Gee. Who would have guessed? (Most overweight cities in the US.)

[aviator]

Originally Posted by NRA_guy

Well, I was born in 1946, and Southerners were not always so fat. Just look at any school yearbook from those days and you will not see many fat students. The few kids who we called "fat" in the 1950s and early 1960s would not even stand out in Walmart today.

The massive obesity started not long after LBJ took office (1963) and his expanded welfare. And every year since then welfare has gotten even more prolific as politicians have sought to buy votes.

Welfare moved the poor people out of the cotton fields, off the farms, out of the factories, and other laborious jobs, and has subsequently provided them with free food. (I noticed a sticker on boiled, peeled shrimp and crab legs in Kroger yesterday that said "SNAP card eligible".)

And, of course, all of those Federal, state, and county/municipal jobs that have been created are "sit behind a desk and snack all day jobs".

A few years ago I used to go to Hanover, NH a few times a year, and I never saw a fat person there. What I saw was people jogging and walking and riding bikes everywhere. And they didn't have anywhere for me to buy fried chicken.

The way we eat has changed and the way we work and play has also changed.

[NRA_guy]

Originally Posted by aviator

The way we eat has changed and the way we work and play has also changed.

Yes, mostly driven by our need to eat in order to stay alive.
And we get all of the free or cheap, fattening food we want without having to do manual labor (exercise) from daylight to dark 6 days a week like our ancestors did.

[c0dy33]

I thought Florida was fat until I lived a couple years in the Midwest.

[Pogo]

Obesity is a national security problem. It would be difficult to fill the military requirements if we got in a major conflict.