Trying to eat less hasn’t worked. Trying to exercise hasn’t worked. Eating nothing but fatty meats hasn’t worked.

But here’s what will work: convince people to lose weight because they costing the airlines extra money.

Putting aside the sarcasm, what can North Americans do about the rising obesity problems? Barring any kind of chemical dependency, or where there is a real physical problem, it really is the individuals fault. (I have read that unhealthy foods are generally cheaper, and that has some effect, but that’s not what’s forcing people to SuperSize their meals.)

However, given that the vast majority of the population has proven to be so bad at staying healthy, should the government do anything about it? I can’t decide. One thing that is clear, though, is that leaving the problem as is will cost our society a lot of money in the long run.

(I say all this knowing that I’m definitely not the picture of health, but I’m trying to work on it.)

Education and better labelling would help. I’ve heard some people say that nobody figures a Big Mac is healthy. I completely disagree. Most people know it’s not as good for them as an apple but they don’t understand the simple mathematics of (caloric intake)-(calories burned)=(calories gained). I don’t think most people realize that a Big Mac Meal contains up to 75% of their daily recommended caloric intake.

But, again, I don’t know what a good answer for this is. Who knows, maybe it’s a side-effect of all the hormones we feed our livestock.