by Dani Stone
March is National Nutrition Month and the folks at Foursquare have conducted a semi-scientific poll to determine the healthiest cities in America. Foursquare, the free digital social media app that allows its 15 million users to “check in” to restaurants, movie theatres, museums, grocery stores, etc., observed cities with the highest number of check-ins (500,000 or more) to find the healthiest diners.
Not all restaurants were used in the study, of course. Foursquare researchers narrowed down the target market to restaurants considered to be in the nutritious category, as well as salad bars, juice bars, farmers markets and fish markets. Cities that had the highest percentage of check-ins at these locations were considered for the study.
Though California didn’t make the #1 spot, it does get an honorable mention for having the most cities with San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco making the list. Washington, DC ranks in 9th place. It must be the influence of our fit first lady. So who got top honors? Say aloha to Foursquare’s healthiest city, Honolulu, Hawaii. It’s got to be all that fresh fish.
Oops! On the flipside, the least healthy cities in the U.S. were Winston-Salem, NC, Little Rock, AR and Lexington, KY.
Foursquare users can earn points and “badges” for completing tasks, checking in to special events or by completing other criteria. The badges then appear as icons on the user’s profile. People who check in to restaurants located in cities on the top 10 list should receive a healthy eating badge. The icon could look like a fork lifting weights. Foursquare, get on that.