In a report released last fall by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), the United States is the fattest of 33 countries. Mexico and New Zealand are next runners up with India and Indonesia the thinnest.
Luckily the report didn't break US obesity down state by state or we'd have further shame.
Seventy percent of Americans are now overweight says the report, a number which will balloon into 75 percent by 2020, pun intended.
And ten years after that? By 2030, 86 percent of Americans could be overweight says an article in the journal Obesity.
Food researchers indict the couch and mouse lifestyle with its ubiquitous commercials for high cal foods for expanding haunches, especially in kids. After all, it's been decades since moms locked kids outside with a bottle of water and the instructions "don't come back until dinner." Nor did kids have cells. One grandmother says she took the grandkids to the seashore only to find they wouldn't leave the motel room because of their electronic priorities.
But the demise of the family dinner is also a factor says the Star-Tribune. Structured, please-pass-the peas family meals -- anybody remember? -- gave a sense of safety and security to children at the same time they modeled normal eating. When someone's dinner date is the TV, they often scarf and scarf the wrong food because they lose track \ or no one is watching.
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