Fat Americans: Advertiser's Fault or Our Own

While I do think suing food retailers and manufacturers is idiotic, lazy and an excuse for the legal profession to make money, the trend towards supersizing everything in food advertising has become equally idiotic. A small is not a small anymore. Try to order a small ice cream cone and you get a tiny cone overflowing with about three scoops. A "medium" Coke is close to 24 ounces.

People who sue because they are fat are just idiots. No one forces you to put anything in your mouth. However, with 95% of the 10,000 ads seen by children in a year consisting of ads for fast food, candy and soft drinks, it's no wonder people are fat. Both manufacturers and legislature need to work together on this one. Some regulation is needed because companies will continue to do whatever it takes to make money even if it makes us fat. That shouldn't stop manufacturers, like Kraft does now, from taking part in the American Fat Watch as well. Parents are not without blame in this matter either. They have great control over what goes into their child's mouth and can educate their kids about healthy eating.

Changing culture has contributed to the fattening of America too. As in the "good old days", Mom's not at home cooking a healthy dinner anymore because everyone is out working. Nobody has any time to prepare a proper meal so we opt for the lazy solution which is fast or prepackaged food that happens to be high in calories and high in fat. Jobs have changed from physical to sedentary.

Of course, we all need to get off our asses and exercise as well. Video games and the Internet certainly contribute to the fattening of America's teens. You can have a long term IM relationship with someone without ever getting up off your ass.

Suing is not the answer. Over regulating the food industry in not either. Common sense is. If your stomach is hanging over your belt, you are fat and you need to exercise and eat less . No one else is going to solve the problem for you.