How did we get so fat? We eat too much. We eat badly. We don’t get enough exercise.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/nov/25/how-did-we-get-so-fat/

Girth of a nation

How did we get so fat?

We eat too much. We eat badly. We don’t get enough exercise.

By SCOTT LAFEE • SPECIAL TO THE U-T

Near the entrance to SeaWorld San Diego’s popular Manta roller coaster stands an actual seat from the attraction. It’s there to help size up would-be riders, to determine whether they’re too fat to fit. If they can’t pull down and lock the seat’s rigid restraint system, they can’t ride.

Park officials say they don’t know how many ill-fitting patrons are turned away, but given that two-thirds of American adults are, by medical definition, overweight or obese (not to mention one-third of American children) the number is probably uncomfortably large.

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The debate, though, isn’t about whether we’re fat and getting fatter, it’s why. Answering that question requires a discussion of evolution, human biochemistry, food history and ever-shifting trends in social, political and cultural norms.

In three sentences, it’s this:

1. We eat too much.
2. We eat badly.
3. We don’t get enough exercise.