Why have so many Americans become Obese?

[monster]

Attitudes/lifestyles.

As a Brit in the US (been here 5 years), I still find myself amazed by the unhealthy lifestyles... and it's not as if the Brits are the health gurus of the 2000s!

OK, many US cities are set up so you have to drive to shop etc... but..... we went to a New Year's Party half a mile away and walked. All the other guests lived closer, had driven and were surprised that we had walked. Habit is not always a good thing. It has to be said, we walked because we wanted to drink alcohol, alcohol is much more of a taboo over here, but none of those driving home abstained. I'd much rather they'd been up front about drinking and walked.

Americans "exercise" more than Brits (imo), but they eat more, and a larger percentage of what they eat is highly processed. A standard meal at Applebees would feed a Brit family of four over a weekend. Brits "get more exercise" because they walk a lot.

American society is more "PC", and so being large is more socially acceptable (except in Hollywood), so it takes longer before people realise thay have a weight problem, then it's harder to fix. And more allowances are made if you are obese. You can get scooters in the stores and disabled parking advantages, neither of which help you work it off...

The cynic in me says the insurance system here is also partially to blame. There's no profit in healthy thin people......