Degree of Difficulty to Live a Healthy Life

One of my friend's from Pittsburgh read my post yesterday, and asked what I meant when I said the degree of difficulty to live a healthy life in Redmond is easier than Pittsburgh.  I'll elaborate here.

I loved living in Pittsburgh.  I thought the people of Pittsburgh were the kindest of any place I ever lived, and I enjoyed the communal feel of the city.  However, I think there are several factors that aggregate make it easier to be healthy when you live in Redmond (or more generally, the Pacific Northwest):

1. Less smoking.  Smoking is obviously detrimental in of itself, but also is a marker for other healthy lifestyle factors.
2. Better access to bike trails.  Redmond has one of the most elaborate bike trail systems in the country.   Pittsburgh has some nice bike trails (the one connecting Homestead to McKeesport is particularly beautiful), but there are areas of incomplete trail that make practical commuting impossible (e.g., there was no trail system connecting Pittsburgh to Monroeville), and many of the existing trails are poorly designed (e.g., the bike trail on the Birmingham Bridge requires cyclists to cross moving traffic, without a physical barrier to prevent being hit by a car).
3. Better access to hiking.  Pittsburgh has some wonderful trails within the city itself- particularly Frick Park, which is one of the best city parks in the country.  It also has access of about 70 minutes to the Laurel Highlands, which is stunning.  Redmond is still better though.  Redmond has Marymoor Park, which is pretty awesome, especially the dog park, and Snoqualmie Pass and other hiking trails is much closer, and some of the nicest hiking in the country.
4. Healthier eating culture.  Pittsburgh has some wonderful healthy restaurants, but the food is still substantially healthier in Redmond.  There are more health minded restaurants, and the grocery stores have more healthy options.  This is especially noticeable in Costco.  For example, the Costco in Kirkland has a large supply of gluten-free options.  Not that it's necessary to be gluten free by any means, but if one chose to be, it's easier to do so in the Redmond area.
5. Healthier peers.  One of my happiest moments so far practicing medicine was performing a neck injection in a woman in her 70s, and when I saw her in the post-op recovery area, her first question was "I feel great - can I go running tomorrow?"  I think the Bellevue/Redmond area probably has one of the highest densities of 70 year old runners in the world.

I loved Pittsburgh- great city, great people.  However, I think it's pretty clearly objectively true that it's easier to be healthy living in Redmond.