A big problem (little pun)

[Halo299]

Hi all.

I know I am about to open a huge can of giant evil monster worms here, but here is the topic that I am opening up for discussion.

Obesity. Is it a problem? What are the social aspects of it?

As an American I live in a strange and bizarre land of opposites. You see when I turn on my TV or open a book, I and confronted by dozens of ultra hot skinny people (skinny does not = super hot, but seems like you need both to get on TV) But when I walk outside, I am confronted by people who are nether ultra hot nor skinny, in fact they are more likely to be on the opposite end of both scales.

So on one hand I live in TV America, but I also live in Fast Food America. And this makes things seem really, really odd.

So what is your take on the obesity epidemic?

* Is it really as bad as the health authorities claim, or are they just looking to sell books?
* Should larger people have to pay double for things like airplane seats?
* Is there a type of social discrimination against large people? Should there be?
* Can some people simply not control their weight?
* Will our culture just eventualy catch up and realize that not everyone is a size -3? should it have to?
* Has our culture done this to us to make us fat so that the health authorities can sell us books, and pills, and diet plans?

Talk among yourselves, I’ll check in later.

-halo

[Squidflakes]

* Is it really as bad as the health authorities claim, or are they just looking to sell books?
* Should larger people have to pay double for things like airplane seats?
* Is there a type of social discrimination against large people? Should there be?
* Can some people simply not control their weight?
* Will our culture just eventualy catch up and realize that not everyone is a size -3? should it have to?
* Has our culture done this to us to make us fat so that the health authorities can sell us books, and pills, and diet plans?

Talk among yourselves, I’ll check in later.

-halo

As a fat guy, I probably have a skewed vision of the problem, but I'll throw in my 4.5 cents, point by point.

1.) Is it as bad as the "authorities" say?

Yea, I think so. There are a LOT of fat asses out there, and the kids these days are just getting fatter and fatter. Jobs are becoming more and more chair-bound, hot, greasy, and cheap food is readily avaliable, and the average demands on ones time have been increasing steadily, making that horrible "food" all that much more attractive. Americans these days like the quick and easy solution, to a fault. Thus, I don't see the problem going away.

2.) Should larger people have to pay double for things like airplane seats?

Fuck no. I'd be tall and wide, even if I weren't fat. Making me buy an extra seat on an airplane is out and out discrimination (the bad, illegal kind).

3.) Is there a type of social discrimination against large people?

Without a doubt. The sad part, its completely legal and encouraged. I've lost out on several job opertunities because of my size, I've been turned down for dates, I've had health insurance issues (funny because I visit the doctor maybe once a year.. maybe), I've even been told I wouldn't enjoy eating at a particular resturant because "well, the portions probably wouldn't be enough for a big man like you."

3a.) Should there be?

Should people with tattoos, peircings, colored hair, sculpted bodies, or plastic surgery be discriminated against? Fuck no.

4.) Can some people simply not control their weight?

Some people just can't do it. Either from mental inability (most common) to physical limitation (far, far less common). Its these people that get hurt the most from fat discrimination. I know that I've made choices that caused me to be the huge fatass I am, and I accept that, but the people who can't control their weight don't have that luxury. Its like being born Black, Chinese, or Gay.

5.) Will our culture just eventualy catch up and realize that not everyone is a size -3?

Perhaps. There was a time when a big belly ment great wealth, so if we're ever to the point there only the rich can afford food, then hello popularity!

5a.) should it have to?

You can't force a society to do anything. Would I like people to accept the fact that toothpicks aren't attractive. Yes.

6.) Has our culture done this to us to make us fat so that the health authorities can sell us books, and pills, and diet plans?

Pffft. Marketing has done this to us. Both the fat, and the fear of fat.

[RavenxDrake]

Allow me to attempt to chime in on this first, though I've no doubt someone who types both less and faster will probably get an opinion in first.

Allow me to preface this with a disclaimer: I know from whence I speak, as I'm fat. I'm not portly or stout or chubby or large or any other euphamism. I'm fat. I"m fat cause I eat a bit too much and spend all day playing video games and watching TV and don't exercise. It's not glandular, it's not fucking society's fault, it's not genetic(unless love for homemade cheesecake and penne alfredo with shrimp is genetic). I'm perfectly aware that it's damageing my body, and I've made half-hearted attempts to fix it before, but honestly, it's not that big a deal to me, so I haven't yet mustered the strength of will to actually lose weight. But, that's neither here no there.

