I get the feeling that you have never lived in a poor, inner-city neighborhood. I did for 3 years, without a car. Let me tell you that finding fresh veggies was near impossible. The only grocery store in my neighborhood sold limited varieties (probably 10-12 different vegetables), all rotting and brown. Even the frozen vegetable isle was incredibly limited. I remember eating a ton of mac and cheese those three years because it was always on sale. Even though I walked everywhere those three years, I still gained weight because I was eating so unhealthy. I sure wish someone would have made that grocery store owner accountable for selling rotting veggies.

I also think NYC has taken a step in the right direction with requiring chains to post the calorie content of their food. Yes, people should be making better decisions about what they eat. However, I think all restaurants should provide nutritional information about their products, because sometimes people choose menu items they believe are the healthiest on the menu, when in actuality they are diet busters.

I understand your point of view, I really do, because I feel that way about a lot of issues. Companies, though, are not looking out for our best interest...they are looking out for their bottom dollar. If there was some accountability for public health involved, it would help those of us trying to make better decisions. Lest we not forget, government involvement is why we have nutritional labels and "pure" food.

I agree that the socioeconomic status of state will likely determine the weight of most of the inhabitants. I will take it even further and say that even within states, you can just about predict the areas with the largest citizens.

Just here where I live, when I first moved here I could tell the lower income neighborhoods even without looking at the quality of housing. In lower income supermarkets, you will be hard pressed to find many vegetables outside of corn, potatoes, peas, and greens (collards, mustards, turnips, cabbage). There's very little or no eggplant, asparagus, spinach.... It's the same way with cuts of meats and cheeses, too. You can always find pork steak but very little seafood. There's always those oily cheese slices but no bleu cheese.

IMO, one way to tackle this problem is to offer more variety in these areas.

I was on food stamps for 6 months after I lost my job. I was shocked that the plan would cover candy bars, soda and the like, but I had to pay for my Cliff bar because it was considered a "nutritional supplement."

On one of my grocery trips, I bought a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables and low fat, healthy choice stuff and was surprised at the look of shock on the cashier's face when I pulled out the food stamp card. Since then, I have noticed that, IN GENERAL, people using food stamps are eating the junkiest stuff available - candy, ice cream, frozen pizzas and pizza rolls, soda, etc. Not everyone, but a lot of folks....

A elementary school in my town will not allow "birthday cupcakes." Some of the moms are furious. I think it's pretty great

I don't live in those states... but imo ...

When you remove daily recess, full length gym classes, local park programs
We had 20 min recess, 45 min periods of gym 5 days a week, beautiful parks and playgrounds, with instructors and leaders where we spent most daylight hours running around playing...

And raise the YMCA rates to 'unaffordable' for most and wait list Boys and Girls Club
We had affordable or 'honor memberships to the YMCA and went swimming on weekends.

And erase playing 'outside' and walking 'anywhere' due to fear of creeps or being kidnapped.
We were outside playing after school, and home when the street lights came on.. there are creeps on the TV and the internet that children are using all day...

Yup... You may end up with heavier and depressed children..
Yes, I'm older and when I was growing up 'it was a different time', but shouldn't we put some energy into getting some of these things back for the children... OK, I'm done...
~Caroline~

I'm not as old as some of the posters here, but I feel like even MY childhood was "a different time."

There was a playground behind my house growing up, which I loved. Back in "my day", kids actually played for hours at playgrounds... we played silly games where we chased each other around for any reason at all. I loved playing sports and went for physical activity every chance I got. My mom tried to make me eat healthy things as a child, but I absolutely refused. I got fat in middle school when puberty hit me with a bang, but as a kid, weight was never a concern. Now, it looks like the kids go outside to find each other to play video games.

There was a fat kid or two in my elementary school classes. The fat kids usually got made fun of for being fat. But now, it seems like half the class is the size of what was considered to be "the fat kid" when I was growing up and the one dubbed as "the fat kid" is usually 200+ pounds and has already developed illnesses associated normally with obese adults.

^^ I agree.

A few months ago I went to pick up my nephew from elementary school. I could not believe what I saw in the playground. Almost half of the kids were either overweight or obese.

I see the same thing when I pass by my old high school and middle school. Growing up there was at least one chubby kid in each class. It's even worse when in comparison, that the chubby kids (from my childhood) were actually smaller than the fat kids of today.

Today its common to see middle school kids weighing 200lbs and elementary school children weighing around 150 or 160. Also, many kids are being diagnosed with diabetes. When I was a kid, I thought diabetes was an "old person's disease" because I never heard of a kid being diagnosed with it.

That is what my childhood was like. I had a Grams and Ma that when the sun came up I was pushed outside and was told to go play. My sister and myself were gone in the playground and down the street until it was dark and we were called home. We rode bikes all the time and no one wanted to spend time inside because that usually meant you were grounded. I mean I wasn't even allowed to have a T.V. in my room until I was in 9th grade. It was a totally different way of living and I'm only 21!