Where The Healthiest Eaters Live In America; This Florida City Takes The Number 1 Spot
The healthiest eaters in the United States live around Naples, Florida, a new poll finds.
But, before getting too discouraged that your community didn’t make the number one spot, it’s important to note the survey’s method. The results are based on participants' responses to the question, “Did you eat healthy all day yesterday?” One of the problems with this question is that what’s considered healthy to one person may not be considered healthy to another.
Of all of the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island residents who took the survey, 75.3 percent of them responded “yes.” In a close second, was Barnstable Town, Massachusetts, where 75.1 percent of the residents reported eating healthy all day the the prior day. California is home to 10 of the top 25 communities on the list. A full list of the rankings can be found here.
Healthiest Communities
1. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida
2. Barnstable Town, Massachusetts
3. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California
4. Salinas, California
5. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
6. Santa Rosa, California
7. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, South Carolina
8. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California
9. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona
10. El Paso, Texas
Out of the 189 communities surveyed across the country, the lowest rate of healthy eating was reported by residents in Lubbock, Texas - 53.8 percent of the respondents said they ate healthy.
Least Healthy Communities
1. Lubbock, Texas
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Cincinnati, Ohio
4. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina
5. Clarksville, Tennessee
6. Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky
7. Wichita, Kansas
8. Topeka, Kansas
9. Little Rock-Conway, Arkansas
10. Tulsa, Oklahoma
Overall, 63.2 percent of surveyed adults reported eating healthy all day the previous day. This is the lowest it’s been since Gallup and Sharecare began measuring “healthy eating” in 2008.
More than 350,000 adults in the United States participated in the poll, conducted by the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. Survey questions were asked over the phone from January 2015 to December 2016.
The researchers also looked at the relationship between healthy eating and chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, heart, disease, depression, and stress. The findings showed that people who reported they ate healthy all day the previous day had lower rates of disease across all the conditions than those who did not eat healthy.
The adults who reported eating healthy were 34.1 percent less likely to currently have depression than those who reported they did not eat healthy.
“This research suggests that an emphasis on healthy eating and sensible food policies could have a positive impact on lowering disease burden within communities nationwide,” according to an editorial accompanying the report.
In a survey from early this year, Naples, Florida also topped the list of happiest communities. Residents received a score of 66.3 out of 100 on a measure of well-being. Researchers calculated well-being scored based on the participants’ answers to questions about different aspects including their sense of purpose, social relationships, financial lives, community involvement, and physical health.
See also: How Healthy Is Your County? Interactive Map Reveals More Young Americans Are Dying Prematurely
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