Elgin was recently rated the 52nd Best Place to Raise a Family in the United States. However, Elgin has also been rated as the fattest city in the state of Illinois. According to The Courier News on 05/23/08, 50% of the current enrolled district U46 student body (preschool-high school) is either overweight or obese. Elgin driver's license data does not show any better results!
Is it any wonder that Elgin is an overweight community?
1) Fast-food restaurants are a major staple for Chicagoans. Within a 10 square mile radius from the Center of Elgin (information from Yahoo! Local)...
- Taco Bell:15
- Kentucky Fried Chicken: 10
- McDonald's: 32
- Burger King: 14
- Wendy's: 16
- Dunkin Donuts/Krispy Kreme/Other Donut Shops: 17
2) Urban sprawl has traditionally been considered to be a major contributor to obesity. The larger the distance that residential units are from each other and from shopping, dining, work and entertainment, the more residents depend on transportation. Walking, as opposed to automobile use, is not typical in Elgin. In addition to the eating habits of Elginites, exercise is not a favorite pasttime.
Population density and housing unit density are strongly correlated with urban sprawl. The smaller the density numbers, more-often-than-not the greater the amount of urban sprawl. Keep in mind that Chicago has been considered to have an obese population for years. Below is a list of population densities (1st) and housing unit densities (2nd) for the largest communities within Chicagoland (information gathered from Wikipedia):
- Chicago: 12,470/sq mile and 5075.8/sq mile
- Naperville: 4,162.8/sq mile and 1454.5/sq mile
- Elgin: 3,779.2/sq mile and 1306.5/sq mile
- Aurora: 3,711.2/sq mile and 1266.6/sq mile
- Joliet: 1,066.4/sq mile and 1003.1/sq mile
Downtown Elgin is currently being transformed into a modern urban area with a more pedestrian friendly environment. While this may densify a portion of the population downtown, Elgin still continues its rapid sprawl expansion to the west.
3) Other factors that play in Elgin's "fattest Illinois city" reputation may be due to the following: poor health education in the school system, lack of resident health awareness activities, fear of gang activity, amount of time consumed traveling into downtown Chicago for work, lack of health food/organic restaurants, low incomes, lack of social networking, etc.
I would like to hear any comments or suggestions!
5 comments:
Excellent, well-researched post, Jason. The only thing I could think of to add to the discussion is that the obesity rate among Hispanics is higher than the national average. Among school children, I think the obesity rate is 26% for Hispanics versus 15% for whites and 16% for blacks. Of course, U-46 and Elgin in general has a large Hispanic population, so that will increase the average obesity rate.
I guess it might have something to do with Mexican food. I love Mexican food, but I guess if you have too much of the rice and beans it can be fattening...
Thanks for the additional information "elgin"! Yes, Hispanics and African Americans remain to be the two most obese racial groups in the United States. Seeing as how Elgin has a Hispanic population of over 34%, it does not come at any surprise that Elgin has a higher than 16% average obesity rate among young Americans.
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/974132,CST-NWS-obese28.article
Is that the original Elgin watch in your picture or just a random watch? The first Elgin watch is supposed to be on display at the Hemmens.
The Elgin National Watch Company manufactured nearly 60 million watches in numerous model types. The image portrayed in this blog of the "Elgin" watch is random. Many of these "Elgin" watches can still be found in circulation. How much is the original "Elgin" watch worth?
Maybe the Elgin driver's license data shows us as the fattest city in Illinois because we are the most honest city.
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