I think it is the results of TV commercials.

The long-term solution may be to ban unhealthy food from any TC commercials, but I doubt that it will happen in the US, where is still no universal health care system.
No wonder the average age in the US is falling.

I think a major part of the problem is the portions. I've noticed that wherever I go, I always get the small meal. Once I got a small blizzard at Dairy Queen and couldn't eat the whole thing! It got me wondering how anybody could eat a large. At any restaurant where they offer a smaller meal, it's always my first choice.

My mom told me about how she and her sister could walk to the park, the movie theater, etc. and her parents would just tell her to be home by dark. Now I can't even leave the neighborhood without getting in a car! It's not like I can, though. I live right by the highway, so there's no real path to take anywhere. I can ride my bike to friends' houses, but nothing much farther.

It's a combination of a lot of reasons why we Americans are on average, more fatter or unhealthier than our international neighbors.

-First, junk food and fast food just taste so good. LOL It's high in all of the bad stuff for your bodies but that what makes it so delicious.

-Then, it looks delicious. You eat with your eyes before your mouth and this is definately the case. The food looks fresh and appetizing and it makes you want to eat them, especially with those bright and overpowering colors attracting the younger audience's attention.

-It smells good. No one wants to eat something that smells awful.

-It's cheap and very accesiable. You don't have to empty your wallet or travel to Timbuktu to get fast food. Plus, a lot of the healthier places are too expensive or too far away so people just don't have the funds or time to eat healthier.

-It's very disportioned. We get way more than we're supposed to for such a cheap price. Eating too much of anything will make you gain weight, even healthy food. People think just that you have a salad, that you can pile up on lettuce, oils, sauces, and toppings.

-We've grown up eating unhealthy food. Our grandparents ate fast food, our parents ate it, we eat it, and your future genrations will probably eat it too. Trying to eat something good for us is such a challenge that most people just give up.

-Unhealthy food tends to fill you up more than healthier food once you've been so hooked to the bad stuff. Bread, cheese, lettuce, and tomato won't fill me up, I need so real food! LOL

-Healthy food just generally taste awful. Especially organic foods. I was in a grocery store one time and I spotted 'Meatless Meatballs'. WTF?!? I've tried healthy cereals, bars, juices, all types of stuff and all of them were disgusting.

I agree with most of what you said here, but it is so not true that fastfood fills you up more or for longer than healthier food. For example, on Saturday I had a McDonalds for lunch at about 2 o clock; by 3.30 I was hungry again. Now I would never say that I'm by any way skinny or virtuous about what I eat, but I definitely don't usually eat and then feel hungry an hour and a half later - especially as I hadn't even been doing anything to exert myself and therefore make me hungry. So, I guess what I'm saying is that, for me, I find the exact opposite of what you said, which is probably a factor in the obesity rates, not just for America (I'm from England), but for everywhere that eats fast food regularly. We eat a McDonalds or KFC or whatever and then feel hungry again a while later so we have to eat again, whereas if we'd eaten something healthier in the first place we would be full up til our next meal.

I wish! But yes, we have McDonalds, Burger King, Max and several other fast-food chains in Europe.Generally people eat healthier food, though. But kids growing up here nowadays will rather live of fast-food and pizza, so I guess they will be overweight too, your just a bit ahead of us in the US.

I have a theory that people in Europe eat more fish. Im not sure. Fish just doesnt make you gain any.