Hey Fatty, Drop That Dish and Move Away from the Restaurant

Published on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, by Sophie Brickman / Edit Post

A new study found that the number of restaurants within a five-minute walk of your house directly correlates to your body mass index, reports the Wall Street Journal. In other words, if you're within walking distance of a ton of restaurants, you'll be chunkier than those who aren't. It also found that "the proximity of women's homes to a supermarket relative to a convenience store is associated with lower BMI," according to the study's abstract.

The study, released by the Journal of Planning, Education and Research, clashes with the notion that urban centers are healthier because they aren't car-dependent. Yes, you're walking to a restaurant, but at least you're walking.

You can't win, can you?

Image source: Flickr member epSos.de under Creative Commons

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POST A COMMENT |3 Comments

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  • Average age in cities is lower and people living in cities have higher education. Parisians might have a different approach to eating in general...

    Your last argument is very valid (and agrees with the study - if you postulate that people who have lots of restaurants nearby are eating out more - if not, it's not really relevant). That people tend to be heavier if they eat at restaurants alot...+READ

    Average age in cities is lower and people living in cities have higher education. Parisians might have a different approach to eating in general...

    Your last argument is very valid (and agrees with the study - if you postulate that people who have lots of restaurants nearby are eating out more - if not, it's not really relevant). That people tend to be heavier if they eat at restaurants alot sounds very reasonable.-COLLAPSE

  • This sounds intuitive, but if it's really true, why aren't Parisians all big as houses? And most of the seriously fat people I know live in the 'burbs and drive to all you can eat chain restaurants, which are generally miles from their houses. I think it's more likely that people who eat out a lot, regardless of where their restaurants are located, tend to be heavier.

  • This makes perfect sense. After a long day, people might just gravitate to the easiest options for dinner. So you walk to the closest restaurants if you live in an area with walkable restaurants. But you probably don't get much of a walk, and certainly not enough to burn off the excess calories from dinner! I think this is because if you eat at home, you either eat more simply (assuming you...+READ

    This makes perfect sense. After a long day, people might just gravitate to the easiest options for dinner. So you walk to the closest restaurants if you live in an area with walkable restaurants. But you probably don't get much of a walk, and certainly not enough to burn off the excess calories from dinner! I think this is because if you eat at home, you either eat more simply (assuming you haven't picked up dinner) or have given it some thought since you had to plan dinner. But in a restaurant, you probably eat more than you would have at home!-COLLAPSE