What you'll notice that these same states also correlate with states with the highest percentage of welfare and food stamps. http://www.city-data.com/forum/politics-other-controversies/1849761-welfare-us-just-facts.html

Source: Welfare Statistics | Statistic Brain

Map of which states have the lowest welfare rate as a percentage of population (lowest = 1st place) to states with the highest welfare participation rate as a percentage of population (50 = highest).

Finally, we can consider food stamps (SNAP) which technically isn't welfare as it isn't run by the department of health and human services and instead is run by the department of agriculture under the farm subsidy program. Here is a graph with the percentage of population receiving food stamps by state.

Percent of State Population Participating in SNAP Program, FY2011

Source: Author's calculations using U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Proposed rules give states more power to fight food stamp fraud | CSG Knowledge Center

now correlate obesity, welfare and food stamps with general wellness. Once again the same states show up. From this link. http://info.healthways.com/wbi2013

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

New! “State of American Well-Being: 2013 State Rankings and Analysis”

For the sixth consecutive year, global well-being improvement leader Healthways and world-leading management consulting firm Gallup have released their analysis of the state of well-being across the United States. The analysis is based on data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®, a definitive measure and empiric database of real-time changes in well-being throughout the world.

More than 178,000 interviews nationwide fueled the 2013 analysis, which examined Americans’ perceptions on topics such as physical and emotional health, healthy behaviors, work environment, social and community factors, financial security, and access to necessities such as food, shelter and healthcare to create a composite well-being rank for each state.

Launched in 2008, the Well-Being Index provides unmatched, in-depth insight into the well-being of populations. Gallup conducts 500 telephone interviews a day with Americans to gather their perceptions of well-being, for a resulting sample that represents an estimated 95 percent of all U.S. households. In 2013, Gallup and Healthways extended the reach of the Well-Being Index beyond the United States; global leaders now have the ability to benchmark the well-being of their country against the results of roughly 140 countries around the world.

The full “State of American Well-Being: 2013 State, Community and Congressional District Analysis,” as well as state-level reports, will be available online in April. Look for the “State of Global Well-Being” reports this summer.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

New! “State of American Well-Being: 2013 State Rankings and Analysis”

State Rank Changes, 2012 – 2013

Download the state rankings