County among fittest in U.S.

You want the skinny on San Luis Obispo? Just look around.

San Luis Obispo County is the fifth “slimmest” — or fifth least obese — region in the nation, according to a recent study of 187 metro areas.

The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles area has an average obesity rate of 17.6 percent — much lower than the national average of 26.5.

The local rate is also far lower than the average obesity rate of 33.8 percent for the 10 most obese metro areas.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to be categorized as obese, and man or woman must have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, meaning a 5-foot person would have to weigh at least 153 pounds; a 5-foot-6-inches person 186 pounds, and 6-foot person 221 pounds.

The Gallup organization calculated BMIs using respondents’ self-reported height and weight during phone interviews with 353,000 American adults in 2009.

Kennedy Club Fitness instructor Barb LeMoine said she was not surprised by the high ranking. “Look around. We are surrounded by a huge playground,” she said of the ocean and trails that residents access conveniently in good weather year-round.

“Having the healthy choice be the easy or default choice” is one of the best ways to prevent obesity, according to Cal Poly kinesiology instructor Ann Yelmokas McDermott, who directs STRIDE: Science through Translational Research In Diet and Exercise. She said local parks and recreation infrastructure provide affordable access to pools for exercise, and “beautiful” produce is available and relatively inexpensive all year.

As part of the same study, Gallup found that the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro area also placed seventh on a healthy behavior index measuring exercise, eating and smoking habits and 25th on an index measuring access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, having a safe place to exercise, having enough money to buy food and having health insurance.

Local communities have long emphasized healthy living. In 1990, San Luis Obispo became the first city in America to ban indoor smoking in public places.

Kathleen Karle, health promotion division manager for the county Health Agency, and Los Osos family physician Patrick Vaughan said that high education rates are also strongly correlated with lower obesity.

“If we know what will hurt us, we won’t eat it,” Karle said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of San Luis Obispo County residents that hold a bachelor’s degree or higher is 30.4 percent, 3 percentage points higher than the national average.

A misleading ranking?

“San Luis Obispo keeps getting ranked really high, and everyone thinks we don’t have an (obesity) problem,” Karle said. “There are pockets we’re doing really terribly at, like, Oceano, San Miguel, unincorporated areas and even in the cities.”