6 Ways in Which Where You Live Affects Your Health

What the research says: Your environment can have a big impact on the way you eat. Take Southern food: Recent research in Circulation reports that people who followed a Southern diet (characterized by added fats, fried food, eggs, organ and processed meats, and sugar-sweetened beverages—hello, sweet tea!) had a 56 percent higher risk of experiencing a serious heart event. And you've heard that food deserts (or neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food, which are more likely to be found in low-income areas) are associated with higher levels of obesity. (It's worth noting that the fix for that is still unclear—research suggests that simply adding grocery stores doesn't make much difference).