complex question but lets remember that 20 lb overweight and you are now “obese” which was not always the case.

The problem is that most Americans no longer eat Whole Foods. They eat processed food. Which is filled with unnatural chemicals. These chemicals disturb the Metabolism and slow it down. Many people no longer get any exercise on a daily basis. They do not walk any place.
Technology allows them to prepare males and live life without much physical labor.
Read Ultra Metabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman.

Yes, a loaded question indeed.

- Our diets are out of control. We eat what we want and when we want and it’s usually loaded with fats and calories. Not to mention, a lot of our food is pumped full of different chemicals or created with a quantity over quality formula. There’s such a high demand for food but only a limited amount of time and resources. Other cultures have a more balanced diet and eat more naturally, though obesity has been on the rise in various other nations as well.

- We’re too darn lazy or too intimidated to exercise. Some people simply dont care how they look, others do but “can’t find the time”. Most are just too afraid to even enter a gym (which is boggling to me because that’s why they exist in the first place, for physical health). Some are too afraid to run outdoors, or they hate it. Others make excuses and what not.

The feeling of entitlement:
Children expecting their parents to pay for luxuries & gizmos, cars, parties and college tuition.
Adults expecting complimentary retail services.
Workers expecting paid benefits from employers.
Lovers expecting a harmonious coupledom while doing all they can to live as singles.
People expecting the govt. to take care of their sick or elderly parents.

The food industry is largely to blame. Portion sizes have gotten huge. Plates have gotten larger.

Corn syrup is put in everything.

Food is too highly processed.

Add to that that with cars our amount of exercise has gone down, down, down.

It needs more cowbell ;)

And yes… more cowbell!

People have to take control of their own lives. We all know processed foods are bad, but they are easy. Or so it is perceived, actually fresh is just as easy but instead of opening a box you have to buy individual ingredients and actually put them together! It is no more expensive to eat fresh either, that is another misconception.

Stop blaming the media, the fast food restaurants, the world, take charge of your own life. No one is forcing anyone to eat poorly.

I think people who eat that way feel they are taking control of… something. Notice the people who usually have these issues: teenage girls. They think that they have no control over their lives and when they can’t handle the inevitable disappointments, they believe the only thing they have control over is how and what they eat. Kids need to be taught that, even in the best of circumstances, even if you’ve done everything “right”, sometimes things can still go wrong – and this is OK, this is life! All one can do is the best they can do, and then let it go.

Now, who teaches that to kids in this country at all? With examples, so that kids understand this as completely as a kid with average intelligence can? Maybe kids do get this and are ignoring it, but I know when I was a kid, I didn’t get his massage from anyone, and I had to learn it myself. I didn’t have any eating disorder, however.

@rooeytoo Amen.

Notice whenever there is a problem, people point fingers in virtually every direction… every direction but their own.

@aprilsimnel – I agree with your assessment when it comes to bulimia, anorexia, etc. but that doesn’t really address the obesity situation. Although I think parental input should be the largest influencer. And I think in terms of health care that is a much bigger and far reaching problem because it affects so many more people and is costing everyone more in health insurance costs as well as tax wise for medicare and medicaid.

Nothing. People are individuals. If they don’t eat like you they are not automatically a member of a disorder club. I’m tired of hearing people do this, about a myriad of things, not just food/diet.

Obviously America is ruled by the media. At least “younger” people usually are. Are there a bunch of huge people on the television? No.
Are models thin? No.
Who wants to have flabby arms or cellulite, when a person’s favorite model doesn’t? Its idol worship feeding on the impressionable.

Also, men are getting absolutely terrible. The rude, terrible men don’t want a fat girl. They want someone ideal. This sets more standards on what women “need” to be to be happy, get married, have children, etc.

It might be most of us are post depression children and raised by grandparents and parents who have an idea that children should never go hungry, never even pang for hunger and that it’s almost a social embarassment if your kids or you yourself say, “I’m hungry”. Part of the modern world expects us to be beyond hunger and poverty so I think we all eat round the clock to ensure we never become “poor or needy”. Food is the easiest and most accessible comfort and also status so it’s the easiest to abuse.