Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Mass Transit Diet

In what comes as little surprise to me, since I’ve dropped 20 plus pounds after going car-free:

When cities create or improve light rail public transit systems, citizens' waistlines may benefit, a new study shows. By getting people out of their cars and having them walk to and from transit stations, calories get burned, the researchers noted.

Help the environment, save money and lose weight. What more do you want?

The researchers found that, on average, a typical 5-foot-5 commuter who used the system to get to and from work lost an average of 6.45 pounds over 12 to 18 months. Moreover, people who used the LRT had an 81 percent lower risk of becoming obese than people who did not use the system.

I doubt that my favorite pseudo professor from Long Beach spends much time perusing my little waste of time here. But, in case he does I’ve gone to the great trouble of a several seconds web search to find that the city of Long Beach does have a mass transit system.

Who knows, Don, you might lose some weight along with that hobo look?