Keto is a red state phenomenon

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #1

DISCLAIMER: This is not a political post. I’m just observing something that I think is really interesting. Please help me by not entering into political discussion in this thread.

So I live in NYC, and was just interested in the explosion of interest in keto over the past couple of years. Google Trends confirms that, of course:

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What interested me more was the breakdown in interest by subregion. Notice that all the states where keto is most googled are “red” states. California is 33rd out of 50 states. New York is way down the bottom. No wonder there’s so few keto meetups here in NYC. That’s not to say I haven’t noticed a low carb/keto trend – there are lots of people I run into who’ve already been low carb for years. But my gut is that, given this Google Trends data, the trend in “red” states is far more pronounced.

It’s intriguing to me that this may be loosely linked to politics. I could speculate, though I won’t say more than this: there’s something about pushing back against this anti-meat, pro-vegan trend in recent years that’s kind of, in a way, reactionary, maybe. There’s something maybe vaguely rebellious about questioning the mainstream institutional guidelines, perhaps something about distrust of government advisories. This is all speculation of course, but it feels like it fits.

Personally, I’m here for the science, like most of you. And I won’t talk about my politics here but I’m sure it’s not what you’d expect given what I’ve said above. Suffice to say that it does feel like this is an area in which it feels to me as if the big cities and the coastal “elites” will be playing catch-up, led by a grassroots, red-state nutritional rebellion.

Am I crazy, or does this sound kind of right to you? The Google Trends data, at least if you look regionally, seems to lend preliminary support for this hypothesis…

(Doug) #2

Per capita, I bet there’s less interest in keto in NYC because there’s less need for it, i.e. not as many fat people.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #3

Interesting point. Though then you’d expect the more disadvantaged populations in places like NYC, who have more of a tendency toward obesity, to be showing a lot of interest in it, no?

(Doug) #4

I was also thinking of Boston, where I just plain don’t see many obese people. Gabe - those disadvantaged NYC people - I bet they are well behind the curve as far as nutrition and “new” approaches.

#5

Try comparing to vegetarian and vegan. California and New York have more vegetarian/vegan searches.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #7

Yup i kind of alluded to that. Again, I’m not cheerleading for one political side or the other, but my suspicion is that conservatives and libertarians are probably more readily attracted to keto than others.

Personally I love animals and once briefly considered vegetarianism. When @richard tries vego keto for a month, I might do the same. Having said that… meat is delicious.

(charlie3) #8

What got my attention was the CDC statistics that some huge percentage of American adults either have T2D or will probably develop it unless they make changes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the common theme is diet. Then there are the people carrying more weight than they want. Keto addresses those two directly.

I’m vacationing with siblings this week. The out of towners haven’t seen me since christmas. In that time I’ve lost 25 pounds. There’s no extra anything on me. They are interested, not sold yet, but interested.

(Doug) #9

Indeed, Charlie - roughly 1 in 3 Americans by the year 2050, if current trends continue. And 1 in 3 people, worldwide, though I forget the probable date as of now, for that. Whew…

(Aimee Moisa) #10

I was going to say it, I’m glad I didn’t have to.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #11

Yeah I guess it’s hard for me to imagine what it’s like in some other parts of the country. I’d like to travel more but I just don’t have the vacation time; I have to save vacation days to visit home (Australia.)

(Karen) #12

Kind if interesting. Still only a vocal minority are vegan

(Eric) #13

Personally I live in one of the “reddest” states (Oklahoma) and we harvest much of our own meat from hunting and ranching, and although that fits right into the keto diet, it had nothing to do with my choice of diets, but had everything to do with my own research on what my body needs and not just what some fitness guru from Hollywood told me. My wife helped me more than anyone to understand what mainstream culture wanted me to believe was good for me and was is ACTUALLY good for me. There may be something to the “rebellion” you mentioned, but for me, there is definitely a lack of trust in the government, mainstream media, fads, etc for what is best for my health.

I can’t speak for everyone in Oklahoma (or any other red state), but there is definitely a huge gap between what and who we listen to concerning politics, health, finances, etc and those from blue states. In the end, red or blue, we are all Americans, and I hope we can all find happiness and health!

Interesting topic.

(Frank) #14

I thank my libertarian anti government friend for introducing me to the keto woe about 18 months ago. Took me 6 months to get on board. He’s always had a general mistrust of the government/corporate machine.

(Bob M) #15

Connecticut is a blue state, and that’s where Carl lives and where KetoFest is held.

(Karen) #16

Colorado tends to be red with spots of blue for our large city, Denver, and our wealthy out of town guests owning the mountains…Aspen and Vail. Also there is always the people’s republic of Boulder. Large populations of people have come in from California where the housing costs are high. The influx of this cash has adversely affected our housing market. That and the monies from weed poured into buying/developing property.

Colorado is a nice place to live. But…
“The Centennial state grew by nearly 80,000 people last year, making it the seventh fastest- growing state in the country, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Colorado’s population grew by 1.4 percent between July 1, 2017, and July 1, 2018.”

The older families work the ranches and farms, are hard working, and more independent, libertarians or red. And yes more likely to have meat than our blue California veggie Vail dwellers.

(Bob M) #17

There is a very difficult analysis, with no clear result. I lived in BFE PA for a while, and schools were closed for the first day of deer season. On the other hand, it’s also poor. Poor typically eat crap, as that’s what they can afford. It’s much easier to feed a family on pasta than it is on steak.

And affluence or the lack of it affects everything. You can afford to be a tree-hugging vegan if you’re rolling in cash. It’s more difficult to do if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, with a family to feed.

(Doug) #19

Karen, Colorado usually ranks as the ‘Leanest’ state in the U.S., so it will be interesting to see what happens. If everybody starts getting the munchies from all the smoke, there may be consequences.

Rapidly rising real estate costs are one facet of population pressure - and one that gave rise to California’s Proposition 13 (greatly limiting property tax increases in some cases). Such things present problems of their own, as well.

#20

Thanks, gabe, for starting the thread…

Very interesting…

…but not surprising if you do consider the politics.

#21

Oregon, a blue state (except East Oregon, which might as well be Idaho), is one of the most vegan-friendly states in the nation. That being said, even its meat, eggs, and dairy are also concerned with being local and being quality. Urban chickens are everywhere; we even have urban goats. Tillamook cheese is famous for its quality. Probably the only reason I have issues with getting grass-fed beef outside of Wal-Mart is because I’m east of the Willamette and just outside of Portland; if I was closer to the farmland or more willing to get off my lazy arse and drive further than 30 mins I could get it. Oregon prides itself with being eco-friendly, if it ever shifted its focus from veganism to Keto, we’d be in a really good position.

(Karen) #22

That Leaness stems from the fact that our demographics show that the state, on a whole, is very young. Some of this is due to the geography of the state. Lots of people come here who are physically active bikers, skiers, hikers.