Yes, I think obesity is a problem in America... and there are numerous causes for and factors in that. First and foremost, it's not an "epidemic". You can't go outside and catch "fat", you don't get "fat" if you forget to wipe off a pulblic toilet seat. Fat comes from poor diet, lack of exercise, and ignorance of the importance of these two factors.

Diet: Let me get something off my chest. Diet is not a fucking VERB! It's a noun. It means "The sum total normal food and drink intake of an animal or person."(roughly). Yes, popular usage has made it not only a verb but a goddamn adjective now, but I'm with George Carlin on this one, "Fuck popular usage."

All of these "No carb, low car, grapefruit only, calorie buring cabbage soup, etc" diet bullshit is doing MORE damage to americans than being obese is. You must eat meat. Almost every day. You must eat fruits vegatables. Every day. You must eat grain. Every day. You should eat some fats every day. Yes I said "You should eat fats". Not drink a quart of Olive Oil, but eat fatty foods(some butter, some red meat, fish, etc). There are nutrients that are only properly carried by fats(such as HDL cholesterol, Omega 3 Fatty acids, vitamins D and E, etc) into the body, and the body needs some intake of naturally occuring fats to maintain proper health. It should be kept to healthy levels, but should not be excluded from your diet. If you have to take a vitamin with whatever your eating, baring certain natural defeciencies or conditions, then you're not eating right.

It's sad to say that people would rather punish themselves with some half-assed "atkins" nonsense than take the times to plan actual, balanced meals. Of course, the problem with that is that, since it WOULD be the proper use of Diet as noun, you would have to maintain that newly established eating regime pretty solidly for a long time to see results.

Exercise: This is where most fat folk, myself included, fall out of the weight loss wagon. To lose weight in a healthful fashion, YOU HAVE TO EXERCISE. It really is tha simple. Your heart must beat and your lungs must strain and your muscles must pull and work to make proper use of your energy. Exercise isn't necessary for losing weight... you can starve till your body beings eating itself to maintain energy... but that's not healthful weightloss. Exercises primary importance is in making your body burn fat for you. It makes you drink more water, which flushes toxins from your body anyway. It forces you to breath harder, which sends more oxygen to your body to replace what was used. It increases your metabolism and lean muscle mass, both of which use more energy than fatty tissue working and at rest. The end result is, whether you've lost weight or not, you are more healthy... though the chances of NOT losing weight if you are exercising is slim.

Note: It takes more than two weeks of exercising to work off the effects 6 years of the "Funyons and Raman washed down by warm Mt. Dew" diet. Stick to it.

Ignorance: THIS is the real reason that America is tipping the scales at the fat end of the chart... and the fault lies with with a wide swath of the populace... First and foremost, people themselves. They don't actually read or research or examine the problem... they listen to TV adverts that blame "Fat hormones" and "stress" and buy into the hype they create. They refuses to comprehend calorie intake and balanced nutritional guidelines, instead eschewing anything with any fat content, regardless of other danger factors(such as low vitamin/mineral content, or excessive sodium content). They take Ephedra and Caffine pills instead of exersing properly, hoping thier new nervous tick will twich away the pounds....

Of course, this is largely do to a serious lack of proper education in Health and wellness in schools, and a lack of proper dietary education at home.

All of that, of course, is compounded by the fact that it's freaking imposible to talk to someone intelligent about diet and weighloss. It's nearly impossible, in America at least, to afford necessary medical care, not only is preventive care like seeing a dietician or a... what are they, the muscular system experts... kinesthesiologists? to establish a proper regime of exersise and diet to prevent excessive obesity MORE expensive than the already too high costs of seeing a general practicioner, the vast majority of insurance policies don't even cover preventive health care...

Appearently it's cheaper to treat heart attacks and stroke in this country than to prevent them. Actually, to be more cynacal, it's cheaper to let 6 of 10 heart attack victims DIE and treat the others, than to offer preventative care to those 10 for obesity related health problems.

In the end, though, yeah, we're fat. Call it what you want, "end result of having too much money(compared to other nations)", "another symptom of the 'lazy American work ethic'" the fact is that, for whatever reason we GOT fat, we're only staying fat cause we want to(or, more succintly, because we don't want to change).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go make some carrot sticks. Sure, I'm gonna dip em in honey and penutbutter, but hey, we gotta start somewhere.

[Xnapalmxmorningx]

What concerns me is the rise in childhood obesity. With schools here in the states cutting gym classes due to a lack in funding and what not, the littuns are getting chunky.

