As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a recent study by the National Institute of Public Health in Denmark found American teenagers to be the fattest of the adolescents in the fourteen industrialized nations studied. This should come as no surprise since America is undoubtedly the most suburbanized country in the world.
This impacts kids hardest because there is simply no place they can walk to in the typical suburb. Anywhere they go, they travel in their parents’ automobile until they are sixteen and can begin driving themselves around. As walking ceases to be a part of the average American’s life, it is inevitable that he or she becomes fatter and more out of shape.
There are good reasons why Americans prefer both homes in the suburbs as their residences and personal automobiles as their form of transit. The private home affords a special sense of privacy as well as one’s own yard. The car is the fastest and most convenient way to get around.
I myself cannot drive. Thus, I do not live in the suburbs and am always conscious of whether or not an area is close to transit when deciding where to live. I also make sure there are stores and other important places within walking distance. Thus, I walk a great deal and often a fairly long way (by most Americans’ standards). Walking to the corner drugstore, to the grocery, to the library and to restaurants helps keep me pretty trim for a middle-aged American woman.
I wrote “cannot drive†rather than “don’t drive†because I would drive if I could. However, a disability that causes nervousness and lapses in concentration keeps me from behind the wheel – and walking frequently. It also means I sometimes feel helpless and stranded if a destination I want to reach is neither within walking distance nor serviced by public transit.
People who can and do drive are lucky. I would never suggest they relinquish their cars when they need to go long distances. But if they want to keep their weight down in the easiest way possible they ought to walk regularly and it is unlikely they will do that in our increasingly far-ranging suburbs and exurbs. “Smart growth†is often criticized on the solid grounds that Americans like their private homes and suburbs. Fair enough. But sometimes we must, as a culture, make choices between things we want. Our society is one that wants suburbs and wants trim figures. We must choose: either our private homes in far-flung suburbs or more tightly structured, walker-friendly communities and the tighter bodies that result from the latter. As a people, it does not appear we can have both. As long as our suburbs spread, so will our waistlines.
