Massachusetts has plenty of temptations – donuts, chowdah, beer, and all kinds of goodies. Despite all that, a report shows that the residents of Massachusetts the least obese in the nation, second only to Colorado.

These stats come from the Trust for America's health, which notes that 19.8% of adults in the state are obese, and that number went up 1.2 percentage points from last year. 19.8% seems rather high, so if Massachusetts is doing well, then other states must be in trouble. For example, 30.6% of adults in Mississippi are obese, which makes them the Most Obese State.

While a Harvard prof said that the Massachusetts tendency to walk keeps our weight off, we think that dirty restaurants might curb our collective appetite. After looking at Boston NOW's regular listings of restaurant violations, we already knew that city restaurants weren't the most sanitary places in the world.

But the Globe made us nauseous with a recent expose of local restaurants. Intrepid Northeastern reporters Jennifer Nelson and Bobby Hankinson put out an article over the weekend telling us that upscale cuisine doesn't necessarily mean good cleaning practices. Nelson and Hankinson found that, of many local restaurants, Mistral was nasty, and restaurant inspectors are few and far between.

The only pricey restaurant that emerged from the article smelling like roses was Legal Sea Foods, which cemented the "Legal" in its name by following the food codes. Even Figs, owned by celeb chef Todd English, had "rodent droppings and a decomposed mouse."

Other restaurants on the nasty list include the Federalist (now closed), the Union Oyster House, and the JER-NE bar at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The Union Oyster House is also guilty of denial. It's owner said, "I take objection to the word 'rodent' … [Mice] are in the same family as squirrels." Tell that to a patron who felt queasy after eating at your establishment, sir.

Then again, maybe we should be thanking him. It's guys like that who keep the state's collective waistline on the svelte side.

Image of a bathroom scale from Amazon.