When I was little soda (pop/ carbonated beverage chock full of high fructose corn syrup) was not allowed in the house or at dinner when we went out to eat and trips to the fast food joints were rare, (I think it helped to some extent that I got shit faced sick off of Mc Donalds once and steered clear of all fast food). But now I see these kids with these supersized meals and the jumbo sodas and I want to go up to them and tell them what is exactly in a Mc Donalds hamburger ( 60% ground meat from the states, 30% fat to give it a nice feeling on the tounge, and the kicker 10% meat from overseas)

The fast food joints got the alure of "filling food" at cheap prices, the siren song of the dollar menu.

I'd love it if the fast food joints would put on their food wrapers just what the nutrition facts for what ever you are eating.

One thing I think is kinda funny along these lines is the fact that they got Cookie Monster on the healthly lifestyle wagon.
http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2 ... veggie.asp

[Honor]

I'ma use your question headers, too, with color differentiation instead of quote boxes.

As an American I live in a strange and bizarre land of opposites. You see when I turn on my TV or open a book, I and confronted by dozens of ultra hot skinny people

Pretty much everything about "tv people" is idealized. We don't tend to notice it as much, but even the unemployed slackers on TV live in million dollar New York condos... And most of the characters are wealthy lawyers, doctors, designers, and so on. Not many TV characters working at Mickey D's for minimum wage.

* Is it really as bad as the health authorities claim, or are they just looking to sell books?

It's bad. It's worse than smoking, by quite a bit. Statistically speaking, if you smoke a pack a day from five years of age up, you'll only shave about four or five years off your life. Morbid obesity can easily cut your life in half.

* Should larger people have to pay double for things like airplane seats?

This shouldn't even enter discussion until they take up literally twice as much space as an "average" person. Even then, I don't think I can go along with it.

* Is there a type of social discrimination against large people? Should there be?

Hell yes there is, and hell no there shouldn't be.

* Can some people simply not control their weight?

Nowhere near as many as claim they can't, but yes... Some very few. Just like there's such a thing as migraines... But only maybe 1% of people who say <foamy rant voice> "Ow! I have a migraine!" </foamy rant voice> have ever had one.

Most people are overweight because, compatred to the genetic stock they're evolved from, they are completely sedentary.

* Will our culture just eventualy catch up and realize that not everyone is a size -3? should it have to?

The social image of (different) has fluctuated and will continue to do so for all of human history / future. Fat used to be uber secksay... Now, not so much. It's not fair, but humans are, by and large, shallow, petty creatures.

* Has our culture done this to us to make us fat so that the health authorities can sell us books, and pills, and diet plans?

No. It's a nice conspiracy theory, and I like it, but no. We're fat because life is outrageously easy and food is outrageously plentiful. (I know... Life doesn't seem 'easy' to some of us, but when was the last time you were chased by a lion? When's the last time you had to chase your food down and kill it with your hands and teeth or a sharp stick? This is where our bodies are coming from, evolutionarily speaking.)

Technology and societies evolve at light-speed compared to the rate of biological evolution. If we stay where we are, or continue to develop more and more technology in terms of making life easy and food plentiful, then theoretically people will evolve to make far less efficient use of food... As counter-intuitive as that may sound. Those who's bodies are more selective about the value they take from food, only taking the very best bits and harmlessly shedding the rest in the form of... well, you know... will be at a significant advantage to those of us who's bodies are still on the game plan from 20,000 years ago, gleaning and storing every little bit of nutritional value from everything we eat.

Diet: Let me get something off my chest. Diet is not a fucking VERB! It's a noun. It means "The sum total normal food and drink intake of an animal or person."(roughly). Yes, popular usage has made it not only a verb but a goddamn adjective now, but I'm with George Carlin on this one, "Fuck popular usage."

*high-fives Raven Drake*

This's all I'm sayin'.

The whole post was very good, but this is the part I just had to grin and smile about. "Popular useage" is the root of the de-evolution of language, and thus responsible for the degraded capability of human beings to communicate ideas effectively with one another.

[Kingofthemorlocks]

POW, BITCHEZZ!

http://www.bigfatfacts.com/

Being something of a lardass myself (I just had to run out and buy more shorts, because I discovered only one of the four pairs of shorts I had with me from last summer fit) I prefer not to be descriminated against for my ample belly and, in the worlds of the Glorious NB, "birthin' hips", to be honest. That's why I support NAAFA.

[Honor]

...They ASSUME that if we get heart disease or breast cancer, it is because we're fat.

