I have to agree with many points made here by Colmike, Baddog, etc.

Yes you can eat healthy in the states, it won't matter if you don't exercise.

When you go to the major metropolitan areas where people use mass transit and walk more, the average person is slimmer. I've worked in downtown Chicago, Denver and New York.

For example, in Chicago each day started with walking a km from my home to the train station, walked 2 km each way from the train to the office. Walked all over town for lunch. I would lose weight just trying to decide what I wanted each day ;-)

The difference from North to South is also fairly evident. When it is warm in the North, people get outside to enjoy it, because winter will be here too soon. But in the South, since Air Conditioning became common, people hide inside from the heat. I've lived in Texas 3 times over the past 30 years, and the change from 1980 to 2006 was noticeable.

Our kids start fat now because they sit on their asses, watch TV and play video games.

Their parents drop them off and pick them up from school every day. When I was a kid, we walked to and from school every day, my Mom allowed us 30 minutes of TV each night - if you were bored or it was raining - read. Weekends and summer we were out the door in the morning, as soon as chores were finished, and played all day. Fast food and junk food was never part of our diet.

I eat poorly, drink excessively, suffer from lactose and wheat intolerance, yet still managed to attract girls 15 to 30 years younger than me. Even though I'm 5'10 and 200+ lbs, my Doctor says my blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels are all great for my age. It is because I exercise regularly. It's that simple.

I should not, I'm not at all exceptional in this regard. All of the kids I grew up with from my old neighborhood still look good too. Amazing what good parenting can do for a kids future.