US Obesity epidemic: do you agree that it is mainly a problem of city planning and people choice to live far?

away from town centers? Our society, except for in large urban areas, is designed so that we only need to walk from the door of our house to the door of our cars, then from the door of our cars to the door of whatever building whose parking lot we just parked in. Think about the design of the town or even small city you live in. Why do all those mega structures need to be built one story tall and each have their own gigantic parking lot?

I haven't noticed any one-to-one correlations, but I live in rural Tennessee. There are a lot of obese people here too, but there are also lots of thin ones. Some in-between. The main problem here is that these people either farm, which is backbreaking and often unrewarding work, or they have to take a job in a town that is a long drive away. There is no choice whether or not to take a closer job, because there ARE no closer jobs. Most people around here drive an hour to work on average. Thus, they spend most of their money on very expensive gasoline. They often have large families (a habit of farming families whose children often get off school to help in the fields); thus they have to make what's left stretch a looong way. Cheap, bulk foods are the order of the day, and they're more often than not unhealthy and high in fat. In the nearest town, there are no parking decks, but there is a high turnover in little, quaint shops that go quickly out of business. The illusion of gentility. People run yard sale shops out of their homes and then order McDonald's after a hard weekend morning's work selling secondhand junk. There's a health center in town (the best I've ever seen!), but most people who go there are old and undergoing rehabilitation after years of working on the line in grueling factory jobs. The nearest health food store is an hour's drive away. You can walk almost anywhere in that town, but there isn't really time for those who live there and commute elsewhere. They speed in off the highway, grab drive-thru food and take it home to the family. It adds up after awhile.

Maybe you could argue that the rise of "suburban sprawl" is responsible for obesity in some measure, but here in the rural South, sprawl has always been a feature of everyday life. It was in north Georgia also that I first noticed the phenomenon of the married couples who had one obese spouse and one really skinny one. Some react to deprivation conditions by stocking up, some by being nearly ascetic. Interesting, though...sorry for the length of this ramble!

I live in los angeles, honestly, more people walk here because the mass transit system sucks + the weather is almost always nice.

It has nothing to do with city planning, its a combination of things:

a) unhealthy, fast food is almost always cheap, and readily available. b) people have to work more (more hours, shifts, etc...) meaning, people are less inclined to worry about what's on their plate. c) the cost of food is constantly going up, yet, you can still get a double cheese burger for about $1.

Interesting question.

I think the processed, heavy in trans fat foods that are so easy to get a hold of (and cheaper these days) are also a factor.

That would only be a very small part of it. The answer is simple, the U.S. Farm bill and its subsidies. The piece of legislation makes corn and consequently High Fructose Corn syrup very cheap. Have you ever noticed how expensive it is to eat healthily? It is simply supply and demand and the relative unavailability of quality fresh wholesome foods.