Yep... And then a different set of conformity nazis jump up and claim those same deaths must be because of smoking.

Morbid obesity is a killer... "Chubbiness" isn't the least bit dangerous.

[Aeridus]

My one major comment: I think it ludicrous when people blame entire food chains for causing them to be fat...

There's nobody holding a gun to your head forcing you to eat at the worst places possible. >.< And even still, there are healthy foods available at McDonalds as well. Personally, I only eat a Whopper from burger King like once every two eeks now... I've beena lot better at not pigging out on unhealthy burgers.

Mainly, too many Americans are too lazy to care about their own well-being.

Now, there are some people who are naturally obese and I respect that, I know that kind of obesity tends to be due to genetic survival. People whose great ancestors lived in the Himalayas needed that fat to survive. ;P It's the people who eat ridiculous amounts of food and then act surprised when they gain weight that bother me.

[Toawa]

As Carlos Mencia put it, "Either be happy being fat, or lose weight."

I don't think there's enough consideration of stress put into the equation.

It is definately a moral panic. (Which reminds me of a Reason article, about how Hardee's managed to piss off both the Left and the Right at the same time with their thickburger ads. The Left because it's a 1500 calorie hamburger and the Right because of Pamela Anderson, the burger, and nothing else...)

I also think there's a lot of false dichotomies out there; it seems to me that in a lot of people's minds, you're either fat due to bad diet and little excercise (for the purposes of this argument, I refer to all activities, not just those that our culture has deemed "excercise".), or not fat due to good diet and lots of excercise. I don't know how many people would consider that perhaps that non-fat person has a terrible diet and does quite a bit of excercise. (Like me, relatively speaking. My diet over the last year, in terms of quality, has probably gone down since I got the job as a pizza driver, yet I've lost 15 pounds, because I'm not sitting in front of the computer 6-8 hours a day anymore.)

There is definately a moral panic out there, and it is doing much more harm than good. Every message is tinged with hints of "being fat is a moral offense", which leads to righteous indignation, and some people don't do those things that might lead to better health simply because they think that would be agreeing with the merchants of moral panic. Hence the booming advertisement for "lose weight quick" pills. (Which annoy me to no end.)

(Personally, I ascribe this to a growing cultural confusion (in all senses of the word) of the concepts of "causal responsibility" and "blame". Because of this, it is hard for some people to differentiate between "Friendly Advice" and "Accusatory Command".)

That being said, there has been some research to suggest that there may be more at play then commonly believed. While the research has been quite prelimenary, they have found viruses which cause weight gain as a principle symptom. They have cited, as evidence, increasing weight averages in the world population, even in areas with little food supply.

Remember, we used to think stress caused ulcers, until we found the strain of bacteria that actually caused them.

[Shirt Guy Xom]

First of all, I can tell you right now that I have been on airplanes where the guy next to me, quite literally, could not fit in between the armrests. If it were not for the fact that there we available seat for me to move to, there would have been no room for me on that flight. He took up half my seat, because he got there first and lifted up the armrest.

It's unfair to me that I should not be able to sit in the seat that I paid for. Now whether they need to make "fat" seats or whatever I don't know.

Now, people need to get their heads out of the dirt on obesity, I would say. Sure, there is a genetic component to it, but that's just like there is a genetic component to alchoholism. That's does not give you permission to live like a slob and not accept the blame for the effects.

Being a man of very small frame, I suppose nobody wants to listen to some of the things I say about this.

I suppose some of the problem can be attributed to our new sedetary lifestyle, and the advent of suburbs certainly did not improve the situation. However, simple things such as taking walks, cooking your own food when possible, and getting water instead of soda, while they might not start stripping off the pounds, will improve the health of ANY person.

Another thing, skinny people have heart attacks, become diabetics, and all that jazz too. We are rotting from the inside, fat or no.

Somewhere I saw that, statistically, fat people live longer....[/i]

[Jackalope]

Keep in mind that more than half the medications out there list "weight gain" as a possible side effect. Some of 'em really mean "serious weight gain" in the "over 50 pounds" category. The biggest offenders are antidepressants, which is a nice catch-22 situation all in itself. Birth control pills are big offenders, as well as allergy medications and sleeping pills (Ambien and Lunesta are increasingly popular among the "not enough time to sleep" working set). So while attempting to "treat" some of the ills of living in a high-stress society, we may be adding to another one of those ills all unaware.

When you think about how common prescriptions for antidepressants, hormonal birth control and antihistamines are, and that antidepressants at least are becoming even more common, we've got another hidden factor that adds to the obesity "epidemic."

