What Happened to The "Marlboro Man"?

Those of you my age remember him. The incredibly handsome, rugged cowboy with the cigarette dangling from his lips. The ads that conjured up images of the romance of the west. Back when cigarettes were advertised with impunity.

I smoked in those days. And I was thinner. To use that as a correlation about good health is of course nonsense and also why you don't see those ads any more!

But look what's happened to us since! We've ballooned! In the last year, according to myway the obesity rate this past year has gone up in 23 states and down in 0! Who's to blame? Well, I'm not one to point fingers, but the obesity rate for the oldest boomers, the 55 to 64 year olds, is higher than we who are over 65! Maybe it's all that physical therapy many of us do to just to keep mobile! It has become a concern in the health care field because as we live longer, it's getting more expensive Naturally keeping the obese healthy is more difficult and even more costly.

It's partially a regional problem but not entirely. The fattest states seem to trend southern with Mississippi getting top honors. Alabama is a close second followed by West Virginia and Tennessee.

What really surprised me however, is how many of the states where one would expect to find Mr. Rugged were not included in the least obese category. The only ones that were, actually, are Montana, Utah, and Colorado as the most lean. Others cross the country including four New England states. They probably shiver it off during their winters!

But, oh my. Even the cowboys are getting fat, or at least not slimming down! The Dakotas came in at 22 and 20. Wyoming was good at 38, but to be beat by Washington D.C. and New Jersey? They should be ashamed!

And Texas! Fourteen! Maybe it's due to the popularity of Tex-Mex cuisine. Not exactly low calorie fare.

Ah, well. I haven't smoked for over 40 year. My weight is higher than I'd like but then I'm a woman. If I weighed 98 pounds soaking wet I'd probably still be dissatisfied. I live in Idaho. We ranked 33. Pretty near the middle of the pack.

Maybe as those boomers retire, they'll move west like we did. Maybe they'll buy some acreage and maintain it themselves like we do. That'll slim them down! After all, we westerners can't let all those big east coast city folks steal the march on us. Listen up now. New York is 37!