Its the choice of foods, we have one relative that eats all the America fast food and the other one eats all the healthy fresh made Arabic food. The one that eats the fresh food is slim and healthy the other is obese. We didn't have an obesity problem til McDonalds, KFC etc showed up. I saw a man 500 km waddling to the Cinnabon counter one day, I couldn't look. I see kids in the mall walking around eating a hamburger as if its a snack. Plus exercise in this climate and the great amount of cheap house health, people tend to do less and less for themselves.