Me, I'm a fat gimp. I'm on meds that cause heinous weight gain, I can't exercise, and the disease itself has whacked my endocrine system in ways that we're still trying to figure out. "Eat less" isn't much of an option because if I don't eat when I take all these pills, I throw them back up. This is not a recommended method of weight loss even for healthy people, it'd put me back in the hospital. The only way I'm going to lose weight is to get off some of the more evil meds (trying, I just had an allergic reaction to I don't know what--this happens when I get the cortisone dose too low). Believe me, I'd love to go back to being 100 pounds lighter than I am now. It'd solve a lot of problems.

[Chaszmyr Mae'Val]

I've recently had to be losing weight, thanks to the fact that I do like my food and I have had a couple of sedentary jobs (lots of sitting). I also have only half a thyroid and a hiatus hernia, so my metabolism is a bit skewed. Before that operation I used to have issues with underweight - at one point I was only 7 stone And it is frightening to look at how much crap they put in food these days to make it tastier. Tesco is the worst culprit, they put so much salt in everything it's a wonder I haven't keeled over yet from sodium poisoning. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with being portly - I know, I married a fat guy and I still am with said guy - but being very overweight isn't that good for anyone and there's not enough being done to just add less junk to food. Home cooking has almost died a death here in the UK, and there is a huge issue with school dinners. And I see a lot of fat children these days, wheezing their way down the street because their mothers feed them burger and chips every meal and don't encourage exercise. School dinners have been crap for so long, and I'm not upset that although it's taken a celebrity chef to do it, something's being done. I have no problem with obesity being a lifestyle choice, but that's really what it should be - a choice. I went mental when I heard a story about a local school sending out letters to the parents of their pupils about new, healthier food options at lunchtimes, complete with a menu - and one parent wrote back with the comment 'Feed my kids REAL fucking food!' (meaning burger and chips, sausage and chips, chips and chips, lard and chips, etc.)

I have however discovered something wonderful for my current lifestyle - last night we were adventurous and ate Bosnian food! Lots of veg and meat, and the hernia didn't flip out at the quantity or taste, it was quite low fat. Yummy

[Honor]

the burger bandwagon mystifies me more than a little...

I mean, it's a fucking beef sandwich, people. It has beef and vegetebles and bread and some cheese on it. Sure... There are places, here and there, where you can still get one that's incredibly greasy, but they make fairly lean ground beef, too. And chips? (fries for the Americans) Those are potatoes... In an almost pure form. No vile mysterious poisons here... Just carbs. Again... If you look hard enough, you can still fnd some that are very greasy, and cooked in some less than healthy oils or fats... But most of them, today especially, are plenty healthy.

These wheezing kids (or their wheezing adult parents)...? If they'd turn of the damned tele now and then, log off the internet, turn of the x-box or play station and actually do something, they could quite happily eat burgers - and we're not talking nice, healthy McDonalds or Burger King fare here, but nice fat grease burgers, three times a day, for the rest of their lives and live to be 80 or 90.

A guy named Covert Baily put it pretty damned succinctly once upon a time... He said something like: Ask a fat person what they eat, and they'll tell you "I try to eat healthy, watch my fats and carbs, not eat too many calories, etc". Ask a skinny person what they eat... they'll tell you, almost without exception, "Whatever I want."

Now ask the fat person what they're doing later. It might be like "I'm going to try to do some walking." but more likely, honestly, it;s going to be "watch some tv and go to bed." Now ask the skinny person, what are you doing later? The answer will be something like "Oh, nothing. I'm going to walk my dog down to the park and play some frisby with her, then after I walk her back home, I'll ride my bike to a friends house and play a little basketball," etc, etc, etc.

I'm a pretty big proponant of figuring out the natural reasons people, and things about people, work the way they do... As opposed to trying to make up unnatiral reasons, because we have to think of ourselves as -so- unique in nature.

News flash... We're animals. Just like all the other animals. Our bodies evolved this way for good reasons. If you want to stay fit, do it the way the rest of the animals do it. Don't try to exercise for the sake of exercise... it's boring as all hell and it rots your mind. Just go outside and play. That's what every other higher animal on the planet does with extra food energy. Watch a dog or a cat or a lion or horse or bear... Not one that's been surgically altered to be more sedate, so as not to offend our civilized nature, but a real one. Regularly... Regularly, you'll see them just running around, acting like an idiot, playing.

