Do you believe North Americans are in an obesity crisis?

Where does the problem stem from?
What is the solution?

All ideas welcome.

Yes. Everywhere you look now... obesity... too much TV, internet, food tv, food porn, processed food.
The solution should start with parents and preschool, grammar school.

The problem stems from people being lazy, driving around everywhere, sitting on our couches watching t.v and eating our fast food. French fry anyone?

NO we just like good food.

I think everybody is.
Not just North Americans.

yes i do. and i think it's because of so many messages telling obese children to be "happy with who they are," "proud to be different," etc. don't get me wrong, i'm not saying they should have no self esteem, turn anorexic, and hate themselves, but i think that too much positive reinforcement could be just as harmful. obesity is a health issue and people who suffer from it should try to fix it for their own good.

Yes. We need to sue all fast food chains and all makers of crappy, partially hydrogenated junk food to recoup the costs obesity has on society (just like we've done with tobacco). That would be a good start.

We could follow up by outlawing all of it.

Yeah. Every kid I see nowadays is pale and fat... it's disgusting... it comes from our rich American lifestyle... I don't know what the solution is...

You know 2 out of every 3 Americans are overweight and 1 out of every 3 Americans is obese... it's getting embarrassing.

I think North America has more, bigger problems than obesity.

Yes, and I think it stems from this...Drive through a city and how many fast food places are you going to pass? A lot. Most fast food is cheap and a lot of people like it. And a lot of people hear are lazy and practically refuse to exercise. My friend has this little sister that's pretty fat and she cries constantly about it and every hour or two she will pop out of her room get some junk food and go right back to her room to eat in her bed. The only time she tries to eat healthy is when she goes to subway but she always get a tuna sub. Those are loaded with protein and she wont work out to burn it so it turns into fat. She claims she exercises but all she does is go for a 4 minute walk. Just a regular walk, no power walking or nothing. That's just pathetic to me. Is that not the definition of lazy?

Fat chance of that happening!

I think that defining the current obesity of North Americans as a crisis implies that there is enough data to support that conclusion. In other words, are the percentages of obese people that are published based on large enough samples to be representative? Also, is the current condition for North Ameircans similar or dissimilar to other population groups.

Individually, it would be a crisis if the person who was obese did not have the ability to change the condition if that person so elected. In my case, I have chosen to be obese at 620 pounds, am happy with my size and love being large. Do I fell I am in crisis? No. Do others - perhaps? However, it is my judgment that matters since I am the one affected.