Very true. I watched the original Bad News Bears recently (filmed 1976). The catcher was the token fat kid, but nobody would give him a second look today.
Unfortunately, we have become a very fat nation and it's still getting worse. I'd be interested to see what the fattest countries are. I think Somoa is probably fatter than the US, but I honestly can't think of another country I would suspect is as fat as we are.

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

http://www.mibazaar.com/fattestcountries.html

According to this link, the top 7 obese countries are all little countries in Micronesia. #8 is Kuwait, and the US is #9.

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

Indeed! But I'm obnoxious, arrogant, loud mouthed, and opinionated enough for a man twice my height. Anyway, chicks dig short, stocky with a beer gut and a receding hair line...or so I tell myself.

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Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day. To know me is to love me, I must be a hell of a man. Oh lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can.

He He He, 5'10" here ETC, 232lbs. (as of wed.). 39 Yrs old, with the exact same views on what women dig.
Hey, I told my woman 10 years these were my aspirations, so she molded her expectations accordingly. Mind you, she is 107lbs, 5'5" with double C's (God has given unto me what I used to spank off to [thank you lord])

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

While I have been the same weight as ETC before, I have a full inch height advantage; so I wore it well!

Even at a svelt 200 lbs, some charts classify me as obese. I am too active, and my body fat too low for that classification IMHO. But whatever they want.

The people of the listed states often eat the wrong things, and at the wrong times. Much of it is ignorance, and that also ties in with socio-economics, I'm quite sure.

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"I'll rap you with my cane; you pencil necked geek!!"

-Bowler, imitating Freddy Blassie, at the very first M & G.

Well I've got none of them.

I'm tall, skinny, full head of hair, and nice, and not so loud sometimes.

I kinda want to meet you one day then.

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guilty of overthinking, but...

accrossthelines made a great comment about how what used to be regarded as fat 30-40 or so years ago is now regarded as pretty much normal in the US. According to Forbes, the only countries fatter than the US are 7 tiny little countries in the south Pacific and Kuwait.
What happened? How did we get here and what do we do about it?

Of course, the obvious answer on an individual basis is to stop consuming more calories than you burn. But how did we get here as a nation? Let's discuss. Here's a few thoughts in no particular order.

** Soft drinks (non-diet), artificially sugared juice drinks, and now most energy drinks, and even sugared coffee provide a big percentage of many people's daily caloric intake. There are Coke machines in many, if not most, public schools! We should drink more water.

** Nutrition is not regarded as anywhere near a core curriculum in schools. Back in my day, what little nutrition "education" we got was mostly wrong. The 4 major food groups are not meat, dairy, grains and vegetables. Natalie Portman is a vegetarian, and she looks pretty slim and healthy to me! The 4 food groups are protein, fat, complex carbohydrates and fiber. Those are the building blocks that we need to balance individually based on our lifestyles.

** The US meat/dairy industry is a powerful force. "Pork - the Other white meat", "Got Milk?", "Beef, it's what's for dinner"

** More inactivity due to technology such as video games, internet, 500 channels of TV. We used to spend more time playing sports and doing stuff outdoors.

** Less physical activity due to technology such as snow blowers, leaf blowers, chain saws, etc. We'd be better off shoveling that snow, raking those leaves, splitting the firewood, and mowing our yards ourselves.

** Maybe we hit a critical mass for obesity. Nowadays if someone becomes obese, he/she will still look like 30% of the people in this country. It's no longer a stigma.

** Political correctness negates constructive commentary on obesity. Of course genetics can play a part, but chances are fewer people would be obese if we didn't pussyfoot around this issue, and we were more willing to confront people when they start getting out of hand, weightwise.

** There is calorie-rich high fructose corn syrup in all kinds of stuff where it doesn't belong, especially in products targeted for kids.

** Poor parenting can allow kids to dictate their own diet. If my niece's cousin doesn't want brocolli or whatever, she just won't eat it. Then daddy makes her a hot dog and mac & cheese. If I complained about dinner, my mom would just say, "fine. you can eat crackers." And she wasn't kidding.

** This may be a reach. I bet the average weight of NFL players has grown even faster than in US society at large. If an average Joe weighs 250, there are still a few QB's who weigh more, let alone players at other positions, and they are pretty good athletes, obviously. Average Joe doesn't realize that those NFL guys are in 50 times better shape than he is.
(this gets back to Skyline and Howie's point about the flaws of the BMI calculation - we'd be better off thinking in terms of percentage of body fat)

So what should be done? I don't know. Maybe the airlines should start charging passengers by the pound? I keed!
One thing that comes to mind for me is that my company-provided health insurance was totally willing to charge me more for being a smoker. That was one of the reasons I stopped. But they have never asked me how much I weigh, and I've been with them for years. That leads me to believe my rates are higher because of the complications, diabetic and otherwise, associated with people they insure who weigh too much.

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This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
--Emerson

The biggest issue with America is fast food and portioning sizes.

Out portions are twice to three times bigger than the normal, and people overindulge because food is so accessible here.

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Oh I know, its amazing how much people plow through fast food. It really isn't that filling either. Plus it drives me nuts how much garbage these FF joints create.

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"...they came down into the stands and asked if I knew how to do play by play. I said...No. But. I'll take a shot at it if you want".- Rick Jeanneret

Carlos Mencia did a skit once about the problems in America as compared to years ago...Today we "just lower the standards." And we have. Morally, physically, mentally, educationally, everything across the board, we just lower the standards so that we are not "offending" lazy fat asses. It cracks me in a parking lot, the handicap spaces are for fat asses because they cant make it to the door. They waddle over to one of those go carts, but I get pissed off because I have to move out of their way as they are carting in the middle of the aisle. Meanwhile an ancient guy and his wife have parked in the back of the parking lot because they want the exercise.

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I try to think, but nuttin happens.......Curley Howard
There is no past as it exists merely as a slippery bond tying the memories of the past to the dreams of the future.............Me
If we started life as an old person and lived until we were young, we would eventually finish off fucked as an orgasm.......George Carlin

As someone who is just learning how to eat correctly, I can tell you that the main problem for me was realizing what an acceptable portion size is.

When you go to a restaurant and order a meal, what they put in front of you is something that you naturally deem acceptable, as you see everyone else eating their meals.

Problem is, everywhere you go out to eat, portions are grossly oversized.

Take Panara for example. Their half sandwich is as large as a whole sandwich you make at home. But because it's called a half sandwich, people think it's not enough food.

I think that health class in high school should have a big section on eating properly and portion sizes, because it's not something most parents teach in the home.

A great homework assignment would be forcing students to log their food consumption for the duration of that class so they can really see how many calories they're taking in versus how much they're burning.

That'd be a great wake up call.

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Wheelhouse

It's definitely filling, as it makes you uncomfortable after you eat it, but it's definitely not satisfying.

It's like your body knows you just ate something no good.

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Wheelhouse

If you saw Mencia do it, I wonder who did it first.

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Wheelhouse

Well, I'm all about the Big and Tasty sandwich.

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"...they came down into the stands and asked if I knew how to do play by play. I said...No. But. I'll take a shot at it if you want".- Rick Jeanneret