Don't think about reps or pulse rates or anything else half as much as you think about just having a good time. Hang gliding, competitive sports, team sports, sex, horseback riding, hiking, climbing, walking, fencing, karate, kayacking, bicycling, SCA swordfighting... what the fuck ever... just go out and have fun sweating your ass off. Hell... You don't even have to sweat much. Just -move- once in a while.

I'm a lovely source of data for myself here... All my life I've been active, and fit. Martial arts, horses, bikes, walking, hiking, camping, fucking, playing with my dogs... And for the last few years, I've been doing more and more sitting on my ass, and less and less getting out and playing. And I'm getting fat. I'm finding I don't fit into some of my jeans so well anymore... And I don't have the stamina I used to have... And I don't have the strength I used to have... And I'll be god mary damned if I'm going to let it get out of control... And I'll be even more god mary damned if I'm going to start eating celery sticks and fruit bats. I'll continue to eat beef, and chicken, and rice, and pasta, and potatoes, and whatever I want... Just like I always have.

But I better by god get off my ass and start playing again.

wow. rant off. obviously that was as much for me as anyone else... the last part, anyway. I am sick of people vilifying burgers, though.

[Wilmo]

honor wins!

[Goddessmisca]

honor wins!

Can I be the prize?

[Aeridus]

I agree with Honor... it's quite possible to eat whatever the heck you want as long as you get plenty of exercise. I'm no poster child for exercise myself, but I've been working on at least walking an hour everyday, just walking to the library or something like that.

Of course, it's generally a good idea to avoid eating pure lard right out of the container, but then I eat cookies in my room and butter my toast generously and have a burger once a week and I'm staying at a decent 155 for poundage. I could weigh less, but it's a lot healthier than I've been for a long time and I'm feeling much better as a result.

[Squidflakes]

Eh, sucking down McDonalds every meal is going to give you a cholestorol problem, no matter how much excercise you get.

[Queenhank]

Sucking down ANY one food every meal is going to give you health problems, which is why I am so wary of the meat-heavy Atkins diet.

[Honor]

Yeah... Atkins just doesn't sound like thinking...

I can't agree on the MacDonald's front, though. That's not "any one food"... it's chicken, beef, vegetebales, dairy, eggs, fruit, etc, etc, etc.

Even if we take "sucking down McDonalds every meal" to mean you're only allowed to have the same meal... let's say... A Big & Tasty, large fries, side salad, and a coke (or a strawberry shake on your birthday)... With proper exercise, your biggest long term problem is going to be dietary boredom.

[Nithos]

Any diet that consists of much outside of "increase usage of calories, decrease intake of calories" is yankin' your schwanz. That's the be all and end all of weight loss. A little more detail is required to deal with different health issues, i.e. high cholesterol, high blood pressure, low fiber, whatever, but it's a simple formula to lose weight (not a simple ACT, just the directions are simple). Having been a weight yo-yo for years myself (though never on the underweight side, always between healthy and fatassed), I can attest that you can eat whatever you want if you're active enough; during basic the food was horrible for you - vegetables are not ment to be transparent, nor should everything taste like bacon and salt, except where it tasted like butter - but burning that many calories, I dropped a good bit of weight. Of course, I gained a good chunk of it back when I returned to civilian life and no longer jogged more than I walked in a day, and no longer did pushups at the whim of the ever-present-eye-of-god-in-a-big-brown-hat that is a drill sergeant.

As to the actual situation of more people being fat, I think the modern lifestyle works in a lot of ways to encourage it. The big money is in cheap, addicting food like high fructose corn syrup loaded water-with-dye, salty foods to sell more soda, selling bigger portions so people come to expect more and simply eat more in a day than they would otherwise (you can choose not to eat more when served more, but it's not in human nature to do so; dietarily we're adapted as scavengers and bone pickers more so than hunters, our ancestors that survived to give birth to us are the ones that ate whatever, whenever possible - studies of people unknowingly being monitored eating M&M's show that handed a larger bag, they ate at a faster rate, regardless of hunger... [wow, this isn't going to be formatted very reader friendly] so it has to be very consciously decided to not eat what's put in front of you, and you have to know better and get past any rationalizations to do so). Walkable neighborhoods are less and less common, everything's planned out as being withen driving distances (or riding distances, if you prefer public transit), and when kids DO go out and play in cities, they're always being chased away, and no skateboarding/skating signs are everywhere... let the little punks have their fun!

Yeah, I kinda threw out cohesiveness there, but I don't feel like editing.