kurty[B]

Ever since I spent time in the Middle East and India this has been a major thing for me.

I'm not sure about the statistic of obesity being more of a problem now than starvation (if the distribution of food were proper than yes starvation should no longer be a problem). But, I do agree that we (and when I say we I generalize with western culture) are getting obese.

I can attest that it's due to ease of transportation. I can hop in my car and go to the grocery store. Now that I have a bike with panniers, I try to load my clothes in one, and buy groceries and put them in the other. Unless there's a lot to get at the grocery store, I try and avoid taking the car.

I personally have joined Adventure Cyclists (a company that advocates travel by bicycle), and support any initiative in my state to build bike paths (Denver's paths are fairly reasonable, Colorado Springs's paths are horrible, but they are trying to improve).

I think gas prices continuing to rise will help out with getting people out of their car, and walking that half a mile to the store, rather than driving. I also think too many people look at exercise as a no fun activity, and then having to PAY to exercise!!

I don't like that statement. I think as children, in Physical Ed classes we should be encouraged to do activities we like. If it's soccer, running, biking, baseball, anything physical. We should encourage our children to keep at such activities they enjoy. Yeah, they might give up on them in their teen years, but if they had fun doing it they will be more likely as adults to say "I had fun playing... I'm going to see what it requires to join a team, or buy a bike so I can enjoy that again".

I personally spend my summers trying to stay in shape for snowboarding in the winter, and spend my winters trying to stay in shape for backpacking in the summer.

As far as diet goes, when I go grocery shopping, I try and avoid the middle aisles. Everything I NEED is on the edges (deli, bakery, fruits & vegetables), everything I WANT is in the middle; I only go in there if I have something specific I need to get. My biggest problem now, is getting demotivated about cooking every evening, and simply stop somewhere and grab something quick.

My co-worker in Fallujah had this on her fridge http://www.brodystevens.com/headlines/fat%20kid.jpg
. With the saying "Hey Tubby Tubby, you don't want to look like this kid do you?"

I personally don't like to see kids like that. When my neices are old enough I plan to take them snowboarding, backpacking, go out to the park and play soccer with them.

I do think subsidizing nutritious foods so they are cheaper is a great idea. I think it would help, but I also think just providing more opportunities for people to walk, bike, or use their muscles is also very important.