GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Wisconsin may be known for some of its favorite food, but it’s not helping people slim down.
“It’s our culture. I mean, we talk about it when people come in the door. Where we live, especially northeast Wisconsin, it’s beer, brats and cheese,” Bellin Health Personal Trainer and Health Educator Leslie Servais said. “But we have to come up with a way and an option and a way to really balance both.”
Seeing continued issues of obesity is nothing new for Wisconsin medical professionals like Servais.
“I look at the trends,” she said. “So like 18 years ago, we used to say that 65% of our country was overweight or obese, and now it’s closing in on 72%.”
Strength training resource Bar Bend conducted a study, showing trends in obesity rates over the last 10 years. Wisconsin ranks 43rd in the nation with 34% of residents classified as obese. That’s a five percent jump.
“As we start to become heavier, our weight gets higher,” Servais said. “It puts us at risks for health factors. That’s what you don’t want to see — higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol, type two diabetes.”
Despite public health efforts to reduce obesity, the numbers have only risen since 2012.
In the national figures, 49 of the 50 states have gotten more obese. Florida is the only state with no change.
Another statistic shows only two Wisconsin counties, Door and Kewaunee, have become less obese in that span. That means the remaining 70 counties are more obese than they were in 2012.
Servais says combating the issue isn’t easy, but finding healthy habits is a start.
“I’m not saying you have to go to a gym or you have to start anything crazy, just start being more active,” Servais said. “And you have to eat fruits and vegetables, that one really just kills me.”
Servais says in addition to diet and fitness, reducing stressors, eliminating unhealthy relationships and having a healthy sleep pattern can reduce the likelihood of obesity.
