According to Trust for America’s Health (here’s the article) Colorado ranks as the “thinnest” state in the US. The term thinnest is used to describe the low percentage of adults in Colorado who rate as obese. The report describes are a number of factors which contribute to obesity. Some of the suggested factors include: high caloric intake, lack of communities which support outdoor activities, and long work hours.

I guess the the conclusion is people in Colorado work only 4 hour days. This gives us the needed time to bike or snowshoe to our offices (through the mountains) while we snack on healthy foods such as trail mix or buffalo jerky, and drink our natural spring water.

I don’t think this article paints an accurate picture of the Colorado lifestyle. While it’s true the ever present snow here does make it difficult to get to work, I’d argue on average we in Colorado eat just as poorly as the rest of the country – when given the chance. You see my theory as to why Colorado is the thinnest state has less to do with our culture and environment and everything to do with our location.

Colorado is largely forgotten in the space/time continuum. This is because Colorado is located in that black hole of space some people know as the Mountain Time zone. I realize (unless you are one of the few Americans who live in the Mountain Time zone) you have no idea what I’m talking about. And that’s exactly my point. The very nature of the Mountain Time demands that, unless you live within it’s confines, you have no idea it exists.

I know it’s a difficult concept to grasp – especially for those of you who live on the East Coast of the United States where there is no reality other than your own. But if you pay attention, I may be able to provide an example which will illustrate my point. You see when it’s 8:00 AM on the East Coast it’s 6:00 AM in the Mountain Time zone. This means when you Easterners are at work reading your morning e-mail the majority of us Coloradoans are still in our high-altitude home waiting for our water to boil so we can make our organic coffee.

The same time difference also applies to lunch. This means when (you) Easterners decide to have an extended afternoon conference call from 1:00PM to 3:00 PM local time we’re going to have to skip lunch to attend. Do you follow yet?

Although Coloradoans eat lunch during the same hours of the day as most everyone else those hours don’t happen at the exact same time as everyone else. And there’s the problem, people on the East Coast are always scheduling meetings during our lunch hours. So, we never get the chance to eat lunch. And if you ask me, skipping lunch every day is a pretty good way to lose weight.

The leaves outside rest peacefully in piles. They wait in silence for the stompede of screaming children which will eventually come. But not tonight. The kiddos are sleeping, worn out by a weekend of late nights and busy days.

We stepped out a little this weekend, finally able to make marriage group. There were no last minute calls from work. There were no sick kids. There were only nervous parents who kept expecting old or new disasters to distract from their goal of getting out of the house.

It’s becoming obvious we’re not as, um… energetic as we once were. I don’t know if it’s because we’re almost a decade older than we were when the first was born, or if it’s because we have 5 more kids. Whatever it is it sure makes getting up in the morning awfully difficult. 8 AM and my wife and me are buried in bed, resting peacefully, when the screeming children come to jump in.