolls go hand in hand.
I remember reading somewhere several years ago that there tends to be more obesity in “Red” states than in “Blue States”. There is a little bit of truth to that. All of the states with the highest obesity rates except Michigan are largely “Red” states. All but three of the states with the lowest obesity rates are largely blue states (Utah and Montana are strongly “Red”, Colorado a little less so). A lot of it is regional to some degree. Obesity rates are highest in the South and lowest in the West and some parts of the Northeast. Overall, the South is generally poorer and there are plenty on welfare. My grandmother lives in Oklahoma and, despite being one of the “reddest” states, welfare is rampant. That is definitely also the case in Mississippi, West Virginia, and in one part of Michigan (Detroit). The Southern diet often includes a lot of fattening fried food (just ask Huckabee). A lot of people in the West and parts of New England (particularly Vermont) tend to be more health conscious and stay active with a lot of outdoor activities. Even though it is not on the list, I would suspect that New York is pretty high on the list of states with the lowest obesity rates. I was in NYC a couple of months ago and I noticed very few obese people. I attribute it to the fact that large numbers of people there walk a lot more than they drive.