On Jan 6, 10:46*am, Dave Smith > wrote:
> On 04/01/2011 1:08 AM, phaeton wrote:
>
> > It has been my understanding for about a decade that the growing
> > obesity problem in the U.S. has pretty much had a 1:1 counterpart in
> > Canada. *Canada reports it less (their news is less about
> > sensationalism) but generally all the same bad lifestyle habits that
> > the U.S. has developed in the last 25-30 years, Canada has also
> > adopted.
>
> There is no doubt in my mind that kids seems to be a little fatter these
> days. I think that where we differ is in the really, really, really fat
> people.
>
> I am not going to say that Americans are fatter than Canadians or than
> Europeans. A lot of Americans are very fit, or appear to be. *The thing
> that puzzles me is the number of really, really fat people. *Within
> minutes of crossing the border I see people way fatter than you usually
> see here. I mean, absolutely huge. I don't know how people allow
> themselves to get that fat. *Maybe I should rephrase that to allowing
> their loived ones to get that fat, because people the size I am thinking
> of do not do it on their own. They are enabled.
>

True. I'm not exactly in tip-top shape myself, but I'm certainly not
grotesque.

On the very rare occasions that I shop at Wal-Mart though, (because I
have to, not because I want to) I find that I'm often the thinnest
person in the store. I mean, whole families whose BMI is probably in
the upper 40s and stuff. I never buy the "its my genes" thing when
people are that huge. I look in their cart and I see stuff like hot
pockets, hamburger helper, bags of chips and several 24-packs of
soda. No actual 'food'. The last time I was there it was a mother
and her two daughters. All three of them were on scooters, and the
mother was on oxygen. I can't imagine what a pathetic existence that
would be.