US Obesity Epidemic: Your opinions please?

I recently posted a question about this and asked if people didn't agree that it is mostly caused by our city planning, and the ideal that everyone should live out away from urban centers, and basically only need to walk from the front door, to the car, then to the car to the door of whatever building, and most people answered that it was the food we eat. Well I've lived half of my 30 odd years in various parts of Europe, and the other half in the US, and I can tell you first hand that the food is not that different, and people young and old eat high fat, high carbohydrates, McDonalds, fast food and sodas, just like Americans. The only real difference I see is how we structure our towns and small cities, and how much Europeans, because of a lack of space, are forced to walk so much. Believe me, if you haven't been to Europe, its too inconvenient to drive and park everywhere you need to shop, go to the bank, pharmacy, work, school etc... You save time by walking, so everyon does it.

You have a point vis-a-vis Europe vs. the US. There are more wide-open spaces in the US; cities are bigger, more spread out; the countryside is vast. Maybe we should be compared to Russia and surrounding ex-Soviet territories or perhaps China. But Europe would have to be squeezed much more tightly together; thus walking to all destinations in a city might be doable. An interesting case in point for "squeezed together" is the extreme example of Japan. Living space is at a premium there, and while the Japanese are still less obese than Americans, they and many other countries are slowly catching up. It isn't just the city planning but a fundamental shift in the way consumerism has taught us to eat.

umm im pretty sure that food is why you get fat. if you didnt eat fatty foods and didnt exersise you would still be skiinny my sister is what i would call a teeny bopper so she has to stay skinny to have the right look but she hates exersising. she stays away from mcdonalds and what not and she is skinny. and i highly doubt that europeans eat as much junk food as america america has junk coming out its rear end. although america is very lazy your right on that and most likely that plays a big role in it but they are basicly pretty even when it comes